To those of you who supported us for the Whole Hog last year – Thank You! The money you helped raise for Home Start will have a lasting impact: it has enabled the equivalent of more than 52 isolated families joining life-changing support groups, 113 families accessing one-on-one support, or 227 families receiving emergency supplies.
Your generosity made it all worth while, so we are at it again; preparing to get muddy in a smelly way, sweaty, and (as we now know) pretty bruised, but all with a purpose.
This year we have chosen to join forces with our friends running in “Sam’s Team” in the hope we can attract greater support for BIGKID Foundation, who are a smaller charity facing huge challenges as they work tirelessly to meet demand. Trust us when we tell you that if you are going to give some money to charity, this one deserves your backing. And so does the Infotex team, who after a complacent start (we’ve done it once before, how hard can it be?) are now feeling the fear… training is well underway, but it’s not as easy as we thought.
Training updates from the team are only slightly concerning…
Chloe: Last year I was excited because I didn’t know what was coming, but this time I am more apprehensive because I know what’s going to hit me… the strong smell of pigs and a mass of mud to the face.
Running has been really difficult this year (I like to blame that on the heat), but I’ve taken up squash and bouldering to try and build some strength for all those obstacles, so maybe I won’t be last again…
Ant: I’m feeling my age! It’s all very well trying to deny it, but aging is a real thing that happens to all of us – as I am learning …
Katie: It’s been harder to find time to train this year (or I’ve found more excuses) but I’ve stepped it up in the past few weeks and the Autumn weather is very welcome after such a hot summer!
Our team members might have a way to go before feeling ready on the 9th of October, but sore legs are ever accompanied by a sense of hope and inspiration that maybe we can raise even more money this year.
We’re running in solidarity with a group running the London Royal Parks half-marathon on the same day and have joined forces with them to double up our support for the BIGKID Foundation.
We’ve already had one team member have to pull out following an injury whilst on honeymoon (don’t ask)! Here’s the evidence ….
Happily, our new apprentice Will Ridd has stepped in at the last minute to fill his space. When we last caught up with Will, he was expressing doubts, but we have promised him he is in for the experience of a lifetime. I’m not entirely sure that made him feel any better.
changing the world one kid at a time
While still in sixth form in 2000, Shaninga Marasha began a mentoring programme for students at risk of exclusion and on their final warning. After a few years, the mentoring grew into a bigger programme of youth engagement that Shaninga and friends implemented through touring music events. Realising the potential of their grass-roots action and working in schools, they formed a charity in 2006 based around running workshops and activities to improve life skills for young people. Now they run Community Engagement, Mentoring and Leadership Programmes for countless young people in London. Read more about The BIGKID Foundation’s story here.
Many of the young people that BIGKID work with are gang affiliated and have been excluded from school. Your donation (and we encourage donations of any size big or small) could make all the difference in helping a young person build confidence, stay in school, get qualifications, and build a better life. For £25 a month you can sponsor a young person – giving them a mentor, invaluable support and encouragement, and helping to change their life immeasurably.
To donate please click HERE. Thank you so much to everyone who chooses to donate, every donation really does count, any amount.
Extra personalities hanging about during work can be a great morale booster and dogs are known to alleviate stress and anxiety in the workplace. There are some well-known characters amongst this lot, as many of them used to come into the office. Even now that our default is remote-working, many of the dogs like to make themselves known throughout the day on our video calls and have been featured in many a company chat!
So here’s a little peek into the lives of the canine companions who look after some of our team behind the scenes.
Amber is Cameron’s personal supervisor; she comes into the office at 8.30am and remains on duty until 5pm when she clocks off for her dinner. She can be regularly heard during calls, with her opinions and suggestions.
Despite being very dedicated to her hours, she does actually tend to sleep on the job quite a bit, although she’s always super quick to greet anyone at the door.
Juggles is called juggles as he has three spots on his head and when he was a puppy Jonny used to say they are his juggling balls. He was born at a puppy farm and Jonny found him at a rescue centre at 10 weeks old.
The Infotex team has a sweet spot for Juggles because he came into the office pretty much every day for over 5 years. He proves wrong the stereotype that whippets are lazy – he loves his walks! He is scared of most things though… especially zip wires for some reason. He spends most of his life under a blanket and whinges if he doesn’t have one.
