Celebrating a Bupa career spanning 45 years
It’s 1978. Malcolm Fraser is Australia’s PM, "You're the One that I Want” by Olivia Newton John and John Travolta was the number one song in the country and Maria Alati started working at Bupa. A lot has happened in those 45 years, but one thing is still the same – Maria is still a key and valued member of our team, who continues to share a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. Maria took some time to look back over her time with us.
Thinking back over the past four and a half decades, it’s gone very quickly. Just like a marriage, my work with Bupa has been a long-term commitment with ups and downs along the way.
When I walked into Bupa, MBF back then, I was 17-years-old and naive. We operated with a purely manual card system for group payments before moving to forms that were put into an electronic system overnight by data entry teams, then to a real-time online system and to where we are today.
These days, I work in the technology team and report on the performance of our systems with a strong focus on the service management stream. I get a buzz out of technology because you can provide information that can be used to base decisions and discussions on. I’m a behind the scenes kind of person but it makes me happy to see my insights used in a meaningful way.
I’m proud also when we can put a new system in place and make things better or easier for people to operate.
A great day for me is when I hear or see that someone has quoted my work in a report or they tell me that without my insights or assistance, that they couldn’t achieve their outcomes as easily. I feel really valued and it inspires me to keep learning
Back in the day, I went for a national role in NSW but missed out. My Queensland-based management set up a similar role for the local area combining support for both mainframe systems and mainstream IT systems and that became the start of our IT service desk and how it became based in Brisbane. I did a stint managing the service desk before my role evolved and now I do reporting for the Service Centre and other groups within Technology Operations & Employee Engagement, Technology and some business users of ServiceNow to better inform and support our business.
A great day for me is when I hear or see that someone has quoted my work in a report or they tell me that without my insights or assistance, that they couldn’t achieve their outcomes as easily. I feel really valued and it inspires me to keep learning.
It doesn’t matter to me whether I’m in the office or working remotely, because our team is spread in different areas of the country, so I was essentially working a hybrid model before COVID changed how we all work today.
If I could give advice to a 17-year-old me, walking through that door in July 1978, I would say stick to your studies, be regimented and keep up. Find balance in your work and life and invest in yourself.
When I look back at how technology has changed, we’re moving at a faster pace and are able to respond to customer needs quicker than ever before.
I've got a very supportive group of people around me and I am happy to help others with my 45 years of experience here.
If I could give advice to a 17-year-old me, walking through that door in July 1978, I would say stick to your studies, be regimented and keep up. Find balance in your work and life and invest in yourself.
Jenny Watson, Acting Chief Information Officer APAC, paid tribute to Maria’s dedication to improving how we work to benefit our customers and our people.
“Technology has so rapidly evolved and completely transformed in the past 45 years, so to embrace all that change and commit to continuously evolving to support the transformation of an organisation is an incredible achievement.”
“I’d like to personally congratulate Maria for her anniversary and thank her for her unwavering dedication to Bupa’s purpose. Her immense knowledge and expertise continues to inspire those around her along with her commitment to shaping Bupa’s future with the power of technology.”
