Chief Information Officer - Defence Digital Industry Forum, Australian Defence College

Good morning,

What a great way to start – thank you Minister Keogh for launching the Defence Digital Strategy and Roadmap. 

For those of you I have not met, I am Chris Crozier, the Chief Information Officer of Defence and the head of the Defence Digital Group.

I’m thrilled to welcome such an impressive group of ICTPA and platform vendors, along with members of academia and other key stakeholders — over 700 attendees today! It’s fantastic to see so many of you joining us both in person and online.

The diversity of this group not only underscores the vibrant ecosystem in which we operate, but also demonstrates the common understanding of our mission. 

Before I take you through DDG's Transformation Journey, I would like to give you a brief overview of what to expect today. 

Coming up, you will hear from the Vice Chief of the Defence Force on the Integrated Investment Program at a strategic level, and its impacts on ICT. You will also hear from our DDG senior leadership team, who will provide insights into our latest developments and strategic direction, along with key senior leaders from the Defence eco-system, on various initiatives and bodies of work being undertaken across our organisation.

And notably today, you will hear from our Chief Technology Officer, Peter Alexander, on the details behind the Defence Digital Strategy and Roadmap, and how you as our industry partners can support.

At the end of our forum, we have set aside dedicated time for networking. 

But before we get to that, we have a lot to cover. 

I would like to start by sharing with you the significant progress we have made in the last nine months at DDG. 

As many of you know, last November we announced the retirement of CIOG and the launch of DDG – this transition meant more than just a name change – it set the stage for our digital transformation by marking a crucial shift in our digital capabilities.

The Defence Strategic Review and the subsequent 2024 National Defence Strategy have served as our guides. They have highlighted the need for urgent changes required to address Australia’s challenging strategic circumstances – with digital technologies underpinning all military capabilities. 

In accordance with the DSR recommendations, we have seen operational functions shift from DDG to Joint Capabilities Group or JCG. 

In JCG both the Chief Information Security Officer – Jon Dean, and the Head of Cyber Operations – Major General Warren Gould play key roles. 

Under Lieutenant General Susan Coyle’s leadership and direction, the CISO acts as our primary line of defence against cyber security breaches, to ensure compliance with best practices and robust security protocols. HCO and his team focuses on managing the day-to-day operations of our ICT landscape, including our cyber hygiene, and ensures that our deployed and enterprise ICT systems are stable and performant 24/7, 365 days a year. 

My DDG team sits upstream of JCG to shape, deliver and enhance Defence’s digital blueprint, in line with the strategic vision for our digital capabilities. 

Under this new banner, we have set three core priorities that guide our efforts: building best-in-class people to support DDG’s efforts, underpinned by best-in-class global platforms, supported by best-in-class sovereign capabilities.

These priorities ensure that Defence is well prepared to navigate the complexities of modern digital needs, and effectively meet our objectives.

Our approach to digital transformation involves several key reforms. We’ve reorganised into six divisions and introduced new ways of working, to ensure clear accountabilities across our organisation. 

I’ll start at the beginning, with our new Digital Capability Management Division, which I refer to as our ‘front door’. This team manages our capability demands from start to finish, filling a crucial gap in our ICT ecosystem.

A key element is our Platform and Lifecycle Management Branch. 

We are moving away from delivering heavily customised solutions that have built significant technical debt, to adopting standard enterprise solutions, steeply reducing technical debt, and minimising our cyber-attack surface area. This focus on reduction of tech debt and attack surface area, is a core function of the Platform and Lifecycle Management Branch.

Next is our Digital Architecture and Strategy Division. This team supports technology investment, and is responsible for the overarching technology strategy and roadmap for Defence ICT. 

They also provide a Digital Capability Incubator – that helps with the adoption of digital technologies through agile proofs-of-concept. 

Next, we have established three Delivery Divisions – 

• Military Systems – which works predominately at the Secret level, and is in the process of pivoting to Hyperscale Cloud technology based on disconnected architecture; 
• Enterprise Systems – which works predominately at the Protected level, and is accountable for our significant pivot to Hyperscale Cloud across SaaS, PaaS and IaaS; and
• ERP Systems – which works predominately on the enterprise workflows that underpin the organisation, to consolidate workload across 300 bespoke applications into a single SAP instance on Hyperscale Cloud. 

Finally, our Group Operations Division – effectively our independent umpire – provides critical services for effective and efficient team operations. 

• This includes a centralised Commercial team, managing all ICT-related commercial activities;
• an independent risk and assurance team to ensure we are adopting and implementing best practice – and not marking our own homework;
• and a central portfolio team to prioritise all demands coming into DDG, and ensure that the necessary budget and human capital are available.

Our architectural, commercial and delivery processes are pivoting to enable easier on-boarding of these capabilities – from the architecture of our solutions – to the companies we contract with – to the staff who support our function. 

As we rapidly adopt Hyperscale cloud technology, our platform strategy is crucial for maintaining robust cybersecurity. By focusing on “buy once and reuse,” we aim to avoid fragmented systems, reducing technical debt and attack surface area. 

To improve operational efficiency, we’re eliminating outdated legacy systems and transitioning to modern, open architecture. The initiation of Program Hornet will support this by re-purposing sustainment cash flows to invest in best-in-class solutions, optimising costs, and avoiding financial waste. 

You’ll hear more about Program Hornet later in the day.

What I have just described is the operational construct for the Defence Digital Group, which brings me to the next part of my address, the “golden thread”.

Our golden thread integrates activities and accountabilities across DDG’s divisions into JCG, bringing clarity and speeding up technology adoption. This approach eliminates the need for consensus in critical decision-making, allowing us to move forward more decisively, and at pace.

We are embracing a new enterprise-wide, single-pane-of-glass to our ICT architecture, offering a seamless, end-to-end view of our digital landscape. 

The golden thread highlights capability demand coming through the single front door. As mentioned before, Digital Capability Division collects and analyses demand from an acquisition and enhancement perspective.

The logic flow of the golden thread works from left to right and follows the One Defence Capability System.

Demand passes from the front door to Group Operations and their Portfolio Management and Commercial teams.  They asses the demand to determine and plan the prioritisation of resources.

The demand then moves through to the Digital Architecture and Strategy Division to execute all technology decisions, ensuring alignment with the Digital Strategy and Roadmap.  Solution design is then approved and ultimately implemented through one of the Systems Divisions.

The far right of the workflow is the defining point where capability is delivered and then transitioned to JCG to operate and maintain the blueprint. The only organisation that has authority to alter or update the blueprint is DDG.

By leveraging technology that’s being assessed and approved through the Architecture and Strategy team, with oversight from Group Operations, there is clear accountability as we move through the life-cycle of our technology.

Over the past 12 months I’ve had the great pleasure in meeting many of the companies and teams represented today.  Your support in protecting the sovereignty of our nation is greatly appreciated. 

The Golden Thread is intended to help you navigate Defence Digital Group – so you and your teams know the right Division and Leader to engage.

My email footer has been updated to help follow the Golden Thread moving forward.

And so in closing, as we advance on our transformation journey, your role is vital. 

To help support this, the Defence Digital Strategy and Roadmap will be refreshed annually to provide direction and guide your engagement with DDG. 

Your support is crucial in ensuring we remain prepared to fight and win in the digital age. 

Thank you once again for your commitment and collaboration. 

I look forward to working more closely with you and your teams as we shape the future of our nation’s defence.

Please enjoy the rest of the day.