Supporting Melba's technology transformation

Like many growing organisations, Melba Support Services was managing multiple technology initiatives while ensuring its technology strategy continued to support long-term organisational goals.

For more than 50 years, Melba has focused on supporting people with disability across Victoria. As the organisation continues to grow and evolve, technology plays an increasingly important role in supporting the Melba community.

With several major initiatives underway, Melba engaged Dog and Bone to provide independent strategic advisory support, helping ensure its technology program remained aligned with organisational priorities while continuing to move forward at pace.

Rather than slowing down transformation, Melba chose to strengthen it.

Image credit: Sourced via Canva

"Dog and Bone played a dual role - strategic advisor and also hands-on delivery partner. Whenever we needed someone to get in the weeds, they could navigate the detail while providing big picture guidance. Dog and Bone made complex concepts simple and contextual."- Jo Cox, Head of PMO, Melba Support Services

The client

Melba Support Services is a leading not-for-profit organisation providing disability support services across Victoria. For more than 50 years, Melba has supported people with disability to live life their way through a range of home, living and community based services.

With hundreds of employees providing support to people across multiple locations, technology plays an important role in enabling collaboration, managing information and delivering high-quality services.

As Melba continues to evolve its services, the organisation is investing in modern digital foundations that support both operational efficiency and better outcomes for the people it supports.

Project snapshot: Strategic Technology Advisory

Key outcomes

• Strategic oversight across Melba’s digital transformation program

• Review and refinement of the organisation’s IT strategy and roadmap

• Market scan to support future CRM platform decisions

• Progression of data platform development and reporting automation

• Establishment of data governance foundations

• Improved employee collaboration and information management

• Exploration of responsible AI use cases to improve productivity and reduce administrative effort

Supporting a period of transition while keeping momentum

Melba was in the middle of a broad digital transformation program when it sought additional strategic technology leadership. The organisation wanted to maintain progress across several initiatives while ensuring decisions remained aligned with its long-term technology strategy.

We provided temporary strategic advisory support, working alongside Melba’s leadership, IT team and project stakeholders to provide oversight, guidance and delivery support.

The goal was to complement the internal team with experienced strategic capability, helping projects continue to move forward while reducing delivery risk.

This included providing CIO-level advisory support, contributing to program governance and technology decision-making forums, and helping coordinate vendors, projects and internal teams.

“If there was any consultant I’d bring back on board when the need arises, it would be Tim from Dog and Bone. He threw himself into Melba as if he was part of the organisation. If something needed doing, he’d roll up his sleeves and say, ‘I can do that, I can help you.” – Hayley Dean, CEO, Melba Support Services

Taking a pragmatic look at the technology roadmap

A key focus of the engagement was reviewing Melba’s IT and digital strategy to ensure it remained clear, achievable and aligned with organisational priorities.

Working with Melba’s technology leaders, we helped:

• Review the IT strategy and ensure the roadmap focused on the highest-impact initiatives

• Provide executive-level oversight of major technology initiatives

• Support governance forums to ensure projects remained aligned with strategy

This helped provide greater clarity around priorities while ensuring the roadmap remained practical and achievable.

Strengthening data and reporting capabilities

Like many growing organisations, Melba increasingly relies on data to inform decisions, improve service delivery and streamline operations.

We worked with Melba’s IT, Data and Insights, Finance, and Payroll teams to support the development of its data platform and reporting environment.

Stronger governance foundations were also established to:

• progress report automation initiatives

• strengthen reporting capability across teams

• support long-term analytics and data management

Exploring the right platforms for the future

Another key component of the engagement was supporting Melba’s evaluation of future service delivery systems.

We worked with Melba to conduct a refreshed market scan of CRM platforms, helping the organisation better understand available options and how they aligned with operational and strategic needs.

This process helped Melba:

• understand the evolving CRM and service delivery technology landscape

• identify platforms that could support future growth

• gather insights to inform future procurement decisions

The focus was on building a clear decision-making framework rather than rushing into a technology purchase.

Improving collaboration and information management

As part of the broader transformation program, Melba also wanted to improve how employees collaborate and manage information.

We worked with Melba to define the scope and project plan for an intranet initiative, focused on improving architecture, governance and usability.

Better information management helps ensure employees can access the right information when they need it, ultimately supporting better service delivery.

Exploring practical uses for AI

Alongside strengthening core systems and data foundations, Melba is also exploring how emerging technologies can support its workforce.

Working with Microsoft and Melba’s internal teams, we supported early exploration of AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot, focusing on practical and responsible use.

This included identifying internal use cases and piloting solutions that could improve productivity, reduce administrative effort and improve the experience for people supported.

The focus was not simply adopting AI because it’s new, but ensuring it is used thoughtfully to support employees and service delivery while maintaining security and privacy of information.

Building the right foundations for the future

Technology plays a critical role in enabling organisations like Melba to deliver better outcomes for the communities they serve.

By taking a proactive approach to strategy, governance and emerging technologies, Melba continues to position itself at the forefront of using technology to support its people, clients and mission.

With stronger digital foundations in place, Melba is well positioned to continue evolving its services while ensuring technology supports the people delivering them.