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AI Agents - is yours named 007 perhaps?

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:02:59 GMT

Hollywood movies popularised the 007 Agent (courtesy of Ian Fleming, the author).

Technology companies are popularising the AI Agent.

If you have not heard of Artificial Intelligence Agents or the term Agentic AI, then you will do. AI Agents will become as commonplace as having an App on your phone.

Just look at an AI Agent as a ‘coworker’ or ‘support worker’ or an ‘AI Collaborator.’ AI Agents can be seen as a helping hand. An AI agent who can perform various tasks which can help humans with their daily work from crunching numbers for example, to summarising vast amounts of complex information, to dealing with supply chains or handling detailed customer queries.

Call your AI Agent what you wish, whether it is 007, 008, 009 or OBEE1, AI Agents already come in many shapes and sizes often hidden from plain sight functioning as part of your internal organisation’s processes, doing beneficial work.

These AI Agents are trained to handle complex, multi-step tasks. These AI Agents differ from Chatbots. Chatbots are more basic in usage i.e. they use AI to simulate human conversation and provide information based on predefined rules or data sets such as set scripts. Chatbots often pop up on webpages helping with basic queries. However, if you have a more complicated query, you are often transferred to a human.

An AI Agent uses large language models to perform complex interactions and multi-step tasks.

In the future you will see AI Agents and Chatbots becoming more sophisticated with a blurring of lines between the two. Currently, AI agents are more powerful than Chatbots, in that AI Agents can perform actions without direct user input with varying degrees of capability. AI agents can be segmented into six simple categories:

Simple reflex , likened to a human reflex action, these AI agents perform simple actions, responding to preset rules and conditions e.g. elevator control doors open, or close, responding to button presses.
Goal based , AI agents are programmed to achieve key goals or outcomes e.g. data driven insights in healthcare diagnostics or AI Agents supporting human clinical coders with clinical coding.
Learning , AI learning agents will learn continuously; they take their input from various sources e.g. ecommerce platforms handling concert ticketing will take input from demand patterns and competitor information and apply dynamic pricing. So, the price of tickets can go up if demand is high.
Model based reflex AI Agents have a memory i.e. they retain a model of the environment, as well as understanding the current environment, which can help predict future action e.g. used in robotics across industry with sensors to avoid obstacles and plan alternative routes.
Utility based – based on clear frameworks laid out by your organisation such as time, cost, quality, or an agent could in a car look at speed versus performance. A utility agent is dynamic, constantly learning and often operating in a complex environment it will weigh up options to achieve the best outcomes within the parameters given such as driving up revenue or performance.
Hierarchical agents – AI agents use a structured chain of command to carry out tasks with an AI supervisor delegating sub tasks e.g. managing workflow tasks in Human Resources such as handling data extraction or form filling.

Governance

With the introduction of any new technology, AI Agents need to be adopted with humans in mind and clear guardrails need to be in place. The right processes and procedures for checking the output of AI Agents need to ensure there is no misinformation or disinformation, and malintent by a rogue AI agent or deliberate human sabotage. In organisations the governance steps needed also include cyber security, data privacy together with legal and regulatory policies, procedures, and clear ethical guidelines for those working with AI Agents. This will ensure that your organisation mitigates risks, protects its customers, employees, partners, and key stakeholders who will interact with the AI Agents.

The Future with AI Agents

So, what of things to come with AI Agents? The future seems bright if put to beneficial good for organisations and personally. The use cases for AI Agents seem endless. From business usage to your personal life, AI Assistants will spring up offering a range of products and services. AI Agents will be part of everyday appliances, robotics, and software systems.

By 2028 Gartner predicts 33% of enterprise software applications will include Agentic AI.

Gradations of service will be offered with for example elite AI butler services, to everyday help. These AI Agents will be made available more en masse, with 24x7x365 help. Teams of AI agents will work either together or with humans to form ‘super teams.’ The AI agents will support productivity, efficiency savings and bring about new ways of working, new cultures.

AI Agents will increasingly become more specialised.

For industry specialisation will be particularly with industry verticals, where we are already seeing AI help across verticals, AI Agents will become highly specialised in a particular domain, such as Healthcare or Finance, or Manufacturing. These ‘vertical AI Agents’ will sit alongside Horizontal agents who help with organisation-wide tasks which could be for example human-resource or finance related, i.e. complex tasks which apply to the whole organisation and do not necessarily have to be industry-specific.
At home you will see AI Agents in use such as your own personal shopper who can choose and pay for what you want whether its scanning for holidays or clothes or food shop. The AI agent will perform the full purchasing cycle of looking to choosing and buying can be done for multiple purchases in seconds with delivery scheduled in your calendar as your AI Agent learns what you like or want and it could be if you build up enough trust without even asking.

These AI Agents provided they are guided and instructed well, will never tire, or get bored. They may ‘age,’ i.e. they may need software updates but that should happen automatically dependent on the underlying software provider. Many AI Agents will self-improve or employ other AI agents to provide them with the latest updates or better capabilities. These AI Agents may sit in a hierarchy so that the ‘higher order’ AI Agents receive their crucial updates first, so they are renewed and energised to just do the right things for organisations for individuals.

In Summary

AI Agents or Agentic AI is the next level of Artificial intelligence. At the Human Digital Collaborative, we believe it can bring a wealth of opportunities to your organisation, if applied in the right area with the right guard rails in place.

