AllianceSi_podcast01_JoeGarzaniti (1)

AllianceSI has launched its first podcast called AllianceSI Unplugged to keep the team connected and share knowledge. The podcast will cover updates on the business, spotlights on projects, team member profiles, customer highlights, and industry trends. The hosts discuss the history of AllianceSI, which started as Alliance Electric and transitioned into an electrical data company. They talk about the challenges they faced, such as recessions, and the opportunities they seized, like building the internet around Australia and working with major cloud providers. They also mention the importance of branches in Brisbane and Melbourne and the growth of the team. Overall, they express excitement about the company's journey and future prospects. We are so excited to introduce you to our first ever AllianceSI podcast, AllianceSI Unplugged. A podcast to keep us connected and be able to share knowledge as a team and to our broader network. I am super excited to introduce my fellow co-host and somewhat nominated volunteer who is joining me today and for my future podcast series, Joji. So, why a podcast? Well, with the team working remotely and across the nation, and more of us listening to podcasts and audiobooks, we thought we would start a short series of podcasts to share some key updates across the business and from the broader team, spotlights on some projects, a day in the life, and really bring to the forefront our team members and their typical day, and some customer highlights and industry trends. So, we thought we would give you a quick intro into who we are and our journey at AllianceSI. So, Jo, take it away. What's been your journey? Well, thanks Clarissa for volunteering me. I really appreciate that. I suppose being the oldest person in Alliance, I was the target. It was natural. Okay. Well, I think it's important to understand where we're going is to really understand where we've come from. And the history in Alliance is very important to many of us because many of us at Alliance have been here a long time. And understanding where we come from, the struggles we've had over the years, and to see where we are today, for somebody who's been at the company for 44 years, it's an amazing transition over those years. I think it's important. I remember I started back in February 1980, a long time ago. Way back when. I only started with the company because it was based at Condor Park in those days, and I grew up in Liverpool. And I thought, oh, 10 minutes to work. Loving this. Sadly, over those years, I travel 83 days to work now, from down at Camden all the way to Tarman. But I remember the early days. I joined over the phone. Didn't meet Rick or Frank, the original owners, for about four weeks. I only met Phil Jones because that's how it was done, interviews over the phone. Yeah, you can start tomorrow. Just go and meet this guy, and off you go. But they were really interesting. And that Alliance was formed basically, Rick and Frank and a number of guys worked for a company called EI Electrical Installations. They folded, and the customers that that company had said to Rick, well, we need this work done. Why don't you consider starting your own company, and hence the start of Alliance Electric, as we knew it in those days. But it was odd. The way you got work in those days was through your phone number. And so people would look in the yellow pages. No internet. So they'd look in the yellow pages, and they needed a Sydney number. May have started with a nine. So you had to have a nine at the front of your number to actually get work. So off we moved. We moved to King's Cross. Fabulous time. And because of that, we started working in the club scene, doing the gay bars and the discotheques and all those in those days. And it was a great, great time. Along with we took with us the original type of work we did, which was heavy electrical. So we played in the printing industry and the steel industry, doing heavy machinery work. And that stayed with us probably till somewhat the mid-80s. So from about, I joined in 80, like I said, till about mid-80s. And the first transition for Alliance came after that, because we moved to the city. We had our first opportunity to do a fibre job down at Nowra, at the paper mill. And then slowly but surely, we transitioned into not only electrical company, but an electrical data company along the way. And having a Sydney phone number was great until we moved the office in the late 80s when Frank and Rick separated. Alliance closed its doors for about probably a three-month period. And that's when Frank gave Phil and myself a call and said, look, I really want to start up. So the three of us got together in a pub, had a few beers, and Frank said, look, I want to start the company. I can't do it without the two of you. And we just said, after about six beers or so, we'll do it. And with no understanding of what that meant, you know, like I said, I've been here 44 years. But it was really great. However, Frank moved the office to his house, because there was only three of us who couldn't afford the place out of Darlinghurst. And to continue to get work in Sydney, we devised a plan that we had a friend that owned an ample garage in Sussex Street, next to the Big House Hotel, which is now the Sussex Hotel, because we rewired that pub after Beatson, the great footballer, owned it. And he said, well, Bobby Chow next door owns the ample garage. Maybe have a chat to him. So we set up a