Jessy is a rescue dog and a cross between a black lab and a springer spaniel (loyal… but crazy!). She spends most of her time lying on the sofa, in the sun, or on a boat. She enjoys long walks, sneaking off to go hunting, or going on a sailing adventure with James.
She is a very picky eater… her favourite food is kettle chips sweet chilli & sour cream.
Moz’s black and white Springer Spaniel, Jazz, (affectionately known as “Woofit”) and Cocker Spaniel, Buzz, (affectionately known as “Dufus”) are a sight for sore eyes, but don’t be fooled… they’re a troublesome two.
1-yr-old Buzz is still in puppy-world with whirlwinds of energy and only 2 speeds: sleep and turbo. Jazz is an 11-yr-old rescue but she thinks she’s a puppy; she can sleep anywhere including at the feet of the friendly librarian at the library. She’s faithfully by Moz’s side during work, but her mad barking and star-jumping has been heard in the background of a few online meetings!
Of course being a techie Moz has attached a Bluetooth activity tracker to Jazz so that he and his wife can monitor her every move from their phones (think a Fitbit for dogs). They are also on a waiting list for the GPS enabled version for Buzz so that they can work out where the little tyke has run off to next.
Murphy is Jono’s 10 year-old cocker spaniel. Joining in with video calls has become a favourite day-time activity of his, as well as eating any food that he can steal. He has a particular love of getting hold of any type of fruit…
Pickle is Matthew’s small but mighty friend. She overcame a dramatic and difficult time last year when her health suffered and she had to have an IVDD. Completely out of the blue, her back legs became very wobbly which resulted in a week of surgery. Following that she had next to no use of her back legs, but gradually, after 5 months of physio and slowly increasing her walks, she was back doing what she does best and even went on a camping trip last September. Since then she’s continued going from strength to strength and is currently on her second of two camping trips already this summer!
Ellie used to come into the office a lot, but now can be found wherever she thinks is warmest – usually under a blanket or in the sun. While she is in her element running about on land, she hates water and has sometimes been dragged onto a boat on the River Alde with Ant, much to her dismay.
Willow is another whippet who made herself well known in the office. She would often be found sitting on Cameron or Matt’s lap having a cuddle (and secretly being given food!). Willow kept Katie company when we moved to working from home but sadly she passed away in February this year. Katie says the house really isn’t the same without a dog and so has got a new family member moving in soon – a Doberman puppy called Raven.
Lucy was the first dog to consistently make herself comfortable in the office back in the 2000s. Making sure Ant got his health kick with a midday walk, we remember her for her lunch-time stretching. She is no longer with us, but she set the trend for more team whippets to arrive in the following years, as you’ve seen!
Who said dogs are man’s best friend? It was no word of a lie! There are over ten million dog pets in the UK today.
Dogs aren’t for everyone, of course, but we are certainly grateful for ours.
We are delighted to announce Infotex have been accepted into the Crown Commercial Digital Outcomes 6 framework, which will be live later this year.
Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring goods and services.
Acceptance onto the framework allows local government and healthcare organisations access to services provided by Infotex. Our ambition is to work more closely with a wider range of organisations in order to design, build, improve and support the back-end systems that sit within healthcare and government to produce better outcomes for all.
Frameworks are agreements between the government and suppliers to supply certain types of services under specific terms. Infotex Ltd have been accepted to provide:
As a digital outcomes supplier, we must:
Jonathan Smith, Director of Infotex Healthcare Systems commented “We are delighted to be accepted onto the framework. It gives us greater opportunity to support the NHS and wider services using our experience in the development of the systems we are already delivering into the care sector”.
“This additional platform reflects the hard work and dedication of our team to really deliver systems in the right way, to the right audience. We can continue to support healthcare teams and patients on the path to better digital assessment and care which is so important.”
Most recently, the team launched a digital self referral platform that allows the smooth and carefully managed assessment of podiatry patients which decreased our client’s 800+ patient backlog to manageable levels within just a few weeks.
Take a look at a review by Dr Hinkes of this system.
In 2019/20, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits worth over £1bn – supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers.
