Insights | Sally El-Rashidy, Account Director | Monday 19 October 2026 | 7 min read
The short answer
We left Telstra, became a Telstra partner in 2015, and then bought a managed service provider in 2021, because being a partner still left customers chasing several vendors after the sale. Owning the service means one trusted partner who is accountable for the whole technology environment.
Our journey in the telco world began long before Clarity ICT was born. I started from humble beginnings in sales on the Telstra retail floor, Karl began his career in a support role at a Telstra contact centre, and Aileen spent years as a Telstra territory manager with Telstra Country Wide. It was our time inside the Telstra ecosystem that taught us to love the bigger picture. Not just fixing and selling technology, but helping businesses and communities benefit from it. Collectively, the three of us have more than 60 years of experience working within and alongside Telstra.
Different starting points, but the same lesson. Working inside a carrier, we saw how business technology gets sold, and just as importantly, what happens to customers once the sale is done. Mobile fleets from one place, networks from another, cloud from a third, and phones from someone else again. Every product worked well on its own, but nobody’s job was to make them work together, and no one was willing to support the customer after the sale.
Why did we leave Telstra?
We each left Telstra at different points in our careers, whether through redundancy or the pursuit of new opportunities, but we ultimately found ourselves working together at a Telstra partner. Over several years, we built a strong working relationship and discovered a shared vision for where the ICT industry was heading. Just as importantly, we shared the same frustration with the lack of investment in improving the customer experience. Rather than accept the status quo, we saw an opportunity to do things differently and build something better. So, in 2015, Clarity ICT was born, and we proudly became a Telstra partner in our own right.
On paper, it looked like a small change. Same carrier, same products, just a different seat. But a different seat changed what we were able to say to customers. As a partner, we could start with the customer’s business rather than a product list, recommend what genuinely suited them, not what suited us, and have a say in how they were supported. That principle still guides the way we work today.
“To be more than a supplier.”
Sally El-Rashidy, Account Director, Clarity ICT
Why did we buy a managed service provider?
Becoming a Telstra partner brought us closer to our customers and gave us greater control over the solutions we designed and delivered. And whilst we offered managed services from the get go, it didn’t completely solve the support problem we were looking to improve. We could recommend and deliver the right technology outcomes, but the support experience remained fragmented. Customers were still engaging multiple vendors, logging tickets across different support desks, and navigating endless conversations about who was responsible when something went wrong. We knew there had to be a better way. One where customers had a single trusted partner to turn to, with accountability across their entire technology environment, not just parts of it.
In 2021, we expanded our managed services capabilities through the acquisition of Talk Business Technologies, a fellow Telstra partner and managed service provider. The acquisition significantly strengthened our service offering, adding a larger service desk, experienced Level 3 engineers, deeper technical expertise, and an expanded network of vendor relationships. Most importantly, it enabled us to deliver a genuine end-to-end managed ICT service, giving customers a single trusted partner to support and manage their entire technology environment.
Owning a managed ICT service changed the job entirely. It was no longer enough to recommend the right technology. We became the ones who pick up the phone when something breaks, accountable for the outcome and not just the advice. We say that if a vendor drops the ball, we pick it up. That’s easy to say in a brochure. It means something quite different when it’s your phone ringing.
What did each seat teach us?
Inside the carrier, we learned how the big vendors work and how to get things moving. As a partner, we learned the value of independence, recommending what fits the customer rather than what fits us, and how a better support model helps keep customers for the long term. As a provider, we learned ownership. Customers don’t care which vendor failed. What they care about is who is fixing it, and who is accountable until it’s fixed.
If I think about what makes me most proud of what we’ve built, it’s a conversation I had with a customer recently. They told me they had been searching for a true technology partner, not another vendor. They wanted someone who understood their business, knew their entire technology environment, and could work with them strategically across all areas. A partner they could trust to navigate the complexity, bring the right experts to the table, and help guide their technology journey with confidence.
In that moment, I realised that’s exactly why we started Clarity ICT. To be more than a supplier. To be a trusted partner that simplifies technology, takes ownership, and helps customers achieve better outcomes through a strategic, long-term relationship.
Buying a managed service business also made us look hard at what makes managed services work, and what doesn’t. That has shaped everything since.
What are the four things we hold to?
Every decision we’ve made since has come back to four principles. We listen before we recommend. We simplify the complexity. We plan for reality, not theory. And we stay engaged long after go-live, because that’s when the real partnership begins.
None of it is clever. It’s simply what we saw from the inside, and the standards we set for ourselves because of it.
What should you ask a provider?
Ask where they have stood. Have they worked inside a carrier? Have they been a partner, choosing between vendors on a customer’s behalf? Have they ever been the one accountable when the network is down and the customer is waiting for answers?
Then ask a simpler question. When three vendors are pointing at each other, who picks up the phone? If the honest answer is “you do”, that’s exactly the gap we set out to close.
Today, we work with organisations from 25-person teams through to 500-plus seats across Australia. Whatever the size, the idea is the same: one trusted partner, one number to call, and one team that takes ownership of the result.
One practical takeaway
When three vendors are pointing at each other, who picks up the phone?
Frequently asked questions
What should you look for when choosing a managed ICT provider?
Ask where they have stood: have they worked inside a carrier, been a partner choosing between vendors on a customer’s behalf, and been the one accountable when the network is down? Then ask who picks up the phone when three vendors are pointing at each other. If the honest answer is “you do”, that’s exactly the gap we set out to close.
Is Clarity ICT a Telstra partner?
Yes. Clarity ICT was started in 2015 and became a Telstra partner in its own right.
Why did Clarity ICT buy a managed service provider?
Becoming a partner brought us closer to customers, but support was still fragmented across vendors and support desks. In 2021 we acquired Talk Business Technologies, a fellow Telstra partner and managed service provider, to deliver one end-to-end managed ICT service.
Who does Clarity ICT work with?
Organisations from 25-person teams to 500-plus seats across Australia.
Related
OneHelpdesk | About Clarity ICT | Our solutions
Sally El-Rashidy, Account Director, Clarity ICT
Sally El-Rashidy is Account Director at Clarity ICT, which she helped start in 2015 after beginning her career in sales on the Telstra retail floor. She works with organisations from 25-person teams to 500-plus seats across Australia, so they have one trusted partner for their technology.
Want to talk it through?
If you’d like to talk about what that could look like for your business, we’d love to have a chat.