Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM): Building the Case for a User-Centred Website

Overview

When Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland's Seafood Development Agency, began considering the future of its website, the organisation wanted an independent evidence-based assessment before committing to redevelopment.

Path was engaged to review the effectiveness of the existing website, identify opportunities for improvement and provide strategic recommendations to support future investment decisions.

The Challenge

BIM serves a broad audience including seafood businesses, industry stakeholders, training participants, policymakers and researchers.

Over time, the website had evolved to support a wide range of organisational objectives. Before embarking on a new website project, BIM needed clarity on:

• How effectively the website was serving users
• Whether the site's content and structure reflected user needs
• Accessibility and usability priorities
• Opportunities to align with industry best practice
• The evidence required to build a business case for future investment

Our Approach

Rather than beginning with assumptions about redesign, we undertook an independent assessment of the existing website.

The review combined:

• Technical assessment
• Accessibility evaluation
• Benchmarking against comparable organisations
• Website content and structure review
• Analysis of user needs
• Strategic recommendations

By bringing together multiple sources of evidence, the project created a clear picture of what was working well, where barriers existed and where investment could deliver the greatest impact.

Key Findings

The review identified several opportunities to improve the user experience, including:

• Opportunities to simplify access to key information and services
• Improvements to information architecture and navigation
• Accessibility enhancements to support a wider range of users
• Content improvements to increase clarity and usability
• Governance considerations to support ongoing website effectiveness

The findings helped establish a shared understanding of priorities across stakeholders and provided an objective basis for future decision-making.

The Outcome

The project delivered a clear set of strategic recommendations and provided BIM with the evidence needed to plan its next steps with confidence.

The review informed the development of a business case for a future website redevelopment and established a roadmap centred around user needs, accessibility and long-term effectiveness.