Addressing the Long Term Impacts of a Rapid Transition to Hybrid Working

During the COVID pandemic, organisations rapidly mobilised to support hybrid working by driving the adoption of new technologies, making significant changes to organisational culture, and developing new policies to meet the changed working environment. The pace of change was unprecedented and, although demonstrating the ability to react swiftly and adapt as needed, we are now left with the legacy of transformations that may not have been subjected to the level of scrutiny that would normally have been expected. The consequences are that organisations exposed themselves to higher risks, implemented solutions and technology addressing short-term problems and sidelined long-term planning. Added to this workforce training was reactionary and therefore not necessarily comprehensive, and organisations were often unable to recruit the required expertise due to increased market demand.

At the centre of this change was information and data. Organisations needed to provide their workforce with access to vital information that underpinned customer services, business processes, and regulatory compliance. The way we captured, accessed, used, and managed information changed, however the information governance surrounding these changes did not necessarily keep pace. Existing information governance strategies were no longer applicable, gaps appeared in policies and procedures, roles and responsibilities changed, and organisational culture evolved quickly introducing new risks and issues.

This session is aimed at running through some of the biggest impacts to information management and governance posed by the move to hybrid working and providing actionable insights into strategies for remediation.