Lendlease enters multi-year Optus deal

Lendlease has signed a multi-year deal with Optus that will see it transition mobile and data services over the next 12 months.

The transition involves around 3000 services across 80 Lendlease locations. The company will stay with Optus for at least the next five years.

In addition, Lendlease and Optus will also work to develop joint solutions that leverage Lendlease Digital's Podium Property Insights (PPI) platform, which can be used to assess and optimise the use of commercial real estate space. Lendlease and its Podium platform is a previous iTnews Benchmark Awards winner.

Lendlease and Optus intend to joinly create various office space optimisation solutions using the PPI platform.

These are expected to be deployed at the new Optus Adelaide hub in the first instance.

Speaking at an Optus Tech Day, Lendlease's group co-chief information officer Harvey Worton said the joint work here is still in “its early stages.”

The deal also includes the two companies collaborating on future projects covering wi-fi, networking and Internet of Things (IoT) managed services.    

"All these things that could be game changers for our industry if we get it right," Worton said.

Worton saw "great ways in which we can start to use mobile and technology” as a result of partnering with Optus.

Worton also said a mobility-first approach played into Lendlease's purpose, which is "to create places where people and communities can thrive. 

The mobile-first approach is “about really good connectivity” followed by “experiences that you can create for applications through offices”.

“There are some basic things we can do, for example, to improve experiences in how we access our buildings, like moving away from plastic cards to get in and out of our buildings," he said.

“Fundamentally, what we do at Lendlease around digital technology and our Podium Platform [is] we're trying to drive very deep experiences for people that might work, live, play, exists within precincts in the communities that that we create. That's really what the core of this strategy is about.”

Optimising office space to achieve “sustainability objectives is no longer a nice to have it's actually something that we just need to do”, Worton argued.

Lendlease has also struck partnerships with Accenture and Google over the past year.

“We feel like they all bring to the table particular skills that are going to be amazing for Lendlease and our customers," Worton said.