The Brotherhood of St. Laurence Future Proofs Entire Application Delivery Supply Chain with blueAPACHE

Key facts

Customer

BSL is a social justice organisation founded in 1930, working alongside people experiencing disadvantage to address the fundamental causes of poverty in Australia, with research, programs and services informing practical solutions. Its operations span support call centres, offices, care facilities and social enterprises, and it partners with the Australian Government's National Disability Insurance Scheme, providing local area coordination and early childhood services throughout metropolitan Melbourne.

Sector

Not-for-profit. The case describes BSL's support call centres, offices, care facilities, social enterprises and NDIS expansion. Related sector information is available under not-for-profit and healthcare and aged care.

Challenge

Over the decade before the case study BSL's operations broadened and it became increasingly reliant on IT, but its networking infrastructure had become unreliable and could no longer deliver the performance staff needed. BSL's Senior Manager - ICT stated that fundamental changes were required, that BSL did not have the internal skills or capacity to do the work, and that it needed a technology partner able to provide both support and strategic guidance. BSL's later description of itself as "a victim of our own rapid growth", with infrastructure built piecemeal, explains why the managed services stage began with a full assessment.

Solution

Stage 1, WAN upgrade (late 2015). We were contracted to evaluate BSL's network links. Working with BSL's strategic ICT team, we upgraded the WAN across locations, centralising and uplifting the network for more efficient monitoring and better user performance. The work took 12 weeks.

Stage 2, managed services and IaaS (2016). BSL appointed blueAPACHE as MSP to act as an extension of its internal ICT team and signed a three-year contract. We built a multi-step plan on an infrastructure-as-a-service strategy so capacity could grow on a consumption basis instead of through up-front capital investment. The first step was an IP-based unified communications platform that replaced multiple call centres with one solution.

Stage 3, NDIS roll-out (from 2016). After BSL's successful NDIS tender it established 17 locations and added 600 staff. We deployed the additional network links, WAN and LAN infrastructure, security measures and end-user devices, and ensured new staff had the tools and applications they needed. BSL's Senior Manager - ICT stated we also helped BSL achieve ISO 27001 certification in as little as six months to support the NDIS bid.

Stage 4, hardware-as-a-service and cloud (2017). BSL adopted a hardware-as-a-service operating model to reduce capital investment and improve flexibility, established connections with emPOWER Cloud and migrated critical applications, creating what BSL called a complete Application Delivery Supply Chain that became the basis of its multi-year ICT roadmap and de-risked the environment by removing legacy equipment.

It describes planned areas including network and infrastructure management, end-user communication, security, staff mobilisation and information management support. A separate dated report confirms that a three-year managed services contract extension was announced on 26 May 2022. That report says the extension covered cloud migration, a national WAN, management of existing infrastructure and VoIP telephony, Microsoft Teams expansion, security operations, mobile-device management, data management and hardware repurposing.

Services used

• emPOWER Connectivity and Core Network and Data Centre Interconnect: the WAN upgrade and the links, WAN and LAN for 17 new sites.
• emPOWER Managed Services: the 2016 agreement and the extension announced in 2022.
• emPOWER Cloud: the IaaS strategy and the 2017 migration of critical applications.
• Procurement: hardware-as-a-service and end-user devices.
• emPOWER Collaboration: the IP unified communications platform that unified the call centres.
• emPOWER Security and Governance, Risk and Compliance: related services. The case describes security measures and help with BSL's ISO 27001 certification; it does not identify the current GRC service as the product used in that historical engagement.

Outcomes

These are the historical outcomes reported for this engagement.

Using the staged engagement as a planning reference

The relationship developed across connectivity, cloud and managed services. Use that sequence as a dependency map: identify sites and applications relying on each service and what must be ready before the next stage. It does not imply every customer should buy the same combination or timetable. Record transition acceptance and operating responsibilities per stage. Programme growth and site changes should be assessed against scope rather than assumed to fit an unchanged order.

Related

• Not-for-profit
• Healthcare and aged care
• emPOWER Managed Services
• emPOWER Connectivity
• emPOWER Cloud
• Governance, Risk and Compliance
• Archers case study
• Honan Insurance case study
• Blog: Brotherhood of St. Laurence signs three-year support agreement
• ARN: we score three-year managed service contract extension with NFP
• Blog: Brotherhood strengthens support with blueAPACHE
• All case studies

Who is the Brotherhood of St. Laurence?

A social justice organisation founded in 1930 that works alongside people experiencing disadvantage to address the causes of poverty in Australia. The case describes support call centres, offices, care facilities and social enterprises, and NDIS local area coordination and early childhood services in metropolitan Melbourne. Its figure of around 10 per cent of NDIS participants is historical.

When did BSL start working with you and what came first?

Late 2015, with a contract to evaluate BSL's network links. That became a WAN upgrade across BSL's locations, completed in 12 weeks with an immediate improvement for users. In 2016 BSL appointed blueAPACHE as its managed service provider on a three-year contract.

How did you support the NDIS expansion?

After BSL won its NDIS tender in 2016, we deployed the network links, WAN and LAN infrastructure, security and end-user devices for 17 new locations and 600 additional staff, taking BSL from 900 to 1500 people. BSL's Senior Manager - ICT said this would not have been possible in the time without blueAPACHE.

Did blueAPACHE get ISO 27001 certified for BSL?

No. BSL achieved ISO 27001 certification, in as little as six months, with our help, to support its NDIS bid. The certification belongs to BSL and the case study gives no certificate number or issuing body. The separate blueAPACHE ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate 202507-118 concerns our ISMS and states dates from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2028; confirm current standing and scope separately.

What commercial model did BSL use?

An infrastructure-as-a-service "pay as you grow" model from 2016, so capacity was added on consumption rather than through up-front capital investment, and a hardware-as-a-service model from 2017 to reduce capital spending and improve flexibility. BSL described the result as giving it confidence it was not locked into things that might not match future needs.

What happened after planning for a new agreement began in 2020?

A separate report confirms that a three-year managed services extension was announced on 26 May 2022, covering cloud migration, national WAN, existing infrastructure and VoIP management, Microsoft Teams expansion, security operations, mobile-device management, data management and hardware repurposing.

Is BSL still our customer?

The reviewed sources do not establish that. The latest dated event is the three-year extension announced on 26 May 2022, so confirm current status with us before presenting BSL as a current client in 2026.

What is an Application Delivery Supply Chain?

BSL's Senior Manager - ICT used the phrase to describe the combination of us managing on-premises hardware and software, the IaaS strategy and emPOWER Cloud resources, which together formed the basis of BSL's multi-year ICT roadmap. We use the same phrase in our HPE case study to describe our accountability from hosting through to end-user experience.