DXC Fruition 10 critical success factors for ServiceNow projects. By Pierre Lambercy and Stephen Mann

Transcription

1 DXC Fruition 10 critical success factors for ServiceNow projects By Pierre Lambercy and Stephen Mann

2 1 Table of contents 1: Establish and communicate the vision 2 2: Align stakeholders 4 3: Build a governance structure 6 4: Define your rollout strategy 7 5: Recruit the right committed team 9 6: Don t carry over bad processes 10 7: KISS your project 11 8: Identify your business architect 12 9: Involve your technical SMEs from Day One 13 10: Invest in ServiceNow knowledge 14 Establish and communicate the vision The service transformation vision and key project goals should be defined in terms of the things that really matter to your company, not just that ServiceNow is implemented to quality, time and cost. Implementation success is of course important, but from a business perspective, the most important project goals will relate to business-level outcomes such as: Improved efficiency and reduced costs A better customer experience for both external customers and employees Improved governance, with the ability to meet compliance requirements Increased speed of change to quickly deliver improvements and new innovations as needed Reduced operational waste, such as the removal of duplicated efforts, dropped batons or reinvention of the wheel All can be realized through service transformation and the use of ServiceNow. The service transformation opportunity with ServiceNow extends across your company, touching any business function that provides service. The project s scope is an important part of the vision, too. Many ServiceNow customers start with a need related to IT and IT service management (ITSM) they usually need to manage and deliver IT services better but the service transformation opportunity with ServiceNow extends across your company, touching any business function that provides service. So, ensure that your vision includes all of the transformational opportunities ServiceNow brings. Whether it is IT, human resources (HR), facilities, legal, or any other business function that would benefit from a single system of record, workflow and automation, self-service, custom app creation or other ServiceNow capabilities. It s important to factor these elements into your vision, and then into planning and design, whether they are early or later opportunities for reaping the benefits of service transformation. In addition to including possible later implementation phases, the vision should also factor in ongoing improvement and optimization opportunities. Since aiming for perfection at the outset can sometimes be counterproductive, a better approach is to create iterative improvements using the Deming Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. 2

3 Once project goals, including the benefits, have been agreed upon, they need to be communicated to different stakeholders, such as business case decision makers, business unit/function and process leads, process users (such as service desk agents), and end users/employees. There s more information on these different types of stakeholders in the critical success factor No. 2. It s also important to remember some of the organizational change management basics here, such as: Different stakeholder groups, and different people with the groups, will have different communication method preferences. Stakeholders will want to know what s in it for them, which again will differ across groups and, potentially, people. Communications need to be received as well as sent, so ensure that communications also use the right language for the audience. One-time communications are not enough, so keep selling the proposed changes and associated benefits throughout the life of the ServiceNow implementation. 3

4 2 In addition to the senior decision makers, other stakeholder groups also need to be communicated with, persuaded and included in the project. Align stakeholders With a ServiceNow implementation, it can be easy to focus on a smaller set of stakeholders than is actually required, with the initial stakeholder management efforts limited to activities with senior company personnel, such as: Gaining top-level support and buy-in, including commitment to service transformation beyond the life of the ServiceNow project Setting business stakeholder expectations around what will be delivered when, and the associated benefits versus the costs Getting access to the funds and other resources required to deliver the project However, as outlined in the first critical success factor, a wider spectrum of business stakeholders needs to be aligned and managed. In addition to the senior decision makers, these other stakeholder groups also need to be communicated with, persuaded and included in the project: Business unit/function and process leads. While these stakeholders might not be directly involved in decisions about the overall scope and direction of the service transformation project, they will be the first ones to protect the status quo of their departments, teams and processes if they haven t bought into the change. Process users. The people who use the processes and technology whether in IT, HR, facilities or any other business function need to be on board with the service transformation project. The failure to communicate, to include them in operational decisions, or to demonstrate the what s in it for me will be detrimental to the required operational and organizational change. End users/employees. It s easy to forget the importance of end users/ employees, especially if you view service transformation from a service provider rather than a service consumer perspective. In some instances, such as with the benefits associated with the introduction of self-service, the failure to involve and gain the support of employees can kill new capabilities before they even go live. 4

