FY24 blueAPACHE Sales Kick-Off

FY24 blueAPACHE Sales Kick-Off

BASKO — blueAPACHE's annual sales kick-off — returned to Surfers Paradise with a renewed burst of energy.

Over three days, our commercial and delivery teams convened, marking not just a strategic FY24 milestone but a celebration of our #teamblue culture, as together we put our plans into action.

The theme: Execute

This year's BASKO was themed 'Execute' — about turning ideas into reality, aligned with our strategic goals for the year ahead.

The choice of theme is worth a moment. Most annual kick-offs are built around a vision or an aspiration. 'Execute' is the opposite: an explicit statement that the strategy already existed and the year's task was delivery.

That framing made sense given what blueAPACHE had committed to. FY24 sat squarely between the launch of the Experience Division in late 2022 and the multi-million-dollar ServiceNow platform investment announced in March 2024 — an 18-month evaluation that concluded during this period, and a migration that would replace the system of record for every ticket, change and contract in the business. That is an execution year by any definition.

Commercial and delivery, together

The detail most easily overlooked is who was in the room.

BASKO brought together commercial and delivery teams — not sales alone. In a managed services business those two functions are structurally interdependent and frequently misaligned: sales commits to outcomes, delivery is accountable for producing them, and the gap between what was promised and what can be delivered is where client relationships come apart.

Putting both in the same room for three days, working from the same plan, is a practical answer to that. It is also consistent with how blueAPACHE has organised itself more broadly — the Experience Division deliberately combined service delivery, the help desk, talent acquisition and people operations under a single general manager on the reasoning that customer experience and employee experience are the same problem viewed from two sides.

The programme

In partnership with kick-off sponsor nbn® Australia, teams were fully engaged in:

• Educational presentations
• Interactive workshops
• An afternoon cruise along the iconic coast

The nbn sponsorship reflects where a substantial part of blueAPACHE's connectivity business sits. NBN and wholesale broadband services form part of the company's Connectivity portfolio alongside fibre, fixed wireless and private network services — and understanding the wholesale environment in detail, including its provisioning realities and annual industry embargo, is directly relevant to both commercial and delivery teams.

The awards

The festivities continued with an awards party honouring our top sales achievers from the previous year.

And for the thrill seekers, a few even braved the slingshot — taking the theme to new heights.

Why it matters

FY24 BASKO Execute wasn't just another event. It was an embodiment of our teamwork and vibrant culture.

For a business that grew at approximately 30% year on year over an extended period — reaching more than 280 employees by July 2023 with a further 20 being recruited — an annual event of this kind does real work. At that growth rate, a meaningful proportion of the people in the room each year are attending for the first time. Three days of shared context, shared plan and shared time is one of the few mechanisms that keeps a rapidly growing organisation coherent.

A massive shout-out to our team who made this year's BASKO an unforgettable experience.

blueAPACHE's company calendar

BASKO is one of several fixtures:

BASKO — the annual sales kick-off, aligning commercial and delivery teams to the year's plan and recognising the previous year's top performers.

The Birthday Golf Championship — held each July at Studley Park Golf Course in Kew, Victoria, marking the anniversary of the company's registration with ASIC on 30 July 1998. A team ambrose, a closest-the-pin competition with annual leave days at stake, a three-course birthday lunch, and an individual stroke competition for the perpetual trophy.

The end-of-year celebration — a formal company update on the year's results and the strategy ahead, followed by the annual staff awards recognising excellence in customer service, engineering, innovation and projects, plus the 'This is IT' award for the person who best exemplifies the company's values.

Monthly Town Halls, where the Customer Recognition and Brand Ambassador awards are presented — the first of which is decided by client nominations gathered through the customer satisfaction survey.

Frequently asked questions

What is BASKO? blueAPACHE's annual sales kick-off, bringing commercial and delivery teams together over three days around the year's plan and recognising the previous year's top performers. The FY24 event was held at Surfers Paradise.

What was the FY24 theme, and why that choice? 'Execute' — turning ideas into reality against the year's strategic goals. The page notes this is the opposite of the usual kick-off framing: rather than setting out a vision, it stated explicitly that the strategy already existed and the year's task was delivery.

Why was FY24 an execution year? Because it sat between the launch of the Experience Division in late 2022 and the multi-million-dollar ServiceNow investment announced in March 2024 — an 18-month evaluation concluding in this period, and a migration that would replace the system of record for every ticket, change and contract in the business.

Why does the page emphasise that delivery teams attended, not just sales? Because in a managed services business the two functions are structurally interdependent and frequently misaligned — sales commits to outcomes, delivery is accountable for producing them, and the gap between what was promised and what can be delivered is where client relationships come apart. Three days working from the same plan is a practical answer to that.

How does that reflect blueAPACHE's wider structure? The Experience Division deliberately combined service delivery, the help desk, talent acquisition and people operations under a single general manager, on the reasoning that customer experience and employee experience are the same problem seen from two sides.

Why was nbn® Australia the sponsor? Because NBN and wholesale broadband services form part of blueAPACHE's Connectivity portfolio alongside fibre, fixed wireless and private network services — and the wholesale environment's provisioning realities and annual industry embargo are directly relevant to both commercial and delivery teams.

Why does an event like this matter to a fast-growing business? Because at approximately 30% year-on-year growth — more than 280 employees by July 2023 with 20 further roles recruiting — a meaningful proportion of the people in the room each year are attending for the first time. Shared context, shared plan and shared time is one of the few mechanisms that keeps a rapidly growing organisation coherent.

What other fixtures are in blueAPACHE's calendar? The Birthday Golf Championship each July at Studley Park Golf Course in Kew, marking the ASIC registration anniversary of 30 July 1998; the December end-of-year celebration with a formal company update and the annual staff awards including the 'This is IT' values award; and monthly Town Halls, where the client-nominated Customer Recognition award and the Brand Ambassador award are presented.

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