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Why Auckland

Case studies

These case studies share key learnings and experiences of business owners.

 

Global Shared Service Centres in Auckland – Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand, the country’s award winning, high-quality, listed international airline, services all its financial and human resource needs from two service centres – based in Auckland, New Zealand.

Two discrete shared service centres provide HR support for 11,000 employees around the world and manage all financial transactions for Air New Zealand

Lower costs, an excellent talent pool, superb facilities, good internet connectivity, low staff turnover and great lifestyle are the reasons this top airline chose Auckland.

The human resources shared service centre, set up in 2004 by Neil Padley, Air New Zealand’s General Manager for Corporate Human Resources and Shared Services, has significantly reduced costs, improved efficiencies and increased the level of service provided.“Auckland has major advantages”, says Padley. “There are great people here, excellent facilities, great weather and a uniquely kiwi ‘can-do’ attitude across all business sectors. By setting up an HR shared service centre, standardising our systems, consolidating services and locating in Auckland, we’ve reduced the individual transaction cost for each fortnightly salary payment by over 50 per cent. Clearly this efficiency has had an impact on our bottom line and that continues today.”

Now employing 82 people, the centre has grown over the years as other departments have noted efficiency gains and passed work on.

Initially responsible for only recruitment and payroll, the centre is now responsible for remuneration, performance management, superannuation, staff travel, human resource analytics, HR system design and development. The centre also runs a call centre to deal with all human resource and payroll inquiries. Other functions include organisational change management, health and safety, employee well-being and human resource consultancy support for all the corporate areas of the business.

Air New Zealand’s other significant shared service centre – for financial transactions – is based in Auckland’s CBD. It employs nearly 200 people, and covers all Air New Zealand’s national and international operations, including those in the United Kingdom, United States, China, Hong Kong and Australia.

Neil Padley advocates shared service centres to other international organisations and says Auckland is a great base.

“There are economies of scale here, and it’s easy to do business.You can truly change performance in an organisation.”

 

US biotech company chooses Auckland

World class facilities, world class clinicians; a city connected to critical mass and a proven ability to access offshore capital: these are the reasons that San Diego biotech company CoDa Therapeutics has the majority of its staff and research in Auckland. CEO Bradford Duft said the choice was “always” going to be Auckland.

“Our technology is here. We’ve proven you can do research and clinical work here and manage other aspects from Auckland for other nations. This is where there’s clinical grunt.”

CoDa Therapeutics is a US-owned biopharmaceutical company founded in 2005. It is focused on the development and commercialisation of wound care and tissue repair therapeutics. Although the headquarters of the company are based in San Diego, which is focused on financing and business development, three-quarters of the staff work in New Zealand.

CoDa’s Auckland-based arm is managing all clinical trials for New Zealand and the USA, and also manages its manufacturing and toxicology activity.

In the early 1980s Bradford Duft was one of the first patent attorneys to establish in San Diego. He and other directors in the company are seasoned biotech entrepreneurs and experienced investors, with long track records of success in establishing and developing biotechnology companies from early stage ideas.

New Zealand-based clinical programmes are both high quality and cost effective, according to Duft. “One trial might have been treble the cost in the US compared with here. And the staff component is already here,” he says.“We are evangelists. We believe in New Zealand.  There are world-class scientists and ideas here. We’re here because we believe this is the right place to make an investment and the right place to be; and it’s turned out to be a great place to hire experienced people.”
In the meantime, the company is providing New Zealanders with valuable experience about how to build and grow a biotech company and how to develop pharmaceutical products.

“If we succeed and someone else gives us an idea, we’ll say ‘Do you want to start over?’, and we could well begin again,” says Mr Bradford.

codatherapeutics.com

 

Canon locates contact centre to Auckland and partners with Datacom NZ

By locating its contact centre and business processing to Auckland, Canon Australia and New Zealand benefit from a lower cost model, achieved through Auckland’s lower rents, a more flexible work environment and exchange rate differences.

