Vodafone New Zealand’s completion of multiple SAP cloud solutions deployment came a month after the telecommunications company purchased the remaining 50 per cent stake in the specialist joint venture (JV) with Millennium Corp. The transaction sees a massive expansion of the telco’s operation throughout Aotearoa with 52 Vodafone retail stores to be owned by Vodafone New Zealand along with the management of over 400 team members’ employment contracts.
SAP had highlighted in its Q1 2022 financials, which showed a steady acceleration in its cloud business, that Vodafone New Zealand is one of the company’s major customer wins across SAP’s solutions portfolio. The NZ partner market in the Vodafone Group, one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies, embarked on an expeditious cloud journey leveraging multiple SAP cloud software: SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud, SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Concur, and OpenText.
Following SAP New Zealand’s separation from Vodafone Group mothership in 2019, the NZ telco had to fast-track its modernisation strategy, which includes developing its own IT infrastructure to ensure unhampered operations and service delivery to the Kiwi market. The company completed its rapid SAP migration in short eight months, one month shy of its hard deadline of July 2022.
Vodafone Head of Investment and Transformation Cy Wright shared that critical to the success of the massive transformation project is the company’s strong executive alignment. He highlighted that the new Zealand telco had to pivot from a significantly more complex setup designed to support operations of 40 companies worldwide.
“The success of the project is due to the commitment of the entire business from the CEO down. Everyone was determined to deliver this effectively and to maximise value for the long-term future of the business. We developed our target operating model and then simplified it as much as possible. The entire organisation agreed on the business objectives, so we were able to make decisions rapidly, which meant that we didn’t lose time through the migration.”
Vodafone New Zealand Streamlining Operations
The successful rollout of multiple SAP cloud solutions is an example of remote collaboration in the pandemic environment. The cloud transformation project was led by a team of key individuals from SAP, Vodafone Group, and Vodafone New Zealand in collaboration with Infosys and EY as implementation and change management partners. The project team worked remotely from across nine countries since July 2021 with the objective of streamlining support functions and systems while minimising business risks .
“Carving out a complex IT landscape across multiple SAP and non-SAP products is no easy task and to do so in just eight months is extraordinary. This is a testament to the partnership, collaboration, and laser focus of Vodafone, SAP, and our partners Infosys and EY to deliver a great outcome for the wider Vodafone business. Moving to SAP S/4HANA Cloud has enabled Vodafone New Zealand to be incredibly agile and responsive, giving it the insights it needs for better, faster decision making and continuous opportunities to improve its operating model,” said Adrian Griffin, Managing Director, SAP New Zealand.
A month after the seamless migration of Vodafone New Zealand’s complex IT landscape to a local environment, the company has started achieving the following:
- Enhanced and simplified operations
- Transaction services are now handled in-house instead of being outsourced
- Cleaner data accelerating month-end close
- HR capabilities transformation
Embracing Cloud Transformation
Griffin mentioned that Vodafone New Zealand’s transformation demonstrates how customers can reap the value of the RISE with SAP, SAP’s concierge Business Transformation as a Service offering. He added that the company’s cloud strategy drives resiliency as well as empowers the telco to move forward with growth, adapt to challenges, and build a more sustainable future.
Wright commented that the company will be rolling out additional modules to enable Vodafone with a fully automated HCM suite. He stressed:
“The nature of cloud means that it is much easier for people in the business to get to grips with. That’s a good thing given the pace of this program. It has been a sprint from start to finish made possible by the willingness of everyone involved to do whatever it took to make the project a success.”