For further information about Infotex’s health systems get in touch.
We all know the importance of keeping tech up to date, whether that be your phone, tablet or laptop. At Infotex we host, support and maintain over 600 client websites, with our DevOps team working tirelessly to ensure that security patches are in place and servers are running smoothly.
As part of our site maintenance we carry out regular updates to all of our WordPress sites, and the next update will bring WordPress 6.0 with which we are including an enhanced CMS (Content Management System) experience for all of our direct clients.
The new-look dashboard will include updated branding, quick access to our support team via a handy form and a news feed, keeping our clients up to date with helpful hints and tips to manage and improve their own site.
WordPress, of course, will continue to allow you to customise your own choice of dashboard widgets, show/hide and reposition any widget should it be required.
This is just the initial release in our plans for improving our WordPress client’s CMS experience and we hope that our clients feel the benefit of these changes.
If you’re considering refreshing your website or just want to chat about how to ensure your site is secure and up to date then get in touch.
In March I reported on our office closure. Last week we held the first of our quarterly “All Company Gatherings” since then. The format of these gatherings is an evolution of how we used to gather together in previous years – in an age before words like “covid” and “pandemic” were in our vocabulary. We have enjoyed on many occasions the opportunity to spend extra time together, and do something unusual, not specifically about our work, but often related to it in some way. Events have usually been based in Suffolk, which is where the company is rooted, and included sailing trips, barbeques in remote fields, country house sleepovers, and visits to arts and crafts centres.
This time, released from our “Suffolk HQ” constraints, we branched out and chose Portsmouth as the location. The rationale behind this decision was characteristically eclectic. In January we had set the dates for 4 gatherings across the whole year, and asked everyone to keep their diaries free. Around that time, I also happened to enter my newly acquired sailboat in the Round-the-Island race, which is a 1200-yacht yacht race around the Isle of Wight. This was on 25 June, the day after our Summer Gathering.
Realising I had a formidable logistical challenge looming – to spend 2 days with the company and then get onto the water and across to the island on the Friday evening – I just needed to persuade our head of production Katie, who has assumed the role of “chief gathering organiser”, that we could go to Portsmouth. Leveraging some of the tactical persuasive skills learned from my children, I was able to make the argument that it was high time we headed further afield, several of our staff live and work in Surrey, Sussex, Kent and London, so how nice it would be for them to have the Suffolk mob make the effort this time. She was quickly persuaded and seized the opportunity to create a fantastic company event.
In our maritime hotel next to the historic Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, we all soon grasped what a fascinating and fun place Portsmouth is – steeped in maritime history, packed with things to do and interesting mixture of serious stuff going on – university, MOD, shipping, business – blended with a holiday atmosphere, the bars and restaurants of course all brimming with potential.
During our visits, we were able to carry on working operationally, and also spend a useful afternoon discussing the world we are in, our place in it and our own strategy for the business. Reflecting on these, we set ourselves the challenge “how can we improve Infotex in a time of climate emergency and facing economic uncertainty”. We have committed the business to work on projects that aim to do more with less, so that we can help our clients to beat inflationary pressures, and we can operate using fewer resources. Over the summer, our ideas will be developed into projects, and when we next gather in October, we aim to pick up the best projects and move these forward.
Outside of work, we had a vibrant and competitive escape room session, which taught us all more about ourselves, followed by a visit to Boathouse 4 in the Royal Naval Dockyard, and a tour of Portsmouth harbour in their restored landing craft, which everybody who likes boats and naval history (like me) loved, but that might not have been everybody!
Apple have stormed forward with the announcement of IOS 16 this month, which will be compatible with the iPhone8 onwards – leaving behind some much-loved Apple models including the iPod touch, which was discontinued recently.
A decisive end to two decades of the iPod led to a trip down memory lane for some of us at Infotex. We asked some of our team to share their stories about their music listening habits and what the iPod has meant to them over the past two decades.
“To a 14-15 year-old boy it was a complete game changer!”
James Fulford, Account Manager
James’ first (and best) iPod – a 4GB green iPod mini, 2nd generation – was one the greatest bits of kit he’s ever owned, he says. It transformed his 40 minute school commute on public transport with its 1,000 songs and 18hr battery life. “No one needs more than 1,000 songs…” he says, “whoever says they do are lying!”