5 Thus, all of these groups need to be considered and then aligned to the proposed changes, with the common organizational change management mistakes (and the resulting resistance to change) avoided. These common mistakes include, but are not limited to: Not making sufficient effort to sell the reasons for, and benefits of, ServiceNow and service transformation to the various stakeholder groups. Not using the right language to gain a mutual understanding of the reasons behind, and the benefits of, the change. Not planning for resistance from the outset it will probably happen, so plans need to be in place to deal with lack of commitment and reluctance to change when they start to appear. The business stakeholders might not always be aligned with one another but they do need to be aligned with how the service transformation, and introduction of ServiceNow, will affect them. 5

6 3 Build a governance structure The word governance can mean different things to different people and, in the case of a ServiceNow implementation, there is a governance requirement for both the project and for the post-go-live operations. In terms of project governance, i.e., the aspects of governance related to project effectiveness, there are three required governance pillars structure, people and information which collectively provide a governance framework to support the project from inception to post-implementation review. At a high level, the governance elements include: A project board and various stakeholder groups (which will include user groups). There might also need to be an overarching program board if the ServiceNow implementation is part of a wider business transformation initiative. Defined roles and responsibilities (including ownership and accountability) for project players from board members, to the project manager and project team members, including third-party resources such as ServiceNow partners brought in to assist with design, technical and human change activities. Processes and information sources that support people in their project roles for instance, the use of a project management methodology such as PRINCE2 or reporting capabilities that provide snapshots and projections across the project delivery criteria for quality, time and cost. Metrics that allow the realization of the promised benefits to be demonstrated both during and after project completion. Collectively, these governance elements will provide decision-making, delivery and progress-monitoring mechanisms for the life of the project. In terms of business-as-usual governance, a number of things also need to be considered. There are similar governance requirements for the implementation project that cover decision making (about policies, say), accountabilities and monitoring, but a governance body and a mechanism to provide oversight and approvals for future proposed changes to existing operations are also needed. Finally, if service management best practices are being extended beyond IT, an additional level of cross-business decision making and reporting must be considered: one that looks at service management and ServiceNow as corporate capabilities. 6

7 4 The rollout strategy does depend on your company s circumstances; ask yourself the right questions to select one. Define your rollout strategy It s certainly not a one-size-fits-all project scenario when it comes to implementing ServiceNow. Every company has unique business requirements and goals, and differing corporate structures. Therefore, the implementation process needs to ensure that these are factored in. Companies will also need to choose between a big-bang approach tackling everything at once or a phased implementation, where the solution is delivered in more manageable chunks, usually prioritized based on business needs and benefits. A big-bang rollout is typically a go-live or cutover scenario where the organization switches from its old platform to ServiceNow at a single point in time. A phased approach, on the other hand, is when the implementation happens in a series of predetermined steps. This can be achieved in a number of ways, such as: Phased rollout by geography. This is the most common phased rollout strategy for organizations with multiple locations. Here ServiceNow is introduced in one or more company locations at a time. This can also be referred to as the pilot adoption model. Phased rollout by module. Here ServiceNow applications and modules are implemented one at a time or in groups. Typically, companies begin with core functions and processes those necessary for daily operations then add more modules and functionality with each subsequent phase. Phased rollout by business unit/function. Using this approach, implementation is carried out in one or more business units/functions at a time. For example, companies might begin by implementing ServiceNow in IT, then move on to HR or facilities. In terms of what s right for your company, various factors should be considered, such as: What level of risk is acceptable? Big-bang implementations have an inherently higher level of risk due to the added complexity of a larger project scope. What budget is available? Phased implementations typically take longer to complete, which can mean more work for your internal project team and implementation partner, and thus increased costs. 7

