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Blog posted by: Irina Pencheva, Lead Product Manager - GOV.UK Notify, 21 March 2023 – Categories: GOV.UK Notify.

We want GOV.UK Notify to be the public sector’s first choice for sending messages. Common components like Notify make it easier for government to deliver better digital services.

Here’s how we plan to deliver our vision.

Approaching product growth strategically

In early 2020 the world changed dramatically with the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The pandemic also transformed GOV.UK Notify’s product growth. 

Setting up a service on Notify is quick and easy, with no need for procurement or funding. Because of this, many public sector services used Notify to support their rapid response to the pandemic. Nearly 2,000 services started using our product in 2020. Notify sent all the COVID test results and vaccination reminders, and we saw our transaction volumes increasing by up to ten times.

Whilst this growth was great for our product and for public outcomes, it created a lot of reactive work and support. Our team was under a lot of pressure to keep Notify safe, reliable and performing.  

Since February 2021, growth has normalised and our annual rate of growth is around 30%. So that we can continue to offer a great product for the best value for money, we need to be more targeted and considered in our work.

In the last year we’ve updated our product strategy, which sets the direction for Notify’s growth. The strategy is helping us to prioritise and support choices about our focus.

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