​​A year in review: retrospective from the CEO, Domenic Fonte​

Since inception, over the past two decades, AssetFuture has strengthened its reputation as a leading provider delivering asset lifecycle management, forecasting, analysis and planning capabilities for the public and private sector alike. 

As I reflect on the past year, I am humbled by our team’s efforts, expanding our evidence-based approach into tertiary and international education, housing and aged living sectors. 

Enabling communities with advanced asset lifecycle modelling 

We have always strongly and proudly aligned ourselves with organisations that deliver community outcomes, such as better education for children or health outcomes for patients. Expanding our focus to include safe, weather-tight and fit-for-purpose accommodation for those in need felt like a natural and purposeful next step. 

We're proud of our long-standing partnership with Murdi Paaki Regional Services (MPRS), an organisation that serves as the peak Aboriginal governance and representative body for the Murdi Paaki Region of Western New South Wales. In 2024, we were honoured to receive endorsement from the Aboriginal Housing Office (AHO) to expand this engagement across the entire Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly, which accounts for more than 40% of the land in NSW. 

Our optimised approach to asset lifecycle modelling will ensure communities have access to fit-for-purpose and well-maintained housing by arming MPRS and the AHO with unprecedented accurate data and technology to identify and prioritise remedial and rectification works required across the region. 

Elevating asset investment planning into the tertiary sector 

During extended periods of fiscal constraint, it's vital to prioritise and deploy funding into the areas most closely aligned to organisational strategy and operational need. 

We are proud to partner with the University of Sydney to deliver our refined, off-the-shelf AssetFuture capability, which strongly aligns with the Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association (TEFMA) guidelines – another exciting partnership for us in 2024. Partnering with the University allows us to build upon the accurate lifecycle forecasts we are recognised for across schools and TAFEs and now into the tertiary sector through advanced degradation modelling. 

In 2025, we will continue to identify opportunities to introduce this capability to more Universities as they consider performance optimisation across their asset base. 

Expanding our reach and increasing maturity 

AssetFuture exists to simplify complex data systems into clear insights, equipping our partners with the tools, knowledge and evidence to make long-term decisions. This year, we successfully completed our ALCA programme with Queensland Education, which provided an unprecedented level of data granularity and completeness. 

The AssetFuture platform has empowered QLD Education to implement an evidence and risk-based approach to asset renewal. Capturing, managing and reporting asset condition data has been a priority focus for the Queensland Audit Office. In a 2024 report on Education entities in Queensland, the Auditor-General commented positively on the Department of Education's ALCA initiative and its plans for using condition data to support future maintenance programs. 

2024 was another year of international expansion, laying the long-term foundations for new and exciting partnerships in Aotearoa. 

Living the beyond compliance dream 

Nearly four years ago, we set out with a passion to partner with Retirement Living operators to increase the maturity of asset management across the sector. Part of this journey was to ensure this discipline had a 'seat at the boardroom table', and as we reflect on the last twelve months especially, we are proud to have witnessed our partners move beyond compliance and embrace the value of data as an asset to their organisation.  

Leveraging asset data and the AssetFuture platform, they have been able to prioritise preventative maintenance, increase asset performance and deliver outstanding lifestyle experiences for their residents. 

Our technology provides a robust and consistent framework, enabling scalability and repeatability, delivering a condition-based methodology to ensure accuracy and compliance. In several cases, we facilitated the shift from reactive to proactive maintenance leveraging a condition-based approach, enabling up-to-date and current asset registers within customer technology ecosystems to unlock unprecedented financial ROI and cost savings over 20%. As a result, it was encouraging to observe our customers expanding the use of AssetFuture across other state jurisdictions, where there was no legislative requirement to do so. 

This year, some of our Retirement Living partners commenced expansion into their aged care portfolios, to establish a consistent approach to Capital and Maintenance planning across their entire national portfolio, using NSW compliance to set the “high -bar” for data granularity, while several others are in the process of evaluating the benefits of doing so and engaging with internal stakeholders. Watch this space! 

Broadening our impact: NSW Retirement Living Committee 

As we continue our strong partnership with the retirement living sector, I am honoured to have been appointed to the 2025/26 NSW Retirement Living Committee, a division of the Property Council of Australia. 

The committee is comprised of senior professionals from a variety of organisations that exist in the world of retirement living. It plays a vital role in the retirement living sector, providing leadership, advocacy and enablement for the industry and supporting the Retirement Living Council on issues of national significance.  

Its key focus is advising on policy development and advocacy in NSW whilst creating networking and professional development opportunities for the industry. 

What's next: Ambitions for the year ahead 

Over the past 24 months, the entire AssetFuture team has ensured our partners are armed with live, dynamic data that supports effective decision-making and enables stakeholders to quickly consider multiple 'what-if' scenarios to arrive at the right tactical outcome, considering cost, risk and performance of all the assets they own or manage. 

As technology evolves and customers demand more capability, performance and data security, AssetFuture has undertaken a major re-development of our platform and solution. We are excited to introduce this new solution in 2025 which will provide enhanced performance, improved scenario modelling and customisable reporting, amongst many other improvements. 

It is impossible to share reflections about our 2024 achievements without acknowledging our incredible team. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication- your efforts have made all our achievements over the past year exceed our expectations. 

As we celebrate our successes and the hard work that made them possible, we are excited to continue building on this momentum in 2025. We’re attending and contributing to a number of events; look out for us at the Retirement Forum Outlook on the 20th of February, the 15th Annual Leaders Summit on the 18th and 19th of March, AMPEAK2025 from the 6th-9th April and the National Retirement Living Summit from the 18th-20th of June. 

Watch this space as we continue to share insights into the world of asset investment planning and strategic asset management at these events and beyond!