Te Wananga o Aotearoa(MIS100 2010)

By CIO Staff | Thursday, May 27 2010

2009 ranking: 27

Senior IS executive: Warren Williams, information technology manager
Reports to: Executive director, operational support
Size of IS shop: 34

PCs: 4785
Mobile PCs: 465
Terminals: 190
Hand-held devices: 523
Total screens: 5963

Industry: Educational services
PC environment: HP, Acer, Apple, Windows XP
Server environment: HP, IBM, Microsoft
DBMS: SQL
Address: 1 Factory Rd, Te Awamutu
Website: www.twoa.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: VoIP

The Te Wananga o Aotearoa (TWOA) ICT team supports 12 major sites throughout New Zealand, each with an average of five to eight associated sites, and all within the one organisation.

While not an entirely new area of focus, the biggest project in the works in 2010 will be in VoIP technology, to further enhance functionality and reduce telecommunications costs. The tertiary provider initiated development of its VoIP communications platform in 2009.

ICT will be used strategically to help achieve business objectives, says information technology manager Warren Williams. Specifically, it will provide better access and mobility for students, and better productivity gains for staff and management. “We will be using IT to increase efficiency and effectiveness, as well as allowing diversity, flexibility and scalability,” he further explains.

Project numbers are on the rise and so TWOA will be investing in wireless, business continuity/disaster recovery, mobility and unified communications, the latter of which will be enabled through the education provider’s significant investments in VoIP.

TWOA continues to develop strategies that embrace technologies such as social networking/media, which will benefit both students and staff. The tertiary provider manages a Twitter feed and YouTube channel, as well as Facebook and Flickr pages, providing multiple platforms for access and connectivity in an engaged environment.