Auckland Council adopts RISE with SAP to save ratepayers NZ$42 million

⇨ Signed four-year deal to migrate council to SAP S/4HANA

⇨ Aimed to improve council’s customer engagement and support capabilities

⇨ Predicts savings of NZ$42.1 million for ratepayers over the next seven years

Auckland Council has signed a multiyear deal with SAP to migrate to SAP S/4HANA through RISE with SAP. 

The deal aligns with Auckland Council’s long-term priorities of improving its customer engagement and support capabilities, leveraging technology to increase efficiency, among others. 

“In June 2024, Auckland Council signed a new four-year deal with SAP,” Auckland Council General Manager Technology Services, Neil McGowan, said. 

“New terms were negotiated by making use of SAP’s RISE with SAP, [which] will see previous constraints removed, significant costs avoided and the ability to shrink or grow the SAP function depending on the needs of the council in the future.” 

McGowan said the new deal protects Auckland Council’s existing SAP installation base while also providing the opportunity to use modern SAP cloud software. He added the deal also allows the council to pick solutions from a broader range of suppliers while maximising the potential for any core services that may be modernised with SAP. 

“Auckland Council’s technology strategy depends on moving to non-customised and out of the box solutions. This reduces complexity and establishes the ability to keep pace as technology evolves more rapidly,” McGowan said.  

“The new agreement contains the ability to leverage SAP’s services to remove and contain complex customisations during any migration activity to ensure the council can achieve its strategic goals for simplification.” 

The council, which is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, projects that its ratepayers will save NZ$42.1 million over the next seven years with the migration. 

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said that instead of reinventing the wheel, migrating to SAP S/4HANA gets the best out of existing services. 

“This will contribute to the additional $20 million savings target we’ve set for council,” Brown said. 

“It creates savings by making the most of what we already have, fine-tuning the systems we have in place to serve Aucklanders more efficiently, making their ratepayer dollar go further.” 

Brown added the upgrade also aims to help Auckland Council be set up for the future, particularly with the council’s plans for taking back control of council-controlled organisations (CCOs) and its ongoing property optimisation program. 

“This will also prepare us well for furthering one of the visions I was voted in on: to take back control of our CCOs, which, alongside property optimisation, includes an expansion of our shared services across the council group. This is about maximising efficiency ahead of some changes coming to CCOs,” Brown said. 

Auckland Council Director of Group Shared Services Richard Jarrett said the contract will help improve day-to-day operations and create greater efficiencies. 

“We look forward to a more efficient council. We can’t change the decisions of the past, but we can learn from them, and adjust them for the future,” Jarrett said. 

“Our new commercial construct with SAP gives us the freedom to make the right choices of fit for purpose technologies that will mobilise Group Shared Services under the Well-managed Local Government component of the long-term plan.” 

SAP New Zealand Managing Director, Adrian Griffin, said SAP will work together with Auckland Council to help it derive greater value from its systems. 

“The new commercial construct will see its staff reap the full benefits of moving to the cloud, including simpler processes and operational efficiencies, which not only reduces the council’s costs in the long-term but frees up and empowers its people to deliver world-class services and programmes to the community,” Griffin said.