8 If a phased approach is adopted, what does this mean for integration between ServiceNow and legacy systems during the interim period? This is potentially one of the most problematic areas for phased implementations. It could involve creating interfaces that wouldn t be needed if all modules were introduced at once, as well as creating bespoke user documentation and procedures for processes operating in the interim period. Does the implementation cover a single location/business unit or multiple ones? Having multiple locations or business units doesn t necessarily mean that a phased approach is the best choice. For instance, critical interdependencies between locations/business units might dictate that a phased approach isn t viable for your company. So the rollout strategy really depends on your company s circumstances. Thankfully, ServiceNow partners such as DXC Technology are here to advise and assist you with this and many other implementation activities. 8

9 5 Recruit the right committed team ServiceNow implementation is not just about the technology. It requires suitable people resources with the right knowledge, skills and experience across people change, process improvement and technology introduction. In addition, these people need the capacity to play an active, and often proactive, role in the change project. The people resources will ideally come from a number of backgrounds, including: Internal technology specialists. These people will advise on, and help apply, corporate IT policies and standards. Internal process users. In the case of IT, this will be the IT staff who use the technology and service management processes on a day-to-day basis. Business architects. See critical success factor No. 8, where this role is outlined in more detail. Third-party specialists. For instance, ServiceNow partners can help with activities such as strategy and advisory, organizational change management, process improvement, technology design (including the user interface and experience), implementation and training. End users. As mentioned earlier, if you want to view service transformation from a service consumer rather than a service provider perspective, end users will need to be involved from the project s outset. End user involvement will help ensure that service experiences are designed and delivered with the customer s or consumer s needs front and center. A number of potential people pitfalls need to be avoided here as well. First, it s important to ensure that all of these people have been sufficiently freed up to participate in the project. If any of these groups are not fully committed, at best it will cause delays, and at worst poor decisions and shortcuts will hamper project success. Second, staffing the project purely with professional project management resources (rather than a mix of service management professionals) might speed up delivery, but it could be at the expense of quality, i.e., there s a lack of subject matter expertise baked into the delivered solution. And third, if the specialist third-party resources are poorly utilized and managed, that could be a problem. For instance, the project may not ensure that there s a formal knowledge-transfer mechanism from the third parties to employees. Another problem might result from consultants being bogged down in minutiae and thus being unable to focus on the higher value-add activities of the change project they are brought in to deal with. 9

10 6 Remove inefficiencies and embed even more best practices in operations. Don t carry over bad processes There s an old adage about the introduction of IT automation that automating a bad process only gets you to a poor outcome more quickly. The same is true for service transformation. Merely automating your company s service management status quo will most likely be suboptimal with opportunities to improve operations and services missed as the focus on the new, enabling technology potentially blinds the company to the real purpose of the change: better business outcomes. Instead, take the opportunity to review and simplify existing processes not only to remove inefficiencies and embed even more best practices into operations, but also to consolidate on the single-best-way of doing things. In an IT department this might be consolidating the technologies, processes and people from multiple service desks into a single service desk operation. Taking the best aspects of each service desk and additional industry best practices then adding the power of both service automation and IT automation should create the optimal way of delivering and supporting IT corporately. The consolidation can also be extended across multiple business functions, with similar if not standard approaches to common service management activities such as dealing with requests for help, service, information or change across corporate service providers such as HR, facilities and legal. There can be a single system of record utilized across all departments, a standard approach to knowledge management, and similar employee self-service portals, or one unified self-service portal, to make it easier for employees to access services. Additionally, the use of service automation and the ability to create custom apps (for dealing with consumer requests) offer the opportunity to completely rethink service-based processes using an outside-in approach. This is looking at processes or activities from the customer or consumer perspective, rather than the provider perspective, to ensure that they help rather than hinder the customer. For instance, this would mean creating a single self-service capability around employee needs rather than multiple self-service capabilities around service provider capabilities. 10

