As many travel organisations managed the repercussions of the pandemic, Youth Hostels Australia (YHA) kept itself busy by looking to the future.

The low-cost, quality accommodation provider chose to spend time digitally transforming its operations to help prepare for a post-COVID era where work would no longer be rooted to one location.

To stay relevant to travellers and offer them the convenience of streaming and working remotely, YHA would need high-speed internet connectivity.^{^}

The largest provider of its kind in Australia, with presence across 40 properties in every state and territory, YHA deeply believes in enabling sustainable practices – especially through technology, both for its business and curious travellers.

In operation for close to 85 years, YHA is committed to enhancing its guests’ experiences, with digital transformation at the core of its purpose. 

Meeting the needs of digital nomads^{^}

Flexible modern work solutions, powered by cloud computing, is an increasingly key demand in a post-COVID world.

Digital nomads believe in a hybrid lifestyle that combines work and mobility, and need high-speed internet, regardless of their location, to stay connected with work colleagues.

It makes sense then that digital nomads also love the flexibility of a ‘workcation’ where they can continue working on holiday, while keeping themselves entertained, such as through 4K video streaming, and connected with friends and family. 

High-speed connectivity helps them do all of this, while also enabling them to manage their travel experiences seamlessly. This in turn also has a positive impact on YHA’s own staff as it simplifies check in and check out, among other benefits.

Anticipating these needs, YHA realised it needed IT infrastructure designed for digital nomads.

Improving staff productivity^{^}

And if good connectivity is essential for today’s digital nomads, it’s similarly crucial for staff.

Easy access to cloud computing helps ensure team members, like YHA’s, are well-connected and have the right tools to service customers.

During the pandemic, YHA team members were able to continue operations and collaborate with each other even when the majority of them had to work from home. 

And it was YHA’s partner of choice that helped deliver this digital shift and make the business cloud ready.

As the nation’s digital backbone, nbn (a wholesale only provider) can help with meeting the evolving digital needs of small, medium and large enterprise businesses, including through business nbn^® Enterprise Ethernet, the business-grade connection that helped YHA increase its team’s efficiency and productivity. 

Making the shift^{^}

With Enablis and business nbn Enterprise Ethernet, YHA transformed its IT infrastructure into a single network with a layer of security.

This significantly helped simplify its IT infrastructure and made it more secure.

“Working closely with the team at YHA, we knew that upgrading their connectivity would help support their business and this would meet the changing needs of post-pandemic travellers while also revolutionising YHA’s workplace operations,” says Jon Evans, Founder at Enablis. 

"Enablis made the effort to really understand the needs of the business and ensure a quick switchover to the unified network. This solution has also benefited us from a sustainability standpoint as it aided our efforts in going paperless and using tech to make our business processes more efficient,” says Popy Bernardo, CIO at YHA Australia. 

Welcome Y-Hive

For travellers who want to combine work and travel, Y-Hive will soon be opening at two of YHA’s locations in Byron Bay and the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.

A co-working space backed by business nbn Enterprise Ethernet, Y-Hive will enable travellers to stay connected with colleagues from the comfort of a well-equipped office that also boasts a beautiful view of the landscape.

It’s just another way that nbn, with help from Managed Service Providers like Enablis, is helping the nation stay productive, enabling families and friends to connect no matter what the distance between them, and creating the infrastructure that supports Australia’s burgeoning digital economy. 

^* business nbn^® Enterprise Ethernet is only available in the nbn Business Fibre Zones, nbn Fixed Line network footprint and at limited premises served by the nbn Fixed Wireless and Satellite networks.

^{^} nbn is very happy with YHA’s experience with the nbn network. Of course, end customer experiences may vary. An end customer’s experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn network, depends on the nbn access technology and configuration over which services are delivered to their premises, whether they are using the internet during the busy period, and some factors outside of nbn’s control (like their equipment quality, software, chosen broadband plan, signal reception, or how their provider designs its network). If the service provider has not selected a bandwidth in the highest of three classes of service available for business nbn Enterprise Ethernet, the speeds experienced may be affected by contention on the nbn network, particularly in busy periods.