Never Say Never Again

A recent BBC investigation uncovered worrying statistics about preventable mistakes that have taken place in England’s hospitals over the past four years. The incidents, such as leaving surgical instruments or other items inside patients after operating, are one of a number of incidents categorised by the Department of Health as “never events”.

Imagine a world where never events are prevented from ever happening. It’s a world where healthcare professionals have quick and easy access to information, anywhere, any time. And where patients get the best possible care whenever and wherever they need it. [Read more...]

Beyond Your Device Research – BYOD Infographic Part One

BYOD [Read more...]

SATURN Runs Rings Around Cyber Attacks

By Ben Azvine, Head of Security Futures Practice, BT Technology, Service & Operations

As someone who works largely behind the scenes in Research & Innovation, it’s great to have an opportunity to talk about some of the ground-breaking, innovative projects my team are working on.

My colleague Nicola Millard, BT’s Customer Experience Futurologist, has done a great job of explaining BT’s innovation heritage in her recent blog and I’d like to carry on that theme by focusing on how our latest innovation efforts are making a practical difference to our customers, using protection against cybercrime as an example. [Read more...]

When Times Get Tough, The Tough Get Innovating

Innovation is a defining feature of progress. Without people devoted to doing things better, faster, cheaper and greener we’d still be stuck in the smog of industrial revolution. Steam trains and snail mail — not spaceships and smartphones — would be at the forefront of travel and communication.

To innovate is even more essential today, in a tough economy, than it has ever been. When times get tough, the tough get innovating. For our part we’re always pushing boundaries in the world of IT and communication technology. And we are proud to have been at the forefront of innovation for at least 150 years. [Read more...]

A Cisco perspective on collaboration

Cisco is a leading vendor of collaboration technology and an important global partner of BT Global Services.  We asked Fred Gerritse, Director Partner Organization & Commercial Business at Cisco, about his view of the market and what collaboration means for Cisco.

What are some of the key trends in the market for collaboration services in your opinion? How are CIOs looking at collaboration? [Read more...]

Is Your Network Able to Cope With the Demands of BYOD?

I was at Ovum’s BYOX event last week talking about the effect the consumerisation of IT — and in particular BYOD — is having on organisational networks.  At the event Ovum announced the findings of their new BYOX (bring your own anything) employee study. The media headlines post the event have been interesting, everything from “BYOD resistance is futile” to the more scary “Ignore BYOD and lose control of your corporate data”.

There are 1bn smartphones in the world today with that number set to double in the next 3 years, plus the sale of tablets is rising rapidly, Forrester predict tablets will overtake PCs as the computer of choice by 2016. Smart devices allow people to do great things by becoming more innovative in the tools and applications they use. This can transform the way they work and give organisations a real business edge.   [Read more...]

It’s a Small World After All

Recently I went on a pretty lengthy business trip where I visited customers in different countries around Asia and the Middle East. I even managed to get back to my home country, the UK.

What struck me as I visited the three regions is just how small the world is becoming when it comes to financial services.  [Read more...]

Clinicians Embrace New Mobile Technology

By Nicola Tongue, Director of Innovation and Governance at John Taylor Hospice.

John Taylor Hospice provides specialist palliative care and emotional support for the people of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands area. It looks after the needs of some 600 patients and their families, with 80 per cent of care delivered directly by mobile community staff in people’s homes.

As a community interest company it is of paramount importance that the people who choose John Taylor Hospice for help can see the information recorded about their care. An invitation to take part in a national N3 Mobile Health Worker pilot was therefore timely. It dovetailed nicely with our electronic patient record plans and we were fortunate to be one of eleven trial sites chosen by the Department of Health. [Read more...]

The Value of Making Things Easy Part Two

As you may already know, we’ve been giving a lot of coverage to the notion of ‘customer effort’, with the following blogs defining what it is and suggesting how it can be reduced:

So what is ‘customer effort’ anyway?

Make it easy and they will come

Easy does it: a new take on loyalty  [Read more...]

How New Technologies are Helping to Make BYOD Work for You

With all the world talking about how BYOD is set to change the way we work forever, little thought is given to the CIOs expected to help make those changes happen.

There’s no doubt that there are efficiencies to be unlocked — but just how easy is it to do that? And what are the major challenges CIOs are facing? [Read more...]