Improved Managed IT Services for New Zealand Healthcare’s challenges

Aotearoa's health systems continue to bear the heavy aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports from the Ministry of Health and monitoring organisations show that staffing shortages and weak information technology systems, which haven't met the surge in demand post-pandemic, are causing delays in processing requests from citizens (primarily the aging population).

This highlights the need for professional managed IT services for healthcare that are truly capable of replacing and supporting human resources to improve the speed, quality and safety of modern healthcare operations. ServiceNow for Healthcare is genuinely a solution that no leader should overlook, particularly to ensure financial security in the current tight budget environment.

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Current State of Managed IT Services in New Zealand’s Healthcare System

According to a report from Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission, New Zealand's public health system is currently facing numerous urgent issues, creating significant consequences for citizens, particularly vulnerable populations such as the elderly, rural residents and Māori, Pacific communities.

Specifically:

• The rate of people not attending GP appointments due to excessive waiting times has doubled over the past three years. The number of people waiting more than four months to see a specialist for the first time post-pandemic continues to rise, causing serious conditions to be delayed in treatment, increasing the risk of complications and even death.
• Hospitals operating on multiple non-integrated IT platforms force patients to repeat tests, carry paper files and wait for hours just to confirm simple information. This not only wastes precious time but also leaves patients exhausted and stressed, whilst increasing unnecessary costs for repeat consultations or travel.
• Particularly, Māori and disadvantaged communities face risks of not accessing healthcare services in time due to clear disparities in infrastructure, technological capability and telehealth services. Although telehealth was once a solution, it hasn't been maintained long-term due to a lack of equipment, skills, and prejudices believing it's "unsafe".

Generally, technical issues such as multi-platform systems, non-standardised databases, staff shortages and poor infrastructure are no longer just internal IT matters. In the context of digitising public services, they have profound impacts on citizens' health, safety and quality of life.

Long waits, cancelled appointments, or repeated consultations create fatigue and loss of trust in the public system. Patients and families feel anxious and financially exhausted, especially if they must travel continuously between facilities. This is why managed IT services for healthcare have become an urgent and humanitarian solution, not only improving systems but also helping society eliminate inequities in healthcare.

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What challenges in ITSM and ITOM implementations for health system

Honestly speaking, digitising healthcare systems is no longer an unfamiliar concept in New Zealand. However, implementing IT services for healthcare generally and IT Services Management (ITSM) & IT Operations Management (ITOM) specifically still faces numerous issues.

For healthcare leaders unfamiliar with these terms, ITSM focuses on delivering and managing IT services to meet your organisation's needs - think of it as the framework that ensures your clinical systems, patient databases, and digital tools work seamlessly together. ITOM, on the other hand, concentrates on monitoring and maintaining the underlying IT infrastructure that keeps these services running smoothly, from servers and networks to applications and security systems.

In healthcare settings, both are crucial: ITSM ensures that clinical staff can access patient records reliably and efficiently, while ITOM prevents system downtime that could impact patient care. Understanding these distinctions helps clarify why implementing them in healthcare environments presents unique challenges.

Legacy Systems - Unsynchronised and Fragmented

The report A Window on Quality 2024 by Te Tāhū Hauora emphasises that healthcare systems still operate on multiple platforms with non-standardised data, complicating integration and centralised management capabilities. Many hospitals use different ICT solutions, from on-premises to cloud provided by various vendors, creating significant difficulties in multi-system management. The lack of a reliable CMDB (Configuration Management Database) reduces the ability to detect and resolve incidents quickly.

Weak and Outdated Digital Infrastructure

The Health System Reform Progress Report Q2 FY 2023/24 by the Ministry of Health indicates that digital platforms haven't been updated in time, limiting the ability to deploy IT processes and service automation. The ransomware attack at Waikato District Health Board (DHB) in May 2021 showed that security systems remain loose, with many outdated devices and lack of incident response strategies. Additionally, some hospitals have faced poor data quality issues in CMDB, making digital asset visibility unclear and affecting operational efficiency.

