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The rise of the Chief AI Officer: when dedicated AI leadership makes sense

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:58 GMT

Artificial intelligence has moved quickly from experimentation into business operations, customer experience, decision support and product development. As adoption grows, so do the questions around governance, ethics, investment, data, security and accountability. That is driving interest in a relatively new executive role: the Chief AI Officer, or CAIO.

Why AI leadership is moving up the agenda

AI is no longer only a technology-team issue. Decisions about where and how it is used can affect strategy, risk, workforce design, customer outcomes and regulatory compliance. Organisations therefore need clear ownership of the choices that sit between technical possibility and business value.

In the United States, federal policy accelerated the formalisation of the role: in 2024, federal agencies were directed to appoint Chief AI Officers. Private-sector organisations across finance, healthcare, technology, manufacturing and other industries have also been establishing dedicated AI leadership as adoption expands.

AI is changing work across sectors

The applications vary by industry. Healthcare organisations are using AI in diagnostics and predictive analytics. Financial services firms apply it to fraud detection, document analysis and decision support. Logistics and retail use predictive models to improve inventory and operations. Cybersecurity teams use AI to detect threats, while transport organisations continue to develop autonomous and AI-assisted systems.

The common thread is that AI can affect both efficiency and risk. As use cases multiply, organisations need a way to prioritise investment, set standards and make sure individual initiatives add up to a coherent strategy.

What does a Chief AI Officer do?

A CAIO is typically responsible for developing and implementing the organisation’s AI strategy and connecting it to broader business objectives. Depending on the operating model, the role may report to the CEO, COO or CTO and work across technology, data, risk, legal, people and business functions.

Responsibilities can include leading AI and machine-learning capability, establishing governance and ethical standards, managing privacy, security and bias risks, prioritising investment and helping the organisation understand where AI can create practical value.

Not every organisation needs the same role design

The important question is not whether every organisation should copy the same CAIO model. It is whether accountability for AI strategy, governance and value creation is clear. In some organisations that may justify a dedicated executive. In others, the accountability may sit with an existing technology, data or transformation leader supported by strong governance.

Role design should follow the organisation’s maturity, risk profile and ambition. Creating a senior title without a clear mandate, decision rights or access to the right capability will not solve the underlying governance challenge.

An emerging talent market

The Australian CAIO talent pool is still developing, which makes market mapping and role definition particularly important. Organisations may need to look across technology, data, digital, transformation and international markets to identify leaders with the right blend of technical understanding, commercial judgement and governance capability.

Talk to Davidson

If you are considering a CAIO or broader AI leadership model, Davidson can support role design, market mapping, executive search and the organisational transformation required to turn AI ambition into practical outcomes.

Executive search for leaders ready to take on complex challenges

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:36:37 GMT

Executive leadership roles carry significant responsibility. CEOs, Managing Directors, General Managers and Executive Directors are expected to set direction, navigate uncertainty, lead people through change and maintain the confidence of boards, customers, employees and communities. For organisations, finding the right leader is therefore about much more than matching a CV to a position description.

Demand for experienced leadership remains strong

Across government, utilities and commercial organisations, leaders are being asked to manage increasingly complex operating environments. Transformation, workforce constraints, technology change, regulatory expectations and stakeholder scrutiny all increase the breadth of capability required at executive level.

That also makes the market for proven leaders competitive. Strong candidates may not be actively looking, and the experience needed for a particular organisation may sit outside the most obvious sector or talent pool.

Executive search starts with the leadership challenge

A useful search brief goes beyond responsibilities and qualifications. It defines the outcomes the leader needs to deliver, the environment they will inherit, the relationships they must build and the leadership behaviours that will matter.

From there, search can consider both established candidates and adjacent talent with transferable experience. Structured research, market mapping and direct engagement help organisations reach leaders who may not respond to conventional advertising.

Supporting leaders considering their next move

For executives, a search process should also provide enough context to make an informed career decision. A title alone says little about the board relationship, mandate for change, organisational culture, stakeholder landscape or resources available to deliver.

Davidson’s Executive Search team recruits senior leadership roles nationally, including CEOs, Managing Directors, General Managers and Executive Directors. The focus is on creating alignment between the organisation’s needs and the leader’s capability, motivation and expectations.

The right appointment creates options

An executive appointment can shape strategy, culture and performance for years. A disciplined search process gives boards and organisations a broader evidence base, while giving candidates a clearer view of the opportunity they are considering.

Talk to Davidson

Explore Davidson’s current executive opportunities or speak with our Executive Search team about an upcoming leadership appointment.

Six silent killers of strategy implementation

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:18:56 GMT

Even a sound strategy does not guarantee successful execution. Implementation reaches across organisational structure, systems, processes, leadership behaviour, people practices, culture and values. That creates plenty of room for a gap to emerge between knowing what needs to happen and being able to make it happen consistently.

The six barriers that can sit beneath execution problems

Research by Harvard Business School professor Michael Beer and organisational scholar Russell Eisenstat identified six recurring barriers to strategy implementation: a top-down or laissez-faire senior management style; unclear strategy and conflicting priorities; an ineffective senior management team; poor vertical communication; weak coordination across functions, businesses or borders; and inadequate leadership capability further down the organisation.

They described these barriers as “silent” because organisations do not always acknowledge or address them directly. Instead, the visible symptoms - missed milestones, slow decisions, competing priorities or inconsistent execution - can be treated in isolation.

Turn the barriers into organisational capabilities

The alternative is to build the capabilities that sit on the other side of those problems. Leaders need to provide clear direction while remaining open to upward influence and feedback. Strategy and priorities need to be clear enough to guide everyday decisions, and senior teams need to be able to work through constructive conflict and speak with a common voice.

Open vertical communication is equally important. Executives need a realistic view of how the organisation is operating, while people closer to delivery need a way to raise issues without those messages being filtered out. Across functions and locations, coordination needs to be designed around shared outcomes rather than internal competition. And mid-level leaders need genuine accountability, authority and development so implementation does not depend entirely on the executive team.

Why organisations can struggle to respond

Knowing the barriers is easier than changing them. Addressing them may require leaders to reconsider established behaviours, relationships and ways of working. Common responses include avoidance, replacing individual managers or engaging directly with the underlying issues.

Avoidance can preserve harmony in the short term but leaves the barrier in place. Management replacement can sometimes be necessary, but a new executive may still inherit the same systems and assumptions. Engagement is harder because it asks the organisation to surface uncomfortable information and work through it, but it is also the response most likely to build lasting capability.

Execution is an organisational discipline

Strategy implementation improves when organisations treat it as more than a project plan. Clear priorities, effective leadership, honest communication, cross-functional coordination and capable managers are the operating conditions that allow strategy to move from intent into action.

External perspective can help when established patterns are difficult to see from inside the organisation. The value is not in adding another layer of theory; it is in helping leaders identify what is blocking execution and build the practical capability to address it.

Talk to Davidson

If your strategy is clear but delivery is stalling, Davidson Advisory can help identify the organisational barriers and strengthen the leadership, operating and transformation capability required to move forward.

High-performing teams do not all think the same way

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:07:02 GMT

Diversity is often discussed in terms of gender, ethnicity and age. Those dimensions matter, but there is another form of diversity that can have a direct impact on how teams solve problems and make decisions: cognitive diversity. Bringing together different ways of thinking, different perspectives and different experiences can increase constructive challenge, reduce groupthink and help teams arrive at stronger decisions.

What cognitive diversity looks like

Cognitive diversity is the mix of thinking styles and perspectives within a group. Those differences can come from people’s abilities, opinions, knowledge, education, socioeconomic background, professional experience and the way they interpret information.

It matters at board level, where similar perspectives can reinforce groupthink, but it is equally relevant to operational teams, project groups and functional departments. No sector or industry has a monopoly on the value of different thinking.

Why it can be difficult in practice

The principle sounds straightforward. The challenge is that people naturally find it easier to work with others who think and communicate in familiar ways. In recruitment, that can show up as a preference for candidates who feel immediately comfortable or who resemble people already succeeding in the team.

A genuinely different perspective can feel less tidy. It may introduce more debate and require leaders to spend more time listening, testing assumptions and resolving disagreement. That is precisely why it can be valuable: productive challenge can surface risks and alternatives that a more uniform group might miss.

Five ways to build cognitive diversity

First, review recruitment criteria and ask whether every requirement is genuinely essential or whether some criteria unintentionally favour a particular background or thinking style. Second, widen the candidate pool and consider people who may not meet every conventional criterion but bring valuable experience or perspective.

Third, make cognitive diversity explicit when briefing a recruitment partner so the search is designed accordingly. Fourth, reinforce the value of different thinking during induction, so new employees understand that constructive challenge is expected rather than merely tolerated. Finally, leaders can use appropriate team and individual assessments to understand working and thinking styles, then create time to discuss the results and address gaps.

Hiring difference is only the beginning

Cognitive diversity creates value when people are able to contribute their perspective safely and constructively. That requires leaders who invite challenge, teams that can disagree without becoming personal and decision processes that genuinely consider different viewpoints.

The aim is not disagreement for its own sake. It is to broaden the information available to the team and use that breadth to improve judgement, creativity and performance.

Talk to Davidson

IIf you want to build cognitive diversity into your recruitment, executive search or team development approach, talk to Davidson about the practical steps that can support it.

Davidson launches FY2025 ESG Report

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:42:32 GMT

Davidson has released its FY2025 Environmental, Social and Governance Report, outlining progress across social impact, environmental responsibility and governance. The report reflects a year focused on building stronger foundations for sustainable, values-led growth across Davidson’s recruitment, advisory and technology consulting businesses.

Building the foundations

During FY2025, Davidson formalised its first Board-approved Environmental Policy, advanced initiatives supporting First Nations communities and strengthened enterprise risk and cybersecurity frameworks under ISO 27001 certification. Together, these measures provide clearer structures for how ESG priorities are governed and progressed.

Community and First Nations impact

Davidson’s long-term partnership with Yalari has now delivered more than $614,000 in financial, pro bono and in-kind support. In FY2025, Davidson was recognised with Yalari’s Jimbelungare 20th Anniversary Award, acknowledging a relationship that has continued since 2007.

Davidson also provided more than 100 hours of pro bono strategic advisory support to First Nations enterprises Crystal Ailan and Yurringa Energy, applying the organisation’s professional capability to support community and enterprise outcomes.

Practical environmental action

Davidson donated 10 laptops to Deadly Coders to support Indigenous STEM education and recycled a further 34 devices through PhoneCycle. The organisation also progressed work to establish an emissions baseline, providing a stronger evidence base for future environmental targets and action.

Supporting responses to homelessness

The report includes a strategic homelessness initiative aimed at enabling 500 supportive housing units by 2032, with the ambition of contributing to a reduction in rough sleeping. This work reflects Davidson’s focus on using partnerships and professional capability to support complex social challenges.

Governance and accountability

Strong governance underpins the report’s ESG agenda. Davidson recorded 2,176 hours contributed to governance activities during the year, alongside continued work on ethical leadership, risk management, cybersecurity and accountability.

The FY2025 report brings these activities together so progress can be assessed more clearly and future priorities can be built from a more transparent baseline.

Talk to Davidson

Davidson’s FY2025 ESG Report is available for clients, candidates, employees and community partners who want to understand the organisation’s progress and priorities in more detail.

Beyond infrastructure: what Ozwater'26 reinforced about the future of Australia's water sector

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:13:42 GMT

Ozwater'26 brought Australia's water community together at a point when the sector is being asked to do more, under greater pressure and with more variables in play. Population growth, affordability, climate volatility, ageing assets, environmental expectations and rapid technological change are converging at the same time as utilities work through some of the largest capital programs in their history.

The conference theme, 'Our Water, Our Tomorrow', captured that tension well. Much of the conversation was naturally about infrastructure, technology and water security. But across the program, another message was just as clear: the sector's ability to deliver will depend on the capability of the organisations behind those assets. Leadership, governance, workforce, data, community trust and collaboration are becoming as important to long-term performance as engineering excellence.

For Davidson, many of the themes heard at Ozwater also reflected what leaders told us through Water Gauge 2026. The challenge is not simply deciding what the future water system should look like. It is building the organisational capability to make impactful decisions under uncertainty, execute major programs, bring communities with us and keep adapting as conditions change.

Financial pressure is not a reason to pause investment

Water organisations are progressing major infrastructure programs to support population growth, renew ageing networks and improve resilience. At the same time, they face strong pressure to manage pricing and demonstrate value for customers. Davidson's Water Gauge 2026 found that 85% of sector leaders identify funding and pricing pressures as the greatest risk to delivering strategy.

That pressure creates a difficult balancing act. Deferring investment may protect near-term affordability, but it can increase lifecycle cost, service risk and the difficulty of responding to future growth. Moving too quickly, however, can put further pressure on customer bills and weaken confidence if the case for investment is not well understood.

