A new partnership between ACS and Telstra has seen advanced technology delivering great benefit to Australia's peak body for the ICT profession.
With branches across Australia receiving support from a National Office in Sydney, travel costs were proving to be one of the larger expense lines incurred by the not-for-profit group.
Enter Telstra and their SME technology specialists.
Working with ACS CIO Ali Shariat, Telstra took a holistic approach to the challenges faced by a geographically spread team.
"Telstra were able to deliver us a range of options which we were then able to customise to suit our situation. Their approach was to become a partner of the ACS, rather than a traditional service provider." Shariat said.
"We were working with a somewhat antiquated telephony system, which was holding us back in terms of our ability to network our locations.
"The Telstra IP Telephony (TIPT) solution allowed us to reduce costs while increasing productivity.
"Our management team are now equipped with videoconferencing facilities on their desk, as well as having access to mobile video conferencing.
"We regularly have staff traveling and they can now join meetings from anywhere in Australia or around the world."
One of the key advantages was the IaaS [Infrastructure-as-a-Service] model of the solution, which enabled Shariat's staff to focus on business applications rather than day to day management of infrastructure.
"The increase in productivity has been particularly noticeable in my team. We no longer have to worry about backups and infrastructure management. That time can now be spent better utilising resources and operational expenditure.
"If our business expands or shrinks, we have the elasticity to be able to absorb that without dramatic changes.
"We are using infrastructure as we need it."
Telstra's Do Your Thing program is focused on helping small businesses spend more time running their business and less time worrying about technology. You can find out more by watching this short video:
