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AI Is Delivering Business Value Today
The SAP Value of AI Report shows AI now powers 25% of tasks in global enterprises and is projected to reach 41% within two years. In Australia, firms are generating roughly $3 million USD ROI on an average $17.6 million USD AI spend, a 15% return that could double by 2028. Retailer Freedom Furniture leveraged AI‑driven search and recommendations to boost conversion rates by up to 50%, while agentic AI is forecast to add about $2.8 million USD in ROI for Australian businesses. Yet only 10% of Australian companies adopt AI strategically, leaving significant value untapped.
Labor to Consult with Telcos on Key Telco Legislation Reforms
The Australian Labor government announced it will consult telcos on reforms to the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011, aiming to accelerate fibre rollouts and upgrades in multi‑dwelling units. The changes, driven by industry lobbying,...
IAG Drives AI More Deeply Across Its Operations
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is deepening AI integration across its business through three approaches—Deploy, Shape and Compose—leveraging vendor platforms and internal talent. The insurer now runs 92 production generative‑AI use cases, supported by more than 600 certified “activators” and over...
Lendi Group Runs First Project Through "Agentic SDLC"
Lendi Group, a home‑lending fintech, completed its first project using an agentic software development lifecycle (SDLC) powered by Atlassian’s Teamwork Graph. The new process captures meeting audio with Loom, auto‑generates PRDs in Confluence, and employs AI agents to create Jira...
CBA Opens a Second US 'Tech Hub'
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) opened its second U.S. technology hub in downtown San Francisco, adding to its existing Seattle location. The bank says more than 70% of its engineering teams already use AI tools and aims to accelerate adoption...
NSW Police IPOS Overhaul Half-a-Billion over Budget
The NSW Police Integrated Policing Operating System (IPOS) overhaul, originally budgeted at $328 million AUD (≈$216 million USD) and slated for completion by mid‑2027, now requires an additional $493 million AUD (≈$325 million USD) and will not be finished until 2031. After spending $155 million...
Take Control of Your Connectivity with Telstra’s Adaptive Networks Centre
Telstra has launched the Adaptive Networks Centre (ANC), its first Network‑as‑a‑Product offering, to give enterprise customers a self‑service, API‑driven way to design, order and manage connectivity. The platform replaces manual provisioning with a digital interface that provides real‑time visibility, rapid...
Australian Federal Police Sign $20.5m Cisco Deal
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has entered its largest contract with Optus Networks, a three‑year agreement worth AU$20.5 million for enterprise Cisco technology. The deal covers licensing and support for existing Cisco solutions and includes two optional one‑year extensions that could...
Parallel Bug Discovery Triggers Premature Linux LPE Disclosure
The Linux kernel has seen three critical local‑privilege‑escalation (LPE) bugs surface in weeks, starting with the Copy Fail flaw and followed by Dirty Frag and Copy Fail 2. Dirty Frag’s embargo was unintentionally broken on May 7, releasing exploit details before a full patch was ready,...
Cleanaway Tidies up Endpoint Security
Cleanaway Waste Management is streamlining its endpoint security by cutting more than 20 cyber‑security suppliers down to five strategic vendors. The move covers over 15,000 assets—including 4,800 trucks, mobile devices and operational technology—across Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. The...
Digital Canberra Taps Service NSW's CDO
Digital Canberra has appointed Service NSW chief digital officer Dr. Christina Igasto as its inaugural director‑general, effective May 25. Igasto, who has led digital transformation across more than 80 NSW government agencies, succeeds interim director‑general Bettina Konti, who will move into...
Thomas Peer Solutions Unveils Data Cloud Platform and Executive Leadership Forum for 2026
Australian IT services firm Thomas Peer Solutions announced the Thomas Peer Data Cloud, a unified platform that bundles backup, cyber‑vault, infrastructure, security and observability services from partners such as Dell, NetApp, Veeam, Wasabi, Datadog and CrowdStrike. The cloud delivers 24/7...
