As part of an annual survey by the Chief Information Officer Executive Council (CIO), Northern Beaches Council is being celebrated for key digital innovations.

Council’s Chief Information Officer Naren Gangavarapu has been voted a top performer – taking out a spot as number 5 CIO in the country.

The survey found new digital practices and protocols have improved customer satisfaction, delivered greater efficiency and created considerable cost savings at Council. 

Since joining Northern Beaches Council in January 2020, Naren and his team, delivered a five-year, post-merger digital and IT strategy, carefully taking time to educate the wider team on technology trends and priorities. This led to an increased capital investment in customer service technologies, human resources systems and cybersecurity tools, as well as a $3 million reduction in operational costs just in the first year.

Reporting to the Director of workforce and technology, Naren Gangavarapu and his team have implemented a modern workplace program, which is a collection of tools and processes that has allowed council staff to work from anywhere, including during the Covid-19 pandemic. These collaboration tools save information workers about four hours per week; frontline workers save 45 minutes collaborating with colleagues; while the number of weekly meetings between the 1,800 staff across the council has been cut by 20%.

This month Council is also celebrating that it has received the CIO50 Best Government Project Award for People Central, a brand new human capital management system which controls rostering and payroll system.  Testament to the extraordinary efforts of our whole Information Technology and Project teams, this second tech award acknowledges the significant organisational heft needed to successfully implement new ways of working.

Learn more about Naren Gangavarapu’s achievements and career here.