Digital Greenhouse, careers, digital skills & ‘ideation’

New Normal is not normal

On Saturday 19th September, our CEO Chris Clark presented via Teams to 60 people attending the second Future Rewired event that Prosperity 24/7 have had the pleasure to sponsor to support the Digital Greenhouse in Guernsey.

Prosperity 24/7 would like to thank Lucy and Ben for kindly inviting our CEO to share some insights, namely to cover his personal journey in the technology sector through a remote ‘fire side chat’.

Whilst for Chris, this felt self-indulgent to say the least, it provided an interesting exercise to look back at what he has done, how he has done it, where he has invested his time correctly and conversely, where he has failed miserably.

The beauty of this retrospective was to share some insights to help those starting their journey in technology, those mid-career and those, aspiring politicians, who have the opportunity to steer policy positively to support both the digital economy and the broader economy who need to embrace modern ways of work to be effective and efficient in the Global services that they provide.

His chat discussed areas such as digital inclusion, upskilling and cultural change.

Elaborating a little regarding the role of employers and governments to build a permissive culture that can upskill the Island’s workforce.

Finally Chris covered ‘ideation’, how to take products from ideas to reality by sharing some insights of what has worked and what has not at Prosperity 24/7 over the last 10 years.

The retrospective was interesting as it has highlighted the ‘circle of control’ and its importance in product development e.g. what can you control and influence to make things work and what risks do you have to accept that are outside of your sphere of control – if accepting a risk, how can that impact your chance of success and where are the pitfalls.

An excerpt of Chris’s presentation is provided below:

“The digital divide during Covid-19 highlighted the social divide in society…

Those who have physical space, devices, wifi, secure employment, and frequent access to the Island’s beautiful environment have been able to continue their work remotely using modern ways of working and have thrived during lockdown. Not everyone has been as fortunate as many living in Guernsey.

Those, for example, living in high density dwellings, people shielding or young couples with a new born baby residing in a one bed flat have had the struggle of where to work, how to work, who’s turn is it to look after their small person, who can use the kitchen table or the bed for a Teams call (if they have the tech’) and the impact to mental wellbeing has been considerable.

Lock down has accelerated the digital transformation for many but it has also highlighted the importance of digital inclusion and upskilling even more.

I don’t know the policies in Guernsey so my apologies if I walk in to political minefield in innocence but, whilst I know Guernsey has been an exemplar for locking down to protect Islanders, what has it done to accelerate digital transformation during this period? 

I would hope that the Telco’s have increased bi-directional bandwidth considerably to every household at no extra cost and Government have provided incentives or access to technology, within reason, for those shielding to ensure that they can feel included within society, even if only via a 12” screen – that window of connectivity to family and friends is essential, as we all know during lockdown, so I hope the Government has made provisions to assist.

Going forwards, what with the UK and Europe entering what appears to be a second wave of infection ahead of the winter, when is the ‘break glass’ moment to pull up the draw bridge once more, when it has only been fractionally relaxed via the sally port so to speak, at the moment.

I hope that the Government have taken bold steps over the summer to prepare for a winter of discontent in the face of digital transformation being an essential enabler for services to continue”.