Canon New Zealand and Australia have joined forces with kiwi-owned company, Datacom, to bring the Canon companies’ contact centres into Canon New Zealand’s headquarters in Auckland.  The Canon Oceania Contact Centre employs 92 staff and serves customers across four time zones from Gisborne (NZ) to Perth.

Mike Johnston, Country Manager for Canon New Zealand, says combining contact centres under one roof in Auckland makes sense for both Canon companies.  “Canon’s New Zealand customers benefit from the increased scale and service capability a larger centre delivers.  Canon Australia benefits from a lower cost model achieved through New Zealand’s lower rents, a more flexible work environment and exchange rate differences.”

“Having Australasia’s contact centre in one place and under local management ensures Canon customers receive consistently excellent after-sales advice and technical support whenever they need it. New Zealand and Australia also have similar cultures and expectations and, with so many Kiwis living in Australia, hearing a New Zealand accent is not unusual for an Australian customer,” says Mr Johnston.

While contact centre management is not core Canon business, providing superior customer service is a priority and a crucial point of difference for the company.  He says it made good business sense to engage Datacom to manage the contact centre in-house, rather than sending it offshore.

Datacom was chosen as Canon’s contact centre partner because it has similar values and culture to Canon. It also has considerable experience in creating and providing contact centre solutions that deliver high levels of end-user satisfaction to large corporate organisations and government bodies. 

Greg Magness, Director at Datacom New Zealand, says the company is committed to delivering positive, memorable customer service experiences for Canon customers. 

“We have introduced advanced technology into the new contact centre and we have a very strong focus on staff development. These two factors lead to higher retention rates and a consistent level of service for Canon’s customers, all the while reducing costs for Canon,” says Mr Magness.

Canon’s Australasian contact centre is the first touch point for all product enquiries from businesses, professional print companies, Canon retailers, customers (both pre and post purchase); orders, returns and field service dispatch as well as managing the Australian inbound switchboard.

 

Large IT service provider chooses Auckland as home

Datacom is New Zealand’s largest locally owned full service IT company with more than 3,000 employees across New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia.  In 2010, the company received the Hi-Tech “Company of the Year” Award for its excellence in delivering IT management, software development and integration and business process outsourcing services. Datacom has a 45-year history in providing reliable, innovative industry-leading IT solutions and services to organisations of all sizes.

A stable, democratic political system; a strong financial system; lifestyle opportunities, a highly proficient workforce, innovative and entrepreneurial outlook – these are the attractions of basing services in Auckland. It keeps the company grounded in New Zealand while providing IT services to an ever increasing range of large customers Australia and South East Asia.

“Put simply, Auckland is a big market. It’s the centre of business for New Zealand so you can serve national businesses effectively from here and it provides the basis for expansion into overseas markets,” says Greg Davidson, CEO of Datacom New Zealand. “

Datacom New Zealand welcomes companies and organisations looking to relocate into Auckland. It already provides back office systems and support for such organisations, saving them the need to invest in infrastructure. Datacom also believes that the financial rollercoaster offshore markets have recently experienced means companies will increasingly seek to outsource IT service provision with specialist providers that can provide efficient ‘bureau’ support.

Datacom is innovative and provides bespoke IT solutions to its major clients. A system developed and implemented for New Zealand Post was later sold and used by the postal service in South Africa, a much larger market. Its provision of easy-to-use online booking services, developed in 2003 for Air New Zealand, was arguably the first in the world. USA-based IT companies said at the time it could not be done.

“We’re Kiwis who look at a problem and develop the answers that fit the client. We have the drive to succeed in developing solutions that work for our customers. We understand the need for efficiency and we’re very used to competition.”

Mr Davison says many Datacom staff have been drawn to Auckland by its access to the outdoors and its proximity to the sea.  “They’re sailors or surfers; they’re hikers or keen on biking. Auckland provides a wonderful lifestyle choice for singles or families,” he says.

As Datacom recruits many graduates, the company maintains close relationships with the major universities located in Auckland.

www.datacom.co.nz

 

Fresh and innovative - New Zealand Healthcare IT is “best of the best”

Like begets like. Innovative thinking and smart technology are magnets for investment. What will soon become New Zealand’s first $100 million healthcare software developer and exporter says the country is fertile ground for healthcare software and systems creation. Orion Health has the enthusiastic involvement of the New Zealand healthcare system, and the talent of world-class software engineers at its disposal.

