Southcarer wins national accolades for transforming the digital delivery of aged care
It’s official: our caring hands are among the best in Australia when it comes to leading the way in information technology to help our customers.
Southcarer Arif has been named a finalist as “Best Accidental IT Person” at the Australian NFP Technology Awards 2023 overnight. This is a prestigious national award that recognises excellence in information technology in the not-for-profit sector.
As a young millennial with an obvious interest in all things IT, working for an essential service where the average customer age is 81 years, you may think there is no role here for him, and a few years ago you would have been right.
Arif started with Southcare five years ago as a volunteer in the marketing team, shortly after became a paid employee working in the human resources and community care teams and now leads our internal IT department and oversees the work of our external digital suppliers.
Chief Executive Officer Dr Nicky Howe said Arif brought a keen interest in digital technologies to improve customer service, thus enabling Southcare to continually improve and stay ahead of the ever-evolving digital curve.
“Arif has transformed the way Southcare helps its customers, streamlined the way staff members share information and work together, automated manual processes to improve efficiencies and has since been promoted to a job that celebrates that IT is truly his calling!,” Dr Howe said.
“We have been helping people for 40 years and while we have naturally evolved over that time, our digital delivery has really exploded at a rate of knots which has been so important as we stay ahead of industry requirements so we can continue to provide the very best care to our customers.”
The criteria that saw Arif named as a finalist in the award included:
- making a significant contribution to an organisation and has positively impacted the organisation and, as a result, the wider community
- outstanding management of technology and used technology to positively impact an organisation, in spite of these responsibilities not being a formal part of their role or position description initially
- showing genuine devotion and consistent effort to fulfil an organisation’s main purpose or mission
In attending the awards ceremony in Melbourne, Arif reflected on his journey with Southcare.
“I have been lucky to find a role that I love and one that I have been able to help shape based on my interests.
“Starting as a volunteer was great experience and my career progression over the last five years has been so rewarding. I am happy to share this honour with my colleagues as the delivery of information technology across our business really has been a team effort with so many projects completed over the years.”
The news is welcome in another way too as the announcement comes on the eve of National Volunteer Week (15-21 May) with the theme “the change makers”.
If you have caring hands and want to be a change maker, reach out and make a difference today.