Defence to Deploy Classified Version of Space Data Repository
Defence has signed a $37 million Australian‑dollar contract—about $24 million USD—with Bluestaq to deploy a classified version of its Unified Data Library (UDL) for space situational awareness. The UDL, originally trialled in a non‑classified environment since December 2023, will catalog satellites, debris and...
Harris Farm Markets Bolsters Digital, Data Leadership
Australian grocery chain Harris Farm Markets announced two senior tech hires in rapid succession. Former Lion group technology and digital transformation director Ram Kalyanasundaram joins as chief information and digital officer, while Bharath Venkataraman, ex‑head of data at Freedom Australia,...
Zero-Trust Is Not a Product – It’s a Philosophy
Zero‑trust is a security philosophy, not a product, says Jeremy Nees of Virtual IT Group. He warns that AI‑driven attacks demand continuous identity verification and risk‑aligned controls. Companies should begin with an environmental audit, conduct a risk assessment, then deploy...
Top Google Scientist Says EU Data Measures Pose Privacy Risk for Users
A distinguished Google scientist warned EU antitrust regulators that the Commission’s draft rule to share search‑engine data with rivals could expose user privacy. He demonstrated that Google’s AI red team re‑identified anonymised search data in under two hours, questioning the...
Great Southern Bank Poised to Reveal First AI Agents
Great Southern Bank is set to launch its first AI agents after a multi‑year data modernisation that consolidated legacy systems into a Databricks Lakehouse. The overhaul, driven by upcoming $20 billion‑AUD (≈$13.2 billion USD) asset reporting requirements, slashed reporting cycles from days to...
Vic Gov Invests $106m in Communities and Families IT Transformation
Victoria’s Department of Families, Fairness and Housing will receive a $106 million AUD (≈$70 million USD) IT transformation program over the next three years, the largest single tech spend in the 2026‑27 state budget. The funding is part of a broader $126 million...
Woolworths IQ Taps Accelerator for Impactful AI Use Cases
Woolworths IQ, the joint venture between Woolworths and Quantium, has partnered with Google Cloud’s Advanced Solutions Lab for an annual AI bootcamp that fast‑tracks high‑impact machine‑learning projects into production. The three‑year program began in California in 2024, delivering five capstone...
NAB Sees AI Influence Useful Life and Value of Software
National Australia Bank (NAB) has lowered the value and useful life of its capitalised software assets, taking a $1.3 billion hit to underlying profit and $949 million to cash earnings in the first half of FY26. The change, the third policy revision...
Fed Gov Faces Major M365 Licensing Change
The Australian Digital Transformation Agency’s new five‑year Volume Sourcing Agreement (VSA6) will end the federal government’s pooled Microsoft 365 licensing model in July. Each agency must now secure its own enterprise enrolment through the sole‑provider Data#3, while still benefiting from whole‑of‑government...
Bunnings' Tech Capability "Incredibly Underestimated"
Bunnings has unveiled "Buddy," an AI‑powered shopping assistant built on Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise, marking the retailer’s first major foray into agentic commerce. The tool can interpret handwritten lists, locate products, and add them to a cart, initially on the...
'Copy Fail' Linux Privesc Bug Lay Dormant in Kernel Since 2017
The Linux kernel harbors a new privilege‑escalation flaw, CVE‑2026‑31431, nicknamed “Copy Fail,” that has been active since a 2017 performance optimization. By exploiting a four‑byte out‑of‑bounds write in the AEAD crypto path, an unprivileged user can overwrite any setuid binary and...
Telstra Not Seeking to Lock Rivals Out of Mobile-to-Satellite Bands
Telstra announced it will not seek to exclude rivals from the 2 GHz mobile‑to‑satellite (MSS) spectrum needed for next‑generation satellite‑to‑mobile services. SpaceX warned that if Telstra secured the remaining frequencies, it could effectively lock out other satellite operators and Australian mobile...
ABA Says Big Tech Tax Gap Putting Payments at Risk
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) warned that a widening tax and regulatory gap between banks and multinational tech firms threatens the stability of Australia’s payment systems. In 2025 Australian banks paid roughly US$10.6 billion in taxes, while Meta, Apple and Google...