redial system. So we had a Sydney number. And our address in the yellow pages was actually an ample service station. So people would ring in and get a redirect from the ample service station that Frank's placed over on the North Shore. So we maintained our clients that way, which was absolutely fantastic. But yeah, it was a really tough, really tough five years, I'd say. Not a lot of work and a number of recessions we went through. But we gradually ground our way through those periods. We ended up starting to get work in the education department, you know, the government sector, the insurance companies. We started doing work for, I think, Sun Alliance was our big client at the time. 20 years we had them on our registry until they moved to Chatswood and we no longer did work for them. But major works for NZI, which is New Zealand Insurance, MMI, Legal & General, Allianz, SBU. So it was a great time. And we started to grow. And I think by the end of the the 80s, early 90s, we're back up to about 20 people. Still difficult because growing pains are always difficult. And then come the early 90s was the big opportunity for Allianz. And that was birth of the internet. So we were very fortunate and we've been very fortunate along the line that we've managed to be right at the cutting edge of a number of technologies. And the internet was that first one. And it was Aussie Mail. And we were very fortunate that we got the opportunity to build the internet around Australia, 66 pop sites, three tier one, well in those days, tier one sites, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. And we grew from there and the numbers grew. And I lived on the road for about two years building these sites. And we went from just doing electric work to finding sites, doing real estate deals, doing the contracts. And that was done. I remember Frank telling me that one day he was called into Sean Howard's office who was running Aussie Mail with a carton of beer. And Sean said to Frank, we're going to build the internet around Australia. Don't know how we're going to do it. But by the time they left and they drunk the carton, they had a plan of just building the internet around Australia in all the major towns of Australia. And they worked out that to be about 60 sites, I think it was. And that grew and that grew. And then there was a lull and we thought, well, that's all built now. And then the next stage come, which was the co-location and the birth of data centers, whether it be the likes of Equinix and Next VC and all the others and Verizon who housed people's equipment. And that's where we've been since the 2000s where we worked in all the co-location spaces. And then that had started to die. And now we've got the next stage, which is the cloud. And now we're doing it for all the major players, the biggest cloud providers in the world we work for. It's been a great time. And along that, we've made great associations with people and we continue to do that. And some of the companies we've worked for, we've been with them for 20, 25 years. And we've done that through our honesty and our commitment to doing everything we can to get them across the line. It's been an absolute fabulous, fabulous time. So that's in a nutshell, that's where we are today. I think I should also mention the birth of Brisbane and Melbourne branches. I think it's very important to understand how important they are to us today. They initially were developed to help us with our Sydney clients. That's all it was, just, guys, we've got some work down there, can you do it for us? Unlike today, where they are standalone on their own two feet, we have a great team in both Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne now, and the management level of young guys coming through the business. Four of our PMs being first year apprentices with us is a great endowment of promoting through the businesses. I can't tell you how satisfying that is to see. I think it says a lot about who we are, what we're about, the culture of the business, and hopefully going forward, it continues over the years as we grow and grow into other areas. And now with the recent addition of the ACT, very exciting times to be part of that new side of being global on society. Yeah, no, definitely, and exciting as well to be part of that, of the cloud, if you like, and our contribution and our involvement as part of that also. So I love hearing that journey. I always hear something different or something new, and I love hearing how it came from the journey over the years, I suppose, and the progression of the business and the direction that it's taken. So thinking around, obviously, your transition day from going into project manager role, national account manager role, and now into your corporate development position, you would have faced many memorable times, should I say, throughout your journey here. If you could pick one of those memorable moments, what would it be? Oh, look, I can answer that question in a number of ways. The things that stick out sometimes are the crazy things that have happened along the line. I can remember a job we used to look after. In Sydney, there's a number of brick pits, what we call brick pits, where they just lay bricks for all the buildings going up in Sydney. They've been around for hundreds of years, and there's one at St. Peter's and one at Burwood, and I remember this time in Burwood where we had these major floods, and the state government used to manage the hole in the ground with