One useful theme coming out of Ozwater was the need to frame water investment around the broader outcomes it enables. Water and wastewater infrastructure is not an end in itself. It underpins housing growth, public health, economic development, environmental protection and the resilience of communities. When boards and executive teams can connect capital decisions to those outcomes, the conversation about value becomes broader than project cost alone.

With the sector managing a capital pipeline of more than $25 billion between 2023 and 2030, governance discipline matters. Long-term investment decisions need clear prioritisation, transparent trade-offs and communication that helps customers, regulators and stakeholders understand why the investment is needed and what it will deliver.

Planning for uncertainty, not one perfect forecast

A strong theme in post-Ozwater reflections was that traditional optimisation remains important, but is no longer enough on its own. Water planning has historically relied on forecasting demand, estimating supply, designing the system and then operating it as efficiently as possible. That approach has delivered significant benefits, but the future is becoming harder to predict with confidence.

Climate variability, changing patterns of demand, population movement, technology shifts and evolving community expectations mean organisations increasingly need plans that can perform across multiple possible futures. The emphasis is moving from finding one 'optimal' answer to building options, decision points and operating models that can adapt as new information emerges.

That has a direct leadership implication. Decision-makers need to be comfortable acting with incomplete information while still maintaining strong governance and accountability. Scenario planning, adaptive pathways and clearer trigger points can help, but they also require leaders who can hold competing priorities, explain uncertainty and adjust course without treating change as failure.

In practice, resilience is becoming as much an organisational characteristic as an infrastructure characteristic. The ability to learn, respond and reallocate resources quickly will influence how effectively utilities manage the next decade of change.

Digital adoption is becoming more practical

AI, automation and digital infrastructure featured prominently at Ozwater, but the conversation is becoming more grounded. The focus is shifting away from technology for its own sake and towards practical applications that improve operational performance, risk management and customer outcomes.

Real-time data, sensors and AI-supported insights can help utilities move from reactive maintenance towards predictive operations, identify potential asset failures earlier, optimise treatment processes and improve the way field teams are deployed. Davidson's Water Gauge 2026 found that 60% of utilities are advancing digital initiatives, with AI adoption rising as a priority.

The opportunity is significant, but so is the implementation challenge. New tools only create value when data is reliable, systems can communicate with one another and people trust the information they are being asked to use. Utilities need modern data models, cyber and information governance, integration between field assets and corporate systems, and clear accountability for how automated insights inform operational decisions.

Ozwater discussions also highlighted a less visible issue: 'shadow AI' and the use of generative tools outside formal governance. As adoption accelerates, organisations will need practical policies that allow useful experimentation without losing sight of privacy, security, accuracy and accountability.

The next stage of digital maturity is therefore not about adding more pilots. It is about turning successful use cases into repeatable organisational capability, supported by the right skills, governance and change leadership.

Catchment thinking is reshaping how decisions are made

Another important Ozwater takeaway was the stronger focus on catchments, waterways and environmental condition as a starting point for decision-making, rather than something considered after an infrastructure solution has already been defined.

That systems view matters because actions in one part of a water system can create consequences elsewhere. Stormwater, nutrient loads, contaminants, river health, treatment performance, land use and community outcomes are interconnected. Better monitoring and more integrated datasets are helping organisations see those relationships more clearly and use them to inform planning.

The challenge is that systems thinking increases complexity. It requires people who can interpret different forms of evidence, work across organisational boundaries and make decisions where responsibilities are shared between utilities, local government, regulators, researchers and communities.

For leaders, this means environmental capability cannot sit only within specialist teams. The ability to understand system-wide impacts, ask the right questions and bring different disciplines together is becoming part of broader executive and governance capability.

Circular economy ambitions are meeting operational reality

Circular economy and low-emission operations were prominent at Ozwater, with discussion ranging from biosolids and nutrient recovery to energy efficiency, recycled water and greenhouse gas reduction. The direction of travel is clear: the sector is looking for ways to extract more value from resources while reducing waste and emissions.

What was equally clear is that the transition will not be simple. Emerging contaminants such as PFAS and microplastics can constrain traditional reuse pathways. New treatment and recovery technologies may be complex to deploy, while markets for recovered products are still developing. Regulatory settings, community confidence and commercial viability all influence whether an idea can move from demonstration to business-as-usual.

This is where capability again becomes central. Circular economy initiatives require technical expertise, but they also need commercial thinking, partnership models, procurement capability, risk management and the ability to build a business case around environmental and community value as well as direct financial return.

The strongest organisations will be those that can connect sustainability ambition to practical delivery - understanding where innovation is ready to scale, where further evidence is needed and how to manage risk while new pathways mature.

Community trust is part of delivery capability

Infrastructure and technology can only go so far if communities do not trust the decisions behind them. Ozwater'26 repeatedly returned to engagement, particularly where projects involve recycled water, desalination, major infrastructure, environmental trade-offs or changes that customers may experience directly.

The emerging approach is less about communicating a finished solution and more about involving communities earlier, being transparent about trade-offs and creating genuine opportunities for participation. That can be slower at the front end, but it can also reduce resistance, improve decisions and strengthen social licence over the life of a program.

For leaders, community engagement is therefore not a communications activity that sits beside strategy. It is part of strategy. Organisations need people who can translate technical complexity into plain language, listen to concerns without becoming defensive and connect operational choices to the outcomes customers and communities care about.

That capability will become increasingly important as affordability pressures grow. When customers are being asked to fund substantial investment, trust in the organisation making those decisions matters.

First Nations knowledge is strengthening place-based decision-making

Ozwater'26 was held during National Reconciliation Week and included a strong focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, cultural knowledge and connection to Country. Sessions explored how Traditional Owner perspectives and Indigenous science can work alongside western technical frameworks to strengthen stewardship, resilience and long-term planning.

For the water sector, the relevance is practical as well as cultural. Water decisions are inherently place-based. Catchments, waterways and infrastructure operate within Country, and cultural knowledge can add important context to how environments behave, how communities relate to water and what long-term custodianship can look like.

Embedding that knowledge well requires genuine partnership rather than consultation at the end of a process. It calls for relationships, respect, appropriate governance and space for different knowledge systems to inform decisions from the outset.

Leadership capability is broadening

The sector continues to need deep water expertise, but the leadership challenge is expanding. Commercial, digital, financial, transformation, stakeholder and delivery experience are becoming increasingly relevant as utilities manage larger programs, more complex expectations and changing operating models.

We are already seeing executive and director appointments draw capability from adjacent sectors. Done well, this can broaden leadership diversity and introduce useful experience from infrastructure, energy, technology, government and other regulated environments without losing the water-sector knowledge needed to operate effectively.

The question is not whether sector expertise matters - it does. The question is what combination of experience a leadership team needs to navigate the next phase. Boards may need to think more deliberately about collective capability: who understands the assets, who can lead transformation, who can challenge capital assumptions, who understands customers and community, and who can govern digital and emerging technology risk.

That same thinking applies below executive level. Building internal pipelines for critical leadership and specialist roles will be important if utilities want to reduce reliance on a small external talent market.

Regional workforce challenges need different thinking

Regional and remote utilities face a particular attraction challenge. Strong leadership, operational capability and digital maturity are needed across the country, but specialist and executive talent can be harder to attract outside major metropolitan centres.

The response cannot simply be to advertise harder. Organisations need to consider the whole employment proposition: how roles are designed, what flexibility is genuinely possible, how relocation is supported, how partners and families are considered, and whether career pathways are visible beyond the immediate appointment.

There is also an opportunity to widen the pool. Adjacent-sector talent, return-to-region candidates, emerging leaders and different forms of flexible or distributed work may all help, provided organisations are clear about which capabilities are transferable and where water-specific knowledge must be built.

Workforce planning becomes especially important in regional settings because a single vacancy in a critical role can create disproportionate operational risk. Succession, capability transfer and development therefore need to be treated as resilience measures, not simply HR activities.

Collaboration is becoming a core delivery capability

The scale of the sector's agenda means few organisations can solve their challenges alone. Ozwater highlighted the value of earlier collaboration between planners, designers, constructors and operators, as well as stronger partnerships between utilities, researchers, regulators, technology providers and communities.

Bringing operational perspectives into project development earlier can help identify whole-of-life issues before they become expensive to fix. At a sector level, collaboration can also accelerate learning by reducing duplication and allowing organisations to build on evidence generated elsewhere.

The challenge is that collaboration itself requires capability. Partnerships need clear governance, aligned incentives, good information sharing and leaders who can work across organisational boundaries. Without those foundations, collaboration can become another layer of process rather than a source of value.

As capital programs grow and new technologies mature, the ability to form effective partnerships quickly will increasingly influence delivery speed and quality.

Hiring practices must evolve with the sector

As infrastructure, operations and technology modernise, recruitment and assessment practices need to keep pace. Process consistency remains important, particularly in technical and safety-critical roles, but traditional hiring methods do not always give organisations enough information about adaptability, leadership potential, safety mindset, learning agility or the ability to work across disciplines.

Water Gauge 2026 also highlights that safety depends on organisational capability - including clear roles, supervision and process consistency - as well as engineering controls. That reinforces the need to think about workforce and leadership decisions as part of the sector's broader risk and delivery agenda.

Better hiring does not mean adding more process. It means being clearer about the capabilities a role actually requires, using evidence-based assessment where it adds value and designing candidate experiences that reflect the organisation people are being invited to join.

The same data can also support development after appointment. When assessment, onboarding, succession and workforce planning are connected, organisations have a better chance of building capability rather than repeatedly buying it from the market.

Ambition is clear. Capability will determine delivery.

Ozwater'26 reinforced a sector that understands the scale of the challenge and is actively exploring solutions. The conversation is no longer only about what infrastructure to build or which technology to adopt. It is increasingly about how water organisations make decisions, adapt to uncertainty, engage communities, build partnerships and develop the people who will deliver the work.

That is encouraging, because many of those capabilities can be deliberately strengthened. Boards can assess whether their collective skills reflect the future agenda. Executive teams can connect strategy to workforce and succession planning. Utilities can improve digital governance, broaden talent pipelines and invest in the leadership capability needed to manage transformation.

For a sector facing record investment, climate uncertainty and rising expectations, organisational capability is not a secondary issue. It is one of the conditions for delivery.

Davidson's Water Gauge 2026 explores these leadership, workforce and digital capability themes in more detail and provides a practical lens for boards and executive teams assessing readiness for the decade ahead.

Talk to Davidson

If your organisation is reviewing leadership capability, workforce strategy, executive succession, organisational design or the people requirements behind a major transformation program, talk to Davidson about the capability needed to turn strategy into delivery.

More than 50% recruitment cost savings while building specialist technical capability

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:43:23 GMT

How Davidson Executive & Talent helped a privatised NSW utility provider recruit for 24 specialist technical positions while broadening its talent pool and reducing recruitment costs.

The fixed-price RPO model delivered more than 50% savings compared with standard preferred supplier recruitment rates.

The result demonstrated the commercial value of approaching the 24-role requirement as a coordinated recruitment project rather than a series of individual contingent assignments.

The sourcing strategy also proved effective in reaching successful candidates. More than 70% of appointments came through Davidson’s industry networks and direct search activity .

The broader sourcing approach increased access to candidates from more diverse backgrounds and supported the organisation’s objective of expanding participation beyond traditional talent pools.

Combined with a consistent assessment process, the model gave the organisation one approach for managing specialist sourcing, candidate assessment and recruitment delivery across the project.

savings compared with standard preferred supplier recruitment rates

A hiring challenge with more than one objective

Following several organisational restructures, a privatised NSW utility provider needed to recruit for 24 specialist technical positions across its business.

Finding the technical capability was only part of the challenge.

The organisation also wanted candidates who could contribute to a more customer-focused culture and support its broader workforce diversity objectives.

This mattered in a sector characterised by traditionally low female participation and a long-tenured workforce. The organisation wanted to expand access to a broader range of candidates without compromising the specialist capability required for the roles.

Internal recruitment capacity was also limited.

The organisation needed a way to address multiple workforce priorities through one recruitment program while creating greater certainty around recruitment spend.

Davidson Executive & Talent partnered with the organisation to develop a specialist Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) model around those requirements.

Looking beyond the usual candidate pool

Assessing technical capability and fit consistently

Davidson worked with the organisation’s People & Culture team and executive sponsors to establish the technical requirements, workforce priorities and diversity objectives for the project.

A fixed-price RPO model provided certainty around recruitment spend while allowing the recruitment strategy to respond as requirements evolved.

A central part of the approach was expanding how and where candidates were found.

Rather than relying on traditional contingent recruitment alone, Davidson combined direct search, specialist industry networks, targeted advertising and social media recruitment campaigns.