Now James has an iPhone with access to 2TB of cloud storage, which is used for a lot more than just songs but would be capable of storing c.2,000,000 songs (definitely too many songs!).
Our Production Manager Katie’s love for her first iPod – a purple Nano given to her by her (now) husband over a decade ago – kickstarted her desire for more Apple products, and it wasn’t long afterwards that she got her first iPhone.
Whilst Michael, our developer enjoyed listening to podcasts, thanks to the hard drive capacity. “This completely changed my life, the most memorable podcasts were “The Skeptics Guide to the Universe” and “The Bugle” (both are still going and I still listen to them).”
“That iPod touch was my reliable friend for emergency notifications overnight for many years, as well as pumping out a steady stream of 1980’s rock ‘n roll music for many long days during a house renovation where there was no internet connection. It is still sat close to me now!”
John Harman, Infrastructure Manager
Remember the days when hours were spent burning CDs to listen to in the car? For John (aka Moz), this ended in 2006 with the purchase of an iPod Nano 2nd generation (2GB), for use listening to podcasts in his car via a tuner add-on that created “iPod FM”. Moz’s podcast passion outgrew his storage capacity, so his birthday present in 2009 was an upgrade to an 8GB 4th generation Nano, which still works today. As a developer, but not an Apple user, Moz needed a simple way to do browser testing on iOS, so later he upgraded from the Nano to an iPod touch.
Although nowadays Moz’s music and podcasts are primarily handled by his (Android) phone, he is still close to his iPod touch and iPads. Like Katie, the iPod was Moz’s first dip into the Apple ecosystem.
Not everyone jumped on the iPod bandwagon. Account Manager Kris Parker opted for the DAH-220 – a clever cassette tape shaped MP3 player, so you can load it into a tape deck and play your music – ideal for cars in the early 2000s! With only 256mb of storage, you had to be very selective over what tracks you put on it.
Whether the discontinuation of Apple iPods marks an inevitable end of simple music players or not, we will always feel nostalgic about the time these small devices transformed music and podcast listening forever!
We launched Infotex UK Systems just before the COVID-19 hit. We were excited about its potential to support the NHS at the time but throughout the last 2 years we have really been able to explore how critical well designed, value for money systems will be for trusts and CCGs\ICSs.
The NHS is ramping up its focus on digitising itself, its staff and providing better channels through which patients can engage with practitioners and also help determine how best to manage their care.
The expectation is that as a result of the epidemic, all technology will see a jump forward but that any used within the Healthcare Industry will see a more poignant increase in pressure to deliver.
With this in mind, we are excited to be attending a number of key shows across the year so we can purposefully engage with operations and administration leaders to understand their actual and specific needs and challenges. Though we have gained enormous information through careful research, the best way for us to deliver value is to speak directly with those looking to improve their systems as each team and trust have such a vast range of requirements and challenges (even if they can broadly be categorised together).
We next plan to attend THE HEALTH PLUS CARE SHOW, in London on the 18th-19th May.
It is FREE to attend for healthcare professionals, you can find the show guide and other details at healthpluscare.co.uk/digital.
The show will cover 4 key areas;
Topics we hope to explore include:
We are looking to speak to anyone that is working in the healthcare sector that would like to share their thoughts and experiences of patients facing AND internal administration systems so we can better meet the needs of patients and the CCGs\ICSs we hope to work with.
Get in touch if you would like to chat either online or in person!
“The Healthcare Show in 2022 provides that long-awaited opportunity for the NHS to come together to reflect, respond and re-organise in the face of the monumental challenge it has endured over the past two years.”
www.healthpluscare.co.uk
Want to arrange a meeting at the show or find out more about our systems? You can reach the team at:
debbie.keating@infotex.uk or via LinkedIn
alex.rawlings@infotex.uk or via LinkedIn
We hope to see you there!
To find out more about our healthcare solutions please visit www.infotex.uk/healthcare-systems or contact us for a brochure.
We’ll also be at:
A wise advisor, someone I admire and respect, once said to me “Strategy is What Happens, not what’s Supposed to Happen”. What Has Happened to our offices is, perhaps, just such an example.