11 7 Simplicity should be a key design goal, and unnecessary complexity should be avoided. KISS your project Albert Einstein is thought to have said that everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Your service transformation project should be treated with that concept in mind, keeping things simple yet smart. After all, service automation in particular is about allowing people to work smarter, not harder, as it removes unnecessary manual tasks. So KISS your ServiceNow implementation, where KISS is an acronym for Keep it simple, stupid, a design principle used by the U.S. Navy, and then the rest of the world, from the early 1960s onward. The KISS origin story is that of engineer Kelly Johnson setting a team of aircraft design engineers the challenge of designing an aircraft that would be repairable by an average mechanic, in the field under combat conditions, with only a limited set of tools. The concept behind the KISS principle is that most systems work best when they are kept simple rather than being overcomplicated. Thus, simplicity should be a key design goal, and unnecessary complexity should be avoided. And while KISS as a term might not resonate with you immediately, consider that simpler solutions: Are easier and quicker to implement Result in fewer implementation issues (and also reduce the required level of testing) Are easier and less costly to manage and maintain Are easier to change as business requirements change Result in more reliable operations Plus, people in the case of a ServiceNow implementation, most likely employees usually want or need things to be simple, i.e., they want them to be easy to learn and use. In the ServiceNow scenario, the application of the KISS principle can apply to individual service management processes or capabilities, such as self-service, for example. Or, it can apply to the overall approach to the project and how the technology is envisioned and ultimately implemented, whether purely for IT or in a wider enterprise service management scenario. 11

12 8 The terms business architect and business architecture might be new to you and are explained here. If they aren t new, please jump down two paragraphs. Identify your business architect Business architecture is the creation of a blueprint of the enterprise that provides a common understanding of the organization and is used to align strategic objectives and tactical demands (Source: Wikipedia). Business architecture usually depicts a company without any IT architecture and, importantly, a business architecture that is not a business function or business process model. And, the goal of a business architecture is to enable a company to focus its services on its customers. Your ServiceNow implementation will need someone who will see beyond process and technological enablement. A business architect is a practitioner of business architecture who holds a number of corporate responsibilities, such as the design of capability models and related architectural solutions for business tasks. A business architect will build value chains, an end-to-end collection of activities that creates a positive result for a customer. He or she will also get involved in business transformation activities, co-developing business transformation plans and developing architectural governance and controls. Importantly, business architects develop a blueprint of the enterprise to give others a better, and common, understanding of the company. Please note, however, that there are still conflicting opinions as to the differences among business architects, enterprise architects, information architects and process architects. Plus, your company might not have a business architect role, so to assist on your ServiceNow project, you will need to identify someone (probably a business analyst) who has: A solid understanding of business principles and concepts The ability to think about the business in a way that s abstracted from how the business uses processes and technology The ability to see the bigger picture The ability to act as an agent for change when working with projects and programs Ultimately, your ServiceNow implementation will need someone who will see beyond process and technological enablement to ensure consistency of, alignment with, and the focus on business needs. And, as mentioned in critical success factor No. 5, such a person will need to be fully committed to the project. 12

13 9 This has already been alluded to in critical success factor No. 5 the need to recruit the right committed team but it s worth spending more time on the early involvement of technical subject matter experts (SMEs). Involve your technical SMEs from Day One For a ServiceNow implementation, the term technical SME can have a number of interpretations, and each needs to be considered: ServiceNow SMEs. These are experts in ServiceNow from the technology itself and its capabilities (across the broad spectrum of ServiceNow applications and modules), with knowledge of how to implement ServiceNow successfully, including integrations with other IT and business systems such as Active Directory, monitoring and discovery tools, and Enterprise Resource Planning. Corporate infrastructure SMEs. These SMEs are the flipside of, and partner in crime to, the ServiceNow SMEs. They will know how the corporate infrastructure stacks up and how best to work ServiceNow into the mix, including how to ensure the ease and success of integrations. IT or other business function SMEs. While not necessarily technical in the sense of technology, these people are technical SMEs from a business operations perspective. Whether an incident management or governance SME from the IT department, or an employee management SME from HR, these SMEs rise above the technology to ensure that the desired (or required) business outcomes will be, and are, met by the ServiceNow project. SMEs will differ from business analysts (or architects) in a number of ways. They have: A resume filled with experience in roles related to the domain for which they are experts. Been there, done it, and bought the T-shirt experience i.e., they have actually done the work rather than managing or documenting others doing it. They know what the domain involves, from the opportunities through to the challenges and common mistakes. Plus, they know how to be successful in that domain. Knowledge of industry best practices not just on paper but in action. A good understanding of different stakeholder needs for their particular domain, from ensuring that new capabilities meet end user needs through to ensuring compliance with internal and external governance requirements. If done correctly, the involvement of SMEs from the project outset will ultimately improve the quality of the delivered solution, speed up project delivery and lower project costs. It s the project management success trifecta. 13