This gave the roles national exposure and created more ways to reach candidates beyond conventional utilities talent pools.

The results demonstrated the importance of that proactive approach. More than 70% of successful appointments were sourced through Davidson’s industry networks and direct search activity.

More than 50% savings against preferred supplier rates

Expanding the candidate pool still required a consistent way to determine who should progress.

Technical capability was important, but the organisation also wanted to understand alignment with its broader cultural requirements.

All shortlisted candidates completed psychometric assessments and recorded video interviews before being presented to hiring managers.

This created a common assessment process across the recruitment program and gave hiring managers additional information to consider alongside candidates’ technical experience.

Regular progress reviews, stakeholder updates and feedback sessions kept hiring managers involved throughout the project. They also allowed the recruitment approach to respond as new information emerged.

Together, the sourcing and assessment model provided a structured approach to a recruitment challenge involving specialist capability, cultural requirements and broader diversity objectives.

Solving several workforce priorities through one model

Specialist recruitment becomes more complex when organisations are trying to change the shape of their workforce at the same time.

For this utility provider, the requirement went beyond filling technical positions. The organisation wanted to broaden its talent pool, assess candidates consistently and manage recruitment costs within a constrained internal environment.

A project-based RPO model brought those requirements together.

The commercial outcome was clear: more than 50% savings against standard preferred supplier recruitment rates, with more than 70% of successful appointments sourced through direct search and Davidson’s industry networks .

For organisations facing concentrated specialist hiring demand, a structured RPO approach can provide an alternative to managing each vacancy separately while creating a consistent framework for sourcing and assessment.

specialist technical positions required across the business

of successful appointments sourced through Davidson’s industry networks and direct search

Nine specialist technology hires supporting a major in-sourcing program

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:37:18 GMT

How Davidson Executive & Talent helped a major financial services organisation secure specialist infrastructure, cloud and workplace technology capability during a complex shift from outsourced to internal delivery.

permanent technology specialists appointed

Bringing technology capability back in-house

A major financial services organisation was experiencing ongoing technology outages that were affecting business continuity, operational performance and technology delivery priorities.

At the same time, legacy systems and applications were moving into cloud environments. This increased demand for specialist infrastructure and cloud expertise.

Against this backdrop, the organisation decided to bring thousands of technology roles back in-house.

The shift was designed to strengthen internal capability, improve responsiveness and reduce reliance on outsourced providers. But it also created immediate demand for specialist technology professionals.

An external RPO provider was supporting the organisation’s broader recruitment program. Harder-to-fill technical roles, however, required deeper specialist market knowledge and targeted sourcing.

Having partnered with the organisation for more than 10 years, Davidson Executive & Talent was engaged to support these specialist requirements.

Finding capability beyond the broader hiring program

Nine permanent specialists across three cities

Davidson worked with the organisation’s in-sourcing and technology teams to understand its operational priorities and technical requirements.

The focus was on candidates with both specialist expertise and practical experience working within complex infrastructure environments.

Recruitment covered cloud infrastructure, collaboration platforms, infrastructure operations, virtual communications and enterprise technology support.

Rather than relying on broad market advertising alone, Davidson used targeted sourcing supported by established technology networks and specialist market knowledge.

This also extended the search to candidates who may not previously have considered opportunities with the organisation.

Candidate screening was closely aligned with the technical requirements of each position. This meant hiring leaders could focus their interviews on candidates whose experience matched the specialist needs of the environment.

For an organisation bringing technology capability back in-house, that alignment was important. The requirement was not simply to increase headcount. It was to secure specific expertise needed within the new internal delivery model.

Davidson appointed nine permanent technology specialists across Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide .

The appointments covered capabilities including:

O365 engineering
Wintel infrastructure
Collaboration engineering
Virtual communications and AV
Kiosk and operational technology support

These hires provided specialist capability across infrastructure, cloud and workplace technology functions within the organisation’s broader in-sourcing program.

The appointments also demonstrate Davidson’s role alongside the organisation’s broader RPO arrangement. While high-volume recruitment was managed elsewhere, Davidson focused on specialist technical requirements where targeted market knowledge was needed.

Supporting the shift to internal technology capability

Moving from outsourced technology delivery towards a larger internal workforce creates a different recruitment challenge.

Organisations need more than additional people. They need the right specialist capability in the right functions to support the operating model they are building.

For this financial services organisation, Davidson Executive & Talent secured nine permanent specialists across three Australian cities to support critical areas of its technology in-sourcing program.

The engagement built on a relationship spanning more than a decade and provided targeted recruitment support for roles outside the organisation’s broader hiring model.

For organisations changing how technology is delivered, specialist recruitment can help turn an in-sourcing strategy into tangible internal capability by finding the expertise required to make the new model work.

locations across Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide

year client relationship supporting specialist recruitment delivery

70 contact centre employees recruited in days for a COVID-19 hotline

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:33:03 GMT

How Davidson Executive & Talent helped a major Queensland government agency rapidly establish a frontline workforce to respond to community demand during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Davidson successfully recruited 70 temporary contact centre employees to support establishment of the public health hotline.

From the department’s initial contact over a weekend, candidates were required to be ready to commence the following week.

The competency-based process gave the agency a structured way to assess candidate suitability within that highly compressed timeframe.

The relationship continued beyond the initial COVID-19 response.

Following the engagement, Davidson became an exclusive recruitment partner for the department and supported further major workforce campaigns.

This included recruiting 160 temporary employees for a Queensland state election .

The ongoing relationship provides further evidence that the recruitment model could be applied beyond the original emergency requirement and adapted to subsequent high-volume workforce needs.

70 temporary contact centre employees recruited for the COVID-19 hotline
Days to mobilise , from an initial weekend request to candidates commencing the following week
1 60 temporary employees later recruited for a Queensland state election
Ongoing exclusive recruitment partnership established following the initial engagement

Building a frontline workforce in days

When COVID-19 reached Australia, a major Queensland government agency experienced a rapid increase in community demand for support and information.

The agency needed to establish a dedicated public health hotline capable of responding to high call volumes during an evolving emergency.

That required people, quickly.

The department contacted Davidson over a weekend with an urgent requirement for 70 contact centre agents . Suitable candidates needed to be ready to commence the following week.

Speed alone, however, would not be enough.

The people answering these calls would be supporting community members during a period of significant uncertainty. They needed to communicate clearly, remain resilient under pressure and engage professionally and empathetically with vulnerable callers.

Davidson Executive & Talent needed to help the agency build a workforce in days without reducing selection to a race through resumes.

Assessing for the realities of the role

Supporting the workforce beyond placement

Davidson worked with the agency to define the capabilities and behaviours required in the hotline environment.

A competency profile established consistent criteria for candidate assessment and selection.

Rather than relying on experience or resume screening alone, Davidson designed a customised assessment centre to evaluate communication capability, customer service approach, resilience under pressure and overall role suitability.

Candidates progressed through resume screening, telephone interviews and competency-based assessment. Role-play exercises provided an opportunity to assess responses in situations relevant to the frontline service environment.

Reference checks aligned with labour hire requirements completed the selection process.

Candidates were assessed and ranked throughout the campaign. This gave the agency a structured basis for making consistent decisions despite the compressed recruitment timeframe.

The approach balanced two competing requirements: mobilising a large workforce quickly while still assessing whether candidates were suited to emotionally demanding frontline work.

70 employees recruited for the COVID-19 response

With employees moving into roles quickly, maintaining communication throughout deployment was also important.

Davidson established a dedicated project inbox and conducted regular workforce check-ins.

This gave deployed employees a consistent point of contact as the hotline commenced operations and demand continued to evolve.

Davidson also established a merit-based talent pool, giving the department access to previously assessed candidates for future workforce requirements.

The recruitment solution therefore addressed the immediate requirement while creating a mechanism the agency could draw on as workforce demand changed.

From urgent hiring to a repeatable workforce response

Rapid workforce mobilisation creates a difficult balance for public sector organisations. Moving quickly matters, but so does selecting people suited to the work they will perform.

For this Queensland government agency, a structured assessment process helped address both requirements.

The immediate result was clear: 70 temporary employees recruited within days to support the COVID-19 hotline .

The model then extended beyond the initial crisis, with an ongoing exclusive recruitment partnership and a subsequent campaign for 160 temporary state election employees .

For organisations facing sudden workforce demand, the experience demonstrates the value of having a recruitment approach that can scale quickly while maintaining structured, role-relevant assessment.

Recruiting customer service professionals families can trust

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:07:34 GMT

14 customer service professionals recruited and commencing onboarding within two weeks
Third consecutive year Davidson supported Goodstart with similar workforce requirements
Six-month peak period supported through the recruitment partnership

Finding the right people when demand increased

For Goodstart Early Learning, customer service involves more than responding to enquiries.

Frontline employees support families as they make decisions about their children’s early learning and care. Parents may be looking for information, reassurance and guidance as they consider their options.

As customer demand increased, Goodstart needed to recruit and begin onboarding 14 customer service professionals within two weeks.

The timeframe was tight, but speed was only one requirement.

Successful candidates needed to communicate clearly, listen carefully and adapt their approach to different families. Empathy, emotional intelligence, maturity and resilience were also important.

The recruitment process needed to meet compliance requirements, including police checks, Working with Children credentials and vaccination requirements.

Having supported Goodstart with similar workforce requirements for several years, Davidson Executive & Talent was engaged to deliver the campaign.

Recruiting for the conversation, not just the role

Davidson worked with Goodstart to develop a clear profile of the capabilities and behaviours required.

The focus extended beyond previous customer service experience.

Candidates needed strong listening and problem-solving skills. They also needed the maturity to respond appropriately to different circumstances and the confidence to adapt conversations to individual needs.

Davidson expected the campaign would require approximately 80 applicants, with 30 to 40 candidates progressing through assessment activities to achieve the required hiring outcome.

Multiple sourcing channels were used, combining established networks, market knowledge and targeted recruitment activity.

Candidates then completed a structured assessment process examining how their behaviours, strengths and communication style aligned with the role.

This created a consistent basis for evaluating candidates while keeping the qualities required for family-facing conversations central to selection decisions.

14 hires within the required two weeks

All 14 successful candidates were recruited and commenced onboarding within Goodstart’s required two-week timeframe.

This gave Goodstart the additional frontline capability it needed as customer demand increased.

The outcome also built on an established recruitment model rather than a one-off hiring campaign.

This was the third consecutive year Davidson had supported Goodstart with similar workforce requirements.

That repeat engagement meant the recruitment team already understood Goodstart’s purpose, employee value proposition and customer environment when the new requirement emerged.

The relationship itself also provides evidence of Goodstart’s experience with the recruitment support.

“Jenny, Mikayla and the team at Davidson have provided outstanding support to us with recruitment for our six-month peak period.

For the past three years, they have consistently presented quality candidates within short and demanding timeframes.

Their attentiveness, responsiveness and care have made our recruitment process easy, contributing to the longevity of our partnership.

We look forward to many more years of working alongside Davidson.”

- Tatianna Mana-Daniel, Family Services Partnering Lead

Building a repeatable response to peak demand

Recurring workforce peaks create a different recruitment challenge from one-off vacancies.

Organisations need to mobilise quickly, but they also need people suited to the work and the customers they will support.

For Goodstart, three consecutive years of recruitment support created continuity around that requirement.

In this campaign, 14 customer service professionals were recruited and commencing onboarding within two weeks. The structured selection process focused on the communication, empathy and resilience required for family-facing roles.

For community-focused organisations, that balance matters. Rapid recruitment is most valuable when the people appointed are selected with a clear understanding of the customers, conversations and responsibilities they will encounter.

Creating a clearer operating model for long-term council performance

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:05:02 GMT

A strategy that needed the right organisation behind it

A new CEO joined the council as the organisation entered an important period of change.

The council had a clear strategic vision. The question was whether its existing structure and operating model could support it.

Leadership accountabilities, workforce capability and the way functions worked together all needed consideration. Any changes also had to reflect the realities of local government. Essential community services needed to continue while the council managed operational complexity, governance requirements and community expectations.

The council needed m ore than a new organisation chart. It needed a clear view of how the organisation worked in practice, where constraints existed and what n eeded to change.

Davidson Strategy & Performance partnered with the council to build that evidence base and translate it into a practical organisational design.

Understanding how the organisation really worked

The first priority was to understand the gap between the council’s strategic direction and its current operating model.

Over six weeks, Davidson combined workforce data and organisational analysis with broad employee engagement. This helped identify where the existing structure supported performance and where clearer alignment was needed.

An organisation-wide survey explored culture, engagement and perceptions of the operating model. Virtual focus groups gathered perspectives across service areas and business units. Senior leaders contributed through one-on-one consultations.

Open drop-in sessions gave employees another way to share their experience and ideas.