In 2020 we made the decision to close our small London office, amidst the drama of the pandemic and lockdowns. This week we have said a final goodbye to our head office in Melton, Suffolk.
Riverside House has been our home for just 5 years, 2 of which have been lost to the pandemic. But we have always had our head office in Melton since 2004, so this is a big change.
We have opted to make working from our own homes our default mode, with flexible hours to boot, but we are aware that this will have consequences, so we see this as an evolving story.
The abruptness of the pandemic jarred so many businesses into adopting, at scale, remote working practices that have been in place for years. In Infotex, as in many businesses, we had already been working for a long time remotely with clients and staff across the world, on Hangout, Teams, Zoom and Skype, with all of the benefits.
Scaling this up to become the default taught us about new positives. For our staff who have always worked remotely from “the office”, having everyone on the same level has resulted in a new closeness within the business. Our daily chats mean that all of us see and hear more of each other than we used to, and our teamwork has improved through the flexibility of being able to make up teams so flexibly (although we tend not to use Teams, preferring Google Meet for its immediacy).
Having overall responsibility for the business, I feel more connected to all of our team of 25 than I ever have. Maybe that’s a damning indictment of how I was doing things before! Or maybe I am deluding myself. Certainly, this sense of connection has made me eager to find the ways and means to spend more time actually together. So far, we have had three 2-day “gatherings”, where the whole company works in one location. These have all been enjoyable, and constructive and important for our business. Now that we no longer have our building, we are free to roam. Our next gathering, in June, will be in Portsmouth. This is a welcome relief to our minority “Staff in the South”, who are relieved not to have to journey to Suffolk this time. It will no doubt invoke a nautical theme, and plans are afoot to visit the historic dockyard.
In the meantime, like so many other businesses, we are free to meet with one another and our clients in a variety of locations, many of them regulars. Serviced offices and workspaces offer the ideal answer for providing us with stimulating and enjoyable working environments when needed. For some of us, having somewhere to go is beneficial and needed, so this option always remains available to us all. But not being constrained by a rigid structure is an important step forward and feels like a step forward.
Propelled by events, we are following a new strategic direction, which is modern, flexible and resilient, and fills us with confidence. But it wasn’t supposed to happen.
It ensures our systems are up to date, secure and fit for purpose meaning our clients can rest assured that they are working with a business that is confident in its digital security. Plus, we have the hands-on knowledge to guide their security measures when we develop their websites and systems.
By having a clear picture of our organisation’s cyber security level, we can remain vigilant and keep ourselves ahead of any risk. Further securing our position as a reliable and trusted provider, particularly in the more heavily regulated industries and strengthening our position to further support larger government-backed organisations.
We signed up for Cyber Essentials Plus as part of our ambition to be transparent, accountable and authentically proactive for higher standards of security and support – meaning our clients can be confident they are in a safe pair of hands.
Our Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus reviews were overseen by URM Consulting Services.
Why PLUS is different – self-assessment and independent review of our position
We decided to work to achieve the higher assessment level – Cyber Essentials Plus which ‘To achieve Cyber Essentials Plus, you must already be certified to Cyber Essentials. Gaining the extra qualification will also involve a technical expert conducting an on-site or remote audit on your IT systems, including a representative set of user devices, all Internet gateways and all servers with services accessible to unauthenticated Internet users. “
Working with Lauren and the team has allowed us to elevate our security measures and we can step confidently forward knowing we are in the best position to support ourselves and our customers.
We signed up for Cyber Essentials Plus as part of our ambition to be transparent, accountable and authentically proactive for higher standards of security and support – meaning our clients can be confident they are in a safe pair of hands.
URM’S assessor commented, “Infotex has a strong set of controls in place and an exemplary patching process where the organisation is applying the most up-to-date operating systems and system software which provides both security and stability.”
Richard Howlett, a Lead Developer at Infotex said ‘We are very proud of achieving Cyber Essentials Plus certification. Infotex has made some significant investments in its cyber security infrastructure and this external validation provides a clear demonstration to our clients and partners of our commitment to protecting the organisation from cyber-related attacks.”