14 10 Invest in ServiceNow knowledge As with staffing any project, or the introduction of any new work activity, you have a choice to make about resourcing. You can: Go it alone with existing employees by developing the required knowledge and capabilities internally for both the initial change and the ongoing operations. Permanently hire new people to provide the resources required to engender change while hoping they will also be suitable for business-as-usual roles. Hire experienced third parties as needed to provide the relevant skills, knowledge and experience for different project and business-as-usual needs. Of course, these three options aren t mutually exclusive, and the reality is that you will probably do all three. A common scenario is that the third-party resource will provide knowledge transfer and training to existing employees as part of the project. Then, new hires complement existing staff as needed, usually where highly-specialized skills are required. The important thing to remember with a ServiceNow implementation is that you are doing it for a very specific reason to improve the operational status quo and, in doing so, to realize significant business benefits (both soft and hard benefits). Such benefits will be realized sooner if project outcomes are delivered more quickly it s the notion of time to value, i.e., how quickly a project can start to deliver a return on its investment. Optimizing a project s time to value requires early access to appropriate skills, knowledge and experience, and a ServiceNow project is no different. Projects progress more quickly when staffed with experienced people they know what to do, and no time is lost in bringing inexperienced people up to speed with what they need to know and do. It can also be difficult to train internal people in some specialties, and some required capabilities will always be transitional, in that they will be needed only infrequently after the life of the ServiceNow implementation project. So think carefully about your ServiceNow project s resourcing requirements in terms of its being another part of the overall investment. Will using inexperienced internal resources ultimately cost the business more than it saves (due to the delay in realizing project benefits and the potential for a suboptimal solution)? Will using experienced third parties provide far greater value than they cost? And is training internal resources on infrequently used skills a wise investment of project time and money? It s an important balance to get right. 14

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16 About the authors Pierre Lambercy Stephen Mann Pierre co-founded Aspediens, the leading European ServiceNow expert, in The company was later acquired by Fruition Partners, a DXC Technology company, and he is now managing director, business solutions, at DXC Europe. Pierre has over 20 years of combined experience in IT, IT service management (ITSM), customer service, project management, project delivery and training. For the past 10 years, Pierre has been focusing on implementing service management solutions in medium and large international organizations. Through the multiple projects he managed, he has gained a solid understanding of the challenges companies are facing during their ServiceNow journey and how they can best address those topics. Stephen is an independent IT and IT service management (ITSM) content creator, as well as a frequent blogger, writer, and presenter on the challenges and opportunities for ITSM professionals. In his career, he has held positions in IT research and analysis (at IT industry analyst firms Ovum and Forrester), ITSM consultancy, enterprise IT service desk and ITSM, IT asset management, innovation and creativity facilitation, project management, finance consultancy, internal audit, and most recently, product marketing for a software-as-a-service ITSM technology vendor. Learn more at servicenow About DXC Technology DXC Technology (DXC: NYSE) is the world s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, helping clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. Created by the merger of CSC and the Enterprise Services business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, DXC Technology serves nearly 6,000 private and public sector clients across 70 countries. The company s technology independence, global talent and extensive partner network combine to deliver powerful next-generation IT services and solutions. DXC Technology is recognized among the best corporate citizens globally. For more information, visit DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. DXC_FR-004 March 2018