UNSW Showcased as Leading Defence Sector Partner

UNSW has launched its Defence Research and Technology Capability Portfolio at the inaugural UNSW Defence Showcase, held recently at Spotless Stadium during the 2018 Invictus Games. The Showcase demonstrated the impressive range of defence related research that UNSW continues to develop and provided an excellent opportunity to connect government agencies and defence groups with UNSW researchers.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UNSW Professor Brian Boyle gave the welcome address and highlighted the long-standing relationship that exists between UNSW and the defence sector. He outlined that as part of UNSW’s Knowledge Exchange initiatives, the Showcase was designed to bring academia, industry and the Australian Defence Force together, to collectively strengthen Australia’s defence capability.

Working across both the Sydney and Canberra UNSW campuses, the UNSW Defence Research Institute adds a critical dimension to preparing Australia’s defence forces across areas as diverse as public sector management and conflict studies, cyber security, space, systems engineering and logistics. The Defence Research and Technology Capability Portfolio demonstrates UNSW’s excellence in defence research and highlights the many exciting opportunities for partnership and collaboration between the defence industry and UNSW.

Speaking of the Capability Portfolio, UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Ian Jacobs said, “It just makes good sense to centralise experience and knowledge and foster collaboration from across the country and across sectors, if we are to achieve the best outcomes for the communities we serve. And that is a central pillar of our institution’s mission. We look forward to strengthening existing partnerships and forming new ones in pursuit of this mission.”

For further information please contact:
Dax Kukulj
Deputy Director, UNSW Knowledge Exchange

Unisearch goes live with Insight CRM

The Unisearch team came to work extra early the day their new constituent relationship management (CRM) system went live to ensure they were ready for client calls at 9 am.

Insight CRM Go Live day went exceptionally well and it was a seamless transition for clients, thanks to floor walkers on hand to answer inevitable questions and soothe hiccups. While the McDonald’s breakfast might not be good news for the health and wellbeing team, it was a welcome reward for the team at Unisearch.

Professor Brian Boyle DVC Enterprise, the project sponsor, describes Insight CRM as an “end-to-end solution”.

“It is a seamless system to manage and collaborate on opportunities with industry, government and other research partners. Staff can capture information centrally, follow up more effectively and maintain an up-to-date account for an organisation, with a full history of interactions and the multiple contacts associated with the account,” he says.

“Previously businesses could be contacted by multiple people in multiple faculties at UNSW and they had to explain their relationships and interactions over and over, or they might have two teams approach them with similar requests. Insight CRM means we have client information at our fingertips, we can pull briefs together quickly and it helps us build on existing relationships.”

John Arneil, Director Consulting, Expert Opinion Services and Short Course Offerings, says that the introduction of Insight CRM was timely for Unisearch because they were ready for an upgrade and their existing software licence was about to expire.

“It all came together, and we were the ideal group to start. We have been using a CRM-like system since 2002 and have well-developed commercial processes and workflows. It was thought that if Insight CRM could meet the wide-ranging needs of Unisearch, then it would work for the other groups.”

John Arneil says that one of the major advantages is that CRM Insight is fully integrated with other UNSW platforms. “With the old system we weren’t compatible, and now we have a system that talks to other software and functional groups such as Office 365 and Finance.

“For us, this is important cutting-edge infrastructure which means that internal users, right up to the VC’s office, have visibility over our relationships and contracts with organisations and government departments.”

Professor Boyle says Insight CRM will provide a premium experience for corporate and other external stakeholders. “At UNSW, we are all the stewards of our external relationships and we want our stakeholders to have a deep and beneficial connection with us.”