Workflow Quarterly - How can CIOs reshape the future of work by advancing workflow digitization across the business? - ServiceNow
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FALL 2019
Workflow Quarterly
The Strategy Issue
How can CIOs reshape
the future of work by
advancing workflow
digitization across
the business?
The Strategy Issue
Contents
Workflow Quarterly is dedicated to DATA VISUALIZATION AND Q & A
publishing original research and enterprise 26 Measure value to prove impact
journalism on workflow digitization. ServiceNow platform data analysis combined with
survey responses show how CIOs are driving results
INTRODUCTION
03 Letter from the editor FEATURED ARTICLE
The gap between investment and outcomes 28 Digitization relies on great vendor
is determined by strategy relationships
Digital workflows require CIOs to build effective
partnerships inside and outside their organizations
FEATURED ARTICLE
05 How CIOs advance workflow
digitization TIPS
A guide to crafting a digital strategy that 32 Meet the experts
will make work better Influential CIOs and business experts share
advice on how to advance digital workflows
BUSINESS EXAMPLES
11 New digital workflows, better results IN FOCUS: COUNTRIES
How CIOs led transformations in customer 36 Digitization best practices around
service, finance, and HR the world
Statistics on how CIOs in different countries
apply best practices
Q&A
15 5 Steps to influence change
Teri Takai shares advice on how to win support, IN FOCUS: INDUSTRIES
digitize workflows, and transform organizations 39 Digitization strategy across
in the public sector industries
Statistics on how five different fields apply
best practices
VISUAL GUIDE
18 The CIO’s visual guide for advancing
and tracking digitization
ServiceNow’s approach to implementing View the full issue
workflow digitization across functions workflow.servicenow.com/quarterly
Cover photo: Jim Fowler, Chief Information Office, Nationwide,
meeting with his team (By David Kasnic)
INTRODUCTION
Letter from
the editor
The gap between investment and
outcomes is determined by strategy
BY RIVA FROYMOVICH
M
ore than half of chief information officers say
in a global survey commissioned by ServiceNow
that they have significantly increased budget
for workflow digitization, a sign that these technology
leaders are accountable for identifying how process
automation can transform work to meet today’s
business demands. Nationwide headquarters (Photo by David Kasnic)
However, when we talked more in depth with CIOs, For digital transformation to work, CIOs need to get their
we learned that outcomes from these investments rely organizational strategy right. In this issue of Workflow
on how they set up their organization for success. That Quarterly, we share data and advice on how industry
includes collaborating with peers and vendors, aligning IT leaders are doing just that.
goals with the rest of the business, embedding digitization
initiatives across the organization, and holistically tracking Read how CIOs from JPMorgan Chase, Siemens and
results. Few CIOs are developing these foundational blocks Nationwide, among others, are building a digital strategy,
highly effectively, according to research published in the the key elements to rolling out workflow digitization
latest issue of Workflow Quarterly. across business lines, and how ServiceNow created a
framework for digitizing any function. The Strategy
In fact, fewer than 20% of CIOs surveyed say they Issue also explores never before analyzed ServiceNow
are highly effective at using emerging technologies to platform data to understand how companies are achieving
transform services and operations, equipping employees value through their process automation strategies—and
with digital tools to manage workflows, or even educating how you might consider tracking outcomes. Plus, hear
their organization about new technology and changes fresh perspectives from Teri Takai, executive director of
to workflows. the Center for Digital Government.
Perhaps, then, it’s not surprising North Carolina
State University’s Enterprise Risk Management Tell us your thoughts on workflow
Initiative reported that digital transformation is the 2019 digitization strategy @ServiceNow.
top-cited risk by business executives, jumping from the
10th spot, as leaders worry about their business models, Download the research summary
new customers, and workplace culture. workflow.servicenow.com/quarterly
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 3
Research Methodology
The Strategy Issue draws on a survey commissioned by ServiceNow of 516 Chief
Information Officers across 12 countries and 24 industries. The survey explores how
technology leaders are collaborating with business partners and external vendors,
investing in automation, and aligning digitization goals to the broader organization to
drive value across functions, including customer service, finance, human resources, and
legal. Alongside in-depth interviews with CIO experts, the data illustrates how best-in-
class CIOs devise an organization-wide workflow digitization strategy. Oxford Economics
conducted the survey via Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI), during which
respondents were guaranteed anonymity, could ask clarifying questions, and confirmed
demographic information.
