ISG Imagine Your Future Podcast

In this episode, co-hosts Steve Hall and Karen Collyer tee up the remainder of this year’s Imagine Your Future podcast – an impressive lineup of thought-provoking conversations with heavyweight industry authors and leaders from across the world of digital.

Get to know Steve and Karen as the voices behind the podcast, what excites them about the future of digital technology and how they bring their passions to bear in their work. Join them as they explore a wide range of subjects – from the latest thinking on diversity, equity and inclusion, to their own eclectic influences – with a few tips on how to manage the demands of a constantly changing world of work thrown in for good measure.

Months before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world, CEO of Mphasis Nitin Rakesh began work on a book with co-author Jerry Wind that would become more relevant than even he believed. What was originally conceived as a book to help technology companies understand and counteract the disruption being caused by the proliferation of digital startups quickly gained new significance within the context of the global pandemic.

Their book Transformation in Times of Crisis is based on the premise that adversity provides fertile ground for growth. It guides the reader through eight principles that will help them customize and implement a winning business strategy.

Rakesh joins Steve Hall and Karen Collyer in this podcast episode to talk about his business background and how he came to write the book. Together they discuss all eight principles and debate if and how they can be prioritized. Listen in to hear the conversation and gain insight into how organizations can seize the opportunity to prepare themselves for the new future.

When Dr David Howie started his new role as Chief Commercial Officer at NHSX in February this year he didn’t expect it to be entirely dominated by COVID – then, a word only just entering our vocabulary. Yet the rest is history, as they say.  NHSX is the technology enablement arm of the England’s National Health Service (NHS), which is driving the digital transformation of health and social care.  NHSX is leading the largest digital health and social care transformation program in the world, with a national annual investment of over £1bn as well as significant local spend.

Ten months on from that pivotal first day in the NHSX office, Dr Howie joins host, Steve Hall, on the Imagine Your Future podcast. Together they discuss the evolution of the UK’s COVID Track and Trace app as well as the role that NHSX will play in the future in helping improve support for vulnerable and isolated groups, such as those living in care settings. The use of digital technologies to improve patient and clinician experience has made huge advances in the NHS as a result of the pandemic.  It marks an accelerated digital transformation in the NHS that Dr Howie believes would never have happened so rapidly without the need to respond to the pandemic.

Listen in to our first Imagine your Future podcast episode of 2021 as Dr Howie describes his Digital career journey, first with the UK Home Office where he led the digital overhaul of the passport renewal process, followed by development of the app to support the settlement of EU citizens living in the UK in the run up to Brexit.  Clearly no stranger to handling complexity in high-stress situations Dr Howie’s insights into digital transformation, gained from his recent UK public sector career, makes fascinating listening.

The ISG Imagine Your Future podcast is back after a short break with a new host, Steve Hall. In Steve’s first episode in the driver’s seat he welcomes back former IYF podcast host and colleague Barry Matthews to discuss the subject of open talent and the gig economy.

Talent platforms, which allow enterprises to tap into global or distributed talent pools to resource, deliver or ideate solutions, are set to become one of the next big disruptors for business over the coming years.

Companies are increasingly accessing skills such as graphic design, automation expertise and software development, to name but a few, through these global talent pools via secure digital platforms. Because of such platforms, the geographical location or even educational background of talent is less relevant than their experience, availability and enthusiasm to work.

Contracts tend to be short term and results oriented and suit the increasing number of people operating as freelancers in the gig economy. For these workers, flexibility is the watch word that allows them to work when and where they like.

Listen in as Hall and Matthews discuss how the global pandemic has fast-forwarded the development and uptake of these talent platforms and brought them into the mainstream. Matthews predicts that they will play a significant role in the global shift toward freelance work, which, he says, suits the millennial mindset.

As a generation of young people very comfortable with the concept of “on demand,” millennials are willing to take responsibility for their personal and professional development, facilitated by talent platforms, on a scale not seen in previous generations.

Join this fascinating discussion on how these open technology platforms are shaking up the structure and modus operandi of businesses, helping them leverage the very best talent across the globe.

Over the past six months, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the way people work. For some, this may be temporary, but for others it marks the start of a new working era – one enabled by technology and innovation and driven by the need to approach work differently. Things that people might have previously considered impossible or impractical have become the norm – video calls, virtual events, collaboration platforms and freelance working are here to stay and are driving how we work and do business like never before. The daily commute and physical presence at the office may not quite be things of the past, but they are no longer the accepted norm. The shift to working from home has allowed workers to reassess work-life balance and presented them with new challenges around how to accommodate their work and personal lives in the same space.

This month, host Barry Matthews talks to journalist, podcaster and campaigner for freelance workers’ rights Anna Codrea-Rado and Phil Scone, Director, Digital Strategy & Solutions at ISG as they discuss the implications of the past six months on the world of work. Tune in to hear their conversation about the new future of work – how working practices, organizational structure and corporate culture will be influenced, and their vision of the role technology will play in the new working world order.