“New Zealand’s healthcare system is sophisticated, IT conversant, and peopled by clinicians who are highly skilled and keen to improve patient management,” says Ian McCrae, Chief Executive Officer of Orion Health.

“It’s a very good place to develop healthcare software. We can perfect the software here before introducing it to overseas markets.”

Orion Health’s international software development hub is tucked away in a central Auckland suburb. Orion Health is a New Zealand owned and operated healthcare IT company with more than 1000 clients worldwide. Ranked the 70th largest healthcare IT company in the USA, Orion Health worked with the New Zealand tertiary, secondary and primary health system to develop software allowing thousands of IT processes to talk to one another.

“Our primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare operators are already using computing power, sophisticated health information management systems and the internet. Communications between them are good.”

Concerto is Orion Health’s purpose designed portal and associated software through which clinicians access patient information, order tests and make decisions on patient welfare and treatment; and Rhapsody is the ‘integration engine’ designed by Orion Health through which all information is channelled. A hospital’s suite of software typically ‘plugs into’ Concerto; then Rhapsody synchronises these 40-50 major software applications and processes (and up to 800 minor applications) in a typical hospital. Through Rhapsody and Concerto clinicians and healthcare workers have real-time information about where a patient is, what management a patient has had, and what that patient needs now.

Mr McCrae, who was North and South magazine’s ‘New Zealander of the Year’ in 2006, also believes Kiwi engineering talent is outstanding.

“A good Kiwi software engineer is simply excellent. We have the talent right here to continue to develop.”

A healthcare IT cluster (www.healthit.org.nz) also operates in New Zealand. One other major New Zealand-founded healthcare software developer has attracted the investment of a listed Japanese equipment maker, retaining its development arm in Auckland.

www.orionhealth.com

Lee Ter Wal – a marriage of design and digital

A boutique design agency in Auckland city showcases trends in the digital and design sectors of the creative industries.

Lee Ter Wal Design, based in Wyndham Street in downtown Auckland, says the past two to three years have seen a massive increase in the proportion of marketing that is being carried out digitally, rather than via print and broadcast media. This interest intensified during the recession and continued through 2010 and 2011.

Lee Ter Wal’s insight aligns with Auckland City Council’s update on Auckland’s Creative Industries – the Numbers, a report published late 2009. The report paints a picture of year-on-year growth averaging 2.1 per cent in digital media in Auckland (2000–2008) – an overall growth of 17.7 per cent in that period.

The report also shows Auckland as the epicentre of the digital industry – with employment growth of 96.4 per cent (2000-2008) or 8.8 per cent per annum. At the end of 2008, Auckland had 40 per cent of national employment in digital media, and the heads of design agencies like Lee Ter Wal believe this figure is probably still growing.

“The recession was not a recession for us because businesses asked for internet-based solutions to their marketing that promised a higher return on investment,” says director Baruch Ter Wal. “We have been part of this pattern for some time now.” 

According to Ter Wal, the cost pressures of the recession made people wake up to the internet and social media’s potential. “It forced people’s hands.”

Lee Ter Wal Design reported that, in 2009, Auckland became a ‘networky’ town, with businesses climbing on line to undertake campaigns using social media, and clients requesting new websites, web tools, and email campaigns. These were proving more effective than traditional advertising and print campaigns. The basic elements of good visual design remained the same, although executed in a different medium..

Lee Ter Wal’s own client base grew significantly in that time. “ We will be hiring this year, and it’s driven by a demand for strategy and digital media execution,” he says. “It’s a growth industry and this will only increase”

More effective ways of measuring the success of online campaigns through free services such as Google Analytics have also influenced clients desperate to know if they are generating a return on their marketing spend.

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Ltd expects growth in the digital sector to continue unabated, with the next Auckland’s Creative Industries – the Numbers reflecting this growth.

www.leeterwal.com

The Penguins of Madagascar come to Auckland!