Onel Consulting Strengthens Its White-Glove Services With Strategic COO Appointment
Onel Consulting announced the appointment of Sohan Gunasekera as chief operating officer to reinforce its white‑glove service model as client demand surges. The move is designed to embed stronger operational discipline while preserving the engineering‑led approach that differentiates the firm. Onel...
Why Backing Up Your Microsoft 365 Data Is Only Half the Job
Microsoft 365 has transformed from a suite of web apps into the enterprise’s central control plane, intertwining identity, collaboration, security, and workflow. While Microsoft secures the underlying platform, customers now shoulder configuration, access delegation, and governance responsibilities. A breach at a...
Always-On Defence Becomes Critical as AI Accelerates Cyber Threats: Infotrust
Cybersecurity leaders warn that AI‑driven automation is accelerating attack speed, forcing organisations to shift from periodic checks to an always‑on defence model. Infotrust CEO Simon McKay notes attackers now have access to the same AI tools used by defenders, enabling larger‑scale...
Macquarie Bank Saves 130,000 Hours in Seven Months of Gemini Enterprise Use
Macquarie Bank reports that nearly 80% of its 5,000 employees are using Google’s Gemini Enterprise daily, delivering 130,000 productivity hours in just seven months. The bank’s adoption model combined universal access, mandatory training, and a hackathon‑style innovation lab that enabled...
Australia to Charge Big Tech Companies Two Percent Levy Unless They Strike Local News Deals
Australia announced a "News Bargaining Incentive" that would impose a 2.25% levy on the local Australian revenues of Meta, Google and TikTok unless they strike commercial agreements with domestic news publishers. The tax, slated to begin in the 2025‑26 financial...
Alleged 'Hafnium' Hacker-for-Hire Extradited to the United States
Chinese national Xu Zewei, alleged leader of the state‑sponsored Hafnium hacker‑for‑hire operation, was extradited from Italy and appeared in a U.S. federal court in Houston. The indictment accuses him of directing attacks that exploited the Microsoft Exchange zero‑day CVE‑2021‑26855, compromising...
Woolworths Gives Agentic-Powered Olive Chatbot to Its 200,000 Staff
Woolworths has rolled out an agentic‑augmented version of its Olive chatbot to more than 200,000 employees, leveraging Google Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience. The live demo at Google Cloud Next ’26 showed Olive handling meal‑planning, swapping to organic items, and...
Colonial First State Showcases Martech Modernisation
Colonial First State (CFS) is overhauling its marketing technology by deploying Adobe Experience Platform and Adobe Journey Optimizer, including a decision‑engine that serves next‑best messages to members. The shift expands outreach beyond email to push notifications and content cards, creating...
Telstra's AI Bid to Nip Customer Complaints in the Bud
Telstra is deploying Microsoft AI Foundry’s agentic AI to scan customer data after migrations from legacy CRM systems. The AI agents proactively flag discrepancies, allowing Telstra to resolve issues before customers call the call centre. By automating this detection, Telstra expects...
Guzman Y Gomez Cooks up Plan for Agentic Kitchens
Guzman y Gomez is deploying HP‑supplied kitchen display units with on‑site neural processors across its 225 Australian restaurants, beginning in May. The hardware will run agentic AI algorithms that balance order flow between two production lines, fine‑tuning line openings to the minute....
In Two Amazon Units, 'Builder' Replaces Traditional Job Titles
Amazon is eliminating traditional senior and lead titles in its Ring and Blink home‑security units, replacing them with a single "builder" job family. Starting next month, all product staff will be called builders and their managers builder leads, with success...
University of Melbourne, RMIT Build Ties with AWS
Two leading Victorian universities announced strategic collaborations with Amazon Web Services. The University of Melbourne will overhaul its digital infrastructure, gaining cloud migration support, AI tools, and training to boost research and student experiences. RMIT University will establish the RMIT...
