ServiceNow is a powerful platform with a wide range of capabilities that can support ITSM, ITOM, and ITBM initiatives. However, many organizations struggle to implement ServiceNow due to its sheer scope. In order to get the most out of your ServiceNow implementation plan, it’s critical to prioritize your use cases. This guide will provide a useful framework to help you do just that.
There are three key factors to consider when prioritizing your ServiceNow use cases: business needs, technical feasibility, and resource availability.
Prioritize ServiceNow Use Cases by Business Needs
Business needs should always come first; after all, the whole point of ServiceNow is to improve IT operations and deliver better services to the business. Interview key stakeholders in all relevant business units to determine their most critical needs and pain points which ServiceNow could address. Proving business value is key to getting support for your ServiceNow investment, and critical if you plan to expand it. So look for use cases that can make a demonstrable improvement in efficiency for key business activities. Or better yet, use cases that can directly improve the bottom line by reducing costs or help retain customers.
>> Want to benchmark your ServiceNow practice? Check out this research study.
Rank ServiceNow Use Cases by Technical Feasibility
Technical feasibility comes next. Once you’ve identified the business needs that your ServiceNow implementation plan can help address, you’ll need to look at your IT environment as well as staff technical skills and certifications to determine technical feasibility. Not all use cases are created equal in terms of technical complexity. Some may simply be not possible to implement with the current state of the ServiceNow platform – or with your current team. When evaluating feasibility, consider both the out-of-the-box functionality as well as potential customizations you would need to make.
Sort Your ServiceNow Use Cases by Resource
Lastly, you’ll need to look at resource availability. How much of your current staff’s time can be devoted to executing your ServiceNow implementation plan? What is the likelihood you’ll have budget to supplement internal staff with qualified ServiceNow consulting partners.
You’ll also want to consider what other initiatives are currently taking up your staff’s bandwidth. If you’re in the middle of a large ERP implementation, for example, it may not be the best time to also tackle ServiceNow.
Once you’ve considered all these factors, you should have a good idea of which use cases are the best starting point for your ServiceNow implementation. You’ll also have the starting materials to develop a ServiceNow roadmap, since you’ll know your long-term goals and business objectives.
Is Now the Right Time for ServiceNow?
Keep in mind that successful a ServiceNow implementation plan is the guide for a journey that can take up to two years. However, as the industry standard, the effort is worth it. To make that kind of commitment, it may be best to start with a short-term assessment to ensure your organization is ready for the next stage.
But if you are prepared to commit the time and resources necessary for success, then ServiceNow can be a huge asset to your IT organization. At Windward, we’ve helped organizations make the switch from legacy systems like BMC Remedy or Cherwell to ServiceNow. We’ve also helped with major ServiceNow upgrades. If you’d like to benefit from our experience, let’s talk.
In the meantime, check out our free resource, the 2021 ServiceNow Adoption Study. See how other IT leaders are planning to implement ServiceNow in the coming year.