We can collaborate with you to determine your AI needs using our 360° AI Service. We work in collaboration with World Class partners to create valued sustainable AI solutions which you can trust. We can even help you name some of your Agents to join your team!

Do contact us @TheHumanDigitalCollaborative.com

Resilience is King

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 15:46:52 GMT

Have you checked your Cyber security resilience capabilities?

If your organisation suffered a cyber-attack how quick could it recover? Has your organisation set a targeted time for recovery?

74% of large businesses,
67% of small businesses and
Overall, 4 in 10 businesses in the UK experienced a cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months. ( Source UK Government Cyber security breaches survey 2025 ).

When it comes to cybersecurity ‘Resilience is King’ - having a cyber security strategy supported by plans, targets and tools which provide your organisation with the right resilience capabilities e.g.

The resilience to prevent an attack.
The resilience to manage your organisation in the midst of an attack.
The resilience to recover.
The resilience to remain in business i.e. be sustainable.

Cyber security strategy, plans, targets, and tools?

When resilience is woven into your strategy and planning processes then cyber security truly does become part of the DNA of your organisation - think cyber security with all major plans.

Adopting a ‘secure by design’ approach also pays dividends as it becomes part of your normal service/product development, processes, protocols, and behaviours adopted, creating resilience as your organisation evolves.

Budgeting for cybersecurity operations and tools to assist the smooth running of your organisation is expected but not all organisations have budget set aside for any ‘unexpected’ cyber security issues. Having a cybersecurity business continuity budget as a contingency is good practice.

We have seen in recent times how organisations small to large have been caught unawares from a cyber-attack and without effective recovery plans and budgets. The cost of recovery from a cyber-attack can be colossal. Often organisations who experience a cyber-attack admit they ‘thought’ they had a good business continuity plan until a cyber-attack happens however, they did not foresee the true operational impact or indeed the costs involved to recover.

Setting the right measures and targets for monitoring your progress and cybersecurity performance should cover all aspects of your cybersecurity processes and policies.

Having the right cybersecurity digital capabilities in place is important with platform, systems, and people trained who know how to maximise their usage; working in unison they help you to be more resilient to a cyber-attack.

Do you have visibility of, or trust in, your organisation’s cyber strategy, plans, targets, and tools?

Resilience Capabilities

Being resilient to a cyber-attack is not just about preventing your organisation from attack, cyber resilience capabilities cover a number of aspects:

Prevention
Management
Recovery
Sustainability

Prevention

Scanning your organisation 24x7x365 for cyber threats across your entire potential attack surface e.g. networks, systems, perimeter, end point and application security enables your organisation to detect and prevent potential threats. Good cybersecurity partners with the latest digital cyber security tools also have the capability of using honeypot traps and the dark web to surface issues before they arise from potential threat actors.

Management

The human element of cyber security such as the people you employ both internally and externally are a crucial capability when trained and skilled to manage and orchestrate your overall cybersecurity landscape.

Having platfor ms and systems which you can rely upon 24x7x365 to enable for example authentication, encryption, malware protection, network security and continuous event and threat management; these are essential parts of your organisation’s operational armoury in managing the fight against cyber-crime.

Working in tandem with your digital capabilities including the use of AI, the human management and interpretation of information provides you with the best combination of threat detection, prevention, and management of your organisation’s cyber resilience.

Recovery

If your organisation has a cybersecurity attack you would like to think it is well prepared; however not all organisations review their disaster recovery or business continuity plans regularly enough to thoroughly review their cyber risk. Table top cyber exercises, penetration testing and overall business continuity plans, help together with robust platforms and systems.

Every second counts if your organisation is attacked, so ensuring you have the right expert partners, tools and capabilities is key to enabling the recovery of your data and in responding appropriately to a ransomware attack.

Your platform, systems need to have a robust storage, back-up and recovery system which leverages cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies. This includes data integrity with immutability, air gapping and the ability to recover data anywhere and move it freely in accordance with your organisation’s plans.

Does your organisation have recovery time objectives? That is the amount of time an application, system or process can be down before the organisation is significantly harmed/damaged. Measuring, monitoring, and controlling your recovery with the right system partners enables your team to mitigate the risks more confidently.

Sustainability

The acid test of resilience is sustainability i.e. can your organisation function fully and survive if you have a cyber-attack?

A cyber-attack can be costly not only in the recovery of data and getting your operations up and running, but it can also be heavily brand affecting, haemorrhaging customers if they lose confidence and trust in your business.

In 2025, the average cost of a data breach has gone up 10% to $4.8M with some sectors costing more e.g. healthcare averaging $9.7M per breach . The average recovery time it takes is 258 days [Source: Cyber Security News ].

If your organisation is attacked it is key to contain the incident impact and hopefully then eradicate the cyber issues and recover.

Learning from a cyber incident is often one of the most significant parts of incident response and is often ignored. The aim of the learning is to prevent this happening again and assess if for example you have the right cyber security support. For example, having partners and systems who you can trust in their capabilities and give you the confidence of recovery in case of a future of a cyberattack.

Unfortunately, there are organisations where a cyberattack does irreversible damage to their business-critical operations and renders their business no longer sustainable.

In Summary

Having a good combination of a strong cyber team who can use good cyber security digital systems and tools lays the groundwork for your business to be cyber resilient.