Together, these inputs provided a broader view of the organisation than structural analysis alone could offer. They brought operational experience into the design process and tested leadership assumptions against how work happened day to day.

The approach also gave employees multiple opportunities to contribute to a change that would affect how the organisation operated.

Turning evidence into design decisions

As the analysis progressed, consistent themes emerged around decision-making, accountability, service delivery and organisational alignment.

These findings shifted the focus from reviewing individual roles or reporting lines to a more fundamental question: what operating model would best support the council’s priorities?

Davidson worked with council leadership to establish a practical design logic for the future organisation. This provided a basis for decisions about functions, leadership responsibilities and reporting structures.

The resulting recommendations focused on clearer leadership accountability and decision-making pathways. They also considered how teams and functions could align more closely with strategic priorities.

Workforce sustainability, collaboration and organisational capability were part of the design. The recommendations also addressed areas of duplication, complexity and operational risk identified through the review.

Importantly, the proposed model had to work in practice. It balanced the council’s strategic ambitions with its operational responsibilities, governance obligations and community-facing role.

From organisational review to a clearer way forward

The review gave council leaders a clearer evidence base for decisions about the organisation's future design.

A new organisational structure was put in place, creating stronger alignment between strategic priorities, operational delivery and leadership accountability.

The work also gave the council a clearer view of how its structure, leadership capability and operating model could support its longer-term direction.

For the leadership team, this created greater certainty about the path forward. Rather than approaching organisational design as a structural exercise alone, the council could make decisions informed by workforce evidence, employee experience and its strategic priorities.

The result was a practical foundation for the council’s next phase: a structure designed around clearer accountability, stronger organisational alignment and the demands of delivering services to its community.

For local government leaders facing similar change, organisational design is not simply about where roles sit. It is about creating the conditions for people to make clearer decisions, understand accountability and deliver against the organisation’s priorities.

Davidson Strategy & Performance helps organisations turn strategy into practical organisational structures and operating models built for lasting performance.

95%+ of candidates progressed to interview while building internal digital capability

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:58:29 GMT

How Davidson Executive & Talent helped a leading Australian financial services organisation secure 15 technology professionals in five months while building permanent engineering capability and supporting diversity objectives.

A leading Australian financial services organisation was investing in the growth of its digital and data ecosystem.

To support the next stage, it needed to strengthen its internal engineering capability. This included permanent engineers and technical leaders who could maintain and evolve the environment over time.

There was also a timing challenge.

Knowledge needed to transfer from the initial build team before key resources rolled off the project. The organisation needed to secure internal capability quickly enough to support that transition.

The talent market made this harder. Many strong technology candidates preferred contract opportunities, while the organisation needed to build permanent capability.

Technical skills alone were not enough. Hiring leaders also wanted people suited to the organisation’s culture, operating model and long-term direction.

Davidson Executive & Talent partnered with the organisation to find and engage the specialist talent required.

Building capability before knowledge walked out the door

Davidson first worked with hiring leaders to understand the technical requirements behind each role.

The team also developed a detailed understanding of the organisation’s operating model, culture and decision-making environment.

This context shaped how candidates were identified and approached.

Many suitable candidates were not actively searching for permanent positions. Standard advertising and keyword searches alone were unlikely to reach the full potential market.

Davidson activated established specialist technology networks and engaged consultants across its national business to identify prospective candidates.

Candidate engagement then became critical.

Rather than presenting roles in isolation, Davidson gave candidates detailed information about the organisation’s strategy, operating model, technology environment and long-term career opportunities.

This helped prospective hires understand both the immediate role and the contribution they could make as the organisation developed its internal digital capability.

Structured reviews of candidate progress, recruitment priorities and hiring activity kept decisions moving throughout the engagement.

Reaching candidates who were not actively looking

95%+ of candidates progressed to interview

Across the transformation program , Davidson placed more than 70 contractors and six permanent employees into critical technology functions.

The source reports that placements were delivered in line with project schedules and changing workforce demand.

This scale of hiring provided capability across multiple specialist disciplines during a significant period of technology change.

It also gave the organisation one recruitment partner able to support both contingent and permanent requirements across different areas of the technology workforce.

But securing specialist capability was only part of the challenge. Maintaining continuity within engineering teams was also important as the transformation progressed.

of candidates presented progressed to interview

technology professionals recruited over five months

permanent hires and 8 contractors appointed

of 5 technical lead appointments were female

Supporting diversity in technical leadership

The recruitment strategy also supported the organisation’s diversity objectives.

Of the five technical lead appointments made during the engagement, two were female.

This provided a tangible diversity outcome within the technical leadership appointments while the organisation continued building its broader engineerin g capability.

The evidence does not rely only on hiring numbers. Client feedback also reflects the experience of working with Davidson:

Building the team behind digital growth

Growing digital capability requires organisations to think beyond the technology being built today. They also need people who can carry that capability forward.

For this financial services organisation, Davidson Executive & Talent helped secure 15 technology professionals in five months, including seven permanent hires.

More than 95% of candidates presented progressed to interview, while two of five technical lead appointments were female.

Together, these results demonstrate a targeted recruitment approach that addressed immediate capability requirements while adding permanent engineering and technical leadership capability to the organisation.

48 graduate candidates assessed virtually, with every vacancy filled

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:50:47 GMT

48 graduate candidates assessed over two days
All vacancies filled through the recruitment program
Domestic and international candidates participated virtually
Assessment insights reused for onboarding and individual development planning

Rethinking graduate assessment

Whitehaven Coal’s annual graduate recruitment program supports workforce planning across disciplines including engineering, geological science, environmental science, metallurgy and health-related fields.

Its graduate assessment centres had traditionally been delivered face-to-face.

When circumstances prevented the usual format from continuing, Whitehaven had an opportunity to rethink how candidates could be assessed across different locations.

The organisation needed an alternative that maintained a structured and consistent selection process while giving domestic and international candidates greater flexibility to participate.

Simply moving existing activities onto video calls would not be enough.

Whitehaven needed a virtual experience that could provide meaningful insight into candidate capability and give hiring teams useful evidence for their decisions.

Davidson Executive & Talent partnered with Whitehaven to design and facilitate a virtual assessment centre around those requirements.

Designing assessment for a virtual environment

Davidson developed a virtual assessment process that enabled graduates across the Asia-Pacific region to participate without travelling to a physical assessment centre.

The approach combined structured virtual activities with psychometric assessment, trained assessors and subject matter expert participation.

Psychometric testing assessed candidates’ cognitive capability and behavioural preferences. This gave assessors additional evidence to consider against role requirements and Whitehaven’s organisational needs.

Assessor training supported a consistent approach to evaluating candidates and was designed to help reduce bias in decision-making.

The virtual format also enabled subject matter experts from across Australia to participate.

Their involvement gave candidates access to people familiar with Whitehaven’s day-to-day operations. It also gave assessors additional operational context when considering candidate suitability.

Candidates had opportunities to receive feedback throughout the process, adding a development element to the assessment experience.

48 candidates assessed in two days

Over two days, Whitehaven assessed 48 domestic and international graduate candidates through the virtual assessment centre.

Removing the need to travel allowed candidates to participate regardless of location. Assessors and subject matter experts could also contribute from across Australia.

Most importantly, all vacancies were successfully filled.

The program demonstrated that a structured graduate assessment process could be delivered virtually across a geographically dispersed candidate population.

It also created a model that could involve a broader mix of candidates, assessors and operational experts without requiring everyone to be in the same location.

Extending assessment beyond the hiring decision

The value of the assessment process continued after selection.

Psychometric results for successful graduates were used to inform onboarding activities and individual development planning.

This meant information gathered during recruitment could help Whitehaven understand new graduates as they entered the organisation and shape their early development.

The virtual model also removed costs associated with traditional face-to-face assessment centres, including travel, accommodation, venue hire and catering.

While the source describes these savings as significant, no financial figure is available to quantify them.

A more flexible approach to graduate recruitment

Graduate assessment needs to give hiring teams confidence in their decisions while creating a fair and practical experience for candidates.

For Whitehaven, virtual delivery provided a different way to achieve those objectives.

Across two days, 48 domestic and international candidates were assessed and every vacancy was filled. Subject matter experts could participate from different locations, while psychometric insights continued to support successful candidates through onboarding and development.

The result was a graduate assessment approach no longer dependent on bringing every candidate and assessor into one physical location.

For organisations competing for early-career talent across dispersed markets, that flexibility can create more options for how candidates are reached, assessed and developed.

94% contractor retention while scaling technology capability for a major transformation

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:42:36 GMT

How Davidson Executive & Talent helped a major financial services organisation build critical engineering capability, placing more than 70 contractors and six permanent hires while supporting continuity across technology teams.

A major financial services organisation was shifting from a traditional banking model towards a technology-first business.

Delivering that strategy required rapid growth across critical engineering and technology teams. Demand was particularly high for data engineers, software developers, DevOps engineers and API specialists.

These skills were highly competitive in the market. At the same time, workforce demand needed to keep pace with changing project requirements and transformation timelines.

The organisation needed to scale capability across multiple technology functions without treating each vacancy as an isolated recruitment exercise.

It required a recruitment partner that understood the technical environment, could respond to evolving demand and support both contingent and permanent hiring.

Davidson Executive & Talent partnered with the organisation to build a specialist recruitment model around those requirements.

Scaling capability as transformation accelerated

Davidson worked closely with the client’s Head of Systems and engineering leaders to understand the capabilities required across technology teams.

This included benchmarking technical expectations and aligning recruitment activity with project milestones.

Rather than operating solely as an external source of candidates, Davidson established a specialist project team connected to the organisation’s broader transformation environment.

The team brought ex pertise across software engineering, cloud and infrastructure, DevOps and site reliability engineering, data analytics and engineering, and talent research.

Delivery included seven specialist consultants, supported by dedicated research and onshore resourcing capability.

This gave the organisation access to specialist m arket knowledge across several difficult-to-secure technology skillsets through a coordinated recruitment model.

Recruitment activity was also aligned with the client’s project delivery frameworks, connecting workforce requirements with transformation sequencing and changing demand.

Building recruitment around transformation priorities

More than 70 contractors and six permanent hires

Across the transformation program , Davidson placed more than 70 contractors and six permanent employees into critical technology functions.

The source reports that placements were delivered in line with project schedules and changing workforce demand.

This scale of hiring provided capability across multiple specialist disciplines during a significant period of technology change.

It also gave the organisation one recruitment partner able to support both contingent and permanent requirements across different areas of the technology workforce.

But securing specialist capability was only part of the challenge. Maintaining continuity within engineering teams was also important as the transformation progressed.

contractor retention rate across the life of the project

contractors placed across critical technology functions

permanent hires secured

specialist consultants supported delivery

94% contractor retention across the project

Davidson achieved a 94% contractor retention rate across the life of the project.

For a transformation relying on specialist technical capability, retaining contractors helped provide greater workforce continuity across engineering teams.

Combined with more than 70 contractor placements and six permanent hires, the retention result demonstrates the scale and stability of the recruitment model during the program.

The partnership also provided a consistent point of recruitment support as workforce requirements evolved.

Rather than repeatedly rebuilding market knowledge for individual vacancies, Davidson’s specialist team worked within the context of the client’s technical requirements, project milestones and transformation priorities.

Building workforce continuity into technology transformation

Large technology transformations depend on specialist capability being available when delivery teams need it.

For this organisation, that meant securing talent across data engineering, software development, DevOps and other highly competitive technical disciplines.

Davidson Executive & Talent supported that requirement with a specialist recruitment model spanning contingent and permanent hiring.

The evidence shows both scale and continuity: more than 70 contractors and six permanent hires placed, with 94% contractor retention across the life of the project.

For organisations undertaking complex technology change, specialist recruitment can become more than a response to vacancies. When connected to project requirements and workforce planning, it can provide a structured way to build and maintain the capability transformation programs depend on.

From five legacy systems to a single platform: just one Hypercare incident after migrating 250,000 life insurance policies

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:32:01 GMT

How Davidson Technology Consulting helped a leading life insurance organisation migrate complex policy data from five legacy systems to a new administration platform with traceability and control throughout the transition.

A leading life insurance organisation faced a significant technology challenge after acquiring a major life insurance portfolio.

The organisation had committed to contractual deadlines for moving the portfolio onto a new policy administration platform.

But the data underpinning the portfolio was complex.

Five legacy systems contained 500,000 rows of reference data supporting hundreds of life insurance products. Business rules were embedded within ageing code and pricing structures. Large volumes of data were also poorly formatted and difficult to reconcile.

The organisation needed to move critical policy information without compromising the integrity of existing policies.

Davidson Technology Consulting provided specialist data migration expertise to establish greater structure, traceability and control around the transition.

Migrating data without losing what mattered

Befo re migration could proceed, the team needed to understand how policy data, business rules and system dependencies worked together.

