One of the most engaging customer visits undertaken during Cisco Live in Melbourne was the visit to the brand new, purpose built offices of global engineering and management company, Aurecon Group.

Aurecon's Melbourne office is based in the growing Docklands area of Melbourne and is a showcase for the use of information technology to enable business innovation, growth and productivity. 

During the visit, Barry Honey, Auercon Group IS Strategy and Architecture Manager outlined the company's strategic initiative to create innovative new client-facing technology services that will further differentiate its client experiences.  With operational projects taking place all over the world, Aurecon's vision is grounded in an intelligent network that is entirely scalable and flexible for the future, while nimble enough to respond to immediate business opportunities being working on by the company.

Key initiatives that see technology supporting the business, the client experience and making a difference to global workforce experience include:

• Next generation data centre and virtualisation foundationbased on Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) with EMC and VMware to optimise and automate the creation of new services to the business -e.g. with a shift from 2-D to 3-D modelling in engineering, Aurecon aims to enable its engineering team to provision any XaaS on-demand through a portal that is easy to use and centrally managed to maximise performance and scale.
• Support new ways of working and increased employee collaboration and productivityby placing business video at the centre of a comprehensive IP-based communication and collaboration solution.  Aurecon makes it easy for internal experts to put their heads together and solve problems with Cisco TelePresence.  With Cisco Jabber (pilot) and WebEx, employees can collaborate anywhere, anytime and anyplace via voice, video, instant messaging and web conferencing on any device -desktop, notebook, tablet or smartphone.  Cisco Digital Media signage further support employee communication and engagement.  With Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility and pervasive Wi-Fi, the company supports different work styles, team meeting areas and employees on the move.  My Aurecon cards provide 'follow me' office entry access printing, IP telephone and workspace services to employees as they travel to Aurecon offices around the globe.
• Focus on achieving a five-star green rating (currently it has a 4.5 green rating)through a Cisco UCS-based data centre that delivers highly secure, reliable access to company information on projects, customers and vendors.  Redundant, automated data backup and network security help make sure all documents are online and accessible whenever they are needed.  With a single point of management of server, network and storage access and by radically reducing the number of devices requiring set up, management, power/cooling and cabling, Aurecon dramatically lowers its electricity, IT infrastructure, deployment and on-gong management costs.

Aurecon Group sees their IT strategy as a great source of value-add to their business.  They are combining best of breed technologies with innovative work practices for the benefit of the clients and the growth of their global business.