6 Reasons to Attend the Richmond ServiceNow User Group
CapTech will be hosting the ServiceNow User Group in Richmond this Thursday, March 16. Here are six reasons why you should be there!
Service Portal
The Service Portal is one of the greatest enhancements to ServiceNow's offerings in the last couple of years. Bold statement, I know. I love it for two reasons: simplicity and flexibility.
With relatively little effort, you can use some pretty sleek out-of-box styles to greatly enhance your users' experience with the platform. As I will note below, user experience is huge, and with the Service Portal, you can make a large leap with little cost.
At the same time, you can create highly customized sites and web applications using a modern JavaScript framework. The more you customize, the more time and money you spend, but you have the choice to make whatever you want with the Service Portal.
Omid Borjan from ServiceNow will be talking about the Service Portal.
Ferguson
One of the most valuable opportunities at user group events is the chance to hear about the successes and struggles other companies have experienced. Finding pitfalls in implementation process, specific development, roadmap order, and many other areas is more pleasant when done vicariously than when experienced at the expense (financially and otherwise) of your own company. Come hear Cara Proctor from Ferguson speak about Ferguson Enterprises: Our ServiceNow Platform Journey.
Upgrades
We all have to do them. They used to be dreaded, but we have since moved to the cloud, and life is better. Life still isn't perfect, and you still have to plan for upgrades, however. Join Manny Carwile and Mary Halages from UNOS in an open discussion on upgrading. They'll be coming from the point-of-view of a Fuji to Helsinki upgrade, but I expect all thoughts and questions are game.
Come to the session thinking about your questions and perspective. How do you approach regression testing for upgrades? What features are you most excited about in Helsinki, Istanbul, or Jakarta? What impact have coming features made to your development decisions?
Customer Experience
CapTech's Jason Snook and Kevin Flores will be presenting to the group on user experience with the session Reimagining the ServiceNow Experience: Why UX and Design Should Matter. User experience is huge in determining the success of a ServiceNow program. You may have the best processes in the industry supported by the best workflows developers can build, but if your users don't enjoy using the tool, they'll do whatever they can to find a workaround (Jane down the hall who can get things done, an unapproved change, and the like).
Don't trust me, trust Frank Slootman as quoted in this recent diginomica article by Derek du Preez, "Slootman said that the number one conversation he has with CIOs nowadays is no longer about cost, which is what it used to be, but about the need to bring the enterprise experience in line with the consumer experience."
Security
Data security is a baseline in today's world. There have been enough high profile breaches as of late to put this into the minds of even folks far from the IT department. Robert Held from ServiceNow will be speaking about this important topic. Stay up to date as ServiceNow strengthens its Security Incident Response offering, continues to offer top notch platform security, and adds features like Edge Encryption.
Networking
Every ServiceNow user group provides an excellent opportunity to network with other customers and ServiceNow professionals. Take time to gather your thoughts, put some questions together, and come learn from your peers in leadership, administration, development, and other arenas. At the end of the day, enjoy a happy hour hosted by CapTech and speak with other professionals facing and overcoming some of the same challenges that you are!
Register Now!
Here's the registration page for the event. You know you don't want a sharpie name tag. For the latest schedule and logistical details, visit the community page for the event.
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