About This Case Study
Ability First Australia (AFA) is one of the largest not for profit strategic alliances between 14 of Australia’s leading Disability Service Providers. The organisation represents the interests of approximately AUS $1.6 billion worth of support services to over 92,000 people with a disability, their families, and carers.
The Younger People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC) System Coordinator Program is a national initiative funded by the Commonwealth Government and operated by Ability First Australia. The program is designed to reduce the number of younger people at risk of entering and living in residential aged care. It aims to give younger people greater choice and control over where they live and what support they need to either transition out of, or avoid entering, residential aged care.
Time to Scale & Enable a Remote Working Strategy
The team at AFA required a technology platform and partnership that would allow them to deliver a national program. AFA had a need to rapidly scale their workforce with a strong remote working strategy that would promote collaboration. Whilst it was largely a greenfield project; for the team there was a strong requirement to implement tried and tested solutions that wouldn’t become a roadblock as they looked to rapidly ramp up operations and begin their work.
What Our Customers Say
"Ability First’s Younger People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC) System Coordinator Program is both sensitive in nature, and an important initiative for the aged care and disability sectors. As a start- up program with limited time to scale up and deliver a national program we needed a partner to build a technology stack from the ground up that could support our growing national staff team. ONGC delivered a technology environment that has allowed our staff to collaborate internally but most importantly to both work effectively from home and flexibly out in the community to engage with its customers."
A Holistic Solution for Maximum Impact
AFA contacted the ONGC team and met with key stakeholders to begin building the technology framework that would deliver on their requirements. There was a strong emphasis on having reliable and concise support for their user base in addition to a scalable platform; this was a large component in the final solution.
Their requirements included:
- Reliable communication platform including email, instant messaging, and video conferencing
- Commercial grade laptops to provide staff with flexible working arrangements from a range of settings
- Digital phone system to allow staff to receive and triage referrals to the program
- Cyber security strategies to ensure data protection obligations were being met
ONGC put together a package of solutions aimed to address the key business requirements including:
- New Microsoft 365 Environment leveraging Exchange Online, SharePoint, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Intune / Endpoint Manager, and the Microsoft Defender suite
- Roll out of Microsoft Teams calling solution via ONGC’s ReachPBX Hosted Phone System solution
- Implementation of ONGC’s Managed Services and Managed Security solutions
The base solution was developed within 6 weeks and has continued to expand over a 12-month period as the program continues to grow.
Delivering on Their Mission Through Stronger IT
In the last 12 months, the YPIRAC System Coordinator program has grown its workforce to become a national network of over 37 staff. Staff are in all states, with some based in small regional towns and others working from their homes in larger metro centres. Regardless of geography, the team has used its technology platform to build a culture of inclusiveness and collaboration. Its IT infrastructure and platforms supports staff mobility, allowing the program to have the confidence that wherever staff need to travel to support their customers, connectivity and security is maintained.
Services We Provided
Learn more about how these services could help your business.