Davidson Technology Consulting developed a structured migration and reconciliation approach covering data quality and traceability.

The team reviewed data associated with more than 250,000 policies and assessed 120 reference data sheets.

It also analysed policy administration logic and decoded rules embedded within legacy pricing structures. Where required, those rules were rewritten for the new environment .

This work established a more consistent understanding of how policy information was managed across the legacy systems and what needed to be preserved during migration.

For a portfolio containing hundreds of insurance products, that detail mattered. Moving the data alone was not enough. The business logic governing how that information operated also needed to be understood and accounted for.

Understanding the data before moving it

Making every amendment traceable

Data quality was only one part of the migration risk.

With large volumes of information being reviewed and amended, stakeholders also needed visibility of what had changed and why.

Davidson Technology Consulting designed and implemented an audit and control framework that tracked data amendments throughout the migration process.

This established traceability across the program. Changes could be reviewed, validated and audited as migration progressed.

Pricing actuaries and product managers were also involved in reviewing proposed changes and supporting sign-off activities.

Bringing these stakeholders into the process connected technical migration decisions with the people responsible for understanding the products and pricing logic behind the data.

The result was a structured control environment around a complex migration rather than relying on reconciliation at the end of the process.

policies reviewed during migration

rows of reference data across five legacy systems

reference data sheets assessed

hypercare incident recorded in the weeks following cutover

Testing before cutover and supporting what came next

As the new platform approached implementation, Davidson Technology Consulting supported user acceptance testing to identify and resolve issues before production cutover.

The team then led Hypercare support following deployment, providing additional oversight during the early operational period.

Operational documentation and training were also provided to internal teams to support ongoing management of the platform after the engagement.

These activities extended the migration approach beyond technical cutover. They provided additional controls before deployment and supported the transition into business-as-usual operations.

One Hypercare incident following cutover

In the weeks following cutover, the organisation recorded a single Hypercare incident.

This followed a migration involving data associated with more than 250,000 policies, 500,000 rows of reference data and five legacy systems.

The organisation successfully migrated critical policy data to the new policy administration platform. The audit and control framework also provided traceability of data amendments throughout the migration process.

Together, these results demonstrate the value of treating data migration as a controlled business transition rather than a technical transfer alone.

The organisation reached a significant milestone in its broader transition program with critical policy information migrated and a structured approach to validating and tracking changes.

Turning migration risk into a controlled process

Complex data migrations carry risk because organisations are not simply moving records. They are transferring the information and business logic that existing operations depend on.

For this life insurer, that meant understanding hundreds of products, legacy pricing rules and data associated with more than 250,000 policies before cutover.

Davidson Technology Consulting combined migration expertise, reconciliation, governance and operational support to help manage that complexity.

The result was a controlled transition to the new policy administration platform, with only one Hypercare incident recorded in the weeks following cutover.

Reducing AWS costs by approximately 40% during CRM transformation

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:51:22 GMT

How Davidson Technology Consulting supported one of Australia’s largest banking organisations to consolidate customer data into Salesforce while improving cloud efficiency and coordinating delivery across a complex CRM program.

Approximately 40% lower AWS costs during the non-production phase

Nearly 50% further reduction in cloud spending across the following two months

AWS-based data migration supporting consolidation of retail and corporate banking customer information into Salesforce

Creating one customer view from a complex technology environment

Building for scale across multiple workstreams

Consolidating customer data into Salesforce

Approximately 40% lower AWS costs

As the program moved forward, Davidson Technology Consulting helped deliver an AWS-based data migration solution.

The solution enabled customer information to be consolidated into Salesforce and included data reconciliation across retail and corporate banking environments.

This addressed a central requirement of the transformation: bringing customer information from multiple systems into a common CRM platform.

The engagement also connected development and DevOps teams more closely across the delivery process. This gave teams greater visibility of how their work fitted into the end-to-end technology environment.

At the same time, the program identified opportunities to improve the efficiency of its AWS environment.

Davidson Technology Consulting worked with program leaders, technology teams and integration partners to establish the delivery approach.

Infrastructure as Code design and development supported the cloud environment, alongside AWS implementation and Salesforce integration.

The team also supported delivery planning, SAFe Agile facilitation and AWS integration management.

A key requirement was connecting the AWS integration team with the broader CRM program. This helped keep dependencies, priorities and delivery activities visible across workstreams.

Reusable technology components and delivery patterns were developed to support agile development and reduce duplication across the program.

User stories gave delivery teams clearer context for the work required. Technology showcase sessions also connected technical improvements with the program’s broader business objectives.

Together, these elements created a more structured way to coordinate technology delivery as the transformation progressed.

One of Australia’s largest banking organisations was undertaking a major transformation of its customer technology environment.

Customer information was spread across multiple CRM systems. The organisation wanted to consolidate these systems into a single enterprise platform and create a more consistent customer view.

The program also formed part of its broader cloud strategy. The new platform needed to operate within Amazon Web Services (AWS) while integrating with existing enterprise systems.

This created a significant coordination challenge. Multiple technology teams, platforms, integration partners and delivery streams needed to work towards the same outcome.

The task went beyond migrating customer information. The organisation needed a delivery approach that could manage dependencies across a complex program while establishing a scalable foundation for future CRM development.

Davidson Technology Consulting provided technology advisory and implementation support across cloud delivery, DevOps and Salesforce integration.

Simplifying the foundations for future CRM delivery

During the non-production ph ase, the project achieved an approximately 40% reduction in AWS costs.

Cloud spending then reduced by nearly 50% across the following two months.

These results demonstrated that a large transformation program could address cloud efficiency while continuing to build the technology required for CRM consolidation.

Alongside these cost reductions, the organisation established an AWS-based migration capability supporting the consolidation of customer information from retail and corporate banking environments into Salesforce.

Reusable components and delivery patterns also provided technology teams with assets that could support continued development across the program.

Large CRM transformations involve more than choosing a new platform. Customer data, cloud infrastructure, integration and delivery practices all need to work together.

For this banking organisation, Davidson Technology Consulting supported that challenge across AWS, Salesforce, DevOps and program delivery.

The engagement helped establish the technology and delivery foundations for customer data consolidation while producing measurable cloud efficiencies: approximately 40% lower AWS costs during the non-production phase, followed by a nearly 50% reduction in cloud spending across the next two months.

Davidson Technology Consulting helps organisations simplify complex technology environments and establish practical foundations for scalable cloud and digital delivery.

Saving months of work with a consistent approach to project demand

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:31:11 GMT

How Davidson Technology Consulting helped an Australian currency forecasting, processing and logistics organisation establish a consistent framework for prioritising projects, forecasting resources and managing portfolio demand.

The value o f the new approach became apparent quickly.

Shortly after go-live, the client reported that the framework had saved them months of work.

The framework also established a consistent mechanism for prioritising demand, forecasting resources and selecting delivery approaches across the project portfolio.

For the organisation, this represented a shift away from managing requests individually towards a more structured portfolio capability.

Leaders had greater visibility of demand, priorities and resource allocation. Delivery teams had common processes for assessing incoming work. Decisions about Agile, Waterfall and Hybrid delivery could be made through an established framework.

Most importantly, project decisio ns could be considered against agreed business drivers rather than relying predominantly on the experience of individual delivery resources.

Months of work saved, according to the client shortly after go-live

One consistent framework for project prioritisation and demand management

Agile, Waterfall and Hybrid delivery approaches incorporated into project decision-making

When project demand outgrew the existing approach

Project demand was increasing across the organisation.

Customer requirements were generating new initiatives, while teams were also looking for ways to improve how the business operated. Projects varied significantly in size, complexity and urgency.

The problem was not simply the volume of work. There was no consistent mechanism for deciding what should take priority, forecasting resource requirements or selecting the right delivery approach.

PMO and technology teams were managing a steady flow of ad hoc requests while balancing competing workload and delivery expectations.

Project outcomes also depended heavily on the experience of individual delivery resources rather than a consistent organisational approach. The organisation reported delays, cost overruns and inconsistent customer outcomes.

It needed a better way to turn project demand into clear, defensible portfolio decisions.

Davidson Technology Consulting partnered with the organisation to establish that approach.

Creating consistency around portfolio decisions

Matching the delivery approach to the project

The first step was understanding how demand entered the organisation and how decisions were being made.

The team reviewed existing project management processes, governance arrangements and resource allocation methods. C-suite stakeholders were also engaged to establish the strategic priorities that needed to guide portfolio decisions.

This shifted the focus from introducing another project management process to creating a framework connected to the organisation’s business drivers.

Working with stakeholders, Davidson developed an integrated approach covering project prioritisation, demand management, portfolio governance and resource forecasting.

Reporting and visibility mechanisms were also introduced to give leaders a clearer view across the portfolio.

Simple tools were combined with automated portfolio management capabilities to provide real-time visibility of project demand, priorities and resource allocation.

This gave decision-makers a consistent basis for understanding where resources were being directed and how proposed work aligned with strategic objectives.

Months of work saved after go-live

Not every project required the same delivery method.

The framework introduced a formal mechanis m for determining whether Agile, Waterfall or Hybrid delivery was most appropriate for each initiative.

This meant the delivery approach could reflect the characteristics of the project rather than depend primarily on individual preference or experience.

Project requests could also be assessed consistently against agreed business drivers and priorities.

At the portfolio level, greater visibility of future demand gave the organisation a clearer basis for resource planning. Leaders could see competing requirements and make more informed decisions about where available capacity should be directed.

Following implementation, Davidson provided training and support to help teams adopt the new processes and t ools.

From competing requests to portfolio control

Growing project demand does not only create a capacity problem. Without consistent prioritisation and visibility, it can make it harder to decide which work deserves resources and how that work should be delivered.

For this organisation, a common demand and portfolio management framework created a more structured way to make those decisions.

The early client evidence was significant: months of work saved shortly after go-live, alongside a new organisational capability for managing demand, resources and delivery approaches consistently.

Davidson Technology Consulting helps organisations create practical portfolio and delivery capabilities that bring greater structure and visibility to complex project environmen ts.

Creating structured career transition support through organisational change

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:02:18 GMT

How Davidson Strategy & Performance helped the NSW Environment Protection Authority provide accessible, confidential and governance-aligned career transition support during organisational change.

24/7 access to digital career transition support for all impacted employees

Five-stage framework combining practical career support with the psychological aspects of transition

One-to-one coaching available across workforce levels, from frontline employees to senior leaders

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) needed to support employees through a period of organisational change.

As a public sector regulator, the EPA also needed its transition approach to meet governance, privacy and contractual requirements.

Employees faced uncertainty about what change meant for their careers. Leaders needed a consistent way to provide practical support while continuing to manage the broader organisational transition.

The EPA required an approach that could work across different workforce levels and individual circumstances. It needed broad access to practical resources alongside more personalised support for employees who needed it.

Davidson Strategy & Performance partnered with the EPA to design and deliver a structured Career Transition Programme around those requireme nts.

Supporting people while managing change

Combining practical and personal support

Supporting employees was only one part of the EPA’s requirement. The program also needed to operate appropriately within a highly governed public sector environment.

Every element of the program aligned with NSW public sector governance, privacy and contractual requirements.

This gave the EPA a structured way to provide external career transition support while meeting its organisational obligations.

The model also separated confidential individual coaching from the organisation’s internal change processes. Employees could access independent support while EPA leaders and internal teams continued managing the broader transition .

Meeting public sector requirements

A sta ndardised approach alone would not meet the different needs of employees navigating transition.

Davidson structured the program around five stages: Identity, Focus, Presence, Strategy and Healing.

The framework addressed both practical career preparation and the personal aspects of workforce transition.

All impacted employees received 24/7 access to Davidson’s digital career transition platform. Employees could use the resources when they needed them and work through practical activities at their own pace.

Support included guided resume development, LinkedIn optimisation tools, structured job search modules and wellbeing resources.

For employees requiring additional guidance, Davidson provided confidential one-to-one coaching. This support was available across workforce levels, from frontline employees to senior leaders.

Coaching helped individuals clarify their career direction, strengthen interview capability and prepare for their next steps. It also provided a confidential setting to work through the personal challenges associated with transition.

This combination created a consistent foundation of support while allowing individuals to access more personalised guidance where req uired.

A consistent framework during uncertainty

The Career Transition Program gave impacted employees access to structured support at a time when their individual circumstances and career decisions were changing.

Digital resources provided immediate, ongoing access to practical career tools. One-to-one coaching offered additional support for employees who needed individual guidance.

Together, these elements created a consistent transition framework across workforce levels while recognising that each employee’s experience of organisational change would be different.

For the EPA, the program established a governance-aligned approach to career transition that could operate alongside its internal change activities.

It also gave leaders confidence that impacted employees had access to structured and confidential external support throughout the transition process.

Making employee support part of responsible change

Organisational change can require leaders to manage operational priorities and employee needs at the same time.