Understanding the bigger picture, and the impact COVID and working from home measures have had in the background of businesses.
“The government reports that as many as two in five UK firms have experienced cyber attacks in the last year.”
Throughout the assessment process, we learned that many businesses have experienced issues similar to ours.
Martin Jones, who leads the Cyber Essentials Plus initiative commented “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant number of organisations have struggled to keep up-to-date with the latest patch cycles and security updates as the patching systems were kept on the local network. With many, if not all, machines being remote, the patches could not be applied effectively. Some organisations have relied on end-users to apply patches manually, but this relies on the users’ technical aptitude and conscientiousness.”
A significant portion of the effort surrounding mobilising our staff to effectively work from home was the proactive management of our IT kit by our talented and experienced staff members.
This was a key concern for our team, as our stability and security mindfulness directly impacts our clients and their business. We decided to boost our online resilience by taking the proactive steps to work with the team at URM Consulting Services to thoroughly assess our position, and take any necessary corrective steps.
“Infotex managed to keep their applications up-to-date despite the challenges being faced. They achieved this by applying updates remotely and by keeping the number of applications they use to a minimum hence reducing the effort required.”
If you would like to learn more about what we did, and how we can support your business – give us a call. Every project starts with a chat.
It is extraordinary how much human beings like being together. We are social animals and we do well to remember it. As we have all braved our way through the past 18 months of lockdowns and working from home, much has been written and said about the positives and the move towards a new normal.
In Infotex, everyone has certainly embraced the opportunities presented when working from home, to be able to do our jobs whilst also enjoying less time travelling and more flexibility in our working days. We have been focussing on these positives, and in doing so I wonder if we have almost been experiencing a mild form of “Stockholm Syndrome”, whereby we were deluding ourselves that we are better off held in captivity.
With the knowledge that we were going to be allowed to emerge in the Autumn, as the Covid restrictions finally abated over the summer, and having entered a team to take part in a running event for charity, we took the opportunity to block out the diary across 7-10th October, and I was pleased that we were able to bring the whole company together for two days in our Riverside House Suffolk HQ. And I was amazed at how enjoyable it was to simply be together again. Perhaps after 18 months of daily video communication, I shouldn’t have been amazed. It was almost like meeting a whole bunch of people I am used to seeing on TV, the excitement of meeting the cast.
We spent the two days holding overdue discussions about our business – technical and commercial strategies were explored, productivity workshops held, along with team discussions about how we can work more effectively together as an integrated unit.
We continue to discuss across the business the pros and cons of working-from-home. As we approach 2022 we are carrying out a thorough review of our working patterns to make these as effective as possible for the future. We all agreed on the importance of meeting up in person, and we are now committed to regular sessions like this at least 4 times a year, whilst we also remain committed to supporting the work-from-home infrastructure which has also proved to be so durable and effective.
So will we keep Riverside House? This is currently not certain, but we can be sure that we do continue to see value in having our own “HQ” in Suffolk and a physical presence around which we can all congregate. Meanwhile, we have had a reassuring reminder that we still have our “home from home” in Suffolk, and another happy memory of time spent there….
If just one good thing has come out of Covid-19, it’s the blanket national appreciation of the National Health Service and those that work within it. Never before have so many interacted with the NHS, utilising the latest in digital technology from Track-and-Trace to the booking system behind millions of vaccinations.
Even prior to the pandemic taking hold, users of the NHS had started interacting digitally with the service with far greater frequency – and we at Infotex are extremely proud to announce that we’ve partnered with three of the exceptional software engineers who, for the past 20 years, have led the charge in such developments.
The team of Jonathan Smith, Gareth Barnes and Mark Boreham join us from NEL: the London-based commissioning support unit that covers nearly 25% of the UK population and manages over £10billion of NHS contracts.
Projects the trio have developed and implemented include, amongst others, the Allied Health Professionals (AHP) physiotherapy self-referral platform, which processes over 80,000 cases per year; the Call Information Management Application System (CIMAS), which enables police custody officers to book clinicians for those in their care requiring medical assistance; and the Lawmunion Library System, which connects over 150 hospitals and healthcare providers to share essential journals and books, both physically and digitally.