Of course, staying alive to the latest cyber threats and technology developments is necessary. How you then approach your level of investment and resourcing to size and scale your cyber resilience capabilities appropriately for your organisation can be more difficult. That is where we come in – at the Human Digital collaborative. We can collaborate with your organisation to understand and enhance where required your cyber resilience capabilities.

At the Human Digital Collaborative, we want you to be cyber-secure.

We can offer through our Business Consultancy, cyber experts who can understand your needs and see where we can help in your cyber journey. Do reach out to us – the Human Digital Collaborative .com

Who can see into your organisation?

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 09:59:52 GMT

Beware the eyes of cyber - do you know who's looking?

Just how cybersecure is your organisation?

Physical security is just sorted – but is your cyber security?

With physical security in your organisation, it is often ‘just sorted’, you ensure your offices are locked and secure. You do this so that criminals can’t get access and steal or destroy any precious content inside – you do the same with your homes. Time, money and effort is spent, to make sure the right levels of physical security are rolled out so that you and everyone inside those buildings feels safe.

It's an obvious thing to do to secure a building - it is just sorted. But from a cyber perspective, do you as a leader, truly know who is currently trying to see into your organisation and ‘break the virtual locks’?

Is your organisation cyber secure?

Security in action

With the relative right levels of physical security invested in an organisation, it’s often easy therefore to detect criminal activity trying to physically enter a building given the range of counter measures to stop, deter or detect crime such as security alarms, security cameras, security guards and guard dogs.

If there is an attempt to physically break into the building, a security alarm sounding or security dog barking can scare off a criminal. If someone is caught by a guard or on camera gaining access to your building, action can be taken swiftly. So, with physical security you often know where, when and how a criminal has behaved i.e. tried to forcibly break into and enter your building.

But do you as a leader have the same amount of visibility across all your ‘virtual assets’ basically any device which is connected to your network both internally and externally? These devices offer a simple ‘doorway’ i.e. access to your data. Whether it’s a laptop, mobile phone, CCTV camera or a CT scanner or other Medical equipment in a hospital, it's important to understand not only where your assets are but also how they are behaving at all times. Can you see the ‘threat landscape’ easily across all your devices and systems? Do you know how many vulnerabilities there are and how to respond? If you have introduced a new system or bought some new devices, are they cyber secure? Are you able to see who is connected to your network, when they connected and what is connected?

Often the cyber issues can emanate from within your organisation as employees are unaware of the latest techniques cyber criminals are employing. Cyber criminals with the use of AI are becoming ever more sophisticated in their techniques to infiltrate and break in for example via ‘phishing’ emails or ‘smishing’ (via text). As a leader making sure your employees are up to speed and aware of the latest scams and cyber threats is increasingly important – to be alert and cybersecure. Although its often not easy to land that message as a leader given the constant barrage of other communications employees typically receive in any one organisation.

Do you have confidence in your cyber intelligence i.e. in understanding the ‘cyber threat landscape’ where nation state or impending bad actor cyber-attacks are known?

Are you confident as a leader that you have mitigated the cyber risks for example have you segmented and prioritised your most important assets to protect or alert you to a cyber-attack?

As a leader if your organisation is attacked do you have a comprehensive plan which allows you to act at speed?

Can your business recover quickly?

In Summary

Very much like physical security, cyber security is essential for organisations who do not want to be subject to criminal activity. Having the capability to detect and counter cyber threats 24x7, 365 days is something not all businesses consider holistically. Having the right platforms, people and resources to be cyber-resilient can be tricky especially with the dearth of cyber skills in the market and a range of systems and infrastructure such as firewalls to choose from for your organisation as a leader. How you approach your level of investment and resourcing to size and scale it appropriately for your organisation can be more difficult. That’s where we come in – at the Human Digital collaborative. We can collaborate with you to get your cyber security on track, so you are more aware of the ‘cyber eyes’ focused with cyber malintent on your organisation.

At the Human Digital Collaborative, we want you to be cyber-secure.

We can offer through our Business Consultancy, cyber experts who can understand your needs and see where we can help in your cyber journey. Do reach out to us – the Human Digital Collaborative .com

Types and Forces of Change

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 15:35:06 GMT

Figuring out your key forces and types of Change

Ever been involved in a change programme or initiative where people seem to be pulling in different directions?

Change is put simply moving from a current to a future state.

However, change is often not that simple to implement – change can be thwarted or resisted for a number of reasons whether its internal or external.

For example, people can often want to subvert or resist change and pull back to where you started or simply refuse to change.

As a leader, if you want your change ambitions and plans to be a success – a key aspect is figuring out what are the key forces at play that are or could impact change along with the type of change you are undertaking. See below the forces and types of change model a summary of managing the tensions between internal and external forces along with major transformative versus incremental change.

The forces of change

The forces of change can be external and internal. Both forces can bring benefits and risks. How you manage and respond to these forces matters with any change initiative.

External Forces

Factors such as political, economic, social, technological change or simply competition can force a business to change. As a leader identifying the external forces which have the biggest impact to your initiative could change over time; so, monitoring these forces and predicting any potential impact will help you to plan a smoother more successful implementation of your change plan:

Political - Political forces can change many aspects of your change initiative – major elections in key countries can have huge ramifications across the globe if the political leadership changes. Depending on the nature, size, and complexity of the change you are undertaking newly elected political parties can force change - political party preferences can be beneficial and boost change or be detrimental by destroying change. Therefore, paying attention to, and anticipating any change in politics in the markets you operate can help you scenario plan and mitigate any risks.