big pumps down the bottom that when water got in there, they'd have to pump it out. Other kids could drown in there. I remember this time after the big floods, the motors were underwater and we had to get them out, and there was a crossing of about 200 metres, and we went down there and we pulled the motor out and we thought, well, how are we going to get it across the water? And there was old cars down there, so we pulled the bonnet off the car. We got some 44-gallon drums and taped to it and wrote on it, SS Alliance. And being the youngest, we thought, well, we've got to get it across, but before we do that, we've got to get a rope to the other side so we can pull it across because it's 200 metres. And they said, well, what we'll do, Jo, you're the youngest, we'll get in a truck tyre, we'll blow it up, and then you can get in it, take a rope to the other side. And so I'm paddling in the middle of winter with jackets on, you know, not a great thought process because if I fell out, I thought, well, I could drown here with all these clothes on. Halfway across, that's exactly what happened. I fell out of the inner tube. And, you know, you're splashing away, splashing away. And then, for some reason, my toe hit the ground and I stood up and it was only two and a half feet. I could have walked across. I could have walked across. It was so silly because we didn't know the depth. You know, that's a memory. And I remember, you know, Frank and Phil and on the other side, just in stitches, you know, because I was thinking, oh, he's going to drown here. I went from that to me just standing in the middle of the lake. And there's many of those occasions, you know, like that, you know, we had a lot of fun along the way. I suppose today, you know, you've got a lot of things in place that you can't do that. You go and hire a boat, I suppose, and do the right thing. That would go completely against the grain of picture. Thank you. Back in the day, that's okay. Yeah. So, great times. Great times. And I have no doubt throughout this podcast, we'll hear more about those memorable moments. You've got many to share and many that I still laugh at today. So, yeah, I'm loving them. I'm looking forward to hearing those as they go through. So, obviously, just thinking as well around your time in the industry and coming in, obviously, as an apprentice too. So, obviously, where your position is now. And obviously, so much experience and different challenges and highlights that you've had along that journey. If you could go back now, and also just, sorry, to put in there, we obviously have in the business as well, and individuals that are obviously just starting out in their career or more experienced individuals that, as you mentioned, are now in PM roles. If you could look back and look to your younger self, knowing what you know now, what's one piece of advice that you would give to you? I think nothing has changed. It goes the same as today as it was all those years ago. One of the great things that most blokes don't do well is communicate effectively. And they don't manage their time. And I was one of those people. I was very much a stress head. And I remember doing a 10-floor fit out with 60 guys there and running the whole lot. And I stressed so much about the job that I actually put myself in hospital at Royal North Shore. We ended up with shingles and that. But it's the communication that you have with other people, with management, to communicate when you're not feeling well, when you need assistance, what you can do to advance your career. I never ever did that. I just assumed that you just learn on the job and you make mistakes and you move forward. Yes, you do do that. However, if you ask for support, and one thing within the lines, it's always been there. If you need support or you need training, ask. And men can be pigheaded that way. No, we don't need support. We don't need to do that. And as you get older, you realize the amount of mistakes you've made is because you haven't asked or you haven't done the training and you think, I'll just learn the job. So I think communicating is still the big problem with today's guys. It's my problem. And accepting the fact that if you ask, you'll get answers. And because we're all on the same team, but I have realized that I can pick up the phone to any number of guys in the business and say, I'm doing this. I'm not quite sure how to do it. And they will come up with a suggestion. Now, it may not be the right suggestion, but it's the thought process that you ask people for support. And eventually, something will click and you'll do it the right way. So they're the development that needs to happen with all young people. It didn't happen with me. But I suppose with growing so quickly through the business, there was no one here. So we had to do everything. And so you've got to make the time as well. People say, well, I'm time poor. And we were. And that's the excuse again I use. We're time poor. But pick up the phone, ask for support. We're always there. And I think that I can't express that enough. Yeah. No, I think that's a really solid piece of advice, to be fair, because, yeah, communication, I think we all have different ways to communicate. And it's just, and obviously, everyone has different personalities and ways of dealing with things. But there's definitely, you can definitely see at times, if people just communicated or reached out or just were a little bit more vulnerable, and it's OK to be vulnerable, then