Climbing new peaks in 2023

At the start of any new year, thoughts naturally turn to personal and professional goals.? I plan to continue my long term of goal of climbing all the Wainwrights in the Lake District. And on a work front, I am looking forward to more growth in Computacenter’s ServiceNow practice.?

2022 saw investment in significantly expanding the resources in our consultancy practice with a growth of 102%.? Although it is difficult to make accurate predictions in an uncertain market, I am confident that the next 12 months will see further growth in the consultancy practice.?

ServiceNow releases?

When it comes to the Now Platform, we will see more of the same: new products and applications, as well as additional features and fixes for existing products.? The Tokyo release that became available in Q4 2022 featured enhancements to the customer and employee experience as well as increased intelligence and trust for security and operations.?

Two more releases are planned for 2023: Utah in Q2 and Vancouver in Q4.? As always, we partner with our customers to ensure they continue to get value from any relevant new functionality and applications in each release.?

In some circumstances we may recommend a customer go back to basics with a fresh out of the box (OOTB) install of ServiceNow.? This is particularly useful when a ServiceNow instance has been over customised and support for the platform becomes unwieldy.?

In this case, there can be a lot of benefits to be gained by bringing everything back to OOTB and then aiming where possible to use configuration of the platform rather than customisation.? This will aid future support, developments, and upgrades.?

Investing in certifications?

Helping customers get the best from the platform and therefore unlock the possibilities inherent in each release is high on the priority list.? But we can only do this if our consultants remain experts in the platform.? This puts the emphasis firmly on us to ensure our consultants stay up to date with the latest platform changes.?

We encourage all consultants to maintain their platform certifications after each new release.? Consultants must do their deltas (think of it as a change exam) on the current platform, usually within a 90-day window of the platform release.?

ServiceNow estimate consultants that commit to training to be ServiceNow experts boost their productivity by nearly 40% and it enables consultants to meet digital transformation objectives faster.? So it’s a clear win-win.?

We support our consultants to take the time to study and pass the latest deltas and certifications.? It has a personal benefit for the consultant too – ServiceNow estimate nearly 70% of people say that certification has made a positive difference in their career.?

Face to face events?

The fact that COVID is again becoming headline news means that any plan for events in 2023 will need to be flexible.? However, there are many benefits to meeting face to face that remote events cannot replicate.?

That’s why I am cautiously looking forward to the 2023 versions of various annual events.? First up will be our ServiceNow practice get together (aka the ‘Summit’).? Due to take place in March, this is a brilliant opportunity to get everyone within the practice together.?

There is plenty of knowledge sharing, networking, team bonding and for the extroverts, Karaoke which has become a tradition for the practice.?

We also have Knowledge 2023 in Las Vegas and ServiceNow World Forum towards the end of the year in London.? I personally find events useful for various reasons such as meeting customers as well as prospective candidates in person.?

Still recruiting in 2023?

Whilst the last few weeks of December and early weeks of January are typically quieter on the recruitment front, the growth of our ServiceNow practice means that it is never far from our minds. This will ensure that we continue to provide our customers with the right support for any aspect of their ServiceNow journey. ?

We have several opportunities for the right people to join our thriving ServiceNow practice.? The latest vacancies are listed here.?

Working for Computacenter?

The other side to recruitment is what a job or career at Computacenter offers.? This is a theme I will look at in an upcoming series of blogs, specifically focusing on the three pillars of what we call our employer value proposition:?

• A place where people matter?
• Can do culture??
• Shaping our digital future?

I look forward to sharing these with you in the coming months.?