The Customer
The client is a pharmaceutical company focused on developing, approving, and commercializing specialty pharmaceutical products in therapeutic areas. Their team of highly-trained research scientists, chemists, and engineers work to deliver treatments that advance patient care worldwide. They were using Smartsheets, Sharepoint, and manual processes to manage their Projects and Portfolios.
The client started their journey with ServiceNow by issuing an RFP for a SaaS based platform that they could leverage to gain efficiencies within their processes and scale their business. After a long cycle of interviews, demos, and discussions with an array of vendors they decided to move forward with ServiceNow. The next step of their journey was issuing an RFP to multiple companies to select a ServiceNow Implementation Partner, and this lead them to GlideFast.
The Challenge
The client was dealing with fragmented systems that did not accurately capture the work completion, historical views, and lack of identification of efficiencies. There was also a lack of visibility into process gaps and project completion. This then lead to the inability to set expectations with the business via data-driven metrics. There was also low transparency for project finalization across the organization.
The client also encountered poor user experience, disparate reporting issues, ineffective sharing of project ideas, tracking progress, etc. There was little to no approach to service management (non-automated responses, critical requirements for coordinated workflows within IT that leverage integrations and automations from 3rd-party systems). This lead to challenges in responsiveness for ITSM operations (reducing outages or time to resolve).
The GlideFast RFP and Pre-Sales Team quickly engaged with client’s executive team to identify challenges, requirements, processes, and goals in response to the RFP. The key differentiators for winning the deal were GlideFast’s ability to consult and provide a prescriptive, phased approach as well as the strength of the relationship. As an example, GlideFast created and revised a series of strategic, phased implementation roadmaps to gain a mutual understanding and confirmation for the project. This resulted in the initial project as well agreement for 3 additional long-term projects, including ServiceNow Business Continuity Management (BCM), Vendor Risk Management (VRM), HR Service Delivery (HRSD), IT Service Management (ITSM), and Field Service Management (FSM).
The Solution
An approach to utilizing a scalable, sustainable, and “out of the box” solution. GlideFast proposed a forward-looking vision to ensure platform success that was anchored with a “personalized” approach when configuring the platform. Understanding that “Out of the Box” was a great starting point, but it would not be tailored to the specifics of Tolmar’s unique processes, GlideFast was there to guide the client through decisions and adherence to a best-practice approach that maximizes their investment in ServiceNow. This prevented the creation of technical debt issues from customized development and set the stage for the client to continuously upgrade ServiceNow when new features become available.
GlideFast also recommended establishing an overall governance approach upfront and enabled them to innovate while maintaining stability and standards. Advisory Services was included with the first workstream and incorporated the establishment of a ServiceNow COE that fits their organizational structure.
GlideFast implemented the following for the client:
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Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) MVP
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Integrations
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Planful (1 way integration)
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Maximo
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Microsoft Project
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Implementation of ITOM Visibility/Discovery
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Advisory Services
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Platform Governance/Organizational Change Management
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Process User Training
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Project Management
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Demand Management
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Post Go-Live Support Services
Results
The implementation of ServiceNow SPM by GlideFast provided the leadership visibility on the number of inflight projects, resources assigned to manage those projects, and ETA for completion. This wasn't readily visible to them with their former systems and manual process. The ability to view project metrics, status, and resources in one single pane reduced resource burnout and scope creep on their very high-end projects.
The implementation thus allowed for reduced scope creep on projects and mitigated resource attrition. The client’s project team indicated they are pleased with the overall implementation. GlideFast will continue supporting adoption via the GRS bucket to help them continue to learn the platform and grow in their ServiceNow journey.