For the EPA, a combination of 24/7 digital access, a five-stage transition framework and confidential one-to-one coaching created a structured way to support impacted employees through that period.

The approach recognised that career transition is both practical and personal. Employees need tools to prepare for what comes next, but they may also need individual guidance as they navigate uncertainty.

Davidson Strategy & Performance helps organisations put structured, practical and governance-aligned support around people experiencing workforce change.

93% executive satisfaction with practical leadership development

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:45:53 GMT

How Davidson Strategy & Performance helped a large local government authority strengthen leadership development through realistic scenarios, structured feedback and individual action planning.

executive satisfaction with the program

average participant Net Promoter Score

leadership capabilities explored through realistic scenarios

Preparing leaders for complexity, not the classroom

Local government leaders regularly make decisions where community needs, organisational priorities and stakeholder expectations compete for attention.

A large local government authority recognised that leadership capability would be important as it navigated organisational change while continuing to deliver essential services.

The council wanted to strengthen capability across senior management and support implementation of a new leadership competency framework.

But it wanted development to go beyond theory.

Leaders needed opportunities to apply their skills in realistic, high-pressure situations. The experience needed to reflect the complexity they faced in their day-to-day roles.

Davidson Strategy & Performance partnered with the council to create a practical leadership development program built around those challeng es.

Putting leadership capability into practice

The program centred on experiential learning rather than classroom-style development alone.

Davidson designed an experiential leadership development centre combining individual and group exercises. Each activity aligned with the council’s leadership capability framework and reflected situations leaders could encounter in a local government environment.

The scenarios challenged participants across capabilities including:

Communication and stakeholder engagement
Decision-making under pressure
Collaboration and influence
Leadership adaptability
People leadership and accountability

Independent observers assessed participants’ responses and behaviours throughout the exercises. This provided evidence of individual strengths and areas for further development.

The approach gave leaders an opportunity to demonstrate capability in practice, rather than simply discuss leadership concepts.

It also connected the council’s new competency framework with observable behaviours. This gave participants a practical reference point for understanding what the organisation expected from its leaders.

Turning feedback into action

The development centre was followed by individual feedback and debrief sessions.

Each participant met with a Davidson consulting psychologist to explore their results and what those findings meant for their leadership.

The conversations covered individual strengths, behavioural patterns and leadership style. They also identified development priorities and practical actions for continued growth.

Feedback was aligned directly with the council’s leadership competency framework. This helped participants connect their individual development with the organisation’s broader leadership expectations and future direction.

Many participants also developed behaviour change action plans following the program, providing a practical way to carry their development beyond the assessment experience.

93% executive satisfaction

The program achieved 93% executive satisfaction, while participants recorded an average Net Promoter Score of 92%.

Participants also reported stronger self-awareness, a greater understanding of leadership expectations and increased confidence navigating organisational complexity and change.

These results provide evidence that the program was well received by both executives and participants. The reported changes also indicate that leaders left with greater clarity about their capabilities, expectations and development priorities.

The combination of experiential assessment and individual feedback was central to the approach. Leaders could test their responses in realistic situations, receive structured observations and translate those insights into practical development actions.

For the council, the program also provided a practical way to bring its leadership competency framework to life across senior management.

Making leadership expectations tangible

Leadership frameworks create greater value when people can connect them to the decisions and behaviours required in their ro les.

By combining realistic scenarios, independent observation and individual feedback, the council created a development experience grounded in the complexity its leaders faced.

The evidence reflects strong participant and executive response: 93% executive satisfaction and an average participant Net Promoter Score of 92%.

For organisations navigating change, practical leadership development can help turn capability frameworks from statements of expectation into experiences leaders can understand and apply.

Davidson Strategy & Performance helps organisations bu ild leadership capability through evidence-led assessment and development grounded in real organisational challenges.

Building a five-year strategy for a changing regulatory environment

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:18:19 GMT

How Davidson Strategy & Performance helped a major health and safety regulator establish a five-year strategic plan, redesigned risk framework and sustainable financial model for a changing operating environment.

Regulation was changing around the organisation

A major health and safety regulator was operating in an environment becoming more complex.

Technology was advancing. Data volumes were increasing. Industry practices and business models were changing. Stakeholders were also expecting faster and clearer communication.

For the regulator, these shifts raised practical questions about how it needed to operate in the future.

Leaders wanted to modernise regulatory processes while reducing unnecessary burden on regulated organisations and industries. They also needed to maintain strong governance and respond to emerging risks.

The challenge was not simply to update the organisation’s corporate plan. It was to understand how its operating environment was changing and what that meant for its future priorities, risks and capabilities.

Davidson Strategy & Performance partnered with the regulator to turn that understanding into a practical strategic direction.

Looking beyond the existing corporate plan

The engagement began as a review of the corporate plan. As the work progressed, the scope expanded into a broader assessment of the regulator’s strategic and operational environment.

Davidson combined internal evidence with perspectives from employees and external stakeholders.

Interviews, staff surveys and consultation activities explored how the organisation operated and where change was needed. Desktop research and operational analysis provided additional context.

A contemporary environmental scan examined industry trends and emerging risks. Davidson also reviewed interstate and international regulatory approaches and assessed the organisation’s risk management capability.

This broader evidence base brought several challenges into sharper focus.

Industry and consumers were seeking faster, clearer communication. Technology change was creating new opportunities and demands. Regulatory complexity was increasing, while growing volumes of operational data were difficult to translate into meaningful business insight.

Emerging business models and growth among cottage industry operators were also changing how the regulator needed to engage with industry and manage its compliance responsibilities.

These issues meant the organisation needed more than a refreshed plan. It needed a strategy grounded in how its regulatory environment was actually changing.

Turning insight into strategic priorities

The findings informed three significant pieces of work:

a new five-year strategic plan,
a redesigned strategic risk framework and
sustainable financial modelling to support long-term planning and investment decisions.

The strategic planning process also considered the relevant Government Minister’s Statement of Expectations. This helped connect the regulator’s priorities with its broader public sector responsibilities.

The five-year plan was co-designed with the CEO and Board. This brought senior leadership and governance perspectives directly into decisions about the organisation’s future direction.

Alongside the strategy, the redesigned risk framework established a clearer structure for considering strategic risk and informing decisions.

The regulator’s Audit and Risk Management Committee validated the redesigned framework, providing governance-level confirmation of the approach.

Financial modelling added another dimension to the organisation’s forward planning. It provided a basis for considering the sustainability of future priorities and investment decisions alongside strategic ambition.

Together, these elements connected strategy, risk and financial planning rather than treating them as separate exercises.

A clearer framework for the next five years

The engagement gave the regulator a new five-year strategic plan supported by a redesigned strategic risk framework and sustainable financial modelling.

It also established stronger foundations for navigating a changing regulatory environment.

The strategy reflected input from the CEO and Board, while the risk framework was validated by the Audit and Risk Management Committee. This embedded executive and governance involvement in the organisation’s future direction.

For a regulator facing technology change, growing data volumes and evolving industry practices, that alignment matters. Strategic priorities need to reflect emerging risks while remaining grounded in operational and financial realities.

The work gave the organisation a structured basis for making those decisions over the next five years.

For regulators facing similar complexity, effective strategy is not simply about defining a future direction. It requires a clear view of emerging risks, organisational capability, governance responsibilities and the resources needed to respond.

Davidson Strategy & Performance helps organisations bring those elements together to create practical strategies grounded in evidence and operational real ity.

Building a practical roadmap for ERP readiness

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:03:37 GMT

How Davidson Strategy & Performance helped a local government council prepare its people, processes and governance for a major ERP transformation.

Preparing the organisation, not just the technology

When a local government council began planning a major ERP transformation, its leaders recognised that technology was only part of the challenge.

The council had a clear vision for its future and wanted its operational systems to support its long-term priorities. But successful implementation would also require changes to processes, governance, workforce capability and ways of working.

Before progressing, leaders needed a clearer picture of the organisation’s readiness for change.

They wanted to understand the capabilities required, where operational risks and pain points existed, and what needed to happen before implementation. They also wanted employees and stakeholders involved early in shaping future ways of working.

The council needed a practical path from transformation ambition to implementation readiness.

Davidson Strategy & Performance partnered with the council to establish that path.

Understanding what ERP readiness required

Rather than treating ERP readiness as a technology exercise, Davidson assessed the broader organisational conditions required to support the transformation.

The work examined the council’s current operating environment across systems, processes and workforce impacts. Consultation with leaders and key stakeholders helped identify operational pain points, risks and improvement opportunities.

A digital maturity assessment provided another perspective on the council’s starting point and future requirements.

Davidson also conducted ‘day in the life’ interviews and developed user personas. This brought the experience of people working within existing processes into the transformation planning.

Together, these inputs helped leaders build a clearer picture of what an ERP-ready organisation would require in practice.

The assessment considered organisational capability, sponsorship and operational effort. It also examined the people, process and governance changes required to support implementation.

Turning complexity into a 180-day roadmap

Understanding the current state was only useful if the council could translate those insights into action.

Davidson worked with the council to document its future-state organisational objectives and identify priority transformation areas. ERP readiness requirements and supporting actions were then brought together in a 180-day roadmap.

The roadmap gave leaders a practical way to prioritise and sequence the work ahead.

Rather than approaching transformation as one large technology program, the council could consider the organisational changes required across people, processes, governance and systems.

The broader transformation plan also articulated the case for change and desired future state. It captured organisational risks and readiness considerations, workforce and stakeholder engagement priorities, and operational and governance requirements.

This gave the council a clearer framework for preparing the organisation before moving further into implementation.

Building capability for the next phase

The engagement produced more than a transformation plan and roadmap. It also involved the council’s project team directly in change management, transformation planning and ERP readiness activities.

Through that involvement, project team members developed a stronger understanding of the disciplines required to support the transformation.

This created internal capability that could continue beyond Davidson’s initial engagement.

The council finished the readiness phase with a documented future state, identified transformation priorities and a 180-day roadmap for the work ahead. It also had a clearer framework spanning the people, processes, governance and technology considerations involved in ERP readiness.

For leaders preparing for organisation-wide technology change, this groundwork matters. An ERP program affects how people work, how decisions are governed and how processes operate, not simply which system an organisation uses.

By treating readiness as an organisational challenge from the outset, the council established a practical foundation for its next phase of transformation.

Davidson Strategy & Performance helps organisations prepare for complex change by turning transformation objectives into practical priorities, clear decisions and executable roadmaps.

51% fewer safety incidents among new hires

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 07:48:11 GMT

How a major Australian rail and logistics organisation used Davidson Strategy & Performance’s assessment framework to strengthen hiring decisions across safety-critical roles.

fewer safety incidents involving new hires

internal and external candidates assessed

years of implementation

Making safety potential visible before hiring

In safety-critical roles, an unsuitable hiring decision can have consequences beyond workforce performance. Employees need to process information, maintain concentration and respond effectively under operational pressure.

A major Australian rail and logistics organisation wanted greater confidence in its recruitment decisions for safety-critical roles.

Traditional recruitment and behavioural assessments provided useful information, but only part of the picture. They did not fully assess how candidates processed information, maintained attention or responded under pressure.

The organisation needed a more complete way to assess candidates before they entered safety-critical roles. It also needed an approach that could support consistent decisions across a large candidate population.

The challenge was to make the capabilities associated with safe performance more visible during recruitment.

Building a more complete assessment framework

Davidson Strategy & Performance designed a customised psychometric and safety assessment framework aligned to the organisation’s operational requirements.

Working with the client, Davidson identified competencies and behaviours linked to safe performance in its rail and logistics environment.

The resulting framework combined behavioural, cognitive and psychomotor assessment. This gave recruitment teams a broader evidence base for evaluating candidates against the demands of safety-critical work.

Assessments examined capabilities including:

Reaction time
Stress recovery
Attention and concentration
Processing speed
Trajectory judgement
Visual coordination

Psychomotor testing and simulated exercises also assessed candidate responses under conditions designed to reflect operational demands.

Together, these measures provided information that behavioural assessment alone could not. The organisation could consider not only candidates’ behavioural traits, but also capabilities relevant to processing, responding and performing in operational settings.

Applying consistent benchmarks at scale

Over approximately two years, 5,311 internal and external candidates applying for safety-critical roles were assessed.

Validated assessment benchmarks gave the organisation a consistent way to evaluate candidates across this substantial hiring population.

Candidates who did not meet required safety thresholds could be identified earlier in recruitment, before appointment to safety-critical roles.

This shifted assessment from an additional recruitment input to a more structured part of workforce decision-making. It gave recruitment teams a common evidence base for evaluating capabilities relevant to operational safety.

51% fewer safety incidents involving new hires

Following implementation of the assessment framework, the organisation reported a 51% reduction in safety incidents involving new hires.

