A video conferencing technology embraced by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is breaking down communication barriers and increasing productivity.

Tumuhangarau Garry Johnston said the aim of the Zoom technology was to empower Te Wānanga o Aotearoa with world-leading collaboration capability across the entire country.

The technology allows kaimahi to converse with others at different sites across multiple platforms.

“We have had a number of tauira that weren’t able to come to class due to unforeseen reasons so they Zoom in and don’t stay behind,” said Garry.

“It illustrates a commitment from TWoA to all of Aotearoa that no matter where in the motu our tauira and kaimahi are and regardless of the size of their site, they all have equal access to this world-leading technology.”

He said every wānanga site now has at least one or more Zoom units.

The business-case allowed a provision for a minimum of 50 Zoom Units but through the hard work of the Hangarau team and effective negotiation with suppliers, TWoA now has 63 Zoom units. 

In addition to this, the project has delivered all of this under the approved budget and three weeks ahead of schedule. 

Garry said when the new Tauranga site comes online there will be 95 Zoom units across the country in addition to PCs, laptops and tablets for Zooming around the motu.  

By the end of November TWoA kaimahi had clocked over 70,000 minutes of Zoom time since the technology was first made available earlier this year.