As part of an annual survey by the Chief Information Officer Executive Council (CIO), Northern Beaches Council's CIO Naren Gangavarapu, his team and Council as a whole, has been recognised for outstanding digital improvements to the core business.
The CIO Executive Council is a membership organisation composed of the world's leading CIO's.
The accolade acknowledges the delivery of key innovations at Council that have led to improved customer satisfaction, improved efficiency and cost savings.
Mayor Michael Regan said Council is lucky to have the best and brightest working on transforming processes and practices, to create a truly digital first council.
"Amongst many initiatives Naren Gangavarapu has deployed, the Smart Waste Management dashboards are an example embraced by the community to help reduce waste and transition towards a circular local economy. More than 12,000 people to date have participated in waste management and education campaigns.
"For the first time, our community produced less than 400kg of waste per person over the year and we've also diverted more waste from landfill, up from 49% of domestic waste in 2018/19 to 66% in 2021/22.
"Naren also led the delivery of a 24/7 security operations centre and implemented a cyber security strategy and roadmap with Cyber NSW and the Australian Signals Directorate. This collaboration was recognised by the NSW Auditor General's Office as leading the way in local government.
"An Emergency Preparedness tool, available on the council's website, now helps the local community understand threats from storm-related events. Ensuring that in the instance of a strong weather event the end customer is better prepared to respond and recover from emergencies," Mayor Michael Regan said.
CIO Naren Gangavarapu said receiving the award is a true honour.
"Having an understanding of all the different needs of Council is key to my job and my whole department, as we provide so many services to the community. I have to think like a customer, listen to what is needed and understand how to lead my team in delivering value which positively impacts on customer needs and business outcomes," Gangavarapu said.
Learn more about Naren Gangavarapu here.
More about Naren Gangavarapu
Since joining Northern Beaches Council in January 2022 in the role of chief information and digital officer, Naren and his team, delivered a five-year, post-merger digital and IT strategy, educating the executive committee and council on technology trends, debt, and priorities.
This led to an increased capital investment of more than $20 million in customer service technologies, human resources systems and cybersecurity tools, as well as a $3 million reduction in operational costs in the first year.
Reporting to the Director of workforce and technology, Naren Gangavarapu has 80 staff and seven direct reports. His team has also implemented a modern workplace program, which is a collection of tools and processes that has allowed council staff to work from anywhere, including during COVID.
These collaboration tools save information workers four hours per week on information sharing; 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%. Further, the council expects to save $9.72 million over three years.
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