There is no doubt that Auckland ticked all the boxes for Oktobor Animation!

Oktobor Animation, New Zealand's largest purpose build CG animation studio, was founded by Omnilab Media and Backyard Animated Pictures in May of 2010. Currently staffed with a team of 135 artists and producers, the Auckland-based studio produced over 180 minutes of animation in its first year of operation, animating hit series like the Emmy Award winning "Penguins of Madagascar" and "Fanboy and Chum Chum" for Nickelodeon Animation Studios.

Oktobor Managing Director Bruce Everett sees an opportunity for Auckland to become a hub for television CG animation in much the same way that WETA has made Wellington a hub for feature work. Developing a strong base of local talent will be a key ingredient to future growth, says Everett. "I don't know of any other city with this much infrastructure in place for training and talent development. We benefit from our proximity to Media Design School, Lifeway, South Seas and Natcoll, drawing upon the talent coming out of the schools to provide internships and career opportunities, while also advising on the curriculum and key skills future graduates will need to build the CG industry here in Auckland."

Oktobor Animation co-founder Chris Waters splits his time between Auckland and Los Angeles. "We definitely use Auckland as a major selling point to potential clients. With direct flights to and from Los Angeles we are easily accessible to our core client base in the ‘States, and the 3-5 hour time difference is also a huge plus, allowing artists to communicate in real time with their US counterparts, a key ingredient to relationship building. And if all that doesn't convince them, a trip to Waiheke Island for a wine tour never hurts!"

Alloy Yachts: an international reputation built on quality

With 24 award winning yachts built in 25 years, Auckland’s Alloy Yachts has an undisputed reputation for producing some of the most well-constructed and beautifully crafted yachts in the world.

Having built an international reputation based on uncompromising quality and a lot of soul, part of Alloy’s success is surely due to a key feature of the Auckland marine industry - highly skilled and loyal staff with real sense of pride in their craft. The first person employed by Alloy 25 years ago is still part of the team, which also boasts several father and son combinations.

“Many of the apprentices trained here will go abroad then come back to work for us when they return to New Zealand,” explains Marketing Manager Linda Berry.

Tony Hambrook, the company’s straight-talking, no-holds-barred Managing Director, has been at the helm of Alloy Yachts for more than two decades. He still can be seen among the craftspeople on a regular basis ensuring that each yacht is as perfect as it can possibly be.

Quality is expected at every level in the tightly-knit and highly discerning superyacht community.

“Past clients and superyacht captains are our greatest promoters, because they recognise the superior quality and performance of an Alloy Yachts-constructed yacht,” says Ms Berry.

Unlike their international competitors, Alloy keeps every component of the construction process in-house. This allows complete control of every stage of production ensuring that every component of every superyacht, from design to upholstery, meets the company’s standards.

This uncompromising attention to detail has not gone unnoticed by the international superyacht community. Accolades and awards have followed each launch of a new yacht and, in 2009, peers at the International Superyacht Society acknowledged Tony Hambrook’s honesty, hard work and outstanding contribution to the worldwide community of super yachts with their highest accolade - the ISS Leadership Award.

Coupled with the company’s approach to quality is a focus on leading-edge technological advances to ensure that each yacht is crafted to meet the client’s individual needs. From installing a helicopter pad on the back of a yacht to designing winches which can operate at the same speed as an America’s Cup racing yacht, the team of marine designers and boat builders at Alloy are continually working on world-leading innovations and componentry.

New Zealand’s reputation for high-quality yachts has complemented Alloy’s international success.

“People looking to build a superyacht will know about the quality of New Zealand-made yachts and may consider looking here first,” says Ms Berry.

Winning the America’s Cup in 1995 and again in 2000 raised the profile of Auckland and New Zeakand in yachting circles as a place with an environment for yachting excellence, on and off the water.

2010 marks the 25th birthday for Alloy Yachts. Owners, captains and suppliers will celebrate a quarter century of outstanding marine performance.

Alloy Yachts is a young company in a young country, showing the world that - with the right environment and a little bit of soul - anything is possible.

www.alloyyachts.com