Today Network for Learning CEO John Hanna has been named on a list honouring the most innovative ICT leaders and CIOs in New Zealand, the “CIO100”.
CIO editor Divina Paredes says the list “acknowledges the country’s top 100 most effective and strategic CIOs, recognising them for delivering rapid change across their organisations while excelling in business transformation, innovation and leadership.”
N4L CEO John Hanna is humbled to be part of the index: “There is an amazing collection of talented people on this list and I’m honoured to be included among the top innovators in this country.”
He says the ongoing success of the Managed Network, which provides nearly 800,000 students and teachers from 2400-plus schools access to fast, reliable, uncapped internet and network security services is dependent on a continuous programme of innovation. The innovative initiative has been hailed by the Minister of Education as “a very successful project given it involved a large-scale rollout that was completed ahead of schedule and within budget.”
N4L’s programme of innovation includes developing new products and features designed to enhance the quality of the services the company delivers. It also includes its collaborative approach to partnering with government, technology providers and education sector groups as well as working alongside schools to ensure services are delivered in a way that caters to their individual needs, while planning for their growing use of technology.
Mr Hanna says there is plenty of work to do in the coming years to ensure that every school-aged New Zealand child continues to have equitable access to the technologies they need for learning, regardless of where they live or go to school.
“The uptake of digital technologies in schools is increasing, as is the complexity around providing anytime, anywhere learning. Our job is to reduce this complexity for schools, making sure teachers and students can get on with great learning.”
Today’s CIO100 winners were named at a forum today in Wellington, where in addition to the announcing the list of NZ’s most innovative CIOs and ICT leaders, the judging panel awards the top organisation that is harnessing business technologies to help solve social and community issues. N4L won this award in 2016, when the Managed Network was named best ICT-enabled Community initiative.
About N4L
Network for Learning (N4L) provides New Zealand schools equitable access to managed technology services for learning. The Crown company aims to help schools improve educational outcomes by enabling new learning opportunities presented by digital technologies and the Government’s investment in ultra-fast broadband (UFB). For more information, please visit www.n4l.co.nz.