Australia Post shores up remote access in Azure

Australia Post is tightening up remote access security for employees and third parties as it renews a cloud hosting agreement with Microsoft.

iTnews understands that the postal service is standing up a secure virtual desktop service within Azure for staff, as part of this remote access work.

The national postal service said it intends to “progress with the build-out of new cloud capabilities” in Azure under a new three-year agreement.

According to Australia Post, the cloud capability will initially “provide additional secure remote access functionality” for staff working from home and its technology partners.

Australia Post said it consolidated several software platforms into Microsoft last year and is also taking part in the Copilot early access program for Microsoft 365.

Australia Post is known to a run a multi-cloud environment comprising Azure and other cloud services.

“Australia Post is serious about making our services secure, and – in this age of AI – strengthening our entire technology ecosystem from emails right through to careful management of customer data,” executive general manager of enterprise services Michael McNamara said in a statement.

McNamara joined Australia Post from Digital Victoria last year and to roll out the service’s “new operating model” for its corporate support functions, which aligns with its broader Post26 strategy.

One of six strategic priorities outlined for Post26 is to “simplify and modernise operations”.

Last year, Australia Post unveiled a deal with Salesforce to power a customer experience transformation that spans parcel tracking, customer support and personalisation.