By now, most people are familiar with the benefits that can come with well-executed robotic process automation (RPA) implementation: increased accuracy improved productivity and hours given back to the business. But taking automation to the next level and scaling it across the business can be challenging. Many companies hit “the RPA wall.” Businesses are finding they need specialized help facilitating adoption, building resilience into their automation, and arming employees with the right tools to make the most of their RPA investment.

A digital automation enablement platform helps them avoid the wall altogether because it facilitates RPA adoption across the enterprise and helps to accelerate the automation journey.

In this month’s episode Chip Wagner, CEO of ISG Automation, and John Mone, CEO and Founder of digital automation enablement platform Neuralify, talk to host Barry Matthews about the need to focus on the “how” as well as the “what” of automation to ensure success. That is, educating, enabling and mobilizing citizen developers, reinforcing best practices and standardizing and simplifying the code review process to facilitate rapid RPA adoption and scaling. Listen in as they discuss Neuralify’s unique and market-leading approach to automation enablement.

As employees quickly transitioned to virtual work and began accessing business systems and technology remotely on a scale never experienced before, cybersecurity also quickly moved to center stage.

The speed with which businesses have had to adapt to the new way of working has meant that some corners have inevitably been cut, leaving many organizations vulnerable to security breaches and cyberattacks. Now more than ever, enterprises need to focus on risk management and resiliency to assure the security of their systems.

Mathew Newfield, Chief Information Security Officer at Unisys, joins ISG host Barry Matthews for a fascinating discussion about the security challenges businesses face as they emerge from lockdown and adapt to a new way of working.

Listen in as they explore the types of cyberattacks that are occurring, best practices to ensure businesses and individuals stay as safe as possible, and how to ensure enterprise security in the new future.

The Healthcare industry is currently experiencing the highest levels of demand in modern times. At the same time, it is burdened with developing coping mechanisms, medicines and vaccines that will, in time, help protect us from subsequent outbreaks. There’s no doubt the industry will undergo radical transformation as a result of the pandemic. And hopefully the learnings it gains from the current experience will position the industry to better handle future health crises.

This episode of the ISG Smartalks™ podcast takes a look at the Healthcare industry at the center of the COVID-19 global pandemic. ISG Partners Bob Krohn and Jamie Burke join host Barry Matthews to examine how Healthcare payors and providers are responding during these difficult times and what the industry will look like coming out the other side.

As the effort to slow the COVID-19 virus disrupts our lives, organizations are swiftly reacting to their governments’ calls to close offices and limit or ban social gatherings by asking their employees to work from home. What does this degree of disruption mean for businesses in the short, medium and long term? What measures can we put in place now to weather the storm and ensure we emerge in the best possible shape?

Listen in to this special edition of the ISG Smartalks™ podcast as host, Barry Matthews, speaks to ISG Partners Bill Huber and David Lewis about the practical steps businesses can take to protect their revenues and manage costs during these uncertain times. Now more than ever organizations need a roadmap. Re-evaluating supply chains, business continuity plans and contracts are essential first steps as we respond to the current public health and economic crisis. Cloud solutions, as-a-service technology, automation and careful supplier management each will play an important role in allowing businesses to retrench and scale up again quickly when the worst is behind us.

There’s no doubt many parts of business operations will be permanently impacted. An organization’s ability to survive and recover will depend on the actions its leaders take now. Human ingenuity is strong, and we believe innovative technologies and responsible work protocols will emerge from the ashes of the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

Click here to read more about actions you can take right now to mitigate operational risk in the face of COVID-19.

Join the webinar: COVID-19 – Top 5 Actions to Deploy Immediately

Sourcing has come a long way since the days of large-scale, single-supplier deals. Back in the ‘90s, it was the norm for companies to hand over the management of IT or other business processes to a single service provider, often for 10 or more years.

Fast forward almost three decades, and the world has changed dramatically. During that time, we have seen the length of outsourced contracts pared down, often to less than three years.

Suppliers and service providers are now referred to as “partners” with the implication that they have a stake in the success of their customers’ business. And enterprises engage with a vast number of third parties, each of whom is selected for a specific ability to address a particular need.

This has resulted in a complex ecosystem of technologies and partners co-existing within an enterprise’s environment. Businesses are striving to maintain healthy ecosystems and avoid messy partner “divorces”, which are expensive and time-consuming.

The challenge now is to adequately govern the many moving parts to drive continued business value and, at the same time, ensure operational agility, compliance and minimal risk. Of course, the key is to attentively manage performance, deliverables, obligations and compliance, and to communicate effectively. But the growing complexity within partner ecosystems makes effective governance increasingly difficult without the assistance of a comprehensive governance platform.

Lois Coatney, Partner and President at ISG, joins Barry in the latest edition of the ISG Smartalks™ podcast to discuss the challenges surrounding the new sourcing paradigm of ecosystems, partners and platforms. Tune in to hear their conversation.