Aveo is Australia’s second-largest retirement living operator. For more than 30 years, it has provided high-quality retirement living options for Australians. Today, Aveo’s 67 locations are home to over 10,000 residents, offering a diverse range of accommodation to suit every lifestyle.

By 2021, Aveo was facing an urgent need to modernise its digital systems. The IT function was underperforming and had lost the confidence of the wider business, creating challenges across departments and constraining the company’s ability to innovate.

The digital transformation was designed not only to re-establish IT as a trusted, high-performing foundation for the business but also to build a scalable digital ecosystem that would position Aveo as a technological leader in the retirement sector.

Overhauling Aveo’s IT function required a comprehensive strategic approach that affected every part of the business. Initial research identified more than 130 projects requiring attention, and the first steps included implementing a state-of-the-art CRM, redesigning the web portal, and integrating a call centre system. Building on these, an extensive Digital Data and Technology Strategy set the scope for upgrades across resident systems, internal systems, and cybersecurity.

To achieve its goals, Aveo developed action plans across governance, strategy, organisational structure, processes, and culture. Success was driven by the leadership of CIO Warren Havvemann and equally by building IT and business-wide capability. The transformation required major financial investment and full organisational engagement; no department or level was left untouched.

Collaboration was essential to execution, with Warren working to build trust and shared ownership across all functions, not just IT. By earning the confidence of executives, board members, and staff, he created the foundation for organisation-wide change. This was achieved by addressing immediate pain points, enabling collaborative decision-making, and establishing a clear vision.

Execution was driven by a “one team, one dream” mentality that made the program not just an IT project, but a business-wide initiative. Cross-functional collaboration ensured alignment and accountability, so resources were deployed effectively and outcomes delivered consistently, even across a complex, multi-year program.

Together, these elements enabled Aveo to deliver the most significant transformation in its history.

Aveo’s digital transformation delivered significant value, with measurable outcomes realised both across the business and for external stakeholders.

• Reduced backlog of 132 projects to just a few within 2 years
• NPS increased from 27.8 to 75.
• Employee Engagement increased from 71% to 85%
• Reduced caller abandonment by 37%
• Increased leads by 25%, lead conversion by 51%, opportunities by 159%, and reduced CPL by 28% within 12 months.
• IT Opex dropped by 7%
• Improved CMMI rating from 1.53 to 2.74
• Delivered a unified customer experience across six different functional teams.
• Enabled advanced analytics and insights.
• Embedded scalable and future-ready technology systems.

For more information about Aveo, visit aveo.com.au.