Upper Hutt City Council

The council began exploring alternative providers as part of its procurement process, looking for a partner that could provide a modern, integrated platform while giving the team greater visibility and control over its mobile services.

One thing quickly stood out. While other providers focused on contracts and commercial terms, the 2degrees team remained engaged, taking the time to understand the council's needs and map out what a successful transition could look like.

"They were talking to us all the time, and they were just really patient with us," says Horne.

That collaborative approach carried the relationship through around 12 months of engagement as the council worked through its procurement obligations and evaluated what a partnership with 2degrees could look like.

The mobile migration

Once the council was ready to proceed, 2degrees delivered a complete transition of its mobile services, supported by Flex - its digital self-service platform ,that gives organisations real-time control and visibility of their telecommunications services to manage mobile connections, provisioning, billing, and network services.

The rollout included re-enrolling approximately 100 existing devices and ensuring new devices could be fully managed from day one.

Throughout the project, a 2degrees transition specialist worked onsite alongside the council's IT team, helping re-enrol devices, troubleshoot issues in real time and keep the migration moving with minimal disruption.

"Whenever there was a problem, it was always, 'Let's work it out.' They were easy to deal with the whole way through," says Horne.

Despite the scale of the migration, most staff noticed little disruption once their devices had been re-enrolled.

Faster, simpler and more responsive

Beyond the cost savings, the biggest impact has been how much easier mobile management has become.

Provisioning new users and devices has become significantly faster, with new phones typically arriving the next day already configured for deployment.

"It's the click of a button,” says Horne. "People can just get on with their jobs."

Flex has also removed many of the bottlenecks that previously consumed the IT team's time. Staff can make changes immediately, access information without waiting for reports and manage devices remotely through Microsoft Intune integration.

The result is less administration, greater confidence in the system, and more time spent supporting the organisation rather than managing telecommunications.