Economic – The economic impact of the markets within which you operate again can have a major impact on your change initiative. For instance, funding streams can open up or dry up depending on the state of the economy in the areas your organisation operates – so keeping a close eye on economic factors which can have a direct or indirect impact on your change programme is important.

Social – The norms in a society may differ across your market base particularly if you operate on a global scale. As a leader, for example it is important to recognise ‘moments that matter’ or small steps in successful completion of change milestones. However, you need to pay close attention to how you reward people for positive progression along the change journey – as this may differ from region to region or country to country. The use of symbolism is a powerful tool in any change armoury, and it has been proven symbolism may assist in removing resistance to change and increasing the positive emotional attachment or mindset shift in moving towards change. Executive symbolism used in change can have an enormous impact, but its usage needs to be tried and tested i.e. again watch out for social norms i.e. what works and what does not with your employees.

Technological - The force of technological change is causing major shifts in society, how we work, live, and exist from computers to mobile phones to artificial and cyber intelligence are but a few examples forcing change.

Cyber security threat for instance presents huge risk. How we use technology to view cyber risk both from a prevention, detection, protection, and ongoing management can force significant changes to your business and therefore bring about change initiatives, such as how you manage your workflow, processes, and report issues up to Board level.
Harnessing digital technology and using it to your advantage in any change initiative is a must – but also factoring into your initiative how you cater for those stakeholders who are wary of technology or unable to access or use digital technology. For instance, if you send out a survey to gather information for your change programme – does everyone have online access? Can people understand your survey i.e. is the language simple? Do you need to use voice recordings or face to face survey completion techniques as alternatives?

Competition – competition can be a positive or negative force for your business but ignore it as a leader at your peril. How easy is it for competitors to leapfrog ahead of your change plans and will that have an impact? If the answer is ‘easy’ and ‘yes’ then you need to assess the time, effort, and value of your change plans. Many organisations have fallen foul of not understanding the competition, their products or new business models and ultimately its caused the demise of their business. However, competition can be healthy in forcing change for ‘good’ and for the ‘betterment’ of the organisation and its employees.

Internal Forces

Internal forces such as a change in leadership, strategy, or employee happiness, or business performance can trigger the need for change but also impact the direction of your change initiative whilst it is in flight.

Strategy - A change in strategy is a catalyst for change. For example, having an AI strategy across your business can bring about change in governance, usage, and management in an organisation – and managing the ‘change’ as a result is key to success.

Leadership - Another internal force that can have an impact on a change initiative is how the organisation and change is led. For example, a new leader in an organisation, can bring their own stamp of authority and view of change and therefore ‘do things’ differently. Leadership is a significant force in charting the course for change i.e. some leaders are happy with the status quo, and continue with the current change programme, some may stop or other leaders eager to make a mark start change anew.

Employees - Employees are an internal force for change. If they are happy and ‘buy’ into the change, understand, participate, and see the benefits, the path of change should be relatively easy to follow. However unhappy staff can be unwilling to change, unwilling to participate and resistant to new ways of working. Unhappy staff may also be a ‘just cause’ for change, so finding champions within the organisation who can help shape and influence the change momentum. Regular communication and feedback from employees can give you actionable insight to make ‘timely’ change interventions.

The types of change

There are two types of change, which you often find in large organisations both can be employed as types of change:

Small incremental change

This is small often easy quick business improvements limited in size, scale, and time.

Small changes can be more effective in ‘convincing’ colleagues or employees of the benefits of change especially when ‘quick wins’ make a difference.
It is the small moments that matter that can gradually build over time to amount to larger-scale change if the minor changes are added together to form part of a managed change strategy.

Change method selection is important (such as a business improvement – continuous improvement change method) and can be a blend of methods.

Major transformative change

This is huge scale often enterprise-wide major change in strategy, structure, workforce, performance, and process.

Usually, this type of change is conducted in a large organisation over a number of years.

Budgets and resources invested are significant in size, scope and scale.

Change method selection is important and can be a blend of methods.

As a leader its important to understand the type of change which could be a blend of both transformative and incremental. This maybe obvious but too many change programmes fail because for example they under-estimate the size of the change, the budget required, or they do not employ effectively appropriate change methods, training or quality controls.

In Summary

As a leader, figuring out your external and internal forces of change is important, and this can influence the type of change you are undertaking i.e. major transformative change and or smaller incremental change.

Monitoring and managing the forces of and types of change can help mitigate any risks, build some contingency into your change plans and boost benefits.

In other words, you can get everyone to ‘pull in the same direction’ with some ‘rope’ to spare to manage any eventualities.

This is a snapshot into some of the considerations of change. As a leader, you may also find a fuller brief on the overall change journey see the ‘C’s for Change’ and a ‘C’s of Change’ checklist a useful additional tool to support your change programme.

At the Human Digital Collaborative, we can offer through our Business Consultancy, change experts who can understand your needs and see where we can help in your change journey.

Do reach out to us – the Human Digital Collaborative.com

Seeing the 'C's' of Change

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 13:13:55 GMT

Seeing & controlling the ‘C’s’ of Change

Have you ever spent time by the sea, watching the tide turn from a smooth, calm, balmy stretch of water to a turbulent, fierce, foaming force to be reckoned with as a storm out at sea hits the shore? Parallels can be drawn with the forces at play with change in organisations; and how quickly things can change, and if not managed correctly can throw a change management programme or change initiative off course.

