In 2005, Grant Cresswell began as CIO of Opera Australia (OA), where he still works as a contract CIO, while also moonlighting as CIO for several not-for-profits. Here, he talks to Merri Mack about IT outsourcing, communications solutions, VoIP and life as a flexible CIO.
Grant Cresswell initially joined OA to undertake some significant IT projects, and is still there. Now a contract CIO, he spends half his working week looking at the bigger picture, and instigating beneficial system changes, for OA.
“The core focus of OA is being the best it can be in Australia and in the rest of the world. OA does everything for an opera from designing and making costumes including the wigs, designing and building props, keeping track of the myriads of pieces of equipment needed and it makes everything from scratch,” said Cresswell.
His work involves looking at the bigger picture of IT for OA and the Victorian Art Service.
Cresswell makes the point that IT’s involvement in business has increased where its role has expanded into marketing, business and revenue, and is woven into the very fabric of the organisation.
OA has outsourced all IT services and therefore has done away with many of the related worries. An IT coordinator manages the outsourced relationships and services for OA.
At one point, Cresswell had to switch the IT outsourcer that OA used, one that OA had a long-standing relationship with, because the service was not up to snuff.
“We gave them every chance to get up to standard. When the domain controller server failed they did not have a backup server.
“There was a gasp of despair by the staff, which turned to a smile on their faces. They realised that they could do non-IT tasks which had been overlooked, because the technology was always wagging the tail, and they felt technology was dominating them,” said Cresswell.
He remembers getting pats on the back that day, but admits that wouldn’t have been the case had he kept the troubled IT outsourcer for another day.
OA runs MS Office and Lotus Domino Notes 8.5 and uses outsourced MS Terminal servers.
“Lotus Notes is ahead of the game at the moment and I can recommend it to others. It is fully featured and very powerful for geographically diverse organisations.
“For example: I have an iPhone, iPad, laptop and a desktop at home and I can answer [calls] on any of these devices, and it shows up on all other devices,” he said.
Cresswell is also a fan of Avaya’s VoIP system.
“When I found that other clients were using VoIP, we used it at OA. It provides an affordable remote private link between Sydney and Melbourne and it is unbelievably reliable.”
One of the significant projects Cresswell worked on was a ticketing/CRM system called Tessitura, which replaced an older system. As well as looking after OA and the Opera House subscribers, Tessitura also looks after the Seymour Centre, Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Brandenburg Orchestra.
As well as a contract CIO for OA, Cresswell works in a contract CIO role for other organisations, mainly not-for-profit enterprises that usually can’t afford a full-time CIO.
Cresswell enjoys the flexibility of his role at OA; he isn’t confined by traditional work/client boundaries. He’ll often pop into OA early and get a couple of hours under his belt before any other staff arrive. On top of that, he’s able to perform his OA duties from home, or from other clients’ workplaces, and vice versa.
His passions include motorbike riding (which started when his father owned a motorbike shop in Christchurch), yachting and alternative energy sources. He has been instrumental in running carbon neutral races for the Australian Super Bikes and has now instigated an electric series. He still rides a motorbike to work every day.