Friday format: 7 sure ways to ruin the work with ServiceNow at the start
We often talk about the beneficial effects of ServiceNow on business.
According to the figures provided by the company, the platform increases the productivity of operations by 47%, reduces downtime due to unplanned incidents by 39% and speeds up their resolution by 21%.
But it's time to admit - there is always a fly in the ointment, which is hidden in the consequences of mistakes at the stage of implementation. For example, Shiva Thomas, a platform deployment specialist, says that mishandling a single element can increase costs fourfold.
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Therefore, in this article, written in the format of "bad advice", we consider what mistakes should be avoided during the implementation phase of ServiceNow.
/ Flickr / tableatny / CC
In fact, the ServiceNow implementation process needs proper cost analysis and — most important — in full planning. Companies need to build connections and dependencies between different IT and business processes. It is extremely important to connect all interested parties and end-users to this in order to check the specific capabilities of the system and see how its elements interact. Planning requires setting short-term and long-term goals, without which business can be damaged.
Michel Regueiro of ServiceNow, a partner company, names two approaches to the implementation process: the big bang method and the phased implementation. The first describes a situation where the organization “one click” switches from its old platform to ServiceNow. The phased approach describes a scenario in which the implementation is performed by a series of specified steps.
The Big Bang carries a higher level of risk. The integrated nature of ServiceNow means that a failure in one part of the platform can cause side effects in another element. Therefore, the right decision will be to implement at the level of individual business units in such a way as to bring the entire organizational structure to a harmonious way of functioning.
Important point: the personnel involved must be familiar with the navigation in the ServiceNow and with the processes even before implementation. People should also understand why these or those changes are needed and what result they will bring.
/ Flickr / pxhere / CC
ServiceNow users are hundreds of large companies . Not each of them had the implementation stage as smoothly as the persons in charge would like. Experience - both positive and negative - has accumulated over the years of work and was recorded in books such as Mastering ServiceNow by Martin Wood (Martin Wood).
Even more valuable is the opinion of people directly involved in the deployment of the platform in enterprises. The ServiceNow community is ready to share its experience, to talk about those mistakes at the initial stage, which could later cause losses.
Although the implementation of the platform in different enterprises is different, users who have already encountered problems will tell from which departments they started to integrate, how they attracted non-IT employees, etc.
Not every company is ready to disclose all the details of the "internal kitchen", but, fortunately, there are large corporations such as Fujitsu, who easily talk about their experience in implementing ServiceNow.
Many experts on the implementation of the platform advise "not to go away." ServiceNow as an ITSM tool is based on best practices and ITILv3, which means that the functionality of the platform is aimed at the most efficient work. But before making any changes, you should understand how ServiceNow handles a particular process, set specific goals and only then proceed to find a solution.
It is important to have a solid operational structure for technical and strategic processes. Often this aspect is ignored. At the very beginning, it is necessary to determine the circle of managers in the organization, assign them areas of responsibility and on the basis of this, distribute access rights. ServiceNow offers a fairly comprehensive list of competencies for all levels of structure - from the project manager to the owner of the platform - with a description of their responsibilities.
Sales Director at IV4 consulting company Tony Harris (Tony Harris) shared the problem of mismatching expectations from working with an external partner. He gave an example of unsuccessful implementations in organizations that believed that the consultant should conduct the implementation from scratch and independently develop best practices. As a result, they received poor-quality platform work.
The conclusion is simple - a consultant is needed, but he should not work autonomously. On his side, expertise and experience, but to achieve a high result requires the use of internal resources of the company.
You should not begin work with simple tasks, for example, incident management, and after them move on to more complex ones. This allocation of priorities can cause a shortage of resources and shift the deadlines. For example, incident management and change management are related to each other, and identifying the causes of new incidents will be difficult without creating a configuration management database that is responsible for this relationship.
It is known that one of the attempts to introduce ServiceNow into Sony failed precisely because of the incorrect distribution of priorities. The company learned from its unsuccessful experience that sometimes a difficult stage should be put higher than a simple one.
/ Maxpixel / PD
Users are accustomed to working with modern interfaces and expect a similar experience from the customer portal ServiceNow. As Reddit readers point out , the service portal is one of the best ServiceNow solutions, and it is important to do everything so that users get used to it as quickly as possible.
Atlantic Puffin IT Strategic Director Steve Jacquet proposes to take into account such things when designing user experience:
In this regard, Steve advises to adapt the platform to the user's expectations: how it is more convenient for them to interact with the product or to consume services. It offers to optimize search solutions in the knowledge base and help desk through instant messaging.
Shiva Thomas also notes that even at the implementation stage, care should be taken to ensure that users have everything for comfortable work.
PS Here are some more articles on this topic in our blog:
According to the figures provided by the company, the platform increases the productivity of operations by 47%, reduces downtime due to unplanned incidents by 39% and speeds up their resolution by 21%.
