Office 365 continues to develop, and it seems like something changes more or less every fortnight. This isn’t a bad thing, as long as Microsoft continue to make reasonable business decisions about the features and functionality; though the pace of change continues to present some challenges for partners and users alike. One of the most […]
Author: Simon
Simon Hudson is an entrepreneur and health sector specialist. He formed Cloud2 in 2008 following a rich career in the international medical device industry and the IT industry. Simon’s background encompasses quality assurance, medical device development, international training, business intelligence and international marketing and health related information and technology.
Simon’s career has spanned both the UK and the international health industry, with roles that have included quality system auditing, medical device development, international training (advanced wound management) and international marketing. In 2000 he co-founded a software-based Clinical Outcomes measurement start-up in the US. Upon joining ioko in 2004 he created the Carelink division and, as General Manager, drove it to become a multi-million pound business in its own right.
In 2008, Simon founded Cloud2 in response to a need for a new way of delivering successful projects based on Microsoft SharePoint. This created the first commercial ‘Intranet in a Box’ solution and kickstarted a new industry. He exited that business in 2019, which has continued to grow as a leading provider of Power BI and analytics solutions.
In 2016, he co-founded Kinata Ltd. to enable effective Advice and Guidance in the NHS and is currently guiding the business beyond its NHS roots to address needs in Her Majesty’s Prisons and in Australasia.
In 2021, Simon founded Novia Works Ltd.
In 2021 he was invited to become Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Hull.
In 2022 he was recognised as a Microsoft MVP.
In 2025 he founded Sustainable Ferriby CIC, a community energy not-for-profit to develop energy generation, energy & carbon reduction, and broader sustainability & NetZero projects in the West Hull villages.
Simon has had articles and editorials published in a variety of technology, knowledge management, clinical benchmarking and health journals, including being a regular contributor to PC Pro, as well as a presenter at conferences. He publishes a blog on areas of interest at noviaworks.co.uk. He is a co-facilitator of the M365 North User Group. He is a lead author and facilitator on the Maturity Model for Microsoft 365. He is the author of two patents relating to medical devices. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physical Science and a PGCE in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Hull.
Simon is passionate about rather too many things, including science, music (he plays guitar and octave mandola), skiing, classic cars, narrowboats, the health sector, sustainability, information technology and, by no means least, his family.
There’s a new buzzword in town and it’s “Digital Workspace”. I’m not a great fan of buzzwords and often they serve the needs of marketing hype without any substance, with a tendency to create more confusion and uncertainty than clarity and understanding; at their worst they provide a new bandwagon to people who like […]
This entertaining diagram that I saw on LinkedIn this morning touched a chord. Like all good humour it makes a critical point, or perhaps even several points. It certainly typifies different approaches. Apple’s fanatical insistence that anything can be achieved with a simple interface. Google’s equally fanatical insistence that everything can be achieved with a […]
At best, the idea of pressure ulcers (a particularly nasty form of chronic wound which costs the NHS billions of pounds every year) and link abstraction (a technique for disconnecting the source from the presentation layer) are uneasy bedfellows. You rarely find, if ever, them referred to in the same breath. In fact a Google […]
Solving issues with custom ringtones on Windows phone 10
I talk a lot about the five pillars of enterprise intranets: Content, Communication, Collaboration, People and Process; in the past we were the first company to develop a solution accelerator for enterprise intranets. This became our Hadron 8020 portal and attempted to serve all those needs and act as the one place that users can go to […]
A stimulating day at Microsoft’s Future Decoded yesterday, with a variety of genuinely interesting speakers, including Martha Lane Fox ; Sebastian Coe, Mike Stone and more. After a year of constant and often surprising announcements from Microsoft, the key news this time is that they are to open a UK data centre next year, hosting Azure and […]
Putting people in their place
Assuming the provocative title has piqued your interest into reading the first paragraph, then let me explain… I actually believe that people are the heart of an organisation, but organisations are more than just people. Of course there are all the elements of WHAT an organisation does, HOW it does it and a whole bunch […]
It’s long past time for another blog, so here are some musings on using SharePoint (which I really rather like a lot). What is SharePoint SharePoint is a Microsoft platform technology, running on servers or in the cloud, which allows a large range of business solutions to be rapidly built, deployed and managed for any […]
Originally posted on Read Ed Reid:
Social media’s here, and it’s here to stay. Whatever platform you use – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and/or any of the others – social media is playing an increasingly influential part in our lives. But does it work for business? Does social media really generate worthwhile business leads and create…
Microsoft Ignite 2015
Last week was the second of the huge Microsoft conferences, following quickly on from the developer orientated Build. Ignite combined, for the first time, several slightly smaller conference, including SPC, the SharePoint Conference, providing great reach into the increasingly connected Microsoft technology stack for IT Pros, Developers and Advanced Business Users/Strategists (amongst whom I count […]
The very nice folks at Microsoft lent me one of the few Microsoft Bands in the UK and with the announcement of a 15th April UK launch I thought I should publish my observations from living with one for 2 weeks. As ever Microsoft have done a less than spectacular job of marketing this innovative […]