Once a major problem hits an initiative, and there’s no prevention or fall-back plan, it can then take some time to rescue and put the initiative back on track – or worst case its ‘shipwrecked’ and you salvage perhaps what you can and then hopefully restart the change – but at a cost. For leaders involved in change initiatives , its good practice to stand back and pause from what you are doing - the ‘C’s of Change Checklist’ has been developed to help you do that - it’s a useful tool for leaders which acts as an aide memoire, where ever you are in your cycle of change.

The 10 ‘C’s of Change

So how do you ‘see’ and then ‘control’ the change in your organisation? The ’10 C’s’ of Change are a useful checklist for any leader running a change initiative:

Whilst the ‘C’s’ of Change is not an exhaustive checklist, it is a good accompaniment to whatever change method you choose to deploy.

1. Customer

Identifying and then putting your key stakeholder i.e. your customer first is key to managing change. All stakeholders are important in your change initiative. However, your customer is key to identifying and defining issues and needs, which once specified can help shape a successful change or transformation initiative.

There can also be a few interpretations of the term customer dependent on your organisation and the type of change you are undertaking, for example customers can be:
external to your organisation i.e. those buying goods/services or
internal to your organisation i.e. those using your services or being part of your change initiative or transformation – typically organisation staff members or business employees.
Customers can also be referred to using different terms: in Health organisations for example customers are ‘patients’ or ‘service users’ and in government organisations customers can be referenced as ‘citizens.’
So, defining, documenting, and using the right terms/references, language for your ‘customer’ is important.

By involving your customer at every key step of the change programme you can make sure the change initiative is producing the right deliverables with the right outcomes. It also allows you to anticipate any major events which could cause risks or issues which can be mitigated and managed, respectively.

2. Commitment

Do you have the commitment at the right levels in your organisation to start the change initiative?

Do you also have the commitment from staff, employees, key stakeholders, to continue to conduct the change initiative? For example, do the initiatives have the right sponsorship at a senior level to remove ‘roadblocks’ if the going gets tough?

Capacity to do the change is often given as an excuse not to change or to slow down the change, however if you have the right commitment these issues can be resolved.

A good practice for commitment to change is to make sure you have a ‘contract’ or mandate signed off by the relevant stakeholders for the change initiative to go ahead. This mandate is a brief overview document highlighting the outline strategy, goals, the change approach including key customers, stakeholders, major deliverables, a plan, governance, and reference terms, signed off by the main change sponsor. This can be reviewed and revised, if necessary, as the Change initiative progresses, particularly if its over a few years, it’s a good idea to use this mandate as a tool for ongoing commitments.

3. Culture

Culture is the behaviours, mindsets, symbols, social interactions in an organisation. When introducing or managing change, bringing people along with you is key in changing mindsets and behaviours. Culture and mindset shift can often be difficult in transformation…not getting buy-in to change can destroy an initiative at any level of an organisation if there’s enough ‘influential voices’ to dismiss or curtail change initiatives. Having a plan to deal with resistance to change is important.

Participation by those who are affected by the change is important at every stage of your change initiative from the early beginnings to the development, the execution and to the embedding of the change. Creating a team of ‘change champions’ or advocates to help you with your change journey is paramount. Visible leaders supporting the change with local ownership at every level also supports and helps to bring about successful change.

4. Communication

Having a change communication strategy and plan is crucial to managing successful change. It helps you paint a picture of the change needed, start as early as possible to create an awareness of the change including as it develops and delivers. Make sure you also build in a feedback loop mechanism for all stakeholders via a multi-channel choice approach.

A good starting point in the communication plan is to understand the outcomes and to think of the articles which could be promoted through for example social media or a podcast or headline newspaper article. What would the article say about your change if it went really well? What would it say if things went wrong? What if things escalated to a crisis or critical incident i.e. the highest level of risk? How could you control the narrative? How could this impact your organisation i.e. your brand, your bottom line – how could you control the change narrative both internally and externally? Having a business continuity plan supported by strong communications, which manages issues from change is vital.

Use a multi-channel targeted communication approach. Communicate regularly and often; for example, using symbols, themes, or stories. Story telling can be an effective communication tool for leaders in change.

Role modelling, training and reinforcement of the change communicated at the right time to the right people is important particularly in helping to make sure the change is sustainable.

Tackling objections, resistance to change in a manner and form in keeping with your culture and organisation is a fundamental part of communication.

Celebrating change improvements as they occur is very important – these ‘moments that matter’ maybe small in nature but should be celebrated along the way not waiting until the end of a deliverable or a major phase.

5. Collaboration

As the pace of change quickens across the globe especially with the introductions and advancement seen in the digital world, tackling this change becomes ever more challenging. The human-to-human interface is necessary in the modern world especially in making sure digital works for us, and not the other way around!

Multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) or ‘matrix teams’ made up of a cross section of stakeholders internal and or external to your organisation, all driving towards the same goal can help your change programme enormously as they represent the interests and ideas of all parties impacted by the change programme.

Creating and collaborating an eco-system of partners, like-minded organisations who are in pursuit of the same goals often ‘lightens the load’ i.e. if partners collaborate well then, the barriers to change often melt away.

6. Creativity

Some of the biggest breakthroughs in change have come about through being creative. Every industry sector has fitting examples of how creativity has transformed how people work, and live from breakthroughs in medicine and medical procedures, to rail and road transport to robotic process automation in manufacturing, to name but a few.