Respondents by country Respondents by industry*
46 Australia (39)/New Zealand (7) 50 Financial Services
46 France 50 Government
47 Germany 50 Healthcare
49 Italy 31 IT Services
46 Japan 35 Retail
48 Netherlands
*Industries with greatest number of
46 Singapore
survey participants
45 Spain
45 Sweden
48 United Kingdom
50 United States
Respondents by company revenue Respondents by digitization stage
58 Far along
182 167 Over $5B
In the early stages
$1B–5B 258
199 Beginning to evaluate
$500M–$1B
167 Not focused on digitizing
Respondents by number of employees
< 1,000 1,001–5,000 5,001–10,000 10,001–20,000
19 183 212 69
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 4
FEATURED ARTICLE
How CIOs
advance
workflow
digitization
A guide to crafting a digital strategy
that will make work better
BY ABBIE LUNDBERG
Jim Fowler, Chief Information Officer, Nationwide (Photo by David Kasnic)
B
efore Jim Fowler joined Nationwide as chief information officer in
June 2018, he and the company’s CEO talked at length about the
challenges facing the 100-year-old insurance giant. The insurance
industry, they both felt, hadn’t yet been disrupted by technology and the
pair wanted to be the ones who did it first.
While Nationwide was well into a massive modernization of its core
transactional systems, this wasn’t transforming the business. To drive
Nationwide into its next phase of growth, Fowler asked himself: “How do
we take advantage of these new capabilities to meet our customers’ needs
in new ways?”
To do that, he concluded, he needed to better connect IT’s goals with
the goals that other business functions cared about. And he needed to
collaborate with those other leaders to identify steps and even entire
processes that could be automated.
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 5
Now, Nationwide has cross-functional teams embedded
with the lines of business to make sure IT is digitizing Few CIOs say their organization is doing
processes in a way that makes work more efficient for a good job at understanding the value of
different business functions, or the tools
employees and results are faster for customers.
they need to succeed.
How effectively does your overall organization
“You’d have a hard time telling who was from IT, who was perform the following activities related to process
from finance, and who was from operations,” he says. digitization?
“That whole team is measured on the success of shared
Highly effective Mostly effective
business metrics.”
Somewhat effective Mostly ineffective
Highly ineffective
A year into this effort, Nationwide has reduced the time it
takes to issue a new life insurance policy from a month to, Understand the extent of digitization across the business
in some cases, minutes. 20% 34% 29% 11%
Fowler attributes these successes to the company’s ability
Educate the organization about new technology and changes to
to implement a digital workflow strategy. workflows
17% 36% 32% 12%
CIOs are being tasked by boards, investors, and business
leaders to digitize workflows, the interdependent business
Act upon digitization opportunities for high-priority processes
processes required to reach a result, like onboard a
new employee or resolve a customer issue. Workflows 20% 34% 34% 8%
are the circulatory system of any enterprise. Digitizing
the repetitive parts of these processes can grow the
Actively research new areas for collaboration between business
productivity of organizations, improve customer functions and IT
experiences, and empower employees to spend more 17% 36% 33% 11%
time doing meaningful work.
Set workflows and business goals that permeate all areas
Nine out of 10 CIOs expect to digitize at least 60% of their of the business and are clearly understood by all employees
company’s workflows in the next three years, according 18% 39% 30% 10%
to a survey conducted by Oxford Economics and
commissioned by ServiceNow. Among the benefits these
CIOs are already achieving through this transition are
speed to market, attracting and retaining customers and don’t effectively understand the value of various
employees, and operational efficiency. functions or are communicating the goals of technology
investments clearly.
The survey, which includes responses from 516 CIOs
from around the world, offers a comprehensive look at In complementary interviews that contextualize the survey
how companies are approaching workflow digitization, data, leading CIOs—from a range of companies including
including the business lines they start with, how Nationwide, Siemens AG, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.—
standardized their approach is, and the peers they lean on describe how a good workflow strategy can help overcome
most to see results. these and other challenges. As Shamim Mohammad, chief
information and technology officer (CITO) of CarMax, the
The data also reveals the CIO’s greatest challenges. largest used-car retailer in the U.S., says: A comprehensive
For example, a significant percentage of IT departments strategy can equip a CIO with the “tools and tactics and
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 6
Nationwide’s Fowler won’t take on a digitization effort
without that link being clear. He starts by connecting the
company’s strategic priorities to IT efforts. He asks his
team: “What are the things that have to be true technically
for the business to be able to achieve those business goals
by 2021?” The answer becomes his digitization goal.
