The Let’s Talk Digital joint event held on 7th November was a thought-provoking, informative and inspiring day with input from different speakers and several round table discussions.

Topics covered during the day included how technology impacts and influences recruitment trends, how it is being used within assessment processes such as behaviour and psychometric profiling, what it means for multi-generational workforce future proofing and succession planning, and how it can support service delivery. One of my key highlights was hearing from Pepper the robot about how they are working with children with autism and adults with dementia, as well as how colleagues at Southend on Sea Borough Council are exploring robotics and virtual reality to support service delivery. All the presentations are available below:

For me, the real benefit of these events is having the opportunity and space to think and reflect, to hear different ideas, to gain insights, to learn about what others’ are doing, to share what has worked for us, as well as taking some comfort in the fact that we are all struggling with similar issues!

Technology is such an integral part of our day to day lives. We now shop online; connect with family and friends; pay bills; book flights and track where our plane is; ask questions of our phones and tablets which they then answer; turn on lights at home when we are not there; count how many steps we have taken; assess how we slept. And yet, it seems that in our working lives we don’t always seem to be able to use technology for service delivery in a way that is easy, quick and accessible.

There are some excellent examples of how organisations are embracing technology and in preparing for the Let’s Talk Digital event, I found the following sites/reports which may be of interest –

Local Government Association (LGA)

For more information with regards to what digital means for HR and why it is important please see PPMA’s research piece with Eduserv here.