we may just have been able to get a slightly different outcome. Or sometimes having a couple of people to soundboard just then really elevates the thinking in the room. And it's OK. And they might not always get it right. But having that support around you, which is really key. I think so. I think so. I've been very lucky. I've got within Alliance today and previous people that have been with us for a long time, Phil Jones, Alan Robinson, all these guys that have been with us. Phil Jones was here for 45 years, Robbo, Peter Mason, Jerry Brennan, still with us, all 30 plus years. And they were great relationships that we've had and still have. Those guys that have retired, I'm in touch with them. We catch up for a drink and a catch up once a month now. Wayne Woodward, who managed our Melbourne branch, we continually have a chat maybe every three months. And they've become family friends because we've worked so hard over the years that to grow a business and maintain it, it's not just working 7 to 3.30. We work very, very hard and the people at work become your best friends. And further that, I've been to a number of weddings in Alliance. I know the wives. I know the kids. And I think that's the culture we have here. And I think I love that about what we do. I love the fact that we continue to do that and promote that within. It doesn't suit everyone. And I suppose at the end of the day, it doesn't save people to have that sort of culture. They don't want people for the business anyway. But yeah, it's great to see the progress. It's great to see young kids coming through. It's not kids. It's great to see apprentices and project managers and things like that. It's a fabulous place to be around. Thank you. I think people can definitely take something out of what you've just said there, that's for sure. Cool. So I'll just give a little bit about myself to anyone that hasn't met me yet. Hopefully, I've met the majority of the team. But just for any new starters or anyone that's listening to this a few months down the track that we haven't yet had an opportunity to meet. So my journey is not as extensive, I suppose, as Jo's has been. And I haven't seen as many changes as Jo has through the industry just yet. But as many people would know, I am from the UK and did live in a very small little town in Somerset. Effectively came over to Australia in 2016. Now it's been here seven years. I'm definitely five and having fun. And so my background is actually, I did a law degree and fell into HR. So when I came into Alliance SSI, I came in an HR role. There was the HR coordinator, as Jo mentioned. At that stage, the business didn't really have too much support outside of what the operations team were really delivering. And one of the key initiatives that Rod, the current managing director, brought in was to really, as a service-orientated business, people are obviously at the forefront of that. And business needed, at the time, some level of HR support. So I had a fantastic opportunity to come in and build something from scratch. That was really just, I remember the old induction packs. They were like 200 pages wide. And on the first morning, some of the new staff would have to sit and walk through and read every single one of those docs and sign off. Yeah, so Jo came in through that. I had a very similar experience to Jo. Initially, we were in Balgala. The head office was in Balgala. I live in the northern beaches, so I was absolutely loving life. 10-minute door-to-door commute. Couldn't get any better. Just moved to Australia. 10-minute door-to-door commute. Had the beach next to me. It was a dream. And then, yeah, we did move to Ottawa. So then I had to obviously commute, but still not too bad. So through my journey, so I've obviously come in through that HR piece, as I mentioned. Throughout the time, I think I've got quite curious, and I've asked a few too many questions. And I've just then kind of built some other elements into my role. But it's also given me a great opportunity to now be in this general manager position, where I head up the operations team. And I've got a fantastic support team around me to keep delivering and do what we do. So yeah, that's just a really little bit about me. So we cannot wait to start sharing some of these other podcasts with you. This really was just a really initial, quick kind of intro to give you a little bit more about who we are, a little bit of the history of the company, and just to really set the scene. Hopefully, we haven't bored you, and you will return to our future ones. But we would also love to get your feedback. So this is our first one. We are on a journey. We will be trialing and airing. We will be having people come into this podcast over the next course of the next few that will be released. We'll have people in the organization that will be speaking a little bit more about their role in a day in the life. And we'll also have our charity partner, hopefully as well, Kids With Cancer Foundation, to come and talk to you about the fantastic work that they're doing and how we're supporting that ongoing charity partner. However, please do give us feedback. Would you love to hear from us about is there any key topics or suggestions that you have? Would you love to attend? Would you like to come and join us? That would be even more cool. But reach out to us directly through Teams, email, or just give us a call. Joe and I are always available. And yeah, we can't wait to hear from you and hear your feedback.