Southern Mallee District Council was clear about what it wanted from its next technology environment: greater flexibility, more control within its own team and technology that would give staff greater ownership of the information and processes they work with every day.

The Council, which supports the townships of Pinnaroo and Lameroo and their surrounding communities in South Australia's Murray Mallee, operates with a relatively lean team responsible for a broad range of services, projects and facilities.

Southern Mallee's existing legacy system was on-premise, ageing and increasingly inflexible. Replacing the infrastructure would require significant investment, making a move to a modern cloud-based environment the logical next step.

But the limitations weren't all technical. In some areas, Council had become reliant on external contractors to manage certain activities. Getting the information staff needed could involve several different people, reducing the level of control and internal knowledge Council wanted across its operations.

For Southern Mallee CEO Jason Beaton, bringing expertise and knowledge back in-house, and reducing the reliance on external resources, became an important catalyst for change.

The new environment will give staff greater involvement in the systems and processes they use, supporting knowledge sharing across the organisation and helping teams develop greater confidence and ownership in their respective areas.

On choosing to partner with CouncilFirst

Microsoft Dynamics 365 was an important factor in Southern Mallee's decision, providing the familiar Microsoft environment Council was looking for, together with the benefits of a connected, cloud-based platform and access to broader capabilities across integration, reporting and automation.

Just as important was the partnership itself. Southern Mallee valued CouncilFirst's approachable, easy-to-work-with team and collaborative approach to a transformation that will involve its people throughout the journey.

For Southern Mallee, the project represents a shift towards greater independence and a more productive way of working, supported by technology that can continue to evolve with the organisation.

We look forward to working alongside Jason and the Southern Mallee team as that new environment takes shape.