Work from anywhere

Technology is all around us, seen and or, unseen it's front and centre on Smart Phones, Laptops, Tablets, Desktops or via the Cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics. The world is continuing to evolve and adapt to the latest tech on offer. The question for me now more than ever is...

"How will those of us closest to this tech harness the opportunities that present themselves to continually improve upon the way we work, enabling our staff to be productive and effective?"

Dorset HealthCare is the largest NHS provider on the South Coast of England. It employs more than 7,000 members of staff, providing front-line care to a community of approximately 700,000 people across the county. This community is looked after by the staff working out of 300 sites across Mental Health, GP surgeries, Wheelchair Services, School Education, Community Hospitals, End-of-life care, Audiology...the list goes on. I am proud to work as part of the IT Management Team that supports our front line key workers.

Following the global pandemic of COVID-19, our organisation responded quickly, ensuring the prioritisation of patient care, whilst protecting and looking after our staff. If COVID has taught us anything, it's that we can fully enable our teams to work from anywhere. The old model of 'office working' or 'working from home' is gone. Now for many people across the world, if they have access to a device with a stable internet connection, they can do their job anywhere, and anytime.

Traditional Human Resource (HR) departments, CEO's and Board Directors will need to adopt and create new policies quickly in response to supporting and enabling their modern work-force. It's a work force too that will want to be led and empowered to achieve their work outside of the standard 9-5. Due to differing personal circumstances future employees will be looking for an employer who can support them to be the best they can, utilising their most important asset; time, and doing this in the most efficient and effective ways possible. I'm sure you will have heard it said before...

"Look after your employees, and they will look after your business."

In 15 years I've had the privilege of working in a variety of IT roles in both the public and private sector. I've worked for some fantastic employers in this time. However, I've never seen such a unified response at a global level prior to the mass enablement and take up of the technology that is on offer today. We can now provide our staff with the ability that allows them to have a meeting, a conversation, collaborate real-time on data and so much more. Virtual Private Networks (VPN) can be scaled up to connect staff back into their organisation from anywhere in the word.

"What does the future office look like?"

In my opinion, I see it as looking less like buildings and designated offices, but more like 'hubs' and or 'spaces' that facilitate collaboration, creativity, and productivity in a supported and productive environment. If you're in a leadership role within your organisation why not challenge your thinking today of "we've always done it this way". Speak to your IT teams, share with them your dreams, listen to what they can do, and together you'll be amazed at what solutions can be put in place for you. It's an exciting time to work in IT, and we're only just getting started!