When McKenzie & Co set out in 2014, it had three directors, a self-managed server and an ambition to build a national land development consultancy. Ten years and multiple offices later, technology has never been the constraint. This is how a decade-long partnership with Swerve turned infrastructure into something the business could grow into, rather than around.
Meet McKenzie & Co
McKenzie & Co is a New Zealand land development consultancy offering end-to-end services across strategic planning, civil engineering, surveying and contract administration. Founded in 2014 by Clayton McKenzie, it has grown from three directors into a multidisciplinary team of development advisors, project managers, engineers and surveyors working from offices throughout Aotearoa.
The firm designs for the long term, balancing economic, environmental and community needs, and takes a human-centred approach to placemaking never losing sight of the people who will live, work and play in the places it helps create.
The challenge: Re-engineering the growth restraint
Scaling a practice nationwide puts every technology decision under new pressure and creates the opportunity to get ahead of it.
As McKenzie & Co scaled from a single small team to a nationwide practice, its infrastructure had to keep pace with the business. When the relationship with Swerve began in 2014, McKenzie & Co was running a self-managed server environment built around Microsoft SQL Server and specialist surveying applications well suited to a team of three but built for a different scale than the one the business was heading towards.
What emerged was a clear set of priorities:
- Supporting rapid hiring and onboarding new staff at pace
- Maintaining performance for resource-intensive engineering and surveying applications
- Connecting a growing number of office locations across New Zealand
- Scaling infrastructure while getting full value from existing technology investments
- Ensuring business continuity through backup and disaster recovery
- Providing strategic technology guidance as the organisation matured
“We needed a partner who understood that a surveying practice doesn't run on generic infrastructure, and who could plan two or three years ahead rather than react to whatever broke last week. That's what let us keep hiring and opening offices without technology becoming the thing that slowed us down.”
A business first, environment second solution
Rather than pushing McKenzie & Co straight into a fully managed cloud environment, Swerve took the pragmatic route: get the most out of the existing SQL Server licensing and infrastructure first, then recommend change when the business genuinely needed it. Progress was steered through regular catch-ups and formal quarterly business reviews, so technology decisions tracked business decisions.
As the business grew, the environment grew with it.
Infrastructure modernisation
- Moving from a self-managed server environment to a fully managed services model
- Hosting virtual machine infrastructure in a secure managed environment
- Implementing backup and disaster recovery services
- Providing ongoing Microsoft 365 support and management
Multi-site connectivity
- Establishing permanent site-to-site VPN connectivity between offices
- Centralising access to critical business applications and data
- Supporting collaboration across geographically dispersed teams
Specialist application support
- Business-critical platforms including 12d Synergy, 12d Model and BricsCAD
- Drone data processing solutions
- Flood modelling platforms
Device management
- Standardising predominantly on HP hardware
- Developing department-specific device configurations
- Supporting rapid onboarding through periods of accelerated hiring
Tech that scales
Technology has scaled in step with the business, not behind it.
- Growth without infrastructure limits: the platform has absorbed significant expansion, including growth from major contracts and acquisitions, letting the business onboard people quickly and deliver efficiently.
- A consistent experience nationwide: teams across every office work in the same reliable, centrally managed technology environment.
- Predictability instead of surprises: the move from break-fix support to a full Managed Services Agreement brought proactive management, clearer costs and strategic guidance as the business matured.
- Specialist workloads that perform: surveying, CAD, modelling and engineering applications are hosted, supported and managed as business-critical systems.
A partnership built on trust
One defining feature of this relationship is a deliberate commitment to candid feedback.
Quarterly business reviews happen at the executive level, with senior Swerve leaders partnering directly with McKenzie & Co's CFO to keep the focus on business outcomes rather than day-to-day technical detail. It creates room for honest conversations about performance, priorities and where things can be better and it keeps the partnership evolving with the business rather than settling into a routine.
“The quarterly reviews are one of the most valuable parts of the relationship. Sitting down with Swerve's senior leaders - not just the technical team, means the conversation stays focused on where the business is heading, not just what's happening in the environment. It gives me an independent, commercially grounded view I can act on.”
Why it matters
Technology partnerships are often measured in uptime, tickets closed or projects delivered. For McKenzie & Co, the measure has been simpler: could the business keep growing?
From a three-person operation in 2014 to a nationwide practice today, the answer has been yes - built on technology decisions aligned to business objectives, and a partnership grounded in trust, transparency and planning. With those foundations in place, the business is well positioned for the data and AI era, and the productivity gains that come with it.
Client snapshot
About McKenzie & Co
McKenzie & Co is a New Zealand land development consultancy providing end-to-end strategic planning, civil engineering, surveying and contract administration services from offices throughout Aotearoa.
About Swerve
Swerve is a 100% Kiwi-owned, full-service IT partner, headquartered in Auckland and serving clients across New Zealand. Founded in 1999, we put people at the heart of technology, designing, delivering and supporting exceptional IT experiences that keep business humming.
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