"Are you getting the most from your ServiceNow Investment?"

“Are you getting the most from your ServiceNow investment?” Great question! And one most adopters are asked by System Implementers, and frankly, one most customers are asking themselves. It’s a great sales pitch. Truly it is. And one that opens the door for a wide array of new proposals and capabilities the customer may not be ready for, or worse, does not even need. For the adopter, if they are unequipped to answer the question themselves, it leaves the door open for adopting unnecessary capabilities and technical debt.

As a homeowner, I am frequently faced with opportunities to improve my home. I have an older home, but I have also upgraded my home through the years. Some of the improvements made sense to do myself. I worked in my younger years as an apprentice to a very knowledgeable and experienced remodeler. He showed me the critical skills I needed while working on other customers’ homes to be able to do it for myself someday. I was able to make major repairs and upgrades to my home myself. But there were plenty of other things I wanted and needed to do (some, admittedly, I wasn’t even aware I needed) but lacked the experience or knowledge to even approach. But I did it anyway because my home is one of my most important investments and required an equal amount of attention.

My journey in ServiceNow and experience with customers has not been very different. Imagine trying to make home improvements and negotiating with contractors without any knowledge of remodeling or home improvements. Maybe there are things structurally wrong with the home that should be addressed first before even considering adding on that new home theater addition or upgrading the kitchen.

The point is, it was important for me to assess the current state of my home and to inform myself on the aspects I was unfamiliar with before getting bids. I was getting electrical bids on legacy wiring without understanding what my needs were. I’m no electrical expert. So, a contractor telling me that I needed to upgrade my breaker panel and wiring because my microwave kept tripping a 15A breaker sounded right. Little did I know that for a fraction of the cost of a new breaker box, all I needed was a higher rated breaker or a more efficient microwave. Luckily, I have a friend who is an electrician. I told him my issue and he gave me advice. He took a problem statement and converted it to actual need. My need was to be able to use my microwave. His solution was to have someone replace the breaker (after a lot of debate and consideration about how important the features of my fancy microwave were). I was lucky to have had him there to provide guidance.

I learned from my friend and I informed myself. I also leveraged his experience to garner the experience and knowledge I needed for my kitchen upgrade. I still had him (luckily) to bounce my own ideas off, but I am was better equipped to deal with the next batch of contractors who were bidding on my kitchen upgrade.