How Uniting empowered frontline workers with an AI-enabled mobile app

Uniting NSW.ACT (Uniting) is one of Australia’s largest not-for-profit aged care providers, offering critical services to older Australians and vulnerable communities across the country. Every day, thousands of staff deliver care in homes, communities, and residential facilities, many of them working on the frontline where time and clarity is paramount. Uniting now serves 148,000 clients across its diverse services each year, with aims to increase the reach to 200,000 people by 2032.

Challenge

Every day, thousands of Uniting staff deliver care to older Australians. Uniting’s network of frontline employees spend most of their working dayon the move, often alone and under pressure. In this environment, clarity and speed aren’t just helpful, they’re essential. That’s why Uniting set out to build a digital assistant that could truly support their frontline.

Uniting had already taken important steps toward transforming the digital experience for their workforce. But, because the tools were living in separate systems, frontline staff reported losing valuable time toggling between multiple apps, often while in transit or mid-care. This not only slowed down workflows but increased the risk of missed documentation and reduced the time available for direct client care. The lack of unified experience also made it harder for staff to adopt and consistently use the digital tools available to them.

The challenge was to bring everything behind a single, secure, and mobile first-front door that adapts to role and language, so teams can find what they need quickly and keep their focus on care.

Our approach

Engage Squared partnered with Uniting to bring their digital employee experience vision to life, aligning technology with the realities of frontline work. Our strategic guidance on architecture, user experience, and change enablement ensured that Buddy wasn’t just functional, it was embraced.

From day one, Engage Squared and Uniting operated as joint delivery team. We established trust early and this began with the solution approach. We recommended a progressive web application over a native app, a decision that meant faster delivery and getting the app in the hands of their frontline teams sooner.

We maintained open communication throughout the project, and the entire project team shared the commitment to delivering something that would genuinely be great for Uniting’s frontline staff.

We adopted an agile way of working, which gave us the flexibility to respond quickly and effectively without losing sight of the bigger picture. The level of collaboration and trust we established early on allowed us to solve challenges quickly, keep things moving and most importantly – deliver the project right on schedule and within budget.

Solution

Buddy is a mobile-first progressive web application that provides a single-entry point into the AI tools, services and information that Uniting’s teams need the most. By bringing together previously disconnected systems into one place, Buddy removes complexity and makes it faster and easier for their staff to get things done, regardless of where they are.

How we built it: 

• Built using React, Buddy offers a responsive, mobile-friendly interface that looks and feels like a native app. It launches right from the home screen on iOS and Android with no app install required.
• Microsoft Graph integration for secure authentication and identity management via Microsoft 365,  integerating smoothly into Uniting’s broader digital ecosystem.
• NET Core API & Azure hosting. Buddy is underpinned by a secure, scalable, and modern architecture that ensures high performance, even in distributed or bandwidth-constrained environments.

Uniting placed a strong emphasis on creating an experience that feels natural for frontline teams. The Buddy app was designed with support workers in mind and carefully refined to ensure it met the needs of real-world use. Feedback confirmed that the finished product stayed true to the original UX designs, maintaining the clarity and usability of the initial vision. Buddy combines intuitive design with reliable performance.

Key features include: 

• Dynamic dashboard tiles 
  Tiles adapt based on role type (e.g HACC worker or Clinical Worker). They connect users directly to Buddy AI Chat, AI transcription tools, and other key employee resources.
• Sticky navigation bar 
  Persistent bottom navigation provides quick access to notes, chat, feedback, and settings, making it easy for their teams to access what they need when they need it.
• Supports seven languages (with smart overrides) 
  The app supports English, Spanish, Hindi, Indonesian, Nepali, Chinese (Simplified), and Chinese (Traditional). All interface text is translated automatically, with curated overrides for critical terms to preserve clarity and meaning (e.g., avoiding mistranslation of “Buddy” as “Friend”). This balances automation with human oversight and allows rapid addition of new languages based on staff feedback.
• Interactive onboarding walkthrough 
  First-time users are guided through key features using a contextual walkthrough designed to build confidence and reduce friction.
• In-App feedback form 
  Feedback can be submitted directly from the app, enabling real-time insights from Unting team members, supporting continuous improvement.

Results 

The Buddy Digital Assistant app is now live and fully rolled out, with deployment to more than 1000 devices Uniting’s Home and Community Care (H&CC) workforce. With the full rollout complete, Uniting is focused on supporting ongoing adoption and embedding Buddy to be a natural part of their teams’ day-to-day. Following deployment of Buddy, the Uniting team captured data and feedback during User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and initial pilot phases, which highlighted strong adoption and early measurable benefits across both support and clinical teams.

Time savings | Support workers

App & AI Chat
Support workers reported significantly faster access to information, with an average of 2 minutes per query when using the Buddy app. On a typical day that might mean 20 queries per person, adding up to around 40 minutes saved each day. Over a week, that’s more than 3 hours regained, freeing up team members to focus on client care.

AI Notes
Support workers saved an average of 30 minutes per day through more efficient note-taking across five client interactions. With 50% of the 820-strong support workforce using Buddy during UAT, this equated to over 200 hours saved per week.

Time savings | Non-support roles (Team Leads, Clinical, Allied Health)

App & AI Chat
Team members in non-support roles saved between 60–120 minutes per day, driven by improved access to documentation and reference materials. Based on 40% uptake across 80 clinical users, this resulted in approximately 50 hours saved weekly.

AI Notes
Similar efficiencies were seen in clinical documentation. Clinical users reported daily time savings of 60–120 minutes, particularly when completing assessments and case notes. At current uptake levels, this also contributed to a weekly time saving of 50 hours.

What’s working well 

Early feedback and observation show that Buddy is already having a clear impact:

• More notes are being captured, especially from those who previously struggled to keep up. 

• Documentation is more accurate, with fewer missing or incomplete entries. 

• Notes are more consistent, thanks to a standardised structure built into the app. 

• Real-time note-taking means less end-of-day backlog, and better recall. 

• Mental load is reduced, with simplified steps that take the guesswork out of the process

The early success of Buddy shows what’s possible when technology is designed and deployed with purpose. By giving staff simple, reliable tools that save time and reduce pressure, Uniting has created more space for what matters most, caring for clients. With adoption growing and feedback staying strong, Buddy is set to become a trusted part of daily work across the teams at Uniting.