An interview with Mick Roach, Director of Strategic Alliances.
One Beetle, a coat hanger and a 30-year career
When I was younger, I was into, among other things, grunge music and classic cars. Somehow, I managed to buy myself a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle, which took up most of my money — and, if I’m honest, a fair bit of my mum’s too. One day, while visiting a garden centre, I managed to lock my keys in the car. Luckily, I knew that with a long enough piece of metal, there was a way of poking it through the quarterlight window to flip up the door lock button. So, I went into the shop next door and asked if they had a metal coat hanger I could borrow. They did. A few minutes later, the Beetle was unlocked and I returned the coat hanger, probably feeling quite pleased with myself.
As I handed it back, I noticed a sign on the door saying there was a job vacancy. That shop was Martin Dawes Ltd, the business that would become a major part of my working life, and today remains closely connected to Involve Visual Collaboration Ltd, via Martin, a major shareholder.
Suffice to say, I got the job. I started out as a salesperson, selling and renting TVs, video recorders and, at the time, something still relatively new to the market: mobile phones. Martin had spotted an opportunity early. Mobile phones were largely seen as a business-to-business tool, but he recognised their potential in the consumer market, both in the UK and internationally.
My career began on the shop floor and over the next five years, I worked my way into a regional management role, which also meant relocating with my fiancée and newborn son from Yorkshire over to Lancashire.
It was during that time that I met Rob Pasqualino, who was then, and still is, the driving force behind Involve and much of its success since the company was formed in 1989.
When I joined Involve in 2010, Rob’s plan was for me to help diversify the business by developing a healthcare arm. At the time, Involve was already well established in audio-visual and video conferencing solutions, particularly within courts and prisons.
That justice sector experience gave us a strong foundation. We understood secure communication. We understood complex public sector environments. We understood that technology had to work reliably, often in high-pressure situations where failure was not really an option. Most importantly, we understood that technology would not be adopted unless it complied with existing organisational workflows. From there, we began looking at how those same principles could support healthcare.
A lot has changed over the years. The technology has changed beyond recognition. The markets we work in have evolved. The way people communicate, collaborate and access services has moved on dramatically. But some things have stayed the same.
The way we work today can still be traced back to the values that shaped the company from the beginning. Involve has always felt like a family business in the best sense of the phrase. People look out for one another. Colleagues are respected. Customers matter. And when something needs doing, people step up. That has been one of the things I have valued most over the last 30 years.
Today, as we continue to develop the MEDIO brand and bring together our experience across healthcare, AV, video collaboration, support services and digital communication, it feels like another important chapter in the same story.
A story that, for me at least, started with a locked Beetle, a borrowed coat hanger and a job vacancy I might never have otherwise seen.
Making a difference to patient care
We’re all proud of what MEDIO is achieving. All of our colleagues are helping to make a difference to people’s lives. When you’re delivering technology in an MDT environment that allows decisions to be made quicker on a cancer patient’s clinical pathway, you know how meaningful that is. When a care home resident has a fall and you’re able to connect a clinician with their carer via video, providing faster access to care and possibly avoiding the need for an ambulance, it can be life changing. When someone has chronic anxiety and they cannot get to hospital for a much needed consultation, with MEDIO, they can have the consultation sitting on the sofa at home, which can be transformational for that individual. Our products and services are not only changing lives but potentially saving lives, through well designed and delivered, digitally enabled care. That’s why I love coming to work every day.
Linking up technology in the NHS
When you spend as much time in NHS settings as we do, you can see that the health service has not always made the best decisions around technology. There’s too much ‘tech’ out there that does not talk effectively to each other. We see this when patients are being diagnosed, cases are under review or new pathways are being developed. The right technology should be in place to support these processes. As the NHS seeks to move from models of treatment to prevention, hospital to community and from analogue to digital capabilities, the products and services that we offer are really well placed to enable these transformational changes and improve the quality of care that can be provided.
The MEDIO brand
MEDIO is a technology and services brand that is being launched delivered across the NHS and wider care sector. We provide a series of solutions which help clinicians and managers collaborate, making services more reliable, accessible and efficient. We talk about being a trusted partner and that is central to our work. Our clients can trust us because we’ve got their backs. From a technology perspective, we can help them achieve what they need, and we care as a company that people’s lives, both staff and patients, are improved by so doing.
Get in touch with Mick: MRoach@involve.vc
