Driving workforce engagement through AI innovation

Challenge

Overcoming operational barriers 

YMCA Victoria operates across more than 150 locations across the state, with a workforce as diverse as the communities it serves. This scale and diversity, while a strength, presented a significant operational challenge, which was how to deliver consistent, safe, and accessible services to every employee and volunteer, regardless of language, location, or digital literacy. 

The organisation’s workforce includes individuals from a wide range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Many staff and volunteers were struggling to access critical information, policies, and updates due to language barriers and fragmented communication channels. 

This created inefficiencies, increased risk, and made it difficult to maintain a unified standard of service delivery. And for an organisation built on trust, safety, and community impact, these gaps were not just inconvenient, they represented a key strategic priority that needed to be addressed.

YMCA Victoria recognised that traditional solutions, manual translations, printed materials, or siloed digital tools, were no longer fit for purpose. The operational strain and cost implications of supporting a multilingual workforce without scalable tools, necessitated the need for an innovative solution to streamline access to policy information and reduce dependency on ad hoc translation.

Essentially, YMCA Victoria needed an accessible, state-of-the-art solution that produced trusted information in their team members’ preferred language. But solving this challenge required more than just technology, it demanded a strategic and highly collaborative partnership.

Based on previous interactions, YMCA Victoria selected to work with both Telstra and Digital Armour. Together, all parties understood that the challenge wasn’t just about communication, it was about connection. 

Leveraging Telstra’s enterprise-grade network infrastructure and Microsoft’s AI capabilities, the team worked toward developing a solution that could deliver real time, context-aware support to employees and volunteers across all YMCA Victoria’s sites.

Solution

Pioneering technology for inclusive impact 

Faced with the challenge of delivering consistent, safe, and accessible services across a highly diverse workforce, YMCA Victoria turned to innovation. 

The solution was a transformative AI initiative, affectionately referred to by the YMCA Victoria team as ‘Polly the parrot’, a multilingual chatbot designed to bridge communication gaps and empower staff and volunteers across its locations.

Built using Microsoft technologies and deployed in partnership with Digital Armour and Telstra, Polly was engineered to deliver real-time, context-aware support in multiple languages. This meant frontline staff, regardless of background or digital literacy, could access critical information (such as YMAC Victoria’s policies and procedures) instantly and in their preferred language.

Brodie Henderson, Executive Manager Early Learning reflects, “Polly has made it easier for everyone, especially the 53% of those with different first languages, backgrounds, and cultures, to access and understand our policies and procedures in a way that’s clear, relevant, and meaningful to them.”

What made Polly truly enterprise-ready was the infrastructure behind it. Telstra’s robust, high-performance network ensured seamless connectivity across all YMCA Victoria sites, enabling Polly to operate at scale without compromise. In a community service organisation where safety, clarity, and speed are paramount, Polly’s consistent performance became a cornerstone of trust.

Telstra’s Enterprise team worked closely with YMCA Victoria stakeholders, aligning on goals, user needs, and long-term aspirations. But the resultant solution that didn’t just solve a problem, it unlocked new possibilities. Polly became a platform for future AI innovation, a model for inclusive digital transformation, and a catalyst for cultural change.

Polly’s success demonstrates how AI, when paired with strategic partnerships and enterprise-grade infrastructure, can deliver immediate and measurable impact. Proving that technology can be deployed with empathy, precision, and scale; and when you invest in solutions that put people first, the returns go far beyond productivity; instead, they reshape how enterprise can connect, communicate, and develop future-readiness.

Approach

A strategy that scales

The success of YMCA Victoria’s AI transformation was made possible through a strategic partnership between YMCA Victoria, Telstra, and Digital Armour. This collaboration combined deep domain expertise, enterprise-grade infrastructure, and cutting-edge technology to deliver a solution that was not only effective but scalable and future-ready.

At the heart of this initiative was YMCA Victoria’s clear vision: to empower its diverse workforce and streamline operations through intelligent automation. Telstra supported this vision with robust network capabilities and enterprise experience, providing the foundational infrastructure. And the technology partner, Digital Armour, brought the AI expertise needed to build and deploy a multilingual chatbot using Microsoft technologies, specifically Copilot Studio and Azure AI Translator.

Using Copilot Studio, YMCA Victoria designed a conversational interface that enables natural language queries and intelligent automation. This allowed team members to ask questions and receive instant, relevant responses.

Azure AI Translator ensured policy information could be delivered in multiple languages, a critical feature for supporting YMCA’s culturally diverse workforce across various locations. And Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure made the solution scalable, secure, and ready for hybrid environments.

To further enhance functionality, SharePoint integration enabled Polly to access and reference organisational content in real time, ensuring staff received accurate, tailored information when they needed it.

Telstra’s network played a vital role in enabling Polly to perform reliably across more than 150 YMCA Victoria sites. The infrastructure ensured low latency, high availability, and secure data transmission, critical for an enterprise-grade AI deployment.

Beyond the technology, a key driver of success was the strong collaboration at every stage of the project. Telstra’s Enterprise team worked closely with YMCA Victoria’s stakeholders through multiple briefing sessions, ensuring the solution was tailored to the organisation’s unique needs. This wasn’t a one-size-fits-all deployment, it was a co-created initiative designed to integrate seamlessly with existing systems and workflows.

Together, Telstra, Digital Armour, and YMCA Victoria focused on user experience, accessibility, and operational relevance. The chatbot was built to be intuitive, responsive, and capable of delivering real-time support in multiple languages, empowering frontline staff regardless of location or language proficiency.

This collaborative approach didn’t just solve an immediate challenge; it created a framework for future innovation. It demonstrated how strategic partnerships built on trust, shared goals, and technical excellence can deliver transformational outcomes.

Impact

Connected teams driving an empowered future  

The introduction of AI at YMCA Victoria has sparked a remarkable transformation, one that’s not just about technology, but about people. Thanks to Telstra’s reliable and high-performing network, YMCA Victoria employees are now working smarter, faster, and with greater confidence. 

Task efficiency has tripled, freeing up time for staff to focus on what matters most: supporting their communities. The intuitive design of the AI tools meant minimal training was needed, allowing teams to hit the ground running. For many, this shift has been a game-changer. 

Sally Robertson, South East Area Manager, Children’s Programs, “Polly makes navigating workplace policies so much easier for our team. The program translates complex documents into clear, simple language and provides helpful summaries that are quick to read and easy to understand. This has saved our educators so much time and removed the stress of interpreting lengthy policies, ensuring everyone feels informed and confident in their roles. It also supports consistency across our practices and helps us stay aligned with organisational standards.”

YMCA Victoria team members proudly report feeling more empowered and engaged, with the reduction in manual tasks leading to a noticeable boost in job satisfaction. Behind the scenes, managers are making more informed decisions with real-time data at their fingertips. Strategic planning is sharper, and operational agility has improved across the board. 

Because the solution is built on Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Translator, it can easily accommodate new languages, content types, and user groups. This means YMCA Victoria can respond quickly to emerging needs, whether it’s supporting new community programs or enhancing internal communications.

Moreover, plans are underway to integrate Polly with other enterprise systems, enabling deeper insights and more personalised support for staff, creating a digital ecosystem where AI is used to help every team member feel informed and connected. 

YMCA Victoria’s journey is proof that when technology is deployed with purpose and people in mind, the impact is not just measurable, it’s transformational. And with Telstra and Digital Armour as strategic partners, YMCA Victoria is not just adopting technology, it’s shaping a future where innovation and inclusion go hand in hand. The journey ahead is full of possibility, and Polly is the beginning.