The Hybrid Organisation becomes “The Anywhere Organisation”

Our mission has evolved, and will now be known as "The Anywhere Organisation"

Today marks the beginning of the next stage in the development of the Hybrid Organisation concept, one we’ve been exploring since 2010. With the recent launch of the Anywhere Working Consortium, co-founded by Microsoft, we believe there is a natural progression to rename The Hybrid Organisation “The Anywhere Organisation”.

As we’ve discussed on this site, in today’s fast paced business environment, organisations are looking for new levels of flexibility. In part, this is a move away from the old world of work, with its dependence on fixed working hours and an allotted workspace: a desk, PC and phone. Organisations are instead seeking ultimate flexibility as they move beyond even traditional flexible working policies, so that staff can work from anywhere and from any device, and collaboration and innovation can be optimised.

The popularity of adopting this business model led a group of experts, including Microsoft, to coin the term “Hybrid Organisation”. The Hybrid business is one that combines the three elements of people, workplace and technology in equal measure to empower its people to work in the way they would be most productive. The concept quickly gained traction and in 2011 played a key role in Microsoft’s decision to help form the Anywhere Working Consortium in partnership with Business in the Community (BITC), Nuffield, Regus and Vodafone UK. The purpose of the consortium is to help organisations drive greater productivity and efficiency, reduce employee stress, lower carbon emissions and compete in an economically challenging environment. In short, to promote many of the themes highlighted in Microsoft’s Hybrid Organisation work.

The first step the consortium has taken in helping businesses achieve this is the creation of the Anywhere Working portal, an online tool launched today that gives employers and employees guidance on how to work smarter, including the promotion of alternatives to travel. Through the portal, organisations can also measure how much time, money and carbon energy they can save by working more flexibly by entering information into the portal’s Savings Calculator. Please take a look at the site to find out more.

We were looking to rebrand the Hybrid Organisation anyway – as increasingly, the term ‘hybrid’ is being used to reference how organisations consume cloud computing – via the public cloud, a private cloud or a combination of the two: a ‘hybrid’ approach.  While we remain totally committed to the Hybrid Organisation themes that we have been exploring for the last 18 months, there was a growing risk that the term might confuse people, especially those in the IT industry, so a rebrand that aligned with the Anywhere Working Consortium’s work seemed like a sensible move.

This site will continue to explore the themes around Hybrid Organisation, just through a different name. We hope you continue to find our content insightful, and let us know your thoughts.