My experience on an External Placement (Industry) (EP(I))

by Major Abigail Roberts

This paper examines a nine month external industry placement undertaken by Abigail — the first of its kind within the Corps — designed to demonstrate the value of embedding service personnel within civilian technical environments. The study outlines the process through which she secured the role and details the technical project that formed the core of her placement.

During the secondment, she contributed to a major organisational initiative aimed at shaping the future IT infrastructure of a company operating across New Zealand and the wider Australasian region. Her work centred on conducting an in depth review of existing hypervisor solutions and surveying the market for viable alternative or supplementary platforms. The analysis offers insight into how one organisation approached a critical IT capability decision amid significant industry change, with broader relevance for other sectors — including Defence — where cost efficiency, scalability, security, and futureproofing remain essential considerations.

Reflecting on the placement, she highlighted the value of exposing military personnel to contemporary industry practices and innovations. Such experiences were shown to enhance individual technical competence and deepen understanding of how civilian sector advances can be integrated to strengthen the military’s approach to emerging digital challenges.

Link to full article.