Adelaide Hills Council realises greater value by moving to the cloud with Confirm OnDemand

The Challenge 

Adelaide Hills Council (AHC) serves the scenic region just east of Adelaide, known for its rolling landscapes, wineries and historic townships. To support its 40,000 residents and visitors to the region, the council oversees a wide range of essential services – from roads and waste management to environmental programs, local economy initiatives, and community services. 

For many years, AHC used Brightly’s Confirm asset management system to manage its asset data and streamline field operations. As part of its broader digital transformation program, the council decided to transition from Brightly’s on-premise Confirm asset management solution to the cloudbased, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) version, Confirm OnDemand.

“By moving to Confirm OnDemand, we knew we would be able to automatically access the latest software functionality, which would not only benefit the team, but also relieve pressure on our IS Department in having to maintain an on-premise system,” explained Kristy Honor, Asset Management System Analyst at Adelaide Hills Council.

The Solution 

Following Brightly’s project plan, AHC completed testing, implementation and CRM integration smoothly and with minimal disruption. Confirm OnDemand now delivers all the functionality of the former on-premise system, with added flexibility, security and scalability through Amazon Web Services’ high-availability data centres. 

A key priority for the council was improving web-based functionality, so more of its field users could plan work and add assets across different service areas. 

“Cloud adoption has accelerated uptake across the organisation, with newer teams such as Biodiversity, Horticulture, Civil Services and Fire Mitigation shifting from reactive to planned inspections and maintenance,” said Kristy. 

The Civil team now conducts proactive inspections and schedules work in ConfirmWorkzone, while the Horticulture Team uses route-based inspections to log and prioritise defects. The Civil team also moved from paper to digital workflows in the past year, dramatically improving visibility and planning. 

“Field users now photograph new assets on delivery and update details such as registration, location and VIN – information previously captured inconsistently or manually. When field users are driving around, they can now also add something like a pothole straight into the system, and that work becomes part of a planned program,” Kristy said.

The Results 

Since moving to Confirm OnDemand, Adelaide Hills Council has realised a broad range of benefits, including: 

• Automatic upgrades that keep teams working with the latest functionality – no manual coordination or downtime required.
• Reduced pressure on IS resources, with no need to manage servers, storage or system maintenance.
• Savings on licences, infrastructure and annual upgrade costs, along with time saved from coordinating upgrades.
• Faster business improvements, with changes implemented instantly rather than waiting for annual releases.
• Simple onboarding of new teams and users into Confirm OnDemand, ConfirmConnect and ConfirmWorkzone, improving consistency and asset data quality.
• More accurate, timely field data, empowering field teams to manage their own data more effectively, saving time and improving efficiency.
• Improved user experience, with the simplicity of the system well received by field users, especially those who are less tech savvy. 

Kristy said access to Brightly’s IT team has also been a major advantage. “Our resolution times are much faster compared to when we had to work with multiple people across internal and external teams. It also means that our IS team can now redirect their resources and server capacity to other areas, which is a cost saving.” 

Looking Ahead 

Moving from Confirm Enterprise On-Prem to Confirm OnDemand marks a significant step in Adelaide Hills Council’s digital transformation. The council is now planning to introduce a hybrid single sign-on (SSO) model and leverage its fleet data to replace paperbased daily vehicle assessments with digital workflows in Confirm – continuing its journey toward smarter, more efficient asset management.