Meet the people driving BAI ’s growth and strategy for our telecommunications business. In this blog series, hear from our team as they share what they envision for the future and how growth will be achieved.
Rachael Williams, Head of Business Development at BAI Communications, started with the company in 2012 straight from university, having completed a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. As a valued member of BAI’s Growth and Strategy team based in our Sydney office, Rachael seeks to find new opportunities and leads projects from scoping through to execution. She brings dedication and a drive to ensure desired outcomes for our customers, partners and the business are achieved. Prior to her current role, Rachael managed BAI’s largest account, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), for over five years. Here she ensured BAI’s satisfaction rating with the ABC was always high, and relationships were strong between the two organisations – from operational to executive.
Rachael is seen as one of the future leaders of our business and is on a fast-track development path. She works closely with Nick Gurney, our Telecommunications Director and together with the team, they work on strategies to drive growth within our telecommunications business. These include advancing shared telecommunications infrastructure networks and pioneering solutions for private and public wireless networks, smart precincts, and critical communications services.
Learn more about Rachael:
What are you responsible for in your current role at BAI?
I am responsible for leading complex deals from scoping, to devising solutions and developing commercial frameworks and contracts; and working closely with our clients to solve their problems.
What’s the most exciting part of your job?
It is an exciting time for the Australian business as we accelerate our telecommunications growth strategy which will empower Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s), governments, venues, transport authorities and private enterprises to enhance their networks in innovative ways, leveraging our experience and capabilities gained from projects overseas.
It’s really rewarding to be part of a team that is designing innovative commercial and technical solutions to meet the needs of people and enterprises today while also looking ahead to the future. We are on a journey to develop long term partnerships with our customers to solve connectivity challenges together.
What’s something you find challenging about your work?
Wrapping my head around technology solutions within the broadcast and telecommunications space can be a challenge and is an ongoing learning curve. Our engineers and technical subject matter experts are always willing to explain technical solutions and I enjoy the challenge of distilling that information down to key principles I can understand and then explain to other non-technical people.
What’s something you’re proud of?
In 2015, I had the opportunity to work on the bid team, responding to the ABC and SBS (Australian national public broadcasters) request for proposal (RFP) for provision of their Digital Television services. The whole business pulled together and we submitted a competitive, high-quality response that I was personally very proud to have contributed to. It meant a lot to the whole business to continue our partnership with the ABC and SBS and finding out that we were successful in the RFP was a very memorable experience and a great achievement for the BAI team.
How do you collaborate with your team?
COVID-19 has certainly had an impact on the way we collaborate, and it took some adjusting to get used to the working from home environment. For me, collaboration is all about working together to gain different perspectives and workshopping ideas to devise the best outcomes. This can still be done virtually but it’s hard to replicate the experience of workshopping in front of a whiteboard in person. When I’m working on a customer deal, I really enjoy bringing people together to solve problems – it’s amazing how a group of individuals can break down the most complex problems and find solutions.
Who inspires you?
Andrew Hoy, who has competed as an equestrian rider for Australia at eight Olympic games. His approach to horsemanship and the active pursuit of getting the fundamental techniques right has always struck a chord with me, both in my own endeavours in horse riding, but also in all other aspects of my life, including work. There is no short-cut for learning – you must put in the hours and an effective training structure if you want to reach your full potential. He was 62 at his last Olympics in Tokyo and is looking ahead to the Paris 2024 games.
Want to join the BAI team? Head over to our careers page