Shortage of Skilled IT Personnel

The same report indicates that digital governance capability and IT leadership remain "weak points" during the Q2 FY 2023–24 period. Moreover, staff shortages combined with too many manual tasks cause organisational solution innovation capability to stagnate. This stagnation affects all departments, from Procurement and Source to Pay to CSM, CRM, and HRSD, leading to significant financial losses.

Limited IT Budget

However, instead of investing more to solve problems, budget policies for 2023/24 have restricted spending on data and IT initiatives. Health NZ has planned to delay or halt over 136 IT projects and cut digital budgets, causing widespread concern about ITOM deployment. Te Whatu Ora faces a "security financial cliff" when lacking 3.5 million NZ dollars for cybersecurity projects, along with risks of no ongoing budget from 2026.

Conflicts Between Centralised Governance and Local Needs

The merger of 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) into a single organisation, Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand), was expected to help the health system operate more efficiently and consistently nationwide. However, in practice, this change is creating many obstacles in meeting each region's actual needs. When all decisions must await central approval, many localities no longer have sufficient autonomy to respond flexibly to citizens' urgent needs, such as adding diagnostic equipment, increasing after-hours appointments, or deploying remote healthcare services.

As a result, people in remote areas or those with special needs are suffering disadvantages as they must wait longer, lack appropriate services, or travel far to access necessary care.

Difficulties in Organisational Culture Change

HQSC reports also emphasise that one of the major obstacles when deploying new IT systems in hospitals is people's reluctance to change. Many doctors, nurses and healthcare staff have become accustomed to working the old way for years - handwritten notes, entering data according to individual processes, or manually handling administrative tasks.

When there's a new system, such as patient management software, automation tools, or data analysis platforms, if processes aren't clearly guided or staff find them difficult to use or unfamiliar, it easily leads to passive resistance, avoidance, or perfunctory compliance.

Given these difficulties, managed IT services for healthcare in New Zealand require leaders to carefully consider a digital transformation strategy that optimises both resources and costs.

How to improve managed IT services in hospitals?

Regardless of whether it's public or private healthcare systems, it's clear that to successfully deploy managed IT services for healthcare, organisational leaders in New Zealand need to:

• Invest heavily in modern and integrated IT infrastructure
• Retain highly skilled IT personnel
• Enhance security and system recovery
• Balance centralised management with local needs
• Promote organisational culture change and healthcare staff consensus

However, easier said than done. Leaders certainly face many unspoken pressures that prevent them from immediately implementing all these measures simultaneously.

Strategically speaking, in the short term, systems need to focus on technology solutions aimed at optimising scarce human resources but delivering more effective results, by freeing them from manual tasks through automation solutions so they have time for more strategic jobs and applying virtual assistants for smarter operational coordination.

Long-term, transitioning from manual processes to digitalised processes will significantly minimise risks, better control the entire supply chain, and better connect departments to bring practical benefits to citizens.

So, what are specific solutions for managed IT services for healthcare that leaders can consider immediately to get started?

Integrated ServiceNow for healthcare: Let AI and automation leverage NZ Managed IT Services for Healthcare

Famous for its Now Platform, ServiceNow is a billion-dollar corporation providing platforms supporting Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) or Managed Services Provider (MSP) to manage and operate enterprise IT systems.

However, with continuous improvement and leading the application of responsible AI to work, Now Platform has become today's leading AI-first platform, supporting diverse functions for public and private organisations through the combination of AI, data and workflows.

Specifically for Managed IT Services for Healthcare, ServiceNow for healthcare possesses outstanding applications and features, effectively solving specific challenges for internal teams across different stages that the complex New Zealand system is facing.

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Smart Service Delivery with ITSM & Self-Service Portal

• Solves: Fragmented infrastructure, lack of transparency, slow internal request processing
• Solution: ServiceNow IT Service Management (ITSM) combined with Employee Centre creates a unified service portal where all staff, from nurses to equipment engineers, can submit requests, track progress and receive clear feedback.
• Benefits: Increased internal service management efficiency, reduced manual email/phone volume, shortened IT support timeframes.

Visibility & Standardisation with CMDB + Discovery

• Solves: Not knowing the current infrastructure, digital assets are not fully tracked
• Solution: ServiceNow CMDB and Discovery module help automatically discover all devices, applications, and service connections, creating a "complete picture" of the IT system.
• Benefits: Standardised asset data, increased monitoring, maintenance, and faster incident response capabilities.

