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Optus signs communications services deal with health provider

Optus Business has become the primary IT provider of health services provider Uniting under a new five-year deal to consolidate and simplify its systems.
Written by Corinne Reichert, Contributor

Optus Business has announced signing a unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) deal with health services company Uniting over a period of five years.

The UCaaS offering involves provision of fixed voice, mobile, and data services to support Uniting's point-of-care technology; 2,400 mobile devices; and the implementation of a WAN solution across its 220 sites -- including offices, aged-care facilities, independent living units, childcare facilities, and community centres -- in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

"Optus Business is proud to support Uniting's innovative digital strategy, helping them become data-led and moving Uniting to cloud-based offerings so they can be more agile in delivering more effective services to Uniting customers now and into the future," Optus Business managing director John Paitaridis said.

The telecommunications provider said the deal with Uniting was made as a result of its Optus ThinkSpace workshops, through which it aids customers in discovering how to improve their businesses through technology.

"Today's announcement demonstrates how Optus ThinkSpace is helping customers identify business insights and pressure points, create innovative solutions and then see these delivered," Paitaridis said.

"In the case of Uniting, they are transforming their service delivery model to not only improve employee productivity but also increase their value to customers."

According to Uniting, it will specifically use Optus' services to consolidate its businesses, simplify processes, streamline back-office databases and systems, and utilise analytics and business intelligence to forecast future business needs.

Optus Business signed another five-year deal last month with travel agency Flight Centre to provide unified collaboration and communication services for AU$75 million.

Flight Centre's "transformation strategy" will be led by Optus' Business arm, with the contract also allowing for the telco to deliver global security, mobility, data connectivity expansion, and the migration of its operations to Optus' virtualised contact-centre-as-a-service (CCaaS) solution.

The travel agent will be moved over to the CCaaS solution within 12 months, Optus said.

Optus Business added cybersecurity prevention, detection, and monitoring capabilities to its managed security services portfolio in September, with the solution running on the Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform.

Optus' parent company Singtel said the Palo Alto solution bolsters its existing cybersecurity mechanisms, meshing with its managed security services business unit, Trustwave, and providing managed security services through Singtel's eight security operations centres.

"Our collaboration with Palo Alto Networks is another example of Optus Business' ongoing investment in growing Australia's ability to combat the increasing frequency and sophistication of cybersecurity threats," Paitaridis said last year.

"Our enhanced managed security services are complemented by Palo Alto Networks' innovative technologies, and support Australian businesses and government agencies with services they need to operate confidently in the digital and global market."

Optus Business also provides telecommunications and managed services throughout Australia and Asia to ANZ Bank, last year extending its contract out to 2020.

Under the agreement, Optus and Singtel provide domestic data network services, international data network services, mobility, collaboration, contact centre services, and managed services for ANZ.

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