For a safety-critical workforce, the significance extended beyond recruitment consistency. The organisation had a more structured way to identify candidates against defined safety requirements before they entered operational roles.

Across approximately two years and 5,311 candidates, the framework provided a scalable approach to assessing safety-related capability during recruitment.

The source also reports broader benefits including improved confidence in recruitment decisions, stronger alignment between workforce capability and safety expectations, and reduced exposure to operational and workforce risk.

From candidate assessment to workforce risk control

For organisations operating in safety-critical environments, experience and behavioural fit provide only part of the evidence needed for hiring decisions.

Assessing behavioural, cognitive and psychomotor capabilities can give decision-makers a more complete view of how candidates align with the demands of safety-critical work.

For this organisation, that approach was applied to 5,311 candidates over approximately two years, alongside a reported 51% reduction in safety incidents involving new hires.

Davidson Strategy & Performance helps organisations build evidence-led workforce approaches that support clearer decisions, stronger organisational capability and more effective management of workforce risk.

Eight disability support organisations gained greater confidence in values-based hiring

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 07:15:35 GMT

How Davidson improved the disability sector's hiring success

8 disability support organisations involved

299 applications received

53 candidates progressed to two assessment centres

All 8 organisations reported the approach added data, insight and value to recruitment

Finding the right people for disability support

Disability support organisations need people with more than the technical ability to perform a role. Values, resilience, interpersonal sensitivity and a commitment to person-centred practice also matter.

A peak body had secured funding to trial and evaluate values-based collaborative assessment centres as a recruitment approach for disability support workers.

The challenge was to determine whether a more structured, evidence-based process could help organisations identify candidates with the behaviours, values and capabilities required for the work.

Davidson Strategy & Performance collaborated with eight disability support organisations in NSW to design, deliver and assess the recruitment methodology and two assessment centres.

Building evidence into each hiring decision

The methodology combined the client's existing workforce development resources with Davidson's evidence-based assessment design.

Rather than relying on a single recruitment method, candidates progressed through four stages. Each stage examined a different aspect of suitability for disability support work.

The first stage used values-driven advertising and pre-screening against core role requirements. This included eligibility for working with children and Federal Police checks. The campaign attracted 299 applications.

Candidates then completed a values assessment focused on strengths and values relevant to disability services, including commitment to person-centred practice. 182 candidates completed the assessment, followed by 147 phone interviews exploring motivation.

The third stage added a validated psychometric diagnostic designed for the sector. It assessed capabilities including flexibility, resilience, teamwork and interpersonal sensitivity.

Of the candidates progressing through the process, 102 completed psychometric assessments and 72 were shortlisted.

Testing capability in realistic situations

The final stage brought the evidence together through two collaborative assessment centres.

Davidson worked with the disability support organisations to adapt existing values-based recruitment resources into an objective assessment process.

Candidates completed group activities, individual exercises including a case study, and one-on-one interviews. This allowed organisations to observe candidates across different situations rather than relying on interview responses alone.

53 candidates attended an assessment centre.

The result was a recruitment process that gave participating organisations multiple sources of evidence when assessing suitability for disability support roles.

Greater confidence in candidate selection

Feedback from all eight disability support organisations supported the value of the approach.

Every participating organisation concluded that the initiative added data, insight and value to recruitment. They also described the experience as enjoyable and satisfying.

Importantly, the organisations reported that the assessment centres accurately assessed the behaviours and values required for the roles and validated their recruitment process.

There was also early evidence from the workplace.

Within their first month of employment, managers rated the newly appointed disability support workers highly across the required role competencies. The employees demonstrated resilience, emotional intelligence and interpersonal sensitivity, as well as professionalism and effective collaboration.

Making values-based recruitment more evidence-led

For disability support organisations, hiring decisions directly influence the capability of the workforce delivering services.

This trial showed how values assessment, psychometric evidence and observed behaviour could be brought together within one structured recruitment methodology.

For the eight participating organisations, the approach provided greater evidence for candidate decisions and validated the behaviours and values being assessed.

It also demonstrated a practical way to look beyond experience and interview performance when identifying people suited to disability support work.

Boosting HR’s Strategic Capability-1

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:46:34 GMT

A strategy that needed the right organisation behind it

A new CEO joined the council as the organisation entered an important period of change.

The council had a clear strategic vision. The question was whether its existing structure and operating model could support it.

The council needed m ore than a new organisation chart. It needed a clear view of how the organisation worked in practice, where constraints existed and what n eeded to change.

Davidson Strategy & Performance partnered with the council to build that evidence base and translate it into a practical organisational design.

Understanding how the organisation really worked

The first priority was to understand the gap between the council’s strategic direction and its current operating model.

Open drop-in sessions gave employees another way to share their experience and ideas.

The approach also gave employees multiple opportunities to contribute to a change that would affect how the organisation operated.

Turning evidence into design decisions

As the analysis progressed, consistent themes emerged around decision-making, accountability, service delivery and organisational alignment.

These findings shifted the focus from reviewing individual roles or reporting lines to a more fundamental question: what operating model would best support the council’s priorities?

Importantly, the proposed model had to work in practice. It balanced the council’s strategic ambitions with its operational responsibilities, governance obligations and community-facing role.

From organisational review to a clearer way forward

The review gave council leaders a clearer evidence base for decisions about the organisation's future design.

A new organisational structure was put in place, creating stronger alignment between strategic priorities, operational delivery and leadership accountability.

The work also gave the council a clearer view of how its structure, leadership capability and operating model could support its longer-term direction.

Davidson Strategy & Performance helps organisations turn strategy into practical organisational structures and operating models built for lasting performance.

Water Gauge 2026: Australia’s water sector is entering a defining decade

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 04:33:53 GMT

Australia’s water sector is facing a convergence of pressures unlike anything seen in recent decades.

More than $25 billion in capital programs, climate volatility, rapid population and housing growth, pricing constraints and rising community expectations are changing what water organisations need to deliver, and the capabilities they need to deliver it.

The Water Gauge 2026 captures the perspectives of CEOs and board members from some of Australia’s largest water organisations to understand how sector leaders are responding.

The findings point to five strategic forces shaping the decade ahead, from financial sustainability and climate resilience to leadership, workforce and digital capability.

The pressure is already visible.

85% of leaders identify funding and pricing pressures as their greatest strategic risk.
64% report leadership capability gaps as their most urgent workforce issue.
Half acknowledge gaps in digital and technology literacy at board and executive level.

These are no longer challenges that can be addressed through infrastructure investment alone.

As capital programs accelerate and operating environments become more complex, leadership capability, workforce depth and digital maturity will increasingly determine which organisations can deliver sustainable outcomes.

The Water Gauge 2026 provides a benchmark for boards and executive teams to assess their readiness, understand where capability gaps are emerging and identify where greater focus is required.

See what water leaders are preparing for

Explore the five strategic forces shaping Australia’s water sector and what they mean for leadership, workforce and organisational capability over the decade ahead.

Download your complimentary copy of The Water Gauge 2026.

Beyond infrastructure: What Ozwater’26 reinforced about the future of Australia’s water sector

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:32:27 GMT

Ambition is clear. Capability will determine delivery.

Ozwater’26 brought the sector together around a powerful theme: Our Water. Our Tomorrow.

Across the conference, the conversations were technical, ambitious and future-focused. There was strong momentum around infrastructure investment, climate resilience, circular economy, digital operations, water security and long-term sustainability.

But one theme sat beneath many of the discussions: the sector’s ability to deliver on its ambitions will depend on people.

Not just technical capability. Leadership capability. Digital capability. Workforce capability. Governance capability.

Financial pressure is not a reason to pause investment

One of the clearest themes from Ozwater was the need for continued investment in asset and network upgrades.

Across Queensland and nationally, water organisations are progressing major infrastructure programs to support population growth, improve resilience and prepare for future demand. At the same time, there remains strong pressure to manage pricing and demonstrate value for customers.

This tension is not new, but it is becoming more acute.

The Water Gauge 2026 found that 85% of sector leaders identify funding and pricing pressures as the greatest risk to delivering strategy. The challenge is that financial pressure does not reduce the need for investment. In many cases, delaying infrastructure upgrades only increases the long-term cost, complexity and risk.

For boards and executive teams, the task is to balance affordability today with resilience tomorrow. That requires long-term thinking, clear communication with customers and regulators, and governance structures that support decisions beyond short-term funding cycles.

As the report highlights, the sector is managing a capital pipeline of more than $25 billion between 2023 and 2030. Delivery at that scale requires more than engineering expertise. It requires organisational alignment, workforce capacity and leadership capable of navigating competing expectations.

Digital adoption is becoming more practical

AI and technology were prominent across Ozwater, particularly where they support operational performance.

The strongest examples were practical: using real-time data, sensors and AI-driven insights to shift from reactive maintenance to predictive operations. For water organisations, this means identifying potential failures earlier, improving visibility across networks and reducing downtime, maintenance costs and service disruptions.

But scaling this opportunity depends on more than the technology itself. Water organisations need modern data models, strong data governance and better integration between physical assets in the field and back-office systems. In other words, the digital opportunity depends on organisational readiness.

This aligns with the Water Gauge 2026 finding that 60% of utilities are advancing digital initiatives, with AI adoption rising as a priority.

Sustainability and circular economy are moving from aspiration to action

Ozwater also reinforced the growing importance of sustainability and circular economy thinking across the sector.

Talent must be elevated as a strategic priority

While Ozwater covered a strong breadth of technical and strategic topics, one practical question deserves more attention: Who will deliver this transformation?

The sector’s ambitions are substantial. Infrastructure programs are growing. Digital transformation is accelerating. Sustainability expectations are rising. Communities expect real-time communication, affordability and resilience. Yet the Water Gauge 2026 found that 64% of leaders cite leadership capability gaps as their most urgent workforce issue.

This is one of the most important messages for the sector.

The water industry has traditionally valued deep sector experience, and for good reason. But as the challenges become more complex, the sector will need to draw capability from broader markets, including energy, resources, infrastructure, technology, finance and other customer-intensive sectors.

We are already seeing movement in this direction.

More executive and director-level appointments are bringing commercial, digital, financial and transformation experience into the sector. This broadening of capability can help water organisations strengthen leadership diversity, improve decision-making and respond to increasingly complex operating environments.

Regional and remote utilities face a particular challenge. Attracting talent to locations outside major metropolitan centres remains difficult, even as the need for strong leadership, operational capability and digital maturity continues to grow.

The answer is not simply to fill vacancies faster. It is to think differently about role design, attraction, assessment, onboarding and long-term workforce planning.

Hiring practices must evolve with the sector

As the water sector modernises infrastructure, operations and technology, recruitment and assessment practices must also evolve.

Some organisations remain heavily process-driven in how they hire, particularly for technical, operational and safety-critical roles. While consistency is important, outdated processes can limit the ability to assess leadership potential, safety mindset, adaptability and cultural contribution.

This is especially important in a sector where more workers are being exposed to operational risk through ageing assets, construction-heavy environments and major renewal programs.

This closely reflects the findings of Davidson's Water Gauge 2026 , which identified five strategic forces shaping the sector: financial sustainability and pricing reform, leadership and workforce capability, digital and data transformation, climate resilience and adaptive capacity, and affordability and community expectations.

Yet the report also shows that 50% of leaders acknowledge gaps in digital and technology literacy at board and executive level. That gap is not stopping progress, but it should shape how progress is governed.

Digital transformation in water is no longer only a technology issue. It is a leadership and governance issue. Boards and executives need enough digital literacy to ask the right questions, manage risk, make informed investment decisions and ensure digital capability translates into measurable performance.

Water organisations are looking beyond compliance and exploring how assets, waste streams, energy use and resource recovery can support broader environmental and community outcomes. This includes opportunities in water recycling, biosolids, renewable energy, biochar and industrial reuse.

The Water Gauge 2026 found that climate resilience and adaptive capacity was the most common ESG priority cited by respondents, while affordability and equitable access also ranked highly.

This creates a difficult but important leadership challenge. The sector must invest in resilience and sustainability while maintaining affordability and trust.

The opportunity is significant. Forward-looking organisations are already considering how sustainability initiatives can reduce costs, support ESG goals and create value beyond traditional service delivery.

Davidson has seen this through advisory and search work across the sector, including support for organisations strengthening capability in sustainability, resource recovery, cultural and community impact, and long-term infrastructure planning.

The Water Gauge 2026 notes that safety increasingly depends on capability, including clear roles, supervision and process consistency, as much as engineering controls.

For employers, this means recruitment must go beyond technical fit. Assessment should test judgement, resilience, leadership behaviour, communication and risk awareness.

This is where stronger workforce planning, robust assessment methods and broader market mapping can make a measurable difference.

The sector is ready for the next conversation

Ozwater’26 showed a sector actively engaging with the future.

