Dreaming big to convert vaccines into vaccinations

I’ve always believed that the world’s biggest challenges are also its biggest opportunities. Over the past year, significant attention was rightfully placed on developing a vaccine for COVID-19. Solving the challenge of the last mile—turning vaccines into vaccinations—has been difficult, as organizations lack processes and infrastructure needed to vaccinate people quickly.  

Earlier this year, we announced our Vaccine Administration Management (VAM) solution and have since helped more than 100 organizations streamline their vaccination process, including National Health Service (NHS) Scotland.  

On the first episode of our new “Let’s Workflow It” podcast, we had the privilege of hosting NHS Scotland Head of Digital and Security Services Deryck Mitchelson. On “Let’s Workflow It,” we talk to leaders about how businesses today are driving transformation and growth with digital workflows. With Deryck, we discussed workflowing the vaccine rollout and how we are supporting the delivery and management of millions of vaccines globally, including with National Health Service (NHS) Scotland.  

The importance of speed and time to value 

The way I see it, our work with NHS Scotland is such a vivid illustration of this need for workflows to help address new business challenges. Speed mattered more than ever. COVID required NHS Scotland to move at the pace of the pandemic, if not quicker. With our Now platform, NHS Scotland was able to deploy vaccine management not in months, but in weeks. That changed people’s lives drastically. 

There are two main hyper trends when it comes to speed. First, moving various operational items to the cloud and gaining cloud efficiency. Second, truly revolutionizing, improving, and modernizing those applications in an enterprise. With our Now platform, which is in the cloud, we're connecting everything from IT systems to employee experience systems to customer experience systems. On top of that, we also provide a platform where code can be navigated very quickly on a low-code or a no-code basis to create new applications or solve difficult challenges, such as vaccine management. The big difference between ServiceNow and other enterprise software companies is that we solve problems in weeks, days, or even hours—not long, arduous months and years. It’s really the time to value equation that differentiates us. 

The power of workflow leads to continued innovation 

The cost of healthcare as a percent of GDP in the world is not sustainable as it currently stands. This is a huge problem. If we don't change the current process, it'll only get worse.  

We have to take learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic and innovate better solutions—whether it's in the corporate environment, in health care, or any other industry. If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. That's not good enough; it's time for change. 

In the podcast, Deryck talked about how their experience working with us to solve their workflow challenges has prompted NHS Scotland to rethink healthcare and how they deliver great experiences to Scottish citizens longer term. We see these kinds of examples all over the world, where once people start understanding the power of workflow to deliver great experiences, it leads to continuous innovation.  

Great experiences drive customer loyalty and employee engagement 

With NHS Scotland, nothing was more important than making people feel healthy and safe. It was the workflow experience we delivered together that inspired confidence among their constituents. When you think about that from a C-suite perspective, it’s all about creating experiences with customers and employees that drive loyalty and engagement. 

There are certain moments that really matter: moments like the response to COVID-19 and getting people their vaccinations. Governments that automate that value chain well, where citizens feel very well cared for, will fare a lot better than the ones that didn’t feel well led and well-served by their public officials. The same goes for the private sector. This is not just a leadership issue—it’s a workflow issue. 

Everything about the way we work is changing. The digital economy is firing on all cylinders. Organizations bold enough to embrace this change and accelerate the adoption of digital products, services, and experiences are the ones that will WIN. 

You can find the full episode with Deryck Mitchelson, The Muse Founder and CEO Kathryn Minshew, and ServiceNow Chief Marketing Officer Alan Marks, here. Leave me a comment below to let us know what you think!