First Focus Wins the 2026 CRN AI Initiative of the Year

First Focus Wins the 2026 CRN AI Initiative of the Year

CRN recognition for CORE and the work we’re doing with customers to turn business challenges into practical, secure and measurable outcomes.

We’re proud to share that CORE has been recognised as the 2026 CRN AI Initiative of the Year.

The CRN Channel Awards recognise organisations helping shape the future of technology and the Australian IT channel. For us, this award is important not simply because CORE has been recognised, but because of what that recognition represents.

Our customers are the ones who understand where their businesses can be better.

They know where people are losing time, where a process is harder than it should be, where customers could be better served and where a different way of working could create meaningful value.

Our role is to help turn those opportunities into something practical, secure and measurable.

That is the partnership CORE was built to support.

The Opportunity Starts Inside the Business

AI has moved quickly from an emerging technology conversation to a real business priority.

But the most valuable conversations we’re having with customers rarely start with the technology itself.

They start with questions like:

How could we remove this repetitive work? Could our people find the information they need faster? Can we create more capacity without simply adding headcount? Is there a better way to serve our customers? How do we make this process more consistent?

Those opportunities are different in every business because every business works differently.

What we’ve also learned is that they rarely exist in isolation. Improving one workflow can quickly raise questions about data, permissions, security, adoption and how the new process will be supported over time.

CORE brings those pieces together.

It combines AI and automation with cybersecurity, Microsoft 365, data governance, user enablement and proactive technology management, giving customers an operating model for making improvements without treating every new idea as a standalone technology project.

See how we think managed services need to evolve around AI, automation, security and data governance:

Backing Our Customers’ Ideas

One of the biggest challenges with any new technology is moving from a promising idea to something that genuinely improves the business.

And the best ideas don’t necessarily come from a technology provider.

They come from the people inside the business.

They come from someone who knows a process takes too long. A team that is repeating work unnecessarily. A leader who sees an opportunity to improve the customer experience. Or an employee who knows there has to be a better way to get something done.

That thinking is behind our AI Investment Fund.

Following its launch in Australia, we recently introduced the same $100,000 AI Investment Fund for customers in New Zealand.

The fund allows us to co-invest alongside customers in ideas with genuine commercial potential, bringing together their knowledge of the business with the technology and consulting expertise needed to turn an opportunity into a working solution.

The focus is deliberately practical.

It might be improving a workflow, making business information easier to access, reducing repetitive administration, improving customer service or creating more capacity within an existing team.

The technology matters, but the measure of success is the outcome: time saved, greater consistency, better decision-making, increased capacity or a demonstrable commercial return.

Making Good (AI) Ideas Sustainable

Turning a good idea into a lasting business improvement takes more than technology.

It requires secure systems, well-governed data, appropriate access controls and people who understand how to use the new capability effectively.

That is why CORE brings those disciplines together.

Rather than separating AI adoption from cybersecurity, data governance, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 and ongoing support, CORE provides the foundations customers need to make changes confidently and keep improving them over time.

The aim is not simply to launch something new.

It is to make sure that what gets introduced is useful, secure, supported and capable of becoming part of how the business works every day.

See how CORE helps businesses move from AI access to secure adoption and measurable value:

Recognition Shaped By Our Customers

CORE has evolved through working with customers who are prepared to challenge the way work gets done.

They bring the knowledge of their business, the problems worth solving and the ambition to improve.

Our team brings the technology, security, governance and delivery capability needed to help turn those ideas into something real.

That partnership has shaped CORE from the beginning. Customer challenges, feedback and a willingness to test new approaches have helped ensure it remains grounded in what businesses actually need day to day.

So while this award is a fantastic recognition of the First Focus team who built CORE and continue to evolve it, it also belongs to the customers who have trusted us to innovate alongside them.

We’re incredibly proud of the win, but even more excited about what our customers do next.

Because the most interesting part of this story isn’t the technology.

It’s what ambitious businesses can achieve when they have the confidence, expertise and support to rethink how work gets done.

About the CRN AI Initiative of the Year

The CRN Channel Awards Australia recognise outstanding achievement across the Australian technology channel. The AI Initiative of the Year category recognises organisations applying artificial intelligence in innovative and meaningful ways to create business value.

About First Focus

First Focus is one of Australia and New Zealand’s leading Managed AI & IT Service Providers, helping organisations modernise, secure and optimise their technology.

Through CORE Intelligent Managed Services, First Focus brings together IT support, cybersecurity, AI adoption, automation, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, data governance and strategic technology guidance to help businesses become more productive, more secure and better equipped to keep improving.