How Paramatta Council Worked With Cloud Context to Push Beyond the “Digital Transformation” Buzzword

For years now, “digital transformation” has been a buzzword associated with innovation and, increasingly, the ability to adopt AI. However, as with any buzzword, it’s often difficult to push past the superficial and achieve the meaningful outcomes promised.

For local government, where legacy systems, public accountability, and tight budgets collide, this transformation feels all the more elusive, and embarking on a transformation journey can seem like opening Pandora’s Box.

But it’s also important, because research suggests that Australians need their government, at all levels, to pick up their game. 70% of citizens say they’d have more confidence in their councils if they embraced technology. 55% of them feel “disengaged” with councils.

The City of Parramatta is a good example of a council taking steps to address these challenges. Their recent overhaul in partnership with Cloud Context offers insight into what it takes to achieve tangible outcomes.

From Patchwork Fixes to Strategic Overhaul

Most local government IT teams are stuck in a cycle of “just keeping the lights on.” Transformation begins when there’s recognition that tactical fixes no longer serve strategic goals.

For the City of Parramatta, the moment of reckoning came when they acknowledged their predicament. “They knew themselves that they had technology debt,” Elias Atie, Cloud Context Director, said. “Essentially, they had a long list of technology that needed to be upgraded, but they had left it too long to be a simple process to do so.”

Ageing infrastructure, siloed systems, and convoluted processes can actively limit a council’s ability to serve its residents efficiently and securely. The high cost of technical debt becomes increasingly apparent when councils find themselves unable to modernise without wholesale changes.

Rather than continuing with incremental fixes, Parramatta chose a different path. “We took the opportunity to turn it into a mass migration, and we refreshed almost the entire environment to get them out of that tech debt,” Atie said.

The phased approach by the city demonstrated the value of planning holistically whilst executing in well-defined, modular workstreams. “We had multiple streams running over the past 18 months,” Atie added. “We did not only a large cloud migration. We also helped refresh their Wi-Fi. We installed WiFi in their car parks. We did this all while also helping them keep the lights on and doing it with less disruption.”

This project highlighted the value of a partner like Cloud Context to local government. Being able to go beyond selling software, and actively helping councils translate complexity into clear architectural and operational decisions, proved to be critical to the transformation’s success. “They had a very good idea of where they wanted to be. They were just challenged in understanding how to get there in terms of budget and resource constraints, and that’s where we were able to come in,” Atie said.

Learn more about Cloud Context’s approach to IT transformation and how they work with councils and businesses to deliver long-term value.

Building for the Long Game, Not Just the Office Move

For Parramatta, one of the most critical considerations was maintaining business continuity throughout the transformation. Councils play a critical role in the day to day management of a community, after all, and simply shutting down isn’t really an option.

“One of the most important challenges was making sure we don’t disrupt the user base,” Atie said. “A lot of the services that we moved were customer facing, including payroll and just business systems in general that we had to do with less disruption and with really good planning on weekends and public holidays.”

Moving to Microsoft Azure was the first step. However, the real value comes from optimising that environment post-migration, reducing virtual machine sprawl, simplifying management, and unlocking scalability. Hybrid models can support edge services like CCTV without reverting to traditional data centre complexity, whilst security and performance are embedded into every layer rather than bolted on afterwards.

There was also a lot of legacy technology built into the processes that needed to be managed. “They have a unique set of applications and business systems that they use,” Atie said. “Although it’s unique to councils, most councils do use it, so an advantage for us was that we had the experience with that kind of technology stack to also help the Parramatta team out.”

Empowering People, Not Just Devices

Finally, a fast device build is meaningless if staff aren’t confident in the tools or support structures. The human layer of transformation proved crucial to Parramatta’s success. Rather than working in isolation, Cloud Context collaborated closely with the council’s existing capabilities. “They have a large internal IT team with a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience in their own platform,” Atie said. “We worked hand in hand and in doing so we were able to help them understand the new environment as well.”

Looking ahead, Parramatta’s transformation has created a foundation for continued innovation. “Now that they’ve moved into cloud and they’ve transformed their technology to bring it into the new world, there’s a lot more opportunity to streamline and to move further systems into the cloud as well,” Atie said.

“We do continuously work with them and will help them to further improve their environment, consult on strategic opportunities, and manage their environment as a fourth-level support.”

For councils contemplating their own digital transformation journey, Parramatta’s experience demonstrates that success lies not in chasing the latest buzzwords, but in taking a strategic, collaborative approach that puts long-term outcomes ahead of short-term fixes.

Ready to start your own transformation? Contact Cloud Context to explore how they can support your council, school, or business with practical, long-term IT solutions.