Beyond Expenses: Leveraging ITSM and ServiceNow for Business Resilience and Agility

In today's fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, CIOs, CEOs, and CTOs of MNCs and SMEs face mounting pressures to manage costs while mitigating risks. The challenge is particularly pronounced in the ASEAN region, where businesses are navigating a complex web of operational demands and technological advancements. This article delves into the importance of establishing IT Service Management (ITSM) frameworks, particularly with ITIL4 practices with an established Organizational Change Management (OCM) practice, and the unique advantages offered by ServiceNow.?

?As companies strive for digital transformation, the costs associated with IT infrastructure and operations can spiral out of control, how do you manage these costs without clear transparency on what's happening within your organization? According to industry reports, many organizations are experiencing significant increases in operational expenses due to outdated systems, inefficient processes, and a lack of integration across platforms. For instance, a leading telecommunications company faced challenges with a heavily customized ITSM platform that led to high operational costs and poor service delivery. Hold your horses if you think that the solution is to replace the ITSM platform, read on to find out why.?

Implementing an effective ITSM strategy can help organizations streamline operations, reduce redundancies, and improve service delivery. ITIL4 provides a framework that emphasizes value co-creation through service management practices. By adopting these best practices, businesses can enhance their efficiency and, with a good OCM practice, improve responsiveness to market demands making these organizations both resilient and agile as part of their culture. Proof of such practices in place would pump up the reputation of these organizations showing their respective customers and stakeholders their value. It's really not just about the ISO or other certifications that you have as many organizations have that but what you practice beyond matters as well.?Most importantly, without establishing these practices and policies first and foremost, any ITSM platform would be hard-pressed to deliver something that you do not have in place. Many clients I have had spoken with have this thought that implementing a shiny new ITSM platform would solve all problems but buying a flashy new car would do you no good if you don't have a license to drive. Thinking that you know how to cycle does not make you skilled in off-road driving. You need training aka establishing your practices and policies.

One of the most effective strategies for reducing costs is transitioning to cloud-based services to reduce your carbon footprint as data centres are notorious in sapping whatever small gains you have for your ESG reporting. A Fortune 500 CRM provider successfully migrated its data analytics operations to a more cost-effective cloud solution, significantly lowering integration and data warehousing expenses. This shift not only improved performance but also provided scalable solutions that can adapt to growing data needs. Have you calculated what savings you can have by moving your applications to the cloud? Providers such as AWS have got cost explorers that can help you with this. This also includes running your ITSM platform off site as a SaaS solution due to the variability of demand such as school vacation periods where most families head out for their vacation leaving the office running at minimal.??

ServiceNow stands out as a leading ITSM platform that offers unique capabilities not found in other solutions. A case study involving a major financial services firm revealed that by leveraging ServiceNow’s automation features, the organization achieved $1.4 million in cost savings over three years while improving incident resolution times by 80%. This is especially true as the ServiceNow implementation I personally managed for 7 years showed clear savings with ITSM, CMDB, FSM, HRCM, SPM (Time | Demand | Project | Portfolio) & a custom app. I managed this with no more than 1.4FTE offloading surge implementations to ServiceNow partners as projects. All CSI was managed in-house including hotfixes, patches and releases. It really isn't as "expensive" as what some may think and it is all about how you manage, yes, I have also drafted and maintained a ServiceNow Platform Practice document to provide guidance on my operations.?

Automation is no longer just a buzzword; it's a necessity for organizations looking to cut costs and improve efficiency. By automating routine tasks within their ITSM processes, companies can free up valuable resources for strategic initiatives. For example, one financial institution reported improved efficiency and reduced incident volumes after implementing automation tools. ServiceNow also makes this easy as a very connected platform leveraging many different types of connections with its Intergration Hub but also with connections available through Rest and SOAP APIs. Especially with an easy to manage Automated Test Framework (ATF) where you can easily setup tests that can be run manually or scheduled to ensure that these connections are always healthy and active. These and more are part of my recipe for managing ServiceNow with a well thought through practiced aligned to the business. No, I can't share that with you because of NDAs and more importantly, it has to be aligned to your business so it's not a one-size-fits-all solution which comes to the next topic.?

Data-driven decision-making is crucial for identifying cost-saving opportunities. Companies should invest in analytics platforms that provide insights into operational performance and customer behaviour. This approach allows businesses to make informed decisions about resource allocation and process improvements. With ServiceNow's performance analytics that also provides trend analysis, this makes it easy for any organization with ServiceNow on its holster to be able to study metrics-that-matter to the business, if you've not read my article on metrics, you can find here . Data is just data, how are you utilising all your data to build and rebuild your IT to be a value driven leverage for your business if you are not using it effectively?

For any IT strategy to succeed, it requires commitment from the top levels of management. CEOs must prioritize technology investments that align with overall business objectives while CIOs and CTOs should advocate for solutions that provide measurable ROI. Engaging stakeholders across departments ensures that IT initiatives are aligned with organizational goals. Unlike most times businesses end up shoehorned into their IT, IT should be serving the business instead.

The challenges faced by CIOs, CEOs, and CTOs today are multifaceted, but by adopting cost-effective IT solutions grounded in strong practices on ITSM, OCM and others like those offered by ServiceNow, organizations can navigate these complexities more effectively. As businesses in the ASEAN region continue to evolve amidst economic pressures, embracing these strategies will be critical for sustaining growth and competitiveness in the global marketplace.?