If I had a chance to live in Australia, I just might take it. Seriously. I think I fell in love the moment my feet touched ground! When I arrived in Brisbane, and even more so in Sydney, Australia, it felt so much like home. The Brisbane air was heavy with humidity, just like my hometown in south Florida. The rush of traffic and busy city streets reminded me of my daily commute. And the ocean breeze at Bondi Beach in Sydney had a familiar salty smell, overwhelming my senses with peace and tranquility. It may sound corny but, as far as I was from home, I felt very connected to your shores.

Citrix Innovation Award MOQ/QIC Brisbane Australia

The last stop on our travels to capture stories for the Innovation Award for Partners program brought us to the land down under, home of Gold Citrix Solution Advisor, MOQdigital. Or, as I like to call them, the Fun Bunch! When we spoke to Scott McPherson, MOQ’s Solution Director, he shared that “Australians are great problem solvers, very innovative people.” Based on what I learned about their work with Microsoft and their customer, the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), that description is spot on, mate!

Citrix Innovation Award MOQ/QIC Brisbane Australia

QIC is a diversified alternative investment firm dedicated to delivering outcomes for clients. They adopted a cloud-based architecture to support rapid expansion, scale internationally, and provide anytime anywhere access for their people. MOQdigital, together with Citrix, designed a cloud solution with virtual desktops in Microsoft Azure to help QIC achieve their goals of greater access, higher performance and flexibility to scale on demand. The cloud solution is also a critical component of QIC’s business continuity strategy. According to Scott, “Citrix helps (QIC) stay ahead of the unpredictable. They’ve been doing it for years and the cloud takes it a step further.”

Citrix Innovation Award MOQ/QIC Brisbane Australia

Thank you to teams at MOQ and QIC for making the film crew and I feel at home. After so many weeks on the road, your open and collaborative spirits were both welcome and greatly appreciated. And thank you, Australia, for showing me your authentic self. My spirit longed to stay with you for a while longer… I will definitely be back!

Keep an eye out for our other 2018 Innovation Award for Partners finalists’ videos – and get ready to vote in early January!