Bringing together a group of extraordinary people

My colleague and good friend Blair Crawford recently talked about how to retain the quality of our annual ServiceNow networking event.?The 12th such occasion was attended by members of Computacenter’s ServiceNow Centre of Excellence from across the UK and as far afield as Germany and India.

Expectations for this year were high but it was matched by the quality and variety of the agenda as well as enjoyable networking and ‘getting to know your colleague’ sessions.?The latter is so important as this is the one time of the year that you can meet people from different parts of our ServiceNow practice, all in one place.

Braving the weather

Some of our colleagues who were due to fly in from Scotland were unable to attend due to the snow.?But, for those who battled the elements to get to the Summit, we assembled at a picturesque location in the Cotswolds.

Feedback from our team has been overwhelmingly positive.?The event managed to hit the right notes with a blend of strategy, messaging and vision updates, customer successes and departmental news.

We had a lot of fun along the way.?I picked up a new nickname - ‘Dave Sandos’ - in a video celebrating the work and progress that is being made by our Governance team. ?I’m not sure whether it was a compliment to be compared to the villain Thanos from the Avengers films though!

We also raised over ￡150 which will be split between Computacenter’s charity partners for 2023 – Samaritans, National Autistic Society and Prostrate Cancer UK.

Proud of our team

As I look back at the Summit, I’d like to thank the team that brought the Summit to life - Blair, Rachel Pepperdine , Ruth Horne , Michelle McMurray , Adam Osman & Lucia Jelley We had a top, top event.?I heard a great piece of feedback from one of our technical architects, Sam Goode , who said: “it’s clear that the time the ServiceNow Centre of Excellence spends getting together for events like this are a big part of what make it such a special place to work.”

My overriding emotion though, is pride:?I am incredibly proud of the people that we have brought together in the ServiceNow Centre of Excellence.

Our people are talented, diverse, energised and experienced.?Quite a few consultants have received long service awards and have been with us since our TeamUltra days.?But in terms of attitude and endeavour, you would be hard pressed to distinguish between a long-serving consultant and one that has joined us more recently.

It was great to have Bhabatosh Bisi with us too. Bhaba is doing a great job in expanding the ServiceNow Centre of Excellence team in India.?I know he will be sharing the key points from the Summit now that he's back home.

ServiceNow’s vital strategic role

ServiceNow is a strategic platform for many of our customers.?We are well positioned to partner with them on their ServiceNow journey.?Our expertise can be invaluable in large scale transformation projects from cyber security, Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) and HR to ITSM/ITSM Pro, ITOM, ITAM and more.

We were supported at the Summit with a great presentation from Lee Stockwell and Paloma Garcia from ServiceNow.?What struck me was that they made their presentation very people oriented, and this is something that I have mentioned before, there is a true alignment of values between our two organisations.

A key takeaway was how Computacenter and ServiceNow are working closely together.?A great example of this is our jointly aligned go to market plans in the public sector.

Through close collaboration, there is a significant opportunity for us to ensure our mutual customers continue to receive value from their investment in ServiceNow.

Taking to the stage

Day 1 finished with a black-tie gala dinner. This was followed by the presentation of a series of awards recognising the successes and outstanding individual/team performances from across our ServiceNow practice.

These were voted for by the audience.?What really stood out for me though, was the warmth, support, and genuine affection that our colleagues have for each other.?We have an amazing team spirit and this part of the evening where we show our appreciation for our colleagues is my own personal favourite activity from the Summit.

Then, it was time for what has become an annual tradition - karaoke.?Well done to everyone that was brave enough to get up and perform.?The leadership team were not afraid to let their hair down.?I was joined by Blair and Sam Beale , we did a fine rendition of ‘Stop’ by the Spice Girls.?It was fun to also see Chris Price joining in with a belting version of Ice, Ice Baby – or ‘Price, Price baby’ as he likes to call it.

The benefits of fresh air

We always start day 2 with an outdoor activity which helps to blow the cobwebs away for those that stayed up late.?This year we had a treasure hunt in the grounds of the hotel and people threw themselves into Taskmaster-style tasks as taking a selfie in front of a giant picture frame, finding a dog wash station, doing star jumps and walking around a lake.

Although it was cold, I managed to do more than 6000 steps by 10am which made it worthwhile.?Plus it meant that I was fully awake and energised for the remainder of the day!

We heard more from different teams about project challenges and successes and finally our solution development team delivered the final session looking at how our various apps, widgets and accelerators have helped customers with some of their specific challenges.

Becoming something more

So, what happens next on this journey that the ServiceNow Centre of Excellence is on??The team will continue to grow in 2023, across all locations.?We are creating opportunities for our people to grow their careers and continue personal development.?You can see our latest vacancies here.

There is a line in the Governance video that I mentioned earlier, which quoted Samuel L Jackson’s character, Nick Fury, who said: “There was an idea, to bring together a group of extraordinary people, to see if we could become something more.”

That’s how I see our people.?We are one team united by a common goal, with people who put the customer first.?I truly believe that we are becoming something more than just a ServiceNow practice.