Rome wasn’t built in a day and your ServiceNow ITSM transformation is no different. Following ServiceNow implementation best practice makes for a smooth journey and helps businesses get the most out of their investment.

These tried-and-tested steps ensure that enterprises realize all benefits of ServiceNow ITSM soon after adoption. Seamless ServiceNow implementation improves asset organization, optimizes budget and resource allocation and encourages innovation. Rather than viewing the exercise as implementing a new tool, think of it as a digital transformation project to optimize, automate and improve back-end processes by eliminating bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

ServiceNow ITSM implementation best practices at a glance

Getting started with ServiceNow ITSM is relatively simple. About 75% of your work is done once the platform is up and running. However, when a ServiceNow journey fails to take off, the problems are always traced back to poor implementation practices. Best practices are designed to help businesses avoid common mistakes and service disruptions. The following are the top five best practices for a successful end-to-end ITSM implementation:

Build a clear and detailed roadmap: A well-defined implementation roadmap that accounts for what the enterprise needs at the moment with room for future growth is essential for implementation. To formulate an appropriate plan of action, ample research into best practices, tweaking current processes to make best use of the platform and knowing which ServiceNow ITSM modules best suit business requirements is essential. An all-encompassing roadmap with implementation goals at each stage keeps teams accountable and ensures smooth implementation. It also helps businesses plan and allocate resources and investments efficiently. A roadmap that accounts for future requirements simplifies decisions on upgrades, enhancements and potential adoption of other ServiceNow products including HRSD, CSM, ITOM and ITBM.

Don’t leave any team behind: Given the module’s universality, the responsibility of ServiceNow ITSM implementation doesn’t only fall on the IT department. ServiceNow controls and synchronizes workflows across departments including HR and finance for a unified and standardized IT experience. It is important to consult other teams to figure out their issues with the current platform, specific problems that must be addressed immediately, department-specific features that would improve productivity and what platforms must be integrated with ServiceNow so implementation experts can check their compatibility. This company-wide feedback system minimizes conflict and eliminates incomplete implementation.

Configurations over customizations: ServiceNow offers a lot of freedom to businesses to customize the platform as per their requirements. Its low-code/no-code tools have non-developers developing smart apps at record speed, armed with easy-to-use drag-and-drop UI features and simple integration. It’s easy to get carried away with the number of options on offer. But, taking on too many custom features when starting out on your ServiceNow ITSM journey unnecessarily complicates the implementation process by deviating from the original roadmap and the resources set aside for implementation. ServiceNow ITSM guided setup covers configuration of all basic ITSM applications with room to expand and implement advanced features when you’re ready.

ServiceNow CSM

Train your staff: A comprehensive training plan is an essential component of your implementation roadmap in order to fully leverage everything the platform has to offer. While ServiceNow’s simple UI is among its key selling points, a solid training plan improves the adoption rate and ensures that staff can work autonomously on the new platform. Informing staff of the business benefits of each feature so they have a fair understanding of how individual contributions can go a long way in fast-tracking the enterprise’s ServiceNow success and aid in breaking siloes. 

Get the experts involved: ServiceNow ITSM implementation is a full-time project and can’t be treated lightly as an activity that can be completed on the sidelines. An implementation expert is your best bet for easy transition from your existing processes to ServiceNow. The partner must be able to identify the right business workflows and strategy for the company’s ServiceNow migration. They can also aid the business with their ServiceNow ITSM integration and advise the business on how to scale their ServiceNow platform to match growth.

The ServiceNow implementation expert must have considerable experience with the platform and in handling similar migrations. Aspire Systems is a Premier Partner of ServiceNow and has successfully completed more than 100 projects over the past decade. With Aspire on their side, businesses have saved more than 25,000 hours a year thanks to improved employee productivity bolstered by ServiceNow’s self-service and automation capabilities. Our unique ServiceNow Implementation Maturity Model is designed in such a way that implementation is completed within 9 to 12 months so enterprises realize ROI at a rapid rate. Read our whitepaper to know more about AIMM.

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