Team Global Express (TGE) was created when Toll sold its Global Express division. The spun-off organisation has a new name, identity, and branding and needed to separate from its former parent and operate independently. It was a significant task, dubbed ‘The Separation Project’.
A key element of The Separation Project was IT infrastructure – ensuring that the new company had the data centre, network and end user computing (EUC) infrastructure it needed to run as a stand-alone business. Responsibility for that fell to Adam Mostyn, the ‘IT Separation Infrastructure Lead’ for Team Global Express.
It was no small feat to get the required IT infrastructure set up in the organisation’s 111 sites, some of which were in very remote parts of Australia. Toll had grown through a series of purchases, so the sites were far from homogenous - they varied in size, from the Type B centres, with multiple lines of business and up to 400 people, to Type C with 40-50 users and Type D with anything from 1 to 30 people. Staff at the various sites used different combinations of PCs, laptops, tablets and printers. The situation was further complicated by the aftermath of the pandemic – some people had transitioned to working from home, and others had moved offices, so it was difficult to get an accurate picture of who was based where.
For the EUC element of the project, Adam broke it down into two stages. ‘Firstly, we needed to carry out an audit of the existing EUC devices’, explains Adam. ‘We had to get a reliable record of what was out there, and it’s age and condition, so that we could build a plan for replacement or redeployment.’
‘The second stage was to get the new or redeployed equipment installed and up and running at every site.’
Stage 1, getting out to audit every site, particularly the remote ones, was a big challenge, and Adam knew that his team was going to need some help. So he called in IMI. Adam had been introduced to IMI by TGE’s CIO, Danny Gravell, who had worked with them in his former role as CIO of Epworth Health.
‘I engaged IMI initially to do the audits of the remote sites. We suspected that many of our records were out of date and the only way to be really sure of the scenario at each site was to send people to physically check. We simply didn’t have the hands and feet to complete the work, so needed a partner we could trust. IMI used local resources in each location, who went on site, checked the people and equipment against our lists and gave us invaluable feedback. They did such a great job with the remote sites that we expanded their scope of work to other locations too.’
Adam also engaged IMI when it came to the rollout of the EUC devices. ‘IMI’s role was distributing devices to users onsite, and making sure that they could logon and download applications through our portal, and general troubleshooting’, he explains. ‘But they weren’t working in isolation - this stage involved five different parties, all of whom had to work closely together’, says Adam. ‘As well as TGE and Toll managing the project, we had Infosys imaging the devices, and Infosys and Telstra managing the deployment of the network. IMI had to have a high level of interaction and collaboration with all the other parties.’
The Separation Project was successfully complete in nine months, and Adam was delighted with IMI’s contribution. ‘IMI have an incredible ability to ‘rally troops’ when we needed them – even at short notice’, says Adam, ‘The support from the management team is exceptional too. I could always reach out to Julian, John and Richard, knowing that they would respond and fix any issues.’
The best thing about working with IMI though, for Adam, was the fact that he felt he was working with a true partner, one who was committed to the project’s success. ‘We work with a lot of outsourcing companies’, he says, ‘and if it’s not in the contract, they won’t lift a finger. IMI could not be more different – they are a true partner and a great corporate citizen. They are willing to chip in, and help out for the sake of the project. Above all, they delivered on every promise, and for that reason they are a partner I can see us working with a lot in the future.’