So, as you move through your change initiative ask yourself, are you being creative, is there an easier, more effortless way to do ‘things’? And can you afford not to be creative?

7. Cost

The cost of change can often be underestimated which is why its important to factor sensitivity analysis into your case for change.

Understanding the cost of not doing the change whether its large or small is a good starting point – i.e. what benefits can be realised.

Cost estimates at the start of an initiative can be within predefined acceptable financial limits and refined as your change specification is honed in more detail.

Typical costs not only include the obvious, operating costs such as people resources, but also capital costs which maybe needed such as equipment or new technology. Communication costs, and training costs can sometimes be missed; along with internal staff/employees who are not ‘officially’ accounted for in the original ‘case for change’ as the initiative grows in size, should be factored into costs for business impact and true benefit realisation.

A change in direction or resistance to change, can slow down or stall a change initiative. To prevent significant issues, it’s a good idea to gameplay any potential issues, with communication or public relation messages drafted if needed alongside a potential ‘contingency’ fund to cover critical change issues which may not be factored into the original plan.

8. Code of Conduct

Many organisations have their own code of conduct, often in the employee/staff handbook, which reflects for example the professional competences, values, behaviours, and ethics of the organisation.

It is important that the change programme reviews and enhances where necessary this code of conduct, and adheres to it in the development, delivery, and post review of the change programme. This may involve legal and commercial teams during the process but it’s vital for the organisation’s reputation and brand to make sure the change programme has a positive impact on all its stakeholders, with an inclusive, diverse and fair approach.

9. Competition

The competition maybe the reason why you initiate the change, as your organisation needs to shift to meet market demands or accommodate new innovations.

10. Change Management

Choosing a change management approach or indeed a number of change approaches as tools to use for implementing change, is a good idea. There’s no particular change method to highlight here as it really does depend on the type of change and the forces at play in your organisation. However, there are several very well-known change methodologies and standards which are good to follow. Adopting these methods consistently and using them across the lifecycle of your change initiative with key measures, checkpoints and plans is a given in good practice.

In Summary

The ‘C’s of change is a simple checklist, or an aide memoire for leaders. It is not intended to replace a rigorous change management approach but to stand alongside it, i.e. sometimes it’s useful to stand back from your change management approach and ask:

Are you heading in the right direction?
Are you delivering what the customer wants, do you still have the commitment from key stakeholders?
How is your collaborative approach assisting with your change initiative?
Has the competition trumped what you are doing or are you being creative, are you ahead of the curve?
Are the costs under control and the benefits being realised?
Is the culture changing, are communications working?
Is the code of conduct being followed and is the change driving the right results?
Are you really making a difference and is there more to do?

Planning ahead, understanding the end-to-end mapping of your change transformation including your future state, being consistent with your change approach and using the ‘C’s of change, should help you to deliver sustainable change and steer you into calmer waters especially if the ‘tide turns’ and the going gets rough.

At the Human Digital Collaborative, we can offer through our Business Consultancy, change experts who can understand your needs and see where we can help in your change journey. Do reach out to us – the Human Digital Collaborative.com

Transformation Twists and Turns?

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:31:53 GMT

Transformation twists and turns?

For anyone who has undertaken a transformation programme particularly a significant, complex, multi-faceted transformation you will know that there are many twists and turns to ensuring success, particularly if the journey is taken over a number of years.

Key to good transformation planning is making sure you have the support of your stakeholders, the right people in place, and the right resources to make it happen whether that be for example budget or systems, they all need to work in harmony to keep the transformation alive and help pave your way to success. Holding regular reviews is also important i.e. looking back and looking forward, looking inward, as well as outward to make sure you are still on the right path, and you keep pace with the times.

A good illustration of why transformation is important is by looking at a case of a well-known company who enjoyed many years of success, but then failed to transform quick enough with challenging consequences: Kodak. Eastman Kodak (commonly know as Kodak) was incorporated as a business in 1832, and it grew to be one of the leading manufacturers of film and cameras in the world. However, it failed to recognise the significant threat of other competitors particularly in its market’s-movement to digital. This is despite one of its own employees in 1975 developing the world’s first hand-held digital camera, and another employee four years later predicting that a shift to digital photography was inevitable. Kodak executives seemingly ignored the warning signs, the advice given, and sadly it started its transformation journey too late, as over a century later since it began, this once successful company had to file in 2012 for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection ^[1] in the United States. A massive decline for a brand and a business who at one time seemed untouchable in its market.

A huge price to pay for taking time to transform.

The story for Kodak however, is not all bleak, as Kodak can be applauded for its tenacity to stay in business. By 2016 it once again started to generate a profit by transforming and restructuring its business.

There are many other business illustrations of failing to transform that I could cite, however Kodak is a memorable example of a business whose longevity unfortunately did not give it licence to move to transform at a slower pace.

A number of key questions arise from this case study and perhaps take stock of your own organisation’s transformation journey:

Would Kodak be more of a dominant brand for consumers nowadays if it had transformed its business earlier? If it had shifted its consumer film products and services earlier to digital? (it still has a film business with movies).
Or if it had looked inward, recognising talent, and listening to employees in its own organisation?
Or if it had looked outward and reacted faster to the competitor threats from Fujifilm or indeed the smartphone and device manufacturers?
How the picture (pardon the pun!) may have been different today if such a dominant company with a very strong brand, had fine-tuned the twists and turns of transformation to its advantage?

