Success Stories
St Andrew’s College
Moving from reactive IT support to a responsive, collaborative Managed Service — Canary IT partnered with St Andrew’s College to bring proactive management, expert depth, and a truly collaborative IT model to a 24/7 residential campus.
Canary IT’s Managed Service keeps St Andrew’s 24/7 residential campus running — students and staff always have reliable, expert IT.
St Andrew’s draws on Canary IT’s full team of technology specialists — depth of expertise far beyond any small internal IT function.
Canary works side-by-side with St Andrew’s on-site IT team — one unified, collaborative team, not an external help desk.
About St Andrew’s College
St Andrew’s College is a residential college within the University of Sydney, home to approximately 350 students. Its technology environment needs to support students, staff and College operations around the clock — making reliable, proactive IT management essential rather than optional.
The Challenge
Like many organisations, St Andrew’s College found that its technology had evolved over more than 20 years, with rarely an opportunity to stop and assess. The College recognised the need to move beyond reactive support and find a trusted partner that could bring structure, expertise and proactive management to its IT environment.
“We partnered with Canary through the tendering process. We saw reliability, partnership, and communication. We knew that would flow into the services they provided for us.”
— Bonnie Dixon, Director of Operations, Finance & People, St Andrew’s College
The Solution
Canary provides a Managed Service designed to complement St Andrew’s internal resources rather than simply operate as an external help desk. The engagement brings together St Andrew’s leadership and IT team with Canary’s Managed Services team and specialist expertise.
The service is built around proactive management with clear reporting, actionable insights and ongoing visibility. Security is embedded through continuous monitoring, proactive threat detection, and a Managed Detection & Response service.
“Our Managed Service team are working really well with the St Andrews IT team. We’ve developed a strong partnership, where it feels that we are either an extension of the on-site team or vice versa.”
— Chris “Cyril” Starsmeare, GM Cloud, Canary IT
Business Outcomes
- A responsive support model backed by a broader team of specialists
- Enhanced cyber security posture, monitoring and remediation capability
- Greater visibility and proactive management of its technology environment
- Ongoing remediation and improvement rather than simply addressing individual incidents
- A technology partner that understands both the environment and the College’s broader objectives
- Relationship developed beyond a traditional supplier arrangement — working across operational and executive levels
“The success has been down to the partnership between our organisations. The St Andrew’s team have worked very closely with the Canary team. It’s been transparent; it’s been collaborative; and through that approach, we’ve created an environment where technology genuinely supports better outcomes for staff and students.”
James Ormesher
CEO, Canary IT