Automation & AI Assistants for Resource-Constrained IT Teams

• Solves: IT staff shortages, many repetitive requests, late incident detection
• Solution: Virtual Agent and Flow Designer help automate common tasks (password resets, guidance, permissions...), whilst AI supports incident analysis from multiple alert sources.
• Benefits: Reduced IT team workload, increased processing speed, improved system stability.

Security & Risk Management with SecOps + IRM

• Solves: Healthcare data breaches, lack of incident response procedures, inability to monitor compliance
• Solution: ServiceNow Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management provide tools to monitor, respond to, and manage vulnerabilities and risks proactively.
• Benefits: Protect sensitive data, especially patient records; help organisations comply with international healthcare standards (HIPAA, ISO 27001...).

Tailored Governance for Centralised and Local Needs

• Solves: Conflicts between central policies (Health NZ) and diverse local realities
• Solution: Multi-domain structure and flexible permission capabilities in Now Platform allow each region to operate in their own way whilst still using a shared central system.
• Benefits: Increased autonomy for local hospitals without losing national governance synchronisation.

Real-Time Monitoring & Strategic Planning

• Solves: Leaders lacking real-time data to make correct decisions
• Solution: ServiceNow Performance Analytics and Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) provide visual dashboards, live KPIs, tracking digital transformation progress and the impact of each IT initiative.
• Benefits: Improved strategic governance, correct investment priorities, and quick response to field changes.

Heard about our case study for ServiceNow SPM yet? Click to see!

Enhancing Citizen Experience with ServiceNow CSM

Solves: Citizens having to call multiple times, not knowing request status, and nowhere to send service feedback
Solution: ServiceNow Customer Service Management (CSM) provides a centralised platform to receive - process - respond to requests from citizens or patients, including beyond IT technical scope.

Integration features:

• Chatbot, information portal or mobile app integration
• Automatic classification and distribution to correct departments
• Request status updates for senders
• Connection with CRM or patient records, if needed

Benefits:

• Citizens feel heard and professionally served
• Reduced pressure on call centres and administrative departments
• Improved image and credibility of public health agencies
• Creates data for service feedback analysis, thereby improving quality

Fact: Some international healthcare organisations have used ServiceNow CSM to reduce administrative request response times from patients by over 40% and increase overall satisfaction by over 30%.

‍Advanced ServiceNow for Healthcare: ServiceNow Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management

For healthcare organisations in New Zealand ready to move beyond basic infrastructure digitisation, ServiceNow brings a specialised solution: Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management, rated as an outstanding upgraded ServiceNow for Healthcare solution.

Unlike common ITSM or CSM modules, ServiceNow Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management is designed specifically for healthcare, supporting deployment of service processes linked to clinical care, case management, and coordinating patient health journeys on a unified and intelligent platform.

This solution helps healthcare providers build and operate comprehensive patient journeys - from initial reception, appointment scheduling, to long-term follow-up management, preventive care and community health programmes. ServiceNow Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management allows direct integration with electronic medical record systems (EMR), healthcare data standards like FHIR or HL7, as well as clinical support tools to transform fragmented touchpoints into coherent, proactive and transparent service processes.

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Outstanding Capabilities of ServiceNow Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management:

• Patient 360 Service View: Aggregates all interactions, support requests, examination history and next steps for patients on a single dashboard.
• Pre-visit Coordination: Automates pre-appointment tasks such as sending appointment reminders, obtaining digital consent, and collecting preliminary questionnaires.
• Clinical Workflow Management: Supports immediate coordination between treatment teams in processes like vaccinations, chronic disease monitoring, or post-discharge care.
• Integrated Case Management: Manages healthcare incidents, complaints and escalations across departments, helping close feedback loops quickly and effectively.
• Omnichannel Access: Citizens can access via mobile apps, chatbots, or web portals - increasing accessibility for remote residents, the elderly or Māori-Pacific communities.
• Compliance & Privacy-By-Design: Designed to comply with regulations like HIPAA, GDPR and local healthcare data security regulations, ensuring transparency and trust.