Transformation timing?

We hear often from businesses –

now is not a good time to transform, or
we tried that, and it didn’t work, or
those types of change (e.g. front or back- office administration process automation) works in that business sector but wouldn’t work in ours?

Ask yourself are these just excuses for not taking bold steps to transform or are there genuine reasons for standing still in your organisation?

The key question is can you really afford for your organisation to stand still? As a former CEO we know always said after implementing a successful transformation, ‘there’s more to do.’ In other words, his success was not going to be pinned to the mast of completing the last journey to improvement, but rather looking across the organisation to see how things could be improved further for its customers, its staff and its stakeholders.

Planning ahead, understanding the end-to-end mapping of your transformation, and how it fits across your organisation, can help with the timing of your transformation, whether you transform in a more agile fashion in incremental releases or you go big bang and go live when all the elements are in place is dependent upon your business. More often than not, we see businesses now moving more rapidly with incremental improvements.

Transformation techniques

There are many techniques that can be used to help transform your business. Whether it is the more traditional project, or programme management method you are seeking or continuous/ quality improvement or employing agile principles - whatever the method it needs to fit with the functioning and culture of your organisation.

Turning your Transformation to Triumph

Long gone are the halcyon days where organisations could leave it a few years before thinking about reinvigorating their plans or dusting off their strategy to transform their business. Many companies have fallen foul of not doing so, i.e. looking outward as well as inward on how their business needs to transform with the times.

Transformation can be a journey of many twists and turns, and with the right strategy and plans in place, it can lead to successful, positive outcomes for any organisation. But standing still or delaying business change/transformation is not an option.

Being triumphant in transformation is a big achievement - i.e. delivering the desired outcomes and celebrating success with your team. How you celebrate is whatever fits with your culture – but make sure you celebrate success along the way – don’t just wait until the final deliverable.

At the Human Digital Collaborative, we can offer through our Business Consultancy, transformation experts who can understand your needs and see where we can help in your Transformation journey. Do reach out to us - the Human Digital Collaborative

[1] Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The Impending Cyber Pandemic in Health and Social Care: Are We Prepared?

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 15:23:12 GMT

Navigating the Cyber Pandemic in Healthcare

In today's interconnected world, whether we realise it or not the threat of a cyber-attack happens every day to every sector. Health and care is no exception. Our reliance on technology and the eerie prowess of hackers has given rise to the threat of a real cyber pandemic. This blog aims to shed light on the importance of preparing for cyber-attacks for the health and care sector and key steps to mitigate the risk.

The Inevitability of Cyber-Attacks:

We are acutely aware pandemics strike unexpectedly. Cyber-attacks are no different. It’s not a matter of if, but when. There are plenty of examples where large organisations have been hit by cyber breaches, some of which resulted in employee contact and bank details exposed. The healthcare sector, with its vast amounts of sensitive patient data and critical infrastructure, is an attractive target for the malicious actors seeking financial gain or disruptive power.

Learning from the Past:

Without doubt COVID highlighted the need for effective preparation and rapid response to unexpected crises. Unfortunately, as revealed by the COVID-19 inquiry, the healthcare sector was ill-prepared for the challenges it faced. The lessons learned should serve as a wake-up call to proactively address potential cyber threats to health and care.

Building Preparedness:

So what can we do – here are 3 top tips to help prepare:

Experienced People: Building a skilled workforce, well-versed in cybersecurity practices is crucial. At an organisational level, individuals specialising in cybersecurity, such as Cyber Leads and Non-Functional or Pen Testing experts, should be appointed. Yes the experienced ones will be more expensive, but you pay peanuts…Creating a network, fostering collaboration and investing in these professionals can take time but will prove invaluable for an effective response during a cyber crisis.
Good Processes: Establishing battle plans and playbooks that outline flexible response strategies for various cyber-attack scenarios is essential. Regular cyber drills and simulations can help test the effectiveness of processes and identify areas for improvement. Again this is an investment in time and resource, but this proactive approach will ensure any organisation is better equipped to handle cyber incidents when they occur. The NHS can help each other here with shared learning on good practice and processes.
Technological solutions: Implementing robust cybersecurity systems, including regular software updates and patches, is imperative and the most basic, yet effective deterrent. Having a dedicated cyber strategy with defined timelines to achieve standards (e.g., DTAC/DSTP) can ensure technology infrastructure is up to date and resilient against ever evolving threats. This includes securing medical devices, networks, and data repositories to safeguard patient information.

Understanding the Risks:

While the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare offers many benefits, it can also introduce potential risks if not properly considered and governed. Rapidly introducing AI without proper scrutiny, control, and understanding may lead to vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cybercriminals. It’s mundane, but we do need to constantly review and mitigate these risks – ultimately this is about patient safety so maintaining the integrity of healthcare systems is vital.

Conclusion:

We all know cyber risks are real and present. The creation of the National Cyber Security Centre and the growing cyber job now in the NHS is a huge step forward. However we need to ensure these skilled professionals have time to continually learn, network with peers and have executive support. The creation and review of robust processes, prioritisation of technological patching can help organisations to strengthen their cybersecurity posture. And yes to AI, but a balanced approach to its adoption and other emerging technologies is crucial, considering both the benefits and risks involved. Only through collaborative efforts and a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy can the health and social care sector navigate the constant challenges posed by the cyber pandemic and protect the well-being of our patients and public.

