Australia Post's telco transformation named top IT project

Australia Post's massive telecommunications transformation program has earned it the top prize in the iTnews Benchmark Awards for 2022.

The award was announced in front of IT leaders from across the country at the Benchmark Awards gala dinner at KPMG’s Sydney Office in Barangaroo on Wednesday night.

Australia Post was named the overall winner after winning the federal government award earlier in the evening.

Billed as the largest project of its type, the project wrapped up in November last year after more than two years of work to address critical network performances challenges and high operating costs.

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

The telecommunication transformation saw the rollout a new software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) across 4000 sites.

The new connectivity “backbone” has allowed Australia Post to begin a point-of-sale transformation, with future plans to use ruggedised smartphones to replace a motley assortment of devices.

The project also involved deploying new communication and collaboration tools for 14,000 staff and a new endpoint management platform, as well as standardising call routing across contact centres.

Australia Post won praise from the judges for reducing network outages across post offices by 70 percent, while reducing costs by up to 40 percent.

The SD-WAN has also 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.

You can read more about Australia Post’s work alongside the other winning projects and finalists here.

Winners were announced at the iTnews Benchmark Awards gala dinner held at KPMG’s Sydney Office in Barangaroo.