6 Mistakes To Avoid in Your ServiceNow Implementation

ServiceNow: Implementing an Integration Solution

ServiceNow began as a cutting-edge Cloud-based Saas platform that supports today’s enterprises operating with more agility and scalability. It’s becoming a preferred choice for organizations to improve efficiencies and streamline workflows within their operations across all industry verticals.

ServiceNow implementations are uniquely positioned to enable smooth-running operations, simplify workflows across the enterprise, eliminate redundant tasks, and create more seamless interactions within the digital enterprise. It empowers the organizations in IT services management (ITSM), IT operations management (ITOM), and IT business management (ITBM). These platforms allow CEOs and CIOs, who need to scale their revenue while providing top-notch service quality at each touchpoint, to keep customers satisfied.

All of that sounds pretty great, but hold on! Before you dive into improving existing workflows with ServiceNow, we’re going to address 6 mistakes to avoid when it comes to ServiceNow implementations.

ServiceNow: Configuration vs Implementation

Before we jump into the advice, let’s address one quick note for clarification. ServiceNow configuration involves tweaking the existing functionalities to fit your unique business requirements. This would be adding extra ‘drop-down lists’, assigning roles and responsibilities to different groups, and allowing different access levels.

Whereas ServiceNow implementation can help support organization-wide digital transformation, help shift resources and budget toward innovation, and improve an organization’s ability to respond to industry shifts. These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but for our purposes, when we’re talking about an implementation, we’re referring to this bigger picture definition.

Avoid These 6 Common Mistakes in ServiceNow Implementation

Now that we’ve cleared up any confusion between ServiceNow configuration and implementation, let’s hit on the no-no list. Here are six mistakes to avoid if you want a smooth deployment in your next ServiceNow Implementation.

1. Handling Too Much Data Without Proper Planning – Organizations tend to be ambitious when embarking on their ServiceNow integrations. A huge roadblock to successful integration is importing the entire data without a plan in place for ServiceNow implementation (Configuration Management Database – CMDB) to manage the data. Unfortunately, this data quickly becomes outdated, which puts the output of your entire ServiceNow platform at risk of serving up inaccurate and unreliable information. The solution is to have a clear plan in place to transfer data to ServiceNow to control the data for its entire lifecycle. Once you’ve leveraged the data, then you can easily manage and scale additional data.
2. Failing to Evaluate Prevailing Business Goals – It is vital to think about the larger goal while you integrate ServiceNow’s implementation methodology. Evaluate designs with other product owners, admins, or enterprise architects to guarantee that the adjustments you are suggesting won’t mess with existing business systems. For those newly adopting ServiceNow, monitor the existing systems and get to know the impact a ServiceNow implementation would have.
3. Missing the Mark on Resource Utilization – ServiceNow has a wide range of solutions accessible for most of the IT, Employee, and Customer workflow. It might lead to poor execution if you don’t have the right knowledge and competency to accommodate the features. You can have very limited or minimal resources due to the resource constraints on the activities it performs. While investing in the cloud platform, companies must make sure they assign the right resources for ensuring problem-free implementation without affecting the current projects.
4. Keeping Outdated Existing Functionality – ServiceNow’s platform is a mechanism that is known for continuous improvements, which means long-term ROI. With its wide range of enterprise applications, additional implementations and upgrades, you can scale easily with ServiceNow. Explaining the short-term and long-term benefits of utilizing old or existing functionalities in ServiceNow implementation methodologies can help the organization address past mistakes and provide value for the product or service they are implementing. This provides a great opportunity to help define and/or refine out-of-date business processes.
5. Failing to Get Buy-in From Key Stakeholders – ServiceNow Implementation depends on the team and individual responsibilities. The ServiceNow implementation process will be much more difficult If you don’t schedule the interview to get feedback from both internal and external stakeholders. The incorrect access levels and the second-hand knowledge of department processes can affect overall work and business efficiency.
6. Inadequate & Inappropriate Training – Different businesses have different reasons to adopt ServiceNow. It is vital to have a ServiceNow implementation partner/expert who is trained on each and every aspect of the application in context to the unique business needs and goals. Moreover, there should be more appropriate training to prepare the executive team on how they can leverage the software to the Features & advantages.

You’ve been forewarned! Honestly, though, these tips are meant to help and not chide. New technology deployments usually have hiccups. So, if you know what to avoid, then that’s one less hiccup to worry about.

Now, let’s take a look at the good news – 4 ServiceNow Implementation best practices. Read on!

4 Benefits of ServiceNow Implementation Best Practices

As with any technology implementation, there’s always a “right way” of strategizing, planning, and deploying. Here are the four best practices to follow for a ServiceNow Implementation:

1. Better Business Tool Integration – ServiceNow Implementation eliminates the gaps in your service/operations to automate across the verticals within your business, even if you invest in many diverse systems. It provides a suite of automation tools that can be customized and fully integrated to fasten your IT operations management to performance analytics, HR service delivery, customer service management, risk and compliance management, and more.
2. Enhanced Productivity with Much More Visibility – One of the biggest benefits of ServiceNow Implementation is its easy configuration process to run in an enterprise. This encourages immediate productivity, initiates addressing and resolving concerns. Also, it provides a single window for transparency and collaboration in all projects for maintaining clear visibility to all stakeholders at your company.
3. Higher Return On Investment – Whenever you invest in the latest solutions or software, your ultimate objective is to attain the highest possible ROI. Forrester Consulting’s 2019 report on the “Total Economic Impact” of ServiceNow to customers showed that the return on investment was worth as much as 229% besides $4.5 million (£3.4 million) in infrastructure savings. Those are statistics that get decision-makers interested in onboarding.
4. Highly Scalable & Measurable – ServiceNow’s out-of-the-box solution can adapt to any business size, scalable to all system networks. With a clustered application and database server architecture, there is no known limit for scalability. And it allows you to apply various experience measurement techniques for collecting data related to each aspect of your digital experience.

ServiceNow boasts of being the NOW platform that makes workflows work. Streamlining processes and gaining full visibility into your systems is definitely a must for most organizations. If you are thinking about deploying ServiceNow into your environment, who better to help you than actual subject-matter experts with real-world experience in ServiceNow features, processes, and deployments? A DIY approach is one way to get there, but you can accelerate your time to value with a partner who knows the ropes and how to help you achieve the highest gains from your ServiceNow implementation.

Accelerate your time to value with ServiceNow and Windward.