As part of their work with Infotex, Jonathan and the team have integrated several of their existing clients into the Infotex roster, most notably AHP for whom they will continue to offer technical support while developing new solutions. This influx of new clients has prompted Infotex to open an entire new healthcare division.
“After 25 years in the public sector with the NHS, it’s really exciting for myself, Gareth and Mark to join Infotex,” claims Jonathan.
“We bring a wealth of experience and skills from both the NHS and the private sector, utilising Microsoft technologies to complement those already in Infotex. We look forward to continuing to work with our existing customers, as well as developing new products in the healthcare sector.”
Anthony Agar, Infotex managing director, said of this new chapter in the company’s 20-year history, “It’s an exciting development for Infotex to bring on board three great developers who bring with them substantial new skills and experience.
“With a Microsoft.net development team focussed on building systems for healthcare providers – and combining this capability with Infotex’s core purpose of delivering websites that really do improve things for people – we’re going to do a great deal to help patients access services all over the UK.”
For more information, please contact Infotex on 01394 615 615.
I’m at my desk, in “the TV room” at home, which I have claimed in a military manoeuvre. It has undergone an upgrade over the weekend from “where I work when at home” to “the office”.
I click the “Google Hangout” popup alert and in a few seconds I am presented with a striking array of familiar faces. We have 22 people working in Infotex. Not all are full time, but today everyone is on the call. I can see a wall of anxiety on my desktop and I am not sure what to say to it. So at first I waffle on about how this is all unprecedented and we must brace ourselves for a commercial shock. But unlike many managers out there, I am able to turn to something more concretely positive: the silver linings at our disposal as an online business able to continue to operate more or less unaffected. How there is an opportunity for us to show leadership and courage, and to advance our online services in new ways, as the internet is now about to come to the fore.
We start to have a general chat. James picks up the theme and adds that it’s as if we just pressed fast forward on the things we have all believed in for years – the remarkable ability of the Internet empowering individuals and organisations to communicate and collaborate in ways that are so much more effective than ever seen before. We observe that the very meeting we are all having now is, well, comfortable and extraordinary in its quality. A reassuring facility in uncertain times.
This concept hits me with a force – that in a world which has suddenly become utterly unpredictable, we need to create some new certainties. The handrails and toe holds of life are about routine and certainty. I tell the team boldly “right we will meet here online every day at 9am for 15 mins for a catchup and general chat about things, then let’s take things one day at a time”. I do this as I sense everyone, me included, is going to need a new structure.
After three days of 9am catch ups, I start to meet resistance. Everyone is facing multiple challenges at the start of each day, with numerous Hangouts, Zooms and Meets, plus lots of production operations to get through. “Let’s try meeting at lunch time from tomorrow onwards”, I suggest on the day 3 catch up. There is then a typical Infotex discussion – friendly but firm, with plenty of opinion and sense of humour – about when lunchtime is. ‘Turns out some go for lunch as early as 12, and some as late as 2. This is not as disorganised as it sounds, it’s all about making sure we have people available all of the time for our clients when they need us. “Right”, I say, determined not to be outmanoeuvred, “we’ll have our catch ups at 11-45 daily – no one can say it’s too early, and no one can say they’re off for lunch”. And so it begins.
Lockdown continues and like thousands of small businesses all over the country we are now experts at working from home. We have had the Company Catchup at 11:45 every working day since March 23rd. The team has worked hard throughout to support our many clients with updates to their websites, as they all adapt to their changed worlds. Some clients have been exceptionally busy, with online sales many times greater than ever seen before. This produces challenges all round – one client, for example, quickly ran out of the small bags they use to sell to consumers, as their flour business was mostly selling to trade in large bags. Another client had to adapt their shops to become pick-and-pack centres and had streams of demand from customers wanting deep freezes and more audio visual equipment. Many of our clients had to shut down and just needed us to update all their messaging to tell customers about their new arrangements.
Like our clients, we are emerging from the mist and thinking about future plans and what will be the new normal. Already we know that we are never going back to the way we were before March. So how do we want to organise ourselves in the future, in a post-Covid world? We decide it’s time we did a survey, so Katie polls the team. She asks them to talk from a personal perspective (what they want for themselves) and from the company’s (what they think is best for the company’s future). The results, perhaps unsurprisingly, reveal how none of us can yet see very clearly into the future… but they do also show a distinct preference for working from home.