There is strong momentum behind infrastructure, technology, sustainability and resilience. The challenge now is ensuring water organisations have the leadership, workforce and digital capability to deliver.

The Water Gauge 2026 reinforces a clear message:

Infrastructure transformation depends on workforce transformation.

As the sector enters its next phase of reform and delivery, the organisations that adapt early will be best placed to build trust, manage cost pressures, deliver capital programs and create sustainable outcomes for the communities they serve.

Davidson partners with water organisations to strengthen leadership, workforce and digital capability. We help clients align strategy, structure, people and technology so they can enhance workplace performance and deliver with confidence.

Download the Water Gauge 2026 to explore the insights shaping Australia’s water sector.

Making multiple contact centre hiring decisions in one day

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 09:56:39 GMT

Multiple hiring decisions made on the same day
One-day assessment centre combining four evaluation methods
Six core capabilities assessed consistently across candidates
Ongoing talent pipeline established for changing workforce demand

When faster hiring still needed careful assessment

AusNet needed to rapidly scale its contact centre workforce in response to increasing customer service demand.

But filling roles quickly was only part of the requirement.

Contact centre employees needed to communicate effectively, demonstrate empathy and represent AusNet’s service values in customer interactions.

Traditional recruitment approaches risked extending hiring timeframes and creating inconsistency between candidate assessments.

AusNet needed a faster process without reducing selection to availability or interview performance alone.

Davidson Executive & Talent partnered with the organisation to develop a structured assessment model that could evaluate multiple candidates efficiently while giving hiring managers consistent evidence for their decisions.

Assessing candidates in the context of the role

Davidson developed a one-day assessment centre combining several evaluation methods into a single recruitment process.

The principle was simple: assess how candidates responded to situations relevant to the role, rather than relying solely on what they said during an interview.

Candidates completed structured behavioural interviews, group problem-solving activities, customer service simulations and written assessment tasks.

Together, these activities assessed six capabilities:

Communication
Customer empathy
Adaptability
Problem-solving
Collaboration
Resilience

Using multiple assessment methods gave hiring managers different opportunities to observe how candidates communicated, worked with others and approached customer-focused situations.

Hiring managers also participated directly in the assessment centre. Their involvement connected candidate evaluation with the practical expectations of AusNet’s contact centre environment.

Turning assessment into clearer decisions

Evidence from each stage was captured in a custom competency matrix.

This gave hiring leaders a common framework for considering candidate strengths and development areas.

Rather than candidates being evaluated through different individual interpretations, each person could be considered against the same capabilities.

The source also reports that assessment outcomes aligned closely with hiring manager preferences. This provided additional confidence that the structured process reflected what hiring leaders were looking for in successful candidates.

Crucially, the process brought assessment and decision-making together.

Multiple hiring decisions could be made on the same day, reducing the time between assessment and selection while maintaining a consistent evaluation process.

Creating a repeatable model for changing demand

The assessment centre addressed more than one immediate recruitment requirement.

Candidates identified through the process also contributed to an ongoing talent pipeline that AusNet could draw on as workforce demand changed.

This gave the organisation a repeatable approach to future contact centre recruitment rather than requiring a new selection model each time demand increased.

The combination of structured activities, a common competency framework and direct hiring manager involvement also established a consistent basis for future hiring decisions.

Balancing speed with hiring confidence

High-volume recruitment can create pressure to choose between moving quickly and assessing candidates thoroughly.

AusNet’s one-day assessment centre brought those requirements into the same process.

Candidates were assessed through four different evaluation methods against six core capabilities, while multiple hiring decisions could be made on the same day.

The result was a practical recruitment model that gave AusNet a consistent way to assess contact centre candidates while responding more quickly to workforce demand.

For organisations experiencing fluctuat ing customer service requirements, structured assessment can make speed and consistency complementary rather than competing recruitment priorities.

Recognised by Talegent: strengthening our talent insights for clients

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 12:38:04 GMT

Davidson Strategy & Performance has been recognised as Talegent’s Partner of the Quarter, selected from its global reseller network. The recognition reflects a long-term partnership built around a practical objective: using better data and insight to help organisations make stronger people decisions and improve workplace performance.

Why the Talegent partnership matters

Talegent provides a broad suite of digital talent assessment tools designed to give organisations a more rounded view of candidates and employees. Its PATH suite includes personality, values and cognitive ability assessments, supported by interactive reporting that can compare results and translate psychometric data into accessible insights. Talegent's wider portfolio includes more than 300 skills tests, gamified assessments for capabilities such as learning agility and verbal, numerical and logical reasoning, video interviewing and solutions designed for different job families and recruitment contexts. Davidson combines these tools with expertise in workforce alignment, organisation design, leadership development and transformation.

That combination matters because assessment data is most useful when it is interpreted in context. A score on its own does not tell a leader what to do next. The value comes from connecting evidence to the role, team, strategy and decision being made.

Supporting decisions across the talent lifecycle

The partnership gives Davidson Strategy & Performance access to a broad assessment toolkit that can be applied to different decisions across the talent lifecycle. Talegent's PATH suite can assess personality, values and cognitive ability, while its wider portfolio includes skills testing, gamified cognitive assessment, video interviewing and role-specific assessment options. The right combination depends on the role, the organisation and the decision being made. Rather than treating assessment as a standard test to add to a process, we can build an approach around the capabilities, behaviours and potential that matter in a particular context.

At the recruitment and executive search stage, this can add objective evidence alongside interviews, experience and reference checking. Personality assessment can provide insight into motivations, work style, decision-making and how someone may interact with others, while cognitive assessments can explore areas such as verbal, numerical and logical reasoning. Values assessment can add another perspective by considering alignment between an individual's values and those of the organisation. For high-volume or early-career recruitment, gamified assessments can measure cognitive capabilities such as learning agility and reasoning while creating a more engaging digital candidate experience.

The value does not need to stop once a hiring decision has been made. Assessment insights can help shape onboarding by highlighting strengths, likely development needs and areas a manager may want to focus on early. They can support internal promotion and succession discussions by adding evidence about leadership potential, capability and areas for growth. At a team level, aggregated insights can help leaders understand the mix of strengths and working preferences they already have and where capability gaps may exist.

Used at a broader organisational level, this evidence can contribute to workforce planning, leadership development and transformation. It can help organisations ask more informed questions about the capabilities they will need, where critical talent or succession risks sit and whether their current workforce is aligned with future strategic priorities. Assessment is therefore not simply a selection tool. Used well, it becomes one source of evidence that can support better people decisions from attraction and selection through to development, succession and workforce planning.

Turning data into practical decisions

More data does not automatically lead to better decisions. The important step is translating assessment results into information that leaders, hiring managers and individuals can understand and use. Talegent's reporting allows assessment results to be viewed and compared in practical formats, including insights against relevant competencies and role requirements. Davidson's role is to help put those results into context - connecting the data with the purpose of the assessment, other available evidence and the organisation's broader workforce priorities.

For a hiring manager, that might mean using assessment insights to explore a candidate's strengths or potential risk areas more deeply at interview rather than relying on instinct alone. For an individual, it can mean feedback that identifies strengths and provides a clearer focus for development. For a leadership team, it may mean looking across a cohort to identify common capability gaps, development priorities or succession considerations. For boards and executives, assessment and talent analytics can provide an additional evidence base for conversations about leadership pipelines, workforce risk and the capabilities required to deliver strategy.

This is also where consistency matters. Structured assessment can give organisations a common framework for considering candidates or employees against relevant criteria, helping reduce over-reliance on subjective judgement. It does not replace human decision-making, nor should an assessment score be treated as the decision itself. Instead, it adds another robust source of information that can be considered alongside experience, performance, interviews, organisational context and professional judgement.

The result is a more useful conversation about talent. Instead of asking only whether someone has passed an assessment, organisations can ask what the evidence tells them, what it does not tell them and what action should follow. That shift - from collecting data to applying insight - is where assessment can create lasting value.

Recognition of a working partnership

Partner recognition is welcome, but the more important measure is what the partnership enables for clients. Combining high-quality assessment technology with practical support helps organisations move from data to decisions - and from decisions to actions that strengthen leadership and workforce capability.

Talk to Davidson

If you are reviewing assessment, succession, leadership development or workforce planning, Davidson Strategy & Performance can help design an evidence-based approach around the decisions you need to make.

Davidson wins 2018 APSCo Australia Award for Diversity and Inclusion

wow@shazamme.com (Default Author) — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 09:14:40 GMT

Davidson wins 2018 APSCo Australia Award for Diversity and Inclusion

Make Davidson is thrilled to have been awarded an Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) Australia Award for Excellence for their work in promoting diversity and inclusion within the public sector at a gala dinner on Thursday October 18.

These national awards are committed to identifying, promoting and celebrating best practice and excellence in the recruitment and professional staffing sector.

Davidson was awarded in the category of Diversity and Inclusion for its industry-leading project, the Top 50 Public Sector Women, designed to shine a light on the inspirational female leaders working in the public sector in Victoria and NSW and to help increase gender diversity and inclusion in leadership roles.

Australia’s public sector records a high proportion of female staff, yet the number of women in executive roles remains disproportionately low. Reports across all tiers and divisions of the public sector reveal female representation drops off between middle management and executive levels.

Anecdotally, one of the reasons for this is that emerging female leaders do not feel they have the skills, suitable opportunities or confidence to progress their careers.

The overarching objectives of the Top 50 Public Sector Women’s list are to:

raise the profile of female leaders in the public sector
highlight their achievements
provide a platform to support and encourage other women

Now in its second year, the Top 50 Public Sector Women list is designed to help identify emerging female leaders in the public sector, provide development opportunities, assist with building networks and industry associations and provide formalised learning experiences.

The list recognises exceptional female leaders already working within the public sector, highlighting their achievements and placing them as role models for future generations.

Davidson launched the Top 50 Public Sector Women’s List in Victoria in August 2017.

The project is an educational process for women, as well as an awards ceremony recognising the most inspirational women leaders in the sector. Davidson created an event which had never been staged before, and used it to grow confidence, business outcomes and gender diversity. It is a unique approach and ensured that the project stood out within the public sector.

The project immediately gained the support of a series of high calibre women and men in the sector who agreed to act as judges.

The project also attracted the attention of key partners such as IPPA Victoria (Institute of Public Administration Australia - Victoria), LGPro (Local Government Professionals) and Seek who assisted in raising the profile of the event even further.

Since August 2017, the innovation has grown significantly and in early 2018 it was extended into NSW. The NSW Government partnered with Davidson for the first NSW event this year and the project attracted a record number of entries.

We are very proud to have won such a prestigious award for a project that is very close to our hearts. To find out more about the Top 50 Public Sector Women list click here .

Davidson acquires Canberra-based technology specialist Inspired

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 12:50:59 GMT

Davidson has strengthened its Federal Government capability through the acquisition of Canberra-based technology specialist Inspired. The acquisition brings together complementary expertise, established government relationships and a shared approach to doing business, while supporting Davidson’s broader growth in the Australian Government market.

Strengthening Davidson’s government portfolio

Davidson Group CEO Trent McMahon said the acquisition builds on more than three decades of work with government clients across Australia and creates an opportunity to accelerate Davidson’s presence in the Federal Government market.

Inspired brings supplier-panel access to more than 60 Australian Government agencies. Combined with Davidson’s Strategy & Performance, Executive & Talent, and Technology Consulting capability, that access creates a broader platform for supporting government organisations with workforce, transformation and technology priorities.

Complementary specialist capability

Inspired has spent more than a decade providing specialist resources to government departments, private enterprise, educational institutions and research organisations. Its capability spans governance, project management, engineering, simulation delivery, ICT infrastructure, application development and commercial disciplines.

That expertise complements Davidson’s focus on supporting organisations through people, strategy & technology. It also gives clients access to a wider range of capability through a relationship built on shared values and an open, transparent approach.

Bringing the capabilities together

The acquisition brought Inspired’s established Canberra capability into Davidson’s broader national network, creating a stronger platform for supporting clients across the Federal Government market. The focus through the integration has been on retaining the specialist knowledge, relationships and practical understanding that made Inspired a trusted partner, while connecting clients and candidates with Davidson’s wider resources and expertise.

For clients, that means access to broader advisory, talent and technology capability while continuing to benefit from deep knowledge of the Canberra and Federal Government environment. For candidates and consultants, it creates connections to a wider range of opportunities and specialist teams across Davidson’s national business.

A partnership focused on client value

The strategic rationale is straightforward: combine complementary capability, deepen access to the Federal Government market and create more ways to support clients as their needs evolve. For Davidson and Inspired, the acquisition is a platform for the next stage of growth; for clients, the focus remains on practical expertise, trusted relationships and outcomes.

For media enquiries or to discuss Davidson’s Federal Government capability, contact the Davidson team.