For example, to improve customer engagement and
satisfaction, his team is working on making all of
Nationwide’s products and services available through APIs
on different channels, such as social networks and the
company app. “We can hook into whatever ecosystem our
customer wants to use to interact with us,” says Fowler.
On top of that, Fowler’s team regularly rechecks whether
the projects are meeting goals and readjusts strategy
accordingly. Progress is measured with business-impact
metrics, not IT metrics like uptime. For example, when
digitizing to improve how long it takes to complete
transactions, the team measures insurance-industry
KPIs like time to quote, time to bind, and time to process
service requests.
The digitization goal “drives the technology strategy, which
drives the tactical planning for the next three years of what
Stephen Mansfield, Chief Information Officer, Americas & Global Executive
Sponsor, ServiceNow with colleagues (Photo by Daniel Alexander) initiatives we’ll run,” says Fowler.
policies” necessary to ensure the digitization journey Step 2: Have a standard process for digitizing
is successful. workflows
Almost 8 out of 10 CIOs have a standard process for
Here are four components of a good digital workflow digitizing workflows across functions, but given the scope
strategy. of processes running an enterprise, many still struggle
with figuring out the opportunities ripe for improvement.
Step 1: Tie digitization goals to business goals Just 14% of those surveyed by Oxford Economics say they’re
To be successful, a digital workflow strategy must reflect highly effective at creating a catalog of all processes and
the priorities and goals of the business at large. Yet this is assessing what can be digitized. Successful CIOs have
an area where many CIOs struggle: Just 18% of CIOs report developed tricks for doing this that help them prioritize
that their organization is highly effective at understanding which workflows to start with.
the ways that various business functions provide value,
with the same percentage saying they’re highly effective For example, at ServiceNow, every business function has
at setting business goals that permeate all areas of the three top priorities—things like speeding up the time it
business. Even fewer, 17%, say they’re highly effective at takes to close the financials, release new products, and
tying their plans to business outcomes. onboard new employees. CIO Chris Bedi looked at each of
these corporate priorities to see which had a dependency
on technology. His conclusion: more than 70% did.
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 7
This effort surfaced “the big rocks we absolutely have to While 61% of CIOs say they collaborate with their
knock down as an organization,” he says. company’s COO to standardize workflows through
digitization and 50% of CIOs say they collaborate with
Bedi’s organization devised a digital assessment to their CEOs, far fewer work with other execs. In fact, 21%
standardize the process for each business line and then say they alone are responsible for workflow digitization.
created a digital maturity “heat map” that visualized all Meanwhile, just 15% of CIOs say their organization is highly
the smaller processes where friction could slow down effective at identifying executive sponsors to support
these big priorities. “Now when we ask the question at digital transformation.
a very micro level—how digital is our accruals process?
—we have an answer,” he says. Likewise, 15% say their organization is highly effective
at building out specialized teams across functions to
The heat map also makes it possible to take a broader view. carry out digital transformation. About one-quarter of all
That way, Bedi says, he can answer questions like: “How respondents say their organization is highly effective at
digital is our financial close?” Zooming out even further, integrating IT in all business functions.
the heat map lets Bedi and the business process owners
look across functions to identify disconnects that need One way that successful CIOs have overcome these
to be addressed. challenges is by integrating technology teams responsible
for digitizing a workflow directly into the business
Using the heat map, he’s also able to generate a digitization function. This approach, by its nature, creates a sense of
scorecard for each business line. This not only helps to “collaboration and shared goals,” CarMax CITO Mohammad
align IT more closely with the business, it provides a sense says. This in turn produces results.
of accomplishment and momentum as scores improve.
For instance, CarMax appraises more than two million
To help identify priorities and guide decision-making at cars a year. This was previously a manual process, with
JPMorgan Chase, Global CIO Lori Beer created a “business- appraisers physically checking vehicles in all weather,
capability taxonomy.” The taxonomy helps isolate the most sometimes in the dark, armed with clipboards and
important processes—for example, real-time payments as cameras to fill out a paper checklist and document the car’s
opposed to payments more generally. Rather than take on condition. Then, the appraiser had to leave the vehicle and
the entire payments process, they were able to identify that go into the store to complete the appraisal.
real-time payments was the capability that needed to be a
strategic priority, which led to the decision to build it on a A team of technology staff and field associates worked
modern technology infrastructure instead of the company’s together to design a digital workflow in which associates
legacy one. use an app on a handheld mobile device to capture the
vehicle assessment information, