Parramatta City Council's digital transformation

Solution

Step-by-step methodology and finding the right partner 

Since Council’s technologies were interlinked, Telstra took a whole-of-business approach using an incremental, step-by-step methodology. Once one project was completed successfully, the next one was started.

To resolve poor mobile coverage, Council moved to the Telstra Mobile Network. So the first and most urgent action was to migrate roughly 1100 Council workers. This was done successfully by Telecet, a Telstra partner who now provides ongoing Mobile Device Management services to Council.

The critical role Telstra and its partners played in the success of the City of Parramatta’s ongoing IT transformation is a recurring theme with John Crawford. 

The next stage was to move from Skype to Microsoft Teams. Given the size of Council, a manageable and economical way to migrate services without disruption was paramount. Operator Connect with Telstra was successfully deployed to enable Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) calling, this meant that Council staff could make and receive calls, anywhere – all via Microsoft Teams. 

A key advantage of Operator Connect is effortless administration. Council can manage and move phone numbers, migrate from old services and roll back if needed via a portal. Administration doesn’t require external tech support, incurs no downtime, and can even be done after hours. 

At the core of operations is a Telstra Adaptive Networks solution. Although currently 80% complete, it has already delivered a much needed and major bandwidth uplift to all 17 sites and the data centres. 

Flexibility is another benefit. The modular, ‘network-as-a service’ design of Telstra Adaptive Networks means Council can change network infrastructure to meet evolving business needs quickly and easily. 

Telstra Adaptive Networks includes built-in gateways to clouds, security platforms, public internet and/or private networks. The fully integrated nature of the solution was a critical factor for Council due to the simplicity of setting up links to cloud-based platforms in the future. 

The solution is being delivered by Exigo Tech, Telstra’s specialist cloud partner. Council and Exigo Tech have a close relationship, where Exigo Tech proactively manages the wider network, freeing Council to focus on internal management.

Approach

Security as top of mind

Like every government organisation, the City of Parramatta needs to safeguard sensitive data from prying eyes, manipulation, and potential theft. Any new communications platform must therefore offer meticulous standards of protection. 

Operator Connect with Telstra offers high-level security to keep Council’s communications safe and private, whether staff are using landlines in the contact centre, or MS Teams in the office or on the move. Operator Connect only uses trusted cross-connects between Microsoft and accredited carriers like Telstra. These cross-connects are direct, private links that reduce data hops. The effect is twofold: security is enhanced, and at the same time, Council enjoys better call quality. 

In addition, Operator Connect offers powerful security features. For example, it provides end-to-end data encryption across signalling and media traffic using Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP). Operator Connect also complies with data protection and privacy regulations such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 

At the same time, Azure Active Directory offers a central point of control to authenticate, authorise and enforce user access and privileges. Microsoft Teams aligns with security best practices. These include defence-in-depth, security hardening, rigorous operational procedures, and controls for the organisation to manage the service. The Council is exploring future options to integrate Microsoft Teams with the broader M365 ecosystem. This will deliver enterprise-grade security and compliance across the entire communications environment to defend against threats like network denial-of-service attacks, phishing, malware and ransomware.

Impact

A cost-effective boost to productivity and collaboration 

The Telstra Mobile Network has given an immediate uplift to staff efficiency, “The feedback we got, especially from senior management and outdoor workers was instant... the coverage was better, they were able to perform tasks they weren’t able to before... this translated to productivity improvement,” says John Crawford, Chief Technology Officer, City of Parramatta.

The Council’s experience with Microsoft Teams was also extremely positive. Like most other councils, the City of Parramatta has numerous sites and field workers. Staff can now stay productive and in touch wherever they are because MS Teams works on mobile devices. Crucially, MS Teams is a multi-purpose collaboration platform, “Having one platform for our collaboration needs has been the biggest benefit... as we move into our modern workplace, this will be critical for fast, easy joining of meetings,” says Crawford.

Support is also easier with a cloud-based platform like MS Teams. Migration, configuration and maintenance can all be done remotely, a major advantage for councils with limited IT staff. The advantages of Operator Connect are evident too. Phone calls are now centrally routed to the contact centre or Microsoft Teams. As a result, telephony is far easier to manage and scale via a single portal for Council administrators.

In addition, communication is not only more reliable, calling is now more resilient since alternative phone numbers are available if incoming connections fail. As a bonus, Council has saved roughly $5K a month on phone bills, and there’s no need to use resources maintaining an on-premises PBX system.

Telstra Adaptive Networks has also proved its worth. Not only is it more cost-effective, once deployed it has been ‘set and forget’ for internal IT staff. Increased capacity, redundancy and scale mean current operations are better supported, and will help Council take full advantage of the cloud and IoT in the future.