How real is Artificial Intelligence for you?

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 17:31:57 GMT

Can you see, feel, hear the difference Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making in your organisation? Does it feel real i.e. is it making a difference?

There’s been much hype around AI and what it means. Every day something new seems to be happening as the pace picks up around the technology and the subtleties that go along with Artificial Intelligence.

So how real is Artificial Intelligence for you and for your organisation?

Firstly, to understand where you and your organisation are in the adoption of AI, let’s get to basics - what is AI?

There are many variants of definitions out there, for us at the Human Digital Collaborative, Artificial Intelligence put simply is about computers and digital devices answering an ask or solving a problem you may have by drawing their answer from a large data source. In essence, the artificial intelligence looks up menus in its library to determine quick answers for you. There are other variants of AI e.g. such as Artificial General intelligence (more human-like, sentient) which with the advent of applications Chat GPT and Claude. AI is now multi-modal i.e. text, pictures, audio, video and code can be generated from multiple inputs. This broadens the use and capabilities of AI.

Do you understand why, or how AI is being used? Or if you are currently using AI, what is it being used for and how could you use it better in the future?

Understanding where you are as an organisation in the AI adoption cycle can be tricky depending on the size and scale of your organisation and the technology you deploy.

The Why

Firstly, understanding why you have or want to deploy Artificial Intelligence may seem like stating the obvious but taking time to do this properly can reap rewards for you both in terms of quality, time and money.

Taking each area of your business and understanding if there’s a need to deploy artificial intelligence in pockets or on a larger scale is a good starting point. Is it fixing a problem or challenge? Can AI help release benefits such as much needed resource to do work elsewhere or can it speed up your processing time? For example, speeding up how you process information can save many hours in human effort and administrative paper work for your business.

You may already have AI in your business - dependent on the scale and complexity of your organisation ask yourself – do you know if its proving useful or being deployed beneficially? Is it worth it – is it giving you the returns or results you need?

The How and the What?

Once you know you need or discover you have the AI technology, self-questioning exactly how and what you want to deploy it is important. Many organisations have tackled the ‘how’ by rolling it out in key functions such as in the finance department e.g. speeding up payroll processing or in human resources, helping with recruitment.

Some organisations also look at cross-business needs via value chain analysis to determine the ‘hotspots’ to deploy AI.

What you then deploy as a business is very much dependent on the problem at hand for example Chatbots are popular as customer facing deployments particularly in the Retail and Service sectors.

It’s good to have an ‘Artificial Intelligence’ Healthcheck to determine if you are ready or are using the technology in the best way. Getting the right infrastructure and platforms in place is one of the steps to consider. Another is what information is held in your business. Often data abounds in organisations, but it’s gaining the best insights to take speedy informed decisions which is important to many organisations for how they learn and grow. Indeed, training and learning need to fit with the AI take-up and improvements, so that human intervention and collaboration is always employed when needed.

At the Human Digital Collaborative, we can work with you to determine the best means of deployment and or extension/improvement to what artificial intelligence you need.

As I finish writing this article, I know something new will have happened somewhere around the globe to advance AI capabilities. It is a technology which is moving fast at the moment, whether it will slow in both development and adoption in the future is hard to predict, because at the moment the pace of change seems ever-quicker.

For us at the Human Digital Collaborative, we have a number of years’ experience in developing and deploying AI solutions, and we’re excited and determined to find ways to make technology work positively for humans. So do watch this space as we provide updates on innovation and forward-thinking on how we can help you and your business.

Welcome to the Human Digital Collaborative

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 17:31:55 GMT

Welcome to the Human Digital Collaborative

Just a few words from us if you are reading this website for the first time :-).

The Human Digital Collaborative, is as it says on the tin, i.e. we are all about collaboration with customers and partners to solve the simple to the most complex needs and challenges by making sure we get technology to work for how humans want it to work, not the other way around!

In other words, we put humans first as a collaborative consultancy.

We offer a range of services from business consultancy ie strategic, thought leadership to artificial intelligence and user centred design consulting.

Our people are highly skilled in a range of methods from agile, programme or change management.

We are ambitious.

We seek to the lead the field in whatever we do, keeping to our values of being collaborative, innovative, having fun being ethical, and respecting each other.

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AI Agents - is yours named 007 perhaps?

Resilience is King

Have you checked your Cyber security resilience capabilities?

Who can see into your organisation?

Beware the eyes of cyber - do you know who's looking?

In Summary

Types and Forces of Change

Figuring out your key forces and types of Change ﻿

The forces of change

The types of change

In Summary

Seeing the 'C's' of Change

Seeing & controlling the ‘C’s’ of Change

1. Customer

2. Commitment

3. Culture

4. Communication

5. Collaboration

6. Creativity

7. Cost

8. Code of Conduct

9. Competition

10. Change Management

In Summary

Transformation Twists and Turns?

Transformation twists and turns?

Transformation timing?

Transformation techniques

Turning your Transformation to Triumph

The Impending Cyber Pandemic in Health and Social Care: Are We Prepared?

Navigating the Cyber Pandemic in Healthcare

How real is Artificial Intelligence for you?

So how real is Artificial Intelligence for you and for your organisation?

The Why

The How and the What?

Welcome to the Human Digital Collaborative

Welcome to the Human Digital Collaborative

Figuring out your key forces and types of Change