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In a series of short articles, we give you an overview of these ServiceNow Knowledge 2020 sessions that inspired our team most. You will be introduced to our point of view on several major topics and products. Learn how our experts reflect on them and what’s the value for the end customer.

Aleksandar Rusev, ServiceNow Sr. Solution Consultant at BRIGHT, gives us an overview of two of Knowledge 2020’s sessions, focusing on IT Service Management and IT Business Management.

The last few years have put ITBM in the spotlight with more and more organizations realizing the benefits of process digitalization. The presentations discussed below help managers and executives compare their current situation with two impressive examples of implementing IT Service Management and IT Business Management solutions.

We at BRIGHT see the great potential behind the ITBM module. We’re already making an impact on our clients’ IT Business Transformation by:

  • Ensuring visibility into business-critical services;
  • Improving project predictability and delivery;
  • And transforming the way teams manage project portfolios.

Veolia’s story and the power of the ServiceNow platform

In his presentation, Rob Gwatkin, ITSM CoE Global Service Delivery Manager at Veolia Group IS&T, delivered a talk on managing processes in a global company. He focused on challenges like language and geographical barriers, political environment, stubbornness, the limited amount of time. It is still available here.

The case study he presented and the story of Veolia Group’s IT and business management transformation amazed me. It was really inspiring to see once again how powerful the ServiceNow platform is. Veolia’s teams are managing so many and different ServiceNow projects under their ITSM and ITBM. They operate in 45 countries, with more than 170k users, supported by only 15 people. This is another proof of how flexible and scalable the ServiceNow products are when implemented properly and with expertise.

The results after implementing their ITSM/ITBM ServiceNow system are impressive:

  • From one major incident per month to one per year;
  • Full SLA measurement;
  • A dramatic increase in customer satisfaction and many more.

Veolia’s approach to combining major project frameworks such as ITIL, Agile, and DevOps in ServiceNow served perfectly as per the shown results. The DevOps concept they promote is something quite interesting and for sure can be implemented within many organizations’ good practices.

The most important conclusion from the presentation is that the initial implementation of services is only the tip of the iceberg. The accurate assessment of the company’s processes and procedures is critical to define which capabilities of the platform will be beneficial for the organization. Adopting additional features just because the platform provides them is not the right approach.

ServiceNow is a powerful platform and companies need to choose carefully in which direction they will go with it and how. That’s why they need a trusted partner to guide them through. In that way, they can ensure a true digital transformation.

 

To be prepared for everything that may happen – known and unknown

As a use case for the ServiceNow Project Portfolio Management module, Lisa White, PMO Analyst at Western & Southern Financial Group, presented what is PPM within her company and how ServiceNow’s PPM module helped them organize their work. You can watch a recording here.

Keeping their “ducks” (projects, tasks, problems, decisions) in a row is done not only by preparing for the projects they are aware of but also for the ones hiding into the unknown. Also, learning how to say “No” by saying “When?”, utilizing trade-off discussions. All critical decisions are organized and done through ServiceNow with a holistic view of their entire project portfolio.

Western & Southern Financial Group’s legacy tools couldn’t represent all the current projects in the correct view and state. IT Work Management provided a holistic view of all IT work, IT delivery visibility, and business outcome view. With Portfolio Governance and Demand Pipeline, they were able to manage what is known and be flexible to the unknown. A major conclusion of this case study is that analyzing what-if scenarios will prepare you better for trade-off discussions.

Thanks to ServiceNow’s IT Business Management PPM module, Western & Southern Financial Group managed to put their projects in order through strong project portfolio management. What’s more – to connect the module to Finance, IT and Resource Management. Building one end-to-end process was beneficial for all departments within the company.

How to increase the value of your ServiceNow implementation

It was aspiring to see the whole concept of ITBM Project Portfolio Management capabilities implemented and used within their full potential:

  • Having a project mapped directly with real-time financial and resources data;
  • Being able to initiate direct contact with the right IT Delivery team to discuss possible risks and challenges.

More and more often end-users are looking for ServiceNow capabilities besides the widely-used ITSM product. Our mission as a ServiceNow partner is to leverage the platform capabilities to ensure business outcomes and high value for the customers. And IT Business Management PPM module is an excellent example of how exalting to the next level by investing a little can get you so much more in return.

To maximize value, companies should learn to better manage processes, projects, and people. Today, with the ServiceNow Platform, we help our customers gain visibility into critical business services and improve their workflows to become the success stories of tomorrow.