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Asia Leads by Example for Diversity in Cyber
The Australian Information Security Association (AISA) teamed with Infoblox to host the Hemisphere East Women in Cyber Security Summit in Canberra, spotlighting diversity initiatives across the Asia‑Pacific region. Megan Spielvogel, AISA’s general manager, highlighted how the organization leads by example...
BoQ Looks to Legacy Decommissioning as Core Consolidation Gains Pace
Bank of Queensland (BoQ) is 80‑85% through moving Me Bank customers to a new Temenos‑based core, with over 300,000 accounts and 70% of its retail base now live on the platform. The bank will begin decommissioning the Me Bank system...
2Apply Raked for 'Dark Patterns' Used to Snare Renters' Data
Australian privacy regulator OAIC ruled that 2Apply, the nation’s largest rent‑tech platform, employed dark‑pattern design tricks to pressure prospective tenants into providing excessive personal data. The commissioner identified tactics such as “confirmshaming” and bundled consent that misled users about the...
ASIC, APRA Among Regulators Monitoring Anthropic's Mythos
Australian and Asian financial regulators are intensifying scrutiny of Anthropic's AI model Mythos after it demonstrated a powerful ability to uncover software vulnerabilities. ASIC and APRA in Australia, Hong Kong’s HKMA, South Korea’s FSS and FSC, and Singapore’s MAS have all...
Telstra, Optus, TPG Say UOMO Devised with Unrealistic Expectations
Australia’s new Universal Mobile Service Obligation (UOMO) bill requires Telstra, Optus and TPG to deliver voice and text services across 5 million square kilometres starting December 2027. The three carriers warned parliament that satellite‑to‑mobile (STM) technology, especially for emergency calls, will not...
Security Firm Releases 114m-Record Dataset Built From Live Enterprise Attack Traffic
WitFoo, a US‑New Zealand security vendor, released the Precinct 6 Cybersecurity Dataset, a free, Apache‑2.0‑licensed collection of 114 million labelled security‑event records captured from five enterprise networks in mid‑2024. The data spans telemetry from 158 products across more than 70 vendors, with 99.34%...
Cloud Deployment Firm Vercel Breached, Advises Secrets Rotation
Vercel, the cloud deployment platform behind Next.js, disclosed a supply‑chain breach that stemmed from a compromised third‑party AI tool, Context.ai. Attackers exploited Google Workspace OAuth scopes granted to Context.ai, gaining privileged access to Vercel’s internal environments. While Vercel says the...
Services Australia Tips Virtual Desktop Consolidation
Services Australia announced an early‑stage request for information (RFI) to consolidate its virtual desktop infrastructure onto a cloud‑based desktop‑as‑a‑service (DaaS) platform. The agency is evaluating solutions that can support between 1,000 and 5,000 concurrent users across its own operations and...
Carsales Follows Customers Into AI Chat Apps
Carsales has launched an app inside ChatGPT that surfaces vehicle listings, prices and highlights directly within the AI chat. The move targets high‑intent shoppers, a segment that research shows 35% of car buyers now use AI tools such as ChatGPT...
Fibre Break Hits Vocus Customers Across Two States
Vocus reported a fiber break about 32 km north of Melbourne at Broadford, disrupting inter‑capital and regional transmission for customers in Victoria and New South Wales. The fault was announced at 10 am AEST, with field technicians on site by 11:15 am. Approximately...
Super Funds Seek to Coordinate Sector's Cyber Threat Response
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has applied to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for a five‑year licence to operate the Superannuation Cyber and Financial Crime Exchange (SuperFCX), a dedicated threat‑intelligence sharing platform for the sector. The...
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ITnews to Bring Security Leaders Together for State of Security Breakfast Roadshow
iTnews is launching its inaugural State of Security Breakfast Roadshow in Brisbane on June 18, gathering more than 50 senior IT and security executives to discuss findings from its State of Security report released April 30. The breakfast will focus on three...
Essential Energy Turns to AI for Safety Inspections
Essential Energy is rolling out an AI system that mines field‑worker comments on iPads to flag safety issues across its 900,000‑premise network in NSW and southern Queensland. Early tests show the AI can identify safety‑related data in 76% of cases,...