SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced that leading telecommunications company Vodafone New Zealand achieved significant business benefits, including streamlined operations, as a result of its rapid migration to multiple SAP cloud solutions.
The migration, which was completed in just eight months to meet a hard deadline of July 2022, was spurred by Vodafone New Zealand’s separation from its global parent group in 2019 and its need to develop its own IT infrastructure to support its operations in New Zealand.
With the aim of simplifying support functions and systems while minimising risk to the business, Vodafone New Zealand migrated its complex IT landscape to a local environment seamlessly and with minimal disruption, comprising: SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud, SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Concur and OpenText.
One month in, Vodafone New Zealand is already realising benefits from the transformation. It has improved and simplified its operations, including bringing in-house many transaction services which had previously been outsourced. Its data is cleaner which has contributed to faster month-end close, and the increase in functionality is already transforming its HR capabilities.
Cy Wright, Head of Investment and Transformation at Vodafone said that strong executive alignment was key to the success of the project.
“The previous set up was far more complex than we needed it to be. That’s not surprising given it was designed for a global corporation with 40 operating companies in different markets.
“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.
“We’re continuing to roll out additional modules to give us a fully automated HCM suite,” said Wright.
“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.”
The project team included people from across SAP, Vodafone Global, Vodafone New Zealand and implementation and change management partners, Infosys and EY, working from nine countries, none of whom have been in the same room together since July 2021 due to the pandemic.
Adrian Griffin, Managing Director, SAP New Zealand, says that Vodafone New Zealand’s transformation was evidence of the value RISE with SAP is delivering to customers.
“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.
“The transformation that Vodafone New Zealand has undergone will help it to not just be resilient to today’s challenges but to be able to move forward with growth, having adapted in ways that better equip it for the challenges ahead – to build for a better, more sustainable future.”