But it's time to admit - there is always a fly in the ointment, which is hidden in the consequences of mistakes at the stage of implementation. For example, Shiva Thomas, a platform deployment specialist, says that mishandling a single element can increase costs fourfold.
')
Therefore, in this article, written in the format of "bad advice", we consider what mistakes should be avoided during the implementation phase of ServiceNow.
/ Flickr / tableatny / CC
1. Right off the bat - forget about preparation
In fact, the ServiceNow implementation process needs proper cost analysis and — most important — in full planning. Companies need to build connections and dependencies between different IT and business processes. It is extremely important to connect all interested parties and end-users to this in order to check the specific capabilities of the system and see how its elements interact. Planning requires setting short-term and long-term goals, without which business can be damaged.
Michel Regueiro of ServiceNow, a partner company, names two approaches to the implementation process: the big bang method and the phased implementation. The first describes a situation where the organization “one click” switches from its old platform to ServiceNow. The phased approach describes a scenario in which the implementation is performed by a series of specified steps.
The Big Bang carries a higher level of risk. The integrated nature of ServiceNow means that a failure in one part of the platform can cause side effects in another element. Therefore, the right decision will be to implement at the level of individual business units in such a way as to bring the entire organizational structure to a harmonious way of functioning.
Important point: the personnel involved must be familiar with the navigation in the ServiceNow and with the processes even before implementation. People should also understand why these or those changes are needed and what result they will bring.
/ Flickr / pxhere / CC
2. Doing things yourself
ServiceNow users are hundreds of large companies . Not each of them had the implementation stage as smoothly as the persons in charge would like. Experience - both positive and negative - has accumulated over the years of work and was recorded in books such as Mastering ServiceNow by Martin Wood (Martin Wood).
Even more valuable is the opinion of people directly involved in the deployment of the platform in enterprises. The ServiceNow community is ready to share its experience, to talk about those mistakes at the initial stage, which could later cause losses.
Although the implementation of the platform in different enterprises is different, users who have already encountered problems will tell from which departments they started to integrate, how they attracted non-IT employees, etc.
Not every company is ready to disclose all the details of the "internal kitchen", but, fortunately, there are large corporations such as Fujitsu, who easily talk about their experience in implementing ServiceNow.
3. Experimenting
Many experts on the implementation of the platform advise "not to go away." ServiceNow as an ITSM tool is based on best practices and ITILv3, which means that the functionality of the platform is aimed at the most efficient work. But before making any changes, you should understand how ServiceNow handles a particular process, set specific goals and only then proceed to find a solution.
4. Let the management structure be built by itself.
It is important to have a solid operational structure for technical and strategic processes. Often this aspect is ignored. At the very beginning, it is necessary to determine the circle of managers in the organization, assign them areas of responsibility and on the basis of this, distribute access rights. ServiceNow offers a fairly comprehensive list of competencies for all levels of structure - from the project manager to the owner of the platform - with a description of their responsibilities.
5. Fully rely on a third-party consultant
Sales Director at IV4 consulting company Tony Harris (Tony Harris) shared the problem of mismatching expectations from working with an external partner. He gave an example of unsuccessful implementations in organizations that believed that the consultant should conduct the implementation from scratch and independently develop best practices. As a result, they received poor-quality platform work.
The conclusion is simple - a consultant is needed, but he should not work autonomously. On his side, expertise and experience, but to achieve a high result requires the use of internal resources of the company.
6. Set aside the hardest for later
You should not begin work with simple tasks, for example, incident management, and after them move on to more complex ones. This allocation of priorities can cause a shortage of resources and shift the deadlines. For example, incident management and change management are related to each other, and identifying the causes of new incidents will be difficult without creating a configuration management database that is responsible for this relationship.
It is known that one of the attempts to introduce ServiceNow into Sony failed precisely because of the incorrect distribution of priorities. The company learned from its unsuccessful experience that sometimes a difficult stage should be put higher than a simple one.
/ Maxpixel / PD
7. Do not try to make life easier for users.
Users are accustomed to working with modern interfaces and expect a similar experience from the customer portal ServiceNow. As Reddit readers point out , the service portal is one of the best ServiceNow solutions, and it is important to do everything so that users get used to it as quickly as possible.
Atlantic Puffin IT Strategic Director Steve Jacquet proposes to take into account such things when designing user experience:
- Usefulness - how the portal meets the needs of users.
- Usability - as far as the portal is easy to use.
- Expediency - compliance with user expectations.
- Accessibility - how easy it is to find the desired content.
- Reliability - the level of expertise, the transparency of the data provided.
In this regard, Steve advises to adapt the platform to the user's expectations: how it is more convenient for them to interact with the product or to consume services. It offers to optimize search solutions in the knowledge base and help desk through instant messaging.
Shiva Thomas also notes that even at the implementation stage, care should be taken to ensure that users have everything for comfortable work.
PS Here are some more articles on this topic in our blog:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/340430/
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