Meanwhile we make the office “Covid Secure”, although it remains mostly empty, and we offer our unused space to three small businesses that are struggling their way through the pandemic and are in need of working homes. My grown-up children offer to re-paint it so that it will feel fresh on our return in the Autumn.
When term starts, we reopen the office for a handful of those who want to go in part time, which feels like a reassuring step in the right direction.
With no sign yet of Lockdown 2, we decide to do a proper plan for 2021, which calls for a repeat of our June survey. Same questions, different answers this time. It seems about half the team believe they will work best if they can come and go to the office flexibly when restrictions are lifted. The other half want to keep working at home. There is much less indecision.
| Return to work in office? | Jun | Nov |
| Part time | 1 | 11 |
| Full time | 2 | 0 |
| Undecided | 8 | 2 |
| Never | 12 | 10 |
The Company Catchup has sustained throughout the summer. Even as lockdown eased, with calls to “Eat out to Help Out” and “Get Back to Work”, bolstered by our June survey results, we decided to hang on to our newly formed habit, reluctant to let go of all the benefits we are feeling. The Catch Up has found its own rhyme and reason:
Mondays – we pick up from the weekend. Then our production manager Katie runs us through all of the projects going on across the business, and highlights key events – launches, workshops, client meetings, internal sprint reviews.
Tuesdays – The week is underway and scheduling has been finalised the day before, so Cameron our Support Manager highlights how things are on the front line of support – any major maintenance upgrades, clients facing operational challenges and needing priority support.
Wednesdays – There will have been digital marketing and development meetings in the morning, so things can turn a bit geeky. We hear from Tim our Digital Strategist about cool stuff he is doing with clients to help them improve website performance. And Chris, John, Richard and the developers all chip in with updates on technical stuff they are up to.
Thursday is People Day – we raise admin matters – holiday plans, documentation, etc. And this is when we might have a guest speaker – our shareholders or creative partners for example.
Friday is think about the weekend. I tend to turn to our designers (the art department) to bring some colour and light to the conversation, and remind us of the importance of nurturing the artistic soul in our world of design and technology. We are blessed to have Jonny as our head of design, supported by Alice, they are a winning combination team.
By now we have also been successful in winning new business – engaging with, and selling to our clients online, and now working with them creatively. Out went the old one or two day workshops, involving car and train journeys and fabulously complicated logistics to get the necessary people together for quality time. In replacement we are seeing 2-day workshops achieved in several 2 or 3 hour remote sessions , with all the people we need to be there – Infotex and Clients – always able to attend, and with the luxury for our designers to be able to sit in on tech meetings, and our developers to sit in on design meetings, which so often in the past had been difficult to resource.
So, slowly, we feel, we are finding our sustainable path through this new world.
Lockdown 2 (or is it 3, or 4?) is now well underway. This time round, the whole nation, and nations abroad, seems more subdued. Our intention, stated in September, to re-open the office in January, was abandoned before Christmas, by then we knew it wasn’t going to happen. The Company Catch Ups have become about more than just routine and certainty, they’re about keeping well-being and companionship up too, in a world where human connection is at risk of slipping.
There are no rules. I have heard of all sorts of ways that businesses are helping employees navigate this new landscape. Each company and organisation needs to find what works best for it. As always with the adoption of new technology, it’s important not to let your natural tendency to want things to stay the same hamper your ability to adapt and grasp the positives.
For us, we will re-open our offices at the end of June and everyone will have a place to come to work. But as a company we have seen the benefits of working remotely and we intend to build on these learnings. For example, meetings will continue to be video based by default, so that they are always attended by the right people and the logistics can be frictionless.
The UK now has a road map and we can, at last, plan against a framework that will see an end to the lockdown and the most severe restrictions. All the indications are that there will be no “after Covid”; we are now in a “living with Covid” world. But regardless, and whatever restrictions remain on movement and social contact, we have all been propelled, as James said in our first lockdown meeting, into using the Internet with more imagination than we thought we had, for the improvement of how we run our lives.
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