A change in direction

This is a short-ish note to explain a few changes here at Joining Dots.

Joining Dots was set-up in 2006 because I felt that technology capabilities were accelerating ahead of an organisation’s ability to adapt and respond to the changing landscape. That people were being left behind, struggling with outdated systems and not realising the benefits, or having time to fix the flaws, before the next wave of technology hit.

I loved working at Microsoft – quite an about turn given I was a reluctant hire initially. Being involved in developing a software market turned out to be an amazing experience. But it felt like there was a gap between selling and implementation, where somebody needed to ask the ‘why, ‘what’, and ‘how’ systems would change to benefit the organisation. To join the dots. I’d always had a desire to start my own company and in 2006 the timing was right.

Over the years, I’ve worked with organisations of all shapes and sizes across commercial and public sectors. Helping establish new technology platforms. Designing systems to improve communications, collaboration, information management, search and productivity. New trends and technologies have emerged. Whilst others have matured, leading to standards and established design conventions that result in better, more robust and usable systems. People no longer head for the exit at the mention of ‘governance’ or ‘usability’. Quite the opposite now occurs. The digital workplace is growing up.

At the same time, my interests have spread further beyond the organisation, looking at the wider social, economic and political impact of new technology. It hasn’t gone unnoticed by clients that articles posted here have sometimes been more than a little off-topic recently.

It is time for a change.

As of 1st October, project consulting – specifically projects involving SharePoint and Office 365 technical guidance – are being moved to a separate company – Aetio (www.aetio.com). Aetio will be focused on leveraging the maturing fields of digital strategy, architecture and governance, combined with the disruptive potential of mobile productivity, to modernise the workplace. Both for on-premise services and those transitioning to online subscriptions. Related articles will be posted in the Aetio newsroom,

Joining Dots will continue the exploration into digital futures and their potential impact. Including trends such as  ‘Internet of things’ and 3D printing that are merging the digital and physical worlds. In short, the topics that have begun to dominate on this site, particularly those starting with the excuse ‘Friday thought…’. 🙂  If you have enjoyed them, please stick around. The tagline ‘from atoms to bits and back again’ is becoming more relevant than ever.

Thanks for reading!