Delivering work that makes New Zealand a better place.

Supporting the next generation of Kiwi leaders: University of Auckland’s Programme Hōno

If healthcare is the most important industry for our wellbeing, education is about safeguarding our future and enabling a platform from which the next generation of Kiwi leaders can thrive. 

Our ongoing work with the University of Auckland on Programme Hōno. Is one of the best examples of our expertise in large-scale business transformations. This major initiative is reshaping the way the university operates, helping to future-proof its systems and processes. 

Voco’s role has been to guide the programme team through this complex transformation, offering strategic advice and hands-on support every step of the way.

For many organisations, large-scale change initiatives like this only happen once every 10 to 15 years. At Voco, these types of projects are our bread and butter, and we’ve developed a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities that come with them. 

We work closely with leadership teams, helping them navigate the unknowns, avoid pitfalls, and develop the skills they need to succeed. 

We don’t just do, we teach - improving the transformation skills and capability of the organisations we work with, one team and one project at a time. 

Embedding our team in Te Aka Whai Ora

Our work with Te Aka Whai Ora, part of Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, is another example of how we collaborate closely with clients to deliver meaningful results. 

Over the past year, we’ve become an extension of their Māori Health Service Improvement team, helping to design and build a new application to manage the Te Pitomata grants programme. 

This programme has a profound impact on the Māori community, providing financial support to Māori students pursuing careers in health and disability services.

The Te Pitomata grants go beyond just financial assistance. They play a crucial role in promoting cultural representation and empowerment within the healthcare sector. Key outcomes of the programme include:

• Empowerment and representation: The grants help to build a healthcare workforce that reflects the cultural diversity of New Zealand, ensuring that Māori communities are represented in the services that support them.
• Support for traditional practices: By including studies in rongoā (traditional Māori healing), the programme acknowledges the importance of Māori cultural practices and ensures their continued integration into modern healthcare.
• Opening educational doors: The grants reduce financial barriers for Māori students, enabling them to pursue higher education and career opportunities in healthcare. This not only benefits the students themselves but also contributes to the well-being of the wider Māori community.
• Cultivating future leaders: By supporting the education and development of Māori students, the Te Pitomata grants are helping to cultivate the next generation of culturally aware healthcare leaders, who are well-positioned to meet the needs of their communities.

This partnership highlights Voco’s commitment to working with organisations that are focused on creating positive, long-term outcomes for their communities.

Enabling connectedness and productivity for New Zealand

In addition to our work in the public sector, Voco have also worked on some of New Zealand’s biggest energy and telco transformation projects in recent years. 

We understand that robust infrastructure is the backbone of any modern economy, and we’re committed to helping New Zealand’s utilities and telco providers ensure their systems are efficient, resilient, and future-proof. Our expertise in these areas enables us to deliver solutions that drive connectedness and productivity across the country.

New Zealand's energy retail industry is one of the most dynamic and competitive in the world. And we've worked extensively with major Gentailers like Mercury NZ and Meridian to ensure their systems and processes are fit for purpose for such a fast moving environment.

In 2022, Mercury NZ completed the acquisition of Trustpower's customer base and retail systems and platforms. The Voco team were part of a huge collaborative effort between SAP, Gentrack, Salesforce, and Mercury’s purple and yellow teams that would bring the two customer bases together securely, accurately and seamlessly on a single tech stack. Voco led the data migration stream to move more than 325,000 customers from SAP to Salesforce and Gentrack towards the end of 2023.

The coming together of these two energy retail giants will benefit Kiwis through consumer innovations and retail leadership.

The NZ telco sector is also characterised by constant change - whether it’s mergers, acquisitions, major rebrands, or the rollout of cutting-edge technologies. 

Many of our consultants have deep roots in this sector, having worked in senior technology and product roles before joining Voco, and over the years, we’ve had the privilege of playing a critical role in some of the most significant technology integration and separation projects in Aotearoa.

Platform Integration: Vodafone and TelstraClear
It’s a few years ago now, but one of the most notable projects we’ve been part of was the integration of Vodafone and TelstraClear - arguably one of the largest telco integration efforts New Zealand has ever seen. 

When Vodafone acquired TelstraClear, they needed to execute a complex, organisation-wide programme to combine the two businesses and unlock integration synergies.

Voco was brought in to oversee the final stages of the acquisition and guide the integration process. Our role was to provide structured governance at the executive level, ensuring that the programme was delivered efficiently and effectively. 

The integration not only enabled Vodafone to offer a broader range of services but also strengthened its competitive position in the market, benefitting New Zealand consumers with more choices and improved connectivity.

Platform Separation: Vodafone NZ and Group ERP Systems
Fast forward to more recent years, and we were once again asked to support Vodafone - but this time in a platform separation. When Vodafone NZ was acquired by Brookfields and Infratil, they needed to separate from Vodafone Group’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and business operations. 

Unpicking 22 years of deeply integrated technology was no small feat. Vodafone’s technology was deeply interwoven into global shared services, enterprise business processes, and systems that supported the company's operations.

Voco took the lead in managing the separation, sourcing a new ERP cloud system, finding the right systems implementation partner, designing business processes, and overseeing the implementation of the new ERP system. We also facilitated the transition of shared service functions from Vodafone Group’s global services in India to a locally managed framework. 

This project was a massive undertaking, but the successful completion of the separation allowed Vodafone NZ to operate independently while continuing to provide uninterrupted services to its customers.

By working across both utilities and telecommunications, Voco is helping to lay the foundation for a more connected, productive, and sustainable future for New Zealand. 

Our solutions empower businesses, communities, and individuals to thrive in a rapidly changing landscape, making sure that the infrastructure needed for progress is always in place.