Celebrating 100 years: Michael's story

Michael Pearson’s arrival at CSC as an IT Procurement Specialist in June 2021 was short-lived – at least in the immediate term.

“I did about a week and a half, and then I went to Queensland for three and a half weeks to get married and honeymoon - and then got promptly back into it in August,” he recalls.

And get promptly back into it he did. Having come to CSC via ActewAGL, Major Projects Canberra, and before that, New Zealand and the UK, Michael was ready to set the wheels in motion at his new company. In doing so, he was enamoured by the CSC culture of wanting to improve things, and make a difference – so much so, that he didn’t hesitate when offered a permanent role as a Senior Procurement Specialist a few months later.

“In the first two months here I spent most of my time meeting people virtually, meeting the stakeholders and finding out what we are good at and what we are not,” he says.

“And people were really open to those kind of conversations, so that solidified the cultural piece of, ‘we all want to move forward.’ One of my deciding factors for when I got offered that position was, ‘yeah, this is a place I want to be a part of, I want to be a part of that whole project to move forward.’”

Michael’s role has many components. His team are currently updating the procurement policy, while also working on enhancements to a number of systems, and driving framework improvements to help business users as they manage their third party contracts. He also supports the business as they work through their procurement activities, trying to make the process as ‘pain free’ as possible for all involved- it is the period when the contracts are signed and work is commencing with a vendor that he identifies as being one of the highlights of his job.

“There is a real good vibe once we’ve got a great vendor on board, providing an improved service to CSC for a great price.

“Procurement activities often take the efforts of many stakeholders across multiple groups for many months to be successful. It’s important to share the accomplishment that CSC is moving forward with the wider team - we did it!”