From FIFO Camps to Aged Care: How Smart Design Is Improving Connection Across Industries

The rollout of Swift Access (2025) at Roy Hill and a leading Aged Care provider shows how people-first design and sector-specific user experience (UX) can enhance resident and worker wellbeing—while helping operators streamline communications and reduce the cost of delivering engagement.

In an increasingly digital world, designing experiences that truly connect with users—regardless of their age, location or lifestyle—is becoming critical. That principle is at the heart of the latest innovation from Swift Networks, which has officially launched its new Swift Access platform across two vastly different environments: Roy Hill’s remote mining village in the Pilbara and three residential aged care facilities in Western Australia.

While the settings couldn’t be more different—FIFO workers in high-demand operational environments versus elderly residents in care homes—the desired outcome is the same: enabling people to feel more connected, valued, and engaged in the communities where they live or work.

A Tailored Experience for Every User

Swift Access is a next-generation engagement and entertainment platform designed for managed accommodation environments. Delivered via connected TVs, the system provides residents or workers with easy access to a rich mix of company updates, wellbeing content, entertainment and third-party sector specific integrations for example People Management Systems within Mining, or services like Tell Touch to give resident’s access to the mandatory government quarterly surveys via their TVs.

What sets Swift Access apart is its adaptive UX and user interface (UI). Rather than a one-size-fits-all interface, the platform has been designed with sector-specific user journeys in mind.

For FIFO workers at Roy Hill, the platform delivers a sleek interface with easy navigation, and premium entertainment, that includes early release Blockbuster Movies and access to personal streaming apps via Swift’s secure casting, information about on-site services, HR updates, the potential to deliver WHS and Psychosocial risk management programmes and other content to help manage wellbeing—all from the comfort of their room. For aged care residents at our initial trial sites, the experience is more simplified, with larger icons, intuitive navigation, access to lifestyle programming, and the ability to receive family messages or community pictures and videos directly on their TV.

“Our goal was to ensure that the platform felt intuitive and accessible to the user,” said Swift Networks CEO Brian Mangano. “Whether you’re a 28-year-old boilermaker on shift or an 85-year-old resident in aged care, we wanted the experience to be familiar, easy to use, and—most importantly—meaningful.”

Addressing Social Isolation, Supporting Wellbeing

In both sectors, isolation and disconnection are persistent challenges. For FIFO workers, long swings away from home can lead to loneliness and fatigue. In aged care, social isolation is one of the most significant contributors to mental health decline.

Swift Access aims to be part of the solution. By providing instant access to their community, with information about activities and updates, and tools to maintain family connections, the platform helps users feel more grounded and supported in their environment.

At the residential aged care facilities, the system enables residents to receive photos and videos from family, access lifestyle and exercise programs, and watch content curated for seniors—all via a familiar medium: the television. At Roy Hill, employees can unwind after a long shift, stay up to date with company news, and access support services—directly through their in-room TV. Since the TV is more frequently used on-site than the company intranet, it's an ideal channel for sharing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) content.

“Technology can play a vital role in how people experience community,” said Mangano. “By making content relevant and accessible, we help operators improve the quality of life for their residents and teams.”

Commercial Efficiency Without Compromise

Beyond user wellbeing, Swift Access is designed to deliver operational benefits for businesses. Traditional methods of engaging with residents or workers—such as printed newsletters, on-site posters, or manual updates—are resource-intensive, inconsistent, and hard to measure.

The new platform streamlines this process, delivering key communications directly to in-room and common area TVs. Operators can remotely schedule communications, push urgent messages, update programming, and even monitor engagement metrics—all through a centralised dashboard. This not only improves communication efficiency but also reduces administrative load and ongoing costs.

A time / cost saving exercise conducted as part of research project*, during the development of the product, estimated that a 100-bed aged care facility could save approximately $12,000 per year, just by changing the method of delivering three common communications – menus, activity schedules and events, to being delivered directly to in-room TVs

*Reference to a Three-phased research project to evaluate the new Swift Access product, led by Dr Kathy Heathcote.

"Swift Access allows operators to scale engagement without scaling headcount," Mangano said. “It’s about delivering a better experience with fewer resources, which is a win-win for everyone.”

A Model for Sector-Spanning Innovation

While many technology solutions are tailored to specific industries, Swift Access offers a rare example of a platform that succeeds across very different sectors by focusing on human-centred design.

By adapting the user experience based on the unique needs of each audience—without altering the core platform—Swift has achieved a level of versatility that’s especially valuable for organisations managing diverse accommodation portfolios.

“Our work with Roy Hill and our Aged Care trial sites is just the beginning,” Mangano added. “We see enormous potential to apply this technology across defence, Lifestyle Communities, student housing, and anywhere that people live or work in managed environments.”

Looking Ahead

As organisations look for ways to deliver more with less—improving wellbeing, increasing retention, and reducing operational drag—platforms like Swift Access are likely to play a growing role.

This rollout not only marks a milestone for Swift Networks but also signals a broader shift: away from fragmented communication tools and toward integrated, intuitive systems that are designed with people in mind.

Because whether it’s a remote mining village or an aged care residence, connection matters—and the right user experience can make all the difference.