Benefits for Citizens:

• Reduced waiting times through automated triage and remote pre-screening
• Clear understanding of the care journey and next steps
• Easier access to healthcare services, including from remote or infrastructure-poor areas
• Reduced financial and emotional pressure by not having to repeat tests or procedures
• Increased trust in public healthcare through transparent updates and timely feedback

It should be noted that, unlike ITSM, CSM, and CMDB, which are foundational solutions usable by all organisations in early digital transformation stages, ServiceNow Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management is advanced ServiceNow for Healthcare, particularly for organisations that:

• Already have basic IT foundations
• Want to transform patient journeys
• Want to connect clinical data, EMR, and manage care programmes

ServiceNow doesn't just "Digitise", but strategically redesigns citizen benefits

Healthcare IT system transformation isn't just about software or platforms - it's a deep commitment to citizens. A good digital system doesn't just help doctors access data faster, but also helps patients no longer wait weeks to know test results, or make multiple phone calls just to change an appointment.

With solutions like ServiceNow Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management, ServiceNow CSM, Virtual Agent, or Employee Centre, ServiceNow doesn't just upgrade internal processes, but creates transparent, proactive and trustworthy experiences for citizens, whether they're at major city hospitals or remote health stations.

According to ServiceNow reports, by using ServiceNow for healthcare, organisations gained massive benefits:

• 30% reduction in patient costs & waiting times, improved flexibility
• 30% reduction in downtime, 40% more accurate monitoring
• 95% reduction in call waiting times, increased effective interactions
• 20% IT cost savings, freeing personnel for higher-value activities
• Increased automation in vaccine management, consent and case management

"The ideal digital journey isn't about replacing people with tech. It's about freeing up our legends from repetitive tasks, so they can spend more time looking after patients, with that empathy and expertise only a human touch can provide."  - Charles Bonfante, Director of Novabridge New Zealand.

The expansion of the AI-first Now Platform into healthcare and community care through specialised ServiceNow for Healthcare shows that ServiceNow isn't just a technology provider, but a strategic partner in building a modern, resilient and citizen-centred healthcare system for New Zealand's future.

However, to go the distance with such a technically challenging transformation process, you need a trusted and experienced provider for managed IT services for healthcare, specifically a ServiceNow Elite Partner in ANZ.

Novabridge – Premier ServiceNow Partner for Managed IT Services for Healthcare in ANZ

As the leading ServiceNow consulting and implementation partner in Australia and New Zealand, Novabridge has developed deep domain expertise in delivering large-scale, mission-critical IT transformation projects tailored specifically for public and private healthcare organisations.

With a proven track record of supporting national health authorities such as the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Novabridge brings a uniquely local, strategic approach to healthcare digitalisation, combining global best practices with an acute understanding of regional regulatory, budgetary, and operational realities.

Why Healthcare Leaders in ANZ Trust Novabridge

• ✅ Specialised expertise in ServiceNow ITOM, ITSM, and CSM for healthcare operations
• ✅ End-to-end advisory: from capability assessment to post-go-live optimisation
• ✅ Accelerated deployments with minimal disruption to clinical workflows
• ✅ On-the-ground support teams across ANZ for responsive service and continuity
• ✅ Experience across diverse healthcare environments – from centralised national systems to regionally governed entities

Whether your organisation is seeking to modernise legacy IT systems, implement intelligent workflows, improve patient service management, or strengthen security and compliance posture, Novabridge is your strategic partner of choice for unlocking the full value of ServiceNow for the healthcare sector as well as customised managed IT services for healthcare.

Conclusion

Managed IT Services for healthcare is no longer a technical upgrade; it is a strategic imperative. By modernising legacy infrastructure, unifying fragmented systems, and enabling smarter service delivery, health organisations can unlock the full potential of both their workforce and digital assets.

Through its AI-first Now Platform and deep healthcare-specific capabilities, ServiceNow for healthcare offers a scalable, flexible, and citizen-centric approach to IT transformation, addressing the real operational challenges facing both urban hospitals and rural health centres.

In this journey, Novabridge stands as a trusted ServiceNow partner for healthcare transformation in ANZ, delivering not just technology, but measurable outcomes that matter to healthcare professionals and citizens alike.

Contact us for tailored digital transformation solutions!

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