Southern Cross Healthcare Case Study

Providing core infrastructure support services across distinct business groups

Southern Cross Healthcare is one of New Zealand’s best known and most trusted brands with a mission to provide a broad range of health-related services to hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders.

Southern Cross operates through a number of distinct business groups with different business offerings, operational models and strategies. Southern Cross has outsourced core infrastructure support services to Datacom, and our service has to include the distinctive IT requirements of each Southern Cross business group, as well as providing a central shared service that capitalises on the economies of scale that comes with being a member of the Southern Cross group.

A summary of some of our recent achievements include:

 

• As the group grows, Datacom is actively working to reduce IT costs. A server virtualisation programme has meant that new systems can be deployed with reduced hardware costs, which has seen the number of virtual servers increase by 40% in the past year. This has resulted in further reducing the server support unit price by 11% compared to the original contract pricing models, resulting in lower operating costs to the business units.
   
• The wider Datacom resource pool has undertaken additional significant project work across the group that has been delivered with a minimum disruption to business. Examples are re-platforming of the core Insurance system, deployment of a VoIP solution across the business, and moving the Wellington Sales Office.
   
• We have worked with the Hospital IS leadership to design and implement a new generation hospital specific IT digital network. The Datacom design will allow Southern Cross Hospitals to offer surgeons the latest technology and operating environment within Southern Cross facilities.
   
• Implementation of a new commercial model that addresses the needs of the Southern Cross Group level as well as individual business entities, offering a unit priced model that gives the business better visibility and more control over their IT spending.