Cross-organisational data integration is already happening in New Zealand – and the organisations doing it are now solving their biggest challenges, collectively. Councils and public sector organisations are removing the barriers between their systems, with real results: faster emergency response, fewer manual processes, and services that better reflect the reality on the ground. 

Despite facing familiar challenges of limited resources and data that doesn’t talk across systems, these organisations have forged ahead:

– Gore District Council now exchanges real-time, critical data with Environment Southland 

– Kūmānu connects different client systems in the South Island, so have ensured their own system is flexible and scalable, and

– Environment Canterbury serves millions of data queries across the region’s nine councils from one unified platform, with less manual effort.

This article shows what’s possible, and how other organisations can do the same. 

Real-time data cuts manual workload and keeps the public informed 

Gore District Council works closely with Environment Southland, their regional council. Working with Seamless and FME means huge quantities of data can be quickly and efficiently exchanged between the two organisations.

“It used to be that they would send us updates, that we would manually input into our system, because they were software products with different formats,” says Scott Hewlett, Senior GIS Officer at Gore District Council.

“Now we get real time updates from them, which massively cuts down the workload. And we can push updates out to their system as well, so they don’t have to manually update their database.” The Council and Environment Southland can now collaborate knowing that both have the most up-to-date and accurate information.

This has a real impact in the region. For example, the Council previously relied on social media updates to keep residents informed about road closures. Now, the publicly available Closed Roads viewer is updated with live data to show where roads will be closed for repair works, or during floods.

During a flooding event in October 2024, it was viewed 2400 times over 3 days. A year earlier, during a much heavier flooding event, the map was viewed 15,000 times over 3 days.

“[Real-time, accurate data has] improved our ability to respond to changes in our environment much more quickly,” says Andrew McPherson, the Council’s IT Manager. The Council acts as an intermediary between these data sources and the public — individuals and companies who depend on accurate information. 

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One integration platform connects every system, frees staff for higher-value work 

Kūmānu (previously Nelmac) works with councils to deliver landscape, water, and environmental solutions across the top of New Zealand’s South Island. Upgrading their Financial Management system, as well as integrations across existing software, makes working across this diverse portfolio a breeze.

“Councils use completely different asset management systems, so the data has to be securely and accurately transformed to the right format,” explains Nic Stuart, Technology Business Partner at Kūmānu. “Seamless created a process that pulls the information out and transforms it into something usable to go straight into their system.”

“All of this is time-saving, but now our team can also focus on customer focused, value-add work rather than menial monotonous tasks,” says Stuart.

“It’s also the fact that we don’t have to duplicate everything. It all talks to each other and all our systems have the same information all at once,” says Charmaine Bianchi, Senior Business Analyst at Kūmānu.

“It is hard to quantify the improvement, but we actually couldn’t exist without the integrations now. They’re very integral to how we do our business,” she adds.

Kūmānu was invested in working smarter across the business – they started with GIS integration and reporting, then replaced their Financial Management Information System with Microsoft Business Central, which required integration with their HR, Field Mobility and Client systems. 

The integrations have eliminated countless manual and paper-based processes between Nelmac Kūmānu, their clients, and their suppliers. 

Nine councils, one platform, and better coordination across New Zealand’s largest region

Environment Canterbury transformed how New Zealand’s largest region shares critical data, simplifying and streamlining the process of delivering the information, so it’s standardised and up to date. 

Residents, engineers, and emergency responders across Canterbury can access data – from water infrastructure to hazard information – on one platform. 

The challenge of coordinating nine different council datasets has delivered measurable results: millions of data queries served through platforms like Canterbury Maps, reduction in manual workload, and automated overnight updates replacing days of processing time.

Better collaboration starts now

These organisations are early movers in what is quickly becoming the new standard for how New Zealand’s public sector operates. Getting collaboration tools and pathways in place now means they are ready for the changes that are coming.

What these organisations all have in common isn’t scale or budget; it was taking an initial step to upgrade or improve connections between their systems, that turned into a decision to stop managing data in isolation, and start treating integration as a strategic priority.

The result is better outcomes across their region, with organisations responding faster, serving residents better, and freeing their people to focus on the work that matters. 

That shift is available to any organisation ready to take the next step – and we work with you to make sure the foundations are in place to make it happen.