NSWTA bags first talent benchmark award; Australia Post is overall winner

NSWTA bags first talent benchmark award; Australia Post is overall winner

NSW Telco Authority (NSWTA) bagged the inaugural talent award while Australia Post was crowned the overall winner in the 2022 iTnews Benchmark Awards.

The prize was presented to IT leaders from throughout the country at the Benchmark Awards gala event at KPMG’s Sydney office in Barangaroo.

NSWTA, which has embarked on a $1.4 billion network expansion, got the acknowledgement for its work upskilling and preparing staff to deliver critical technology programs of work.

Last year, 540 NSWTA staff enrolled in 91 of the organization’s upskilling courses participated by nationally recognised service providers and vendors. Out of the 540, 366 took part in technology training.

The employees had the option to acquire both professional and specialist certifications.

The program covered in Agile, Prince2, machine learning, and emerging technologies. 

NSWTA Managing Director Kylie De Courteney said in a documentary by the ITnews, “What we recognised was that training and development were really vital to the sustainable growth of the organisation, as well as to our success.”

“What I’m really proud of is the fact that we gave people our most valuable resource, which is time,” Courteney added.

Meanwhile,  iTnews named Australia Post telecommunications transformation effort the best IT project.

Australia Post took home the top prize of the evening after winning the federal government award earlier.

The judges commended the government business enterprise for minimizing network disruptions across post offices by 70% while cutting expenses by up to 40%.

The transformation project, billed as the largest of its kind, was completed last year to solve significant network performance issues and high operating expenses.

The project consisted of four service towers: network, communications and collaboration, contact centre, and mobility.

The new software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), developed in the telco transformation, allowed Australia Post to set up mobile sites at short notice, meaning it can better respond to natural disasters like the recent floods in NSW and Queensland.

Read also: 2021 APACD Awards Recognise In-House Communications Excellence – CommsRoom

The other winners are listed below: 

  • Lendlease Podium – Innovation Award – Benchmark Awards 2022: Modernises building design and operation
  • QUT – Best Education Project Award for Q Chatbot: Benchmark Awards 2022: Connects students to answers faster.
  • Barwon Health’s CoVax App – Best Health Project: Benchmark Awards 2022: Helped citizens receive vaccinations.
  • AgBioEn – Agriculture Project Award for Data Science System: Benchmark Awards 2022: Biofuel maker runs crop trials.
  • Sydney Water’s IoT blockage detection system – Industrial Award: Benchmark Awards 2022: Detects about 20 blockages a month.
  • Woolworths Group – Best Consumer Project: Benchmark Awards 2022: eReceipts boost the customer experience.
  • SA Water claims state gov – Energy Optimisation System Award: Benchmark Awards 2022: Automates renewables use.
  • The city of Unley – Local Gov Award for Digital Twin: Benchmark Awards 2022: Maps tree canopy coverage change over time.
  • Westpac banking-as-a-service – Best Finance Project: Benchmark Awards 2022: Ramps up its digital capabilities and captures new customers.
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Jaw de Guzman
Jaw de Guzman
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.