Generus Living
Generus Living is a boutique provider of premium retirement villages across New Zealand, combining upscale retirement living with a comprehensive range of care options.
With six villages across Auckland, the Bay of Plenty, and Christchurch, and a new Auckland development underway, Generus Living offers premium retirement villages and care facilities, providing independent living through to residential care.
Although smaller than some of the larger listed operators in the sector, Generus Living sets the benchmark for premium retirement villages in New Zealand. Each village is uniquely designed to reflect its local community, with its own identity and character, while maintaining a shared organisational ethos of excellence and care.
Operating with a lean team, Generus Living outsources its technology operations to a managed service provider, with strategic oversight sitting within the GM Sales & Marketing portfolio.
As cloud infrastructure matured and the business continued to grow, Generus Living recognised it needed senior, independent IT leadership to strengthen cyber security, lift governance maturity, and provide executive level assurance, without the overhead of a full time internal CIO.
The Challenge
Following a successful cloud migration, Generus Living had a modern infrastructure foundation in place. However, as the business expanded, leadership became increasingly conscious of risk exposure and governance obligations.
The organisation was relying on reporting and assurances from its managed service provider. While operational support was strong, there was limited independent validation of the company’s true cyber security posture. Policies and procedures existed, but maturity levels varied. There was no formal IT risk register, and limited strategic oversight at a senior level.
For GM Sales & Marketing Craig Moss, the concern wasn’t day-to-day performance, it was whether the right governance structures were in place to support the organisation’s growth trajectory. As the organisation continued to grow, expectations around security, compliance, and long-term IT strategy naturally increased. Craig wanted to ensure the organisation had the right level of independent oversight and expertise to support that growth and strengthen its future readiness.
At the same time, operational challenges were emerging in Microsoft 365. The early SharePoint environment had been built using a legacy folder based structure. As both the business and Microsoft’s cloud capabilities evolved, the architecture became inefficient and restrictive. It lacked the flexibility required to support multiple bespoke village brands, modern collaboration, and scalable growth.
Generus Living needed independent insight, stronger governance discipline, and a more sophisticated digital workplace to support its ambitions.
"We'd done a lot of good foundation work, but we didn't have the depth of IT governance expertise internally. We wanted independent reassurance that we were secure, compliant, and on the right track."
Craig Moss
GM Sales & Marketing
The Solution
Generus Living selected CIO Studio to provide independent, senior-level IT leadership through a fractional CIO model. Independence was critical.
Craig needed objective advice, free from any managed service provider or vendor agenda. He wanted someone who could provide strategic oversight, challenge thinking where needed, and strengthen governance without adding fixed executive headcount.
CIO Studio’s flexible engagement model allowed Generus Living to begin with a focused discovery phase and scale support as required.
The engagement started with a structured assessment of governance, risk, and cyber security maturity. This directly informed a comprehensive third-party cyber security penetration test, with CIO Studio managing vendor selection and overseeing the process end-to-end.
Working alongside both Generus Living and its managed service provider, they prioritised and remediated findings, ensuring improvements were properly embedded rather than simply documented.
In parallel, CIO Studio introduced a formal IT Risk Register, refreshed and developed key policies, and established a cyber incident response plan aligned with insurer requirements.
They also led an RFP process to modernise the Microsoft 365 and SharePoint environment. The result was a redesigned architecture and a sophisticated intranet portal tailored to each village’s brand, with role-based permissions, integrated dashboards, and purpose-built collaboration tools.
Through regular engagement and ongoing advisory support, CIO Studio became embedded in the business providing governance discipline, strategic clarity, and the technology foundation Generus Living needed to grow with confidence.
"Having CIO Studio alongside us meant we weren't making these decisions in isolation. They brought independent thinking, structure, and experience. That made a real difference for us."
Craig Moss
GM Sales & Marketing
The Outcome
The engagement delivered both structural improvements and a meaningful lift in leadership confidence. Generus Living now has independently validated security controls, a formal IT Risk Register, and improved reporting.
The penetration testing and remediation programme produced tangible evidence of risk reduction, while refreshed policies and a defined incident response plan have raised governance maturity across the organisation.
Over time the relationship between Generus Living and CIO Studio has evolved into a trusted strategic partnership. With the improvements in place and ongoing advisory, Generus Living now has clearer visibility, stronger oversight, and confidence that its IT environment can scale alongside its ambitions.
Stronger governance and risk visibility
Generus Living now operates with an increased level of IT oversight and the organisation can demonstrate its cyber security posture with confidence, to insurers, stakeholders, and leadership alike.
A scalable digital workspace
The modernised SharePoint environment has fundamentally changed how staff access and share information. The branded, role-based portal delivers a consistent experience across all villages and is architected to accommodate new sites without significant redesign.
"Russell, from CIO Studio, has become a genuine extension of our team. We now have the confidence that our IT governance and security are where they need to be, and that gives us real peace of mind."
Craig Moss
GM Sales & Marketing
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