Business Chief APAC+ANZ Magazine August 2020 | Page 158
SUTHERLAND SHIRE COUNCIL
Simona Dimovski , CIO at Sutherland Shire Council , discusses a two-year technology transformation that was achieved in two weeks COVID time , and how this was made possible with the support of its digital ecosystem
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T he future is always untold for all of us . And , in this instance , what was in store for Sutherland Shire ’ s new Chief Information Officer was nowhere in her 30 / 60 / 90 day plan . Last November , nobody outside of China had any inkling of what mother nature had in store for the world , in the form of a pandemic that would disrupt lives and the economy of every country . But , when Simona Dimovski took up the post of Chief Information Officer at Sutherland Shire Council ( SSC ), COVID-19 was third in line after a couple of other natural disasters to afflict New South Wales . In November 2019 , the world ’ s attention focused on the bushfires that raged through southern Australia . Sydney itself was threatened , and fires started close to home . Until mid-January when the rains came , the fires remained a cause for concern . However , early in February the area experienced its heaviest rainfall in 30 years . People had to be evacuated and , by 18 February , wind gusts reached 161kph causing widespread chaos and electrical outages .