CIO Leadership Live Australia with Suzanne Hall, Chief Information Officer, Baptcare

00:00  Cathy O’Sullivan: Hello and welcome to CIO leadership Live Australia. I'm Cathy O'Sullivan, Editor- in-Chief for CIO and CSO in APAC. My guest today is Suzanne Hall, Chief Information Officer at Baptcare. She's also one of our CIO50 alumni and it's an absolute pleasure to have her on the podcast today. Hello, Suzanne, how are you doing? 

00:29 Suzanne Hall: Hi Cathy, thank you so much for having me today.  

00:33 Cathy O’Sullivan: Great to chat to you and find out first of all, a bit more about Baptcare. Can you give us a bit of an overview on the organisation, its purpose and what you and your team look after there?

00:46: Suzanne Hall: So, Baptcare is a purpose-driven not-for-profit organisation. We provide residential aged care, community aged care, retirement living for older people, as well as support to children, families, people with a disability, financially disadvantaged people and people seeking asylum. We operate across Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. And our purpose is really partnering for fullness of life with people of all ages, cultures, beliefs and circumstances.  We currently employ around 3800 staff.  In terms of IT, my team looks after digital transformation, cybersecurity, project delivery, help desk application and infrastructure support, data and analytics. 

01:36: Cathy O’Sullivan: So quite a big organisation there, 3,800 people you mentioned. But from that IT perspective, how do you approach innovation, especially as there's so many new technologies coming about, you know, AI and not a day goes by where AI isn't mentioned.  We also see things like IOT and automation. How do you approach innovation? 

01:57:  Suzanne Hall: It's great that you mentioned that AI is a really exciting space for aged care. There are so many different use cases and opportunities to really improve the life of our residents and clients. And recently the CSIRO has actually identified the health aging and disability sector, as one of the three key areas of AI specialisation for Australian government to invest invest, based on the opportunities to really solve significant problems are back here with us at innovation and projects for new technologies, really, as part of our continuous improvement journey, to solve business problems and look at staff pain points to
really improve our staff’s work life, but also provide better outcomes for our residents and clients. We've recently been looking at AI NS and kicking off our AI journey. We've had partnerships with universities and workshops to really explore what would be the best value or use cases for AI for that care. But we're also looking around the AI guiding principles, governance and policy frameworks to make sure that any AI technology that we're putting in, we are managing our risks and keeping our staff and data safe from that AI.

03:18 Cathy O’Sullivan: Yeah, absolutely. A very exciting opportunity there. As you mentioned with AI for healthcare. What do you think are some of the significant challenges for IT leaders such as yourself in the healthcare sector, and how do you address them? 

03:46 Suzanne Hall: So I really think from a healthcare and aged care sector, one of our a few of our biggest challenges are around technology, modernization of legacy platforms, the workforce and skills shortage that we're seeing in the sector, but also cybersecurity, which is a challenge for all sectors. A few years ago, there was a Royal Commission into aged care. And one of the findings was that there has been under investment in technology across the aged care sector for many years. So we're really looking at how can we modernise our technology platforms; how can we improve technology, or processes, rationalise our technology systems and remove some of that legacy technology debt? And technology is also helping in that workforce space. So how can we use our technology more effectively, to really reduce the burden on staff but also address some of those workforce
challenges? 

 04:40 Cathy O’Sullivan: So just broadening that out then how do you ensure that those IT initiatives that you identify, how do you ensure that they align with your overall strategic mission of Baptcare?

04:57 Suzanne Hall:  That's a really good point. So I think it's really important because there is no point in doing it for it sake, it really does need to align with your strategic goals as an organisation. At that, can we have IT representation at the executive leadership level, which I think is really important. And we have a yearly strategic planning cycle. At from an IT perspective, there is a really big focus on collaboration and communication with our key stakeholders across the organization. And making sure that any technology decision made goes through a quite a rigorous governance process at an operational level with a Technology Review governance committee, but also at the board level with a board subcommittee that does focus on transformation and technology. We also have an enterprise PMO in place, and they make sure that they have that enterprise view of all initiatives across the organisation.

05:57: Cathy O’Sullivan: That's really great to hear. And great to hear that IT has a seat at the table as well at the board level. And look, you mentioned earlier the challenge of cybersecurity for anyone involved in IT, but particularly when it comes to cybersecurity and healthcare IT and I know you've got a lot of things to think about there. So how do you ensure the overall security privacy, especially of patient data in your IT systems?

06:29: Suzanne Hall: Yeah, I think cybersecurity is really critical across all industries and sectors. But in health and aged care, it's very vital because as you said, we do collect personal identifiable information and health data on a daily basis. The Australian Cybersecurity Centre has recently released their report for the last financial year, and it shows there has been a significant increase in cyber incidents over the past 12 months. And our health and aged care sectors continue to be targeted. So at Baptcare we look at it as a whole of organisation approach across people, process and technology. We have ongoing training, education and development for staff to really make sure that they are upskilled in this area, both for their work life and their personal life. And we're continually refining and improving our technology controls. As you know, technology or cybersecurity is not something that you do once as a project. It is a real continuous improvement journey, to continually improve your controls to make sure that you're mitigating against current risks. Recently, we've done some penetration, Red team testing to really look at identifying where our vulnerabilities are. And also assessing our cybersecurity maturity against an industry best practice framework. This has been really critical to help us identify our biggest vulnerabilities and risk areas, and really help drive that cyber security roadmap.

08:02: Cathy O’Sullivan: So look, I know cybersecurity and data literacy was a big focus for you in your previous role as well, when you were CIO at Jewish Care. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you implemented there in that regard? 

08:18:  Suzanne Hall: Yeah, so at Jewish Care, and they are also an aged care service provider and not-for-profit organisation, I implemented an organisational wide digital literacy and cyber security staff training strategy. So this was really in response to increase our staff digital literacy, but also protect our data as stuff are the last line of defence against our cyber cyber attacks. So what the program included, it was really intuitive, easy to understand training modules that were delivered through a mobile app. They were delivered it across a number of different languages, which really helped our frontline staff who were quite a culturally diverse workforce. We provided paid time for our frontline staff to do the training. So it didn't impact any time that they needed to spend with our clients and our residents. And we provided monthly phishing simulation emails to help staff identify and practise their training. And also regular communication. So weekly emails went out which showed scams of the week to really help staff look at scams that may be coming through in their personal life and help them then build that cyber awareness. So this program delivered real benefits to staff. It really increased their staff technology life skills to help them at work, and at home. We had an 85% completion rate across all staff. So that was very, very good. And we also had a really big reduction in our monthly phishing click rate. So that reduced from 45% down to less than 5%. And it really gave staff confidence that they could recognise and report cyber security risks. And I think it really reduced risk of human error leading to cyber breach. I think some of the really lovely stories that also came out of that training was many of the staff had been upskilling their clients, family, their friends and really got engaged with the whole cybersecurity training piece.

10:31: Cathy O’Sullivan: Great results there and great to see it, you know, as you say, widened out not only from their professional life, but also into their their home life and what they're talking about with their clients as well. Look, you mentioned earlier about tech debt and that you're starting out on your AI journey. So as a CIO, how do you balance that need for trying to get ahead with cutting edge technology, but also maintaining that existing legacy IT infrastructure and systems that you know, you I'm sure you have a lot still tied up in that. So how do you balance that?

11:11: Suzanne Hall:  Yeah, so Baptcare is a very progressive organisation from a technology perspective. And we have a really supportive board and CEO who really value technology and the outcomes that IT enables. At the moment, investment decisions in new technology are really balanced with our legacy IT systems through a lot of planning and prioritisation, to make sure that we're allocating resources and budget to the initiatives that will provide us with the greatest value across the organisation. And we're really focusing on our enterprise architecture, and really making informed decision-making on our technology debt. So if we are increasing technology debt, or reducing our technology debt, it is informed decision making, and really putting together that path to modernise our systems and decommission some of our legacy systems. Our technology governance committee, both at the operational level and the board subcommittee level that really drives a lot of those technology decisions to make sure that we are meeting our enterprise architecture, design standards, our data and security standards, but also making sure all our technology decisions and prioritisations are in line with our strategies, our business strategies, and also to provide the biggest value to the organisation.

12:39: Cathy O’Sullivan: Now, I've heard the saying that a CIO is only as good as their team. So can you tell us a bit more about your strategy, Suzanne, when it comes to creating that really collaborative, productive IT team environment? How do you foster that within Baptcare?

2:59: Suzanne Hall: So having a collaborative, open, supportive, inclusive workplace really does help foster that team environment, that positive team culture, and that is really critical to drive success. As you said, a CIO is only as good as the team that they have with them. So that's really been helped with providing that open and regular communication to the team having celebrations for Team achievement. So as a team, we meet on a monthly basis, and we really celebrate what the team has achieved individually or as a team throughout the month. Also working in the not-for-profit sector, it means that every team member has the opportunity to make a difference on a daily basis, through the meaningful work that we do, and a real defined purpose and shared values in the team. So I think this also helps create that greater sense of engagement and fulfilment. We have a quarterly engagement survey, which is a really important tool to help get a feeling of staff engagement and staff sentiment in the team. But it's also a great opportunity for staff to provide feedback and for that for that feedback to be taken into consideration for the next quarter and really acted upon to make sure that we are moving forward as a team and we are addressing any issues.

14:35: Cathy O’Sulivan: Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned earlier healthcare, it is challenging, because obviously, you know, there's a lot of competition out there for frontline workers and getting people more into healthcare, but also, you know, we've got the IT skill shortage. It's still a very competitive market, although things have slowed down a bit this year. So when it comes to the IT market, how do you attract people to Baptcare and retain talent within your IT team?

15:03: Suzanne Hall: Yeah, so I think being a not-for-profit organisation and a purpose-driven organisation, we provide really fantastic opportunities for staff to make a real difference in the aged care community and disability sector and really provide positive outcomes for our clients on a daily basis. But care also has a really strong value proposition. We have really exciting, innovative and technology investment. Some of our technology, I would say, is leading the sector. And as a not-for-profit organisation, we offer really generous salary, packaging, so tax benefits to staff, discounted health insurance, employee assistance programs, and also professional development opportunities. So professional training, external training on the job training, as well as full flexibility and work life balance. So if anybody is looking for a fantastic place to work, I am actually hiring at the moment. So please consider that.

16:09: Cathy O’Sullivan. I love it. I love it; always use the opportunity. Suzanne, good on you. So look, you work with quite a diverse range of people within your organisation. Obviously, you've got your people and, you know, looking  after your clients and medical staff. So what kind of communication strategies do you use them when you're trying to bridge that gap between the technical IT language and I guess the understanding of those non-technical stakeholders within Baptcare?

16:42: Suzanne Hall: Yeah, so it's a really good point, I think the gap has definitely reduced though as technology becomes more of a part of everyday, everybody's personal, everyday life. But from a team perspective, what we try to do is use really clear language and reduce the amount of technical jargon or specific technical IT language when we talk to our stakeholders, also tailoring the message to the audience. So depending on the audience and their exposure to technology, and it really tailoring that message, and tailoring it so that we put our customer first and our customer service first. For a lot of our presentations, we try to use visuals and graphs and data and drive the message based on our business outcome focus rather than that strong technology functional language. We have a lot of engagement across all levels of staff, through regular presentations at different forums or collaborations with staff memberships of different committees across the organisation and being out on site, listening and talking to different staff members. The other thing that has just recently kicked off is training for the whole IT team, really around that consultative it and building those business partnerships, business relationships, and try to reframe the message. So reframing it from moving away from that technical functional messaging to really around that outcome driven messaging. So that's something that's working really well as well. 

18:25: Cathy O’Sullivan: I love that approach. And also the fact that, you know, you're really thinking about the visuals as well as as part of the message, not just words. There are alot of visual learners out there as well. And so look overall,  Suzanne, technology is changing every day. How do you stay updated when it comes to, you know, emerging technologies, industry trends, what helps you make decisions when you're thinking about the road ahead for Baptcare’s IT initiatives?

18:58: Suzanne Hall: Yeah, I think it's really getting out there and talking to different people, not only within the aged care sector, but across sectors because there's always learnings there are always organisations doing things differently or who may be advanced in different types of technologies. So, getting out there and talking to different external stakeholders. Talking to government, talking to industry, CIO networks within the aged care industry has been really valuable. Conferences, technology research. So we do have a technology research partner who provides a lot of insights and learnings from across not only the sector but what different companies are doing across the world. But also, the CIO Leadership Live site and podcast series, Cathy.

19:53: Cathy O’Sullivan: Thanks, Suzanne glad you find them helpful, as I'm sure anyone who's listening to this as well will find inspiration from what you're doing or perhaps hearing also what you've done so well in your previous role at Jewish Care. So look, you know, not long left in 2023… But as we look ahead to 2024, what's important to you and the Baptcare team as you head into the new year? 

20:24: Suzanne Hall: Yeah, so we have a really exciting digital platform that's being rolled out at the moment, we've rolled out to maybe half of our inner home care staff. So they're the staff that go out into clients’ homes to help us keep our elderly clients in their home for longer. It is a really innovative end-to-end platform that helps us provide those services. And it's really simplified a lot of disparate processes and systems to improve our staff experience, which means that our staff can focus on their clients, rather than the admin of using different systems. It's also helped us enable workforce optimisation, and utilising our workforce more effectively to help meet our customer needs and provide that better customer experience. So, we're rolling that out. As I said, we're about halfway through. We're looking to finish that rollout in early 2024. Also, a really big focus on business intelligence, and really trying to mature our business intelligence, data, reports, insights and dashboards, to really start using data more as a valuable asset and really help improve our decision making. And of course, cybersecurity. We've spoken about today that is an ongoing journey, and an ongoing focus for the team. 

21:46: Cathy O’Sullivan: Absolutely, you can never sleep when it comes to cybersecurity. Well, lots on your plate for 2024. Looking forward to hearing about how the rest of the rollout goes and sounds like a really valuable program for your clients and your staff. Suzanne Hall, Chief Information Officer at Baptcare. Thank you so much for your time today. 

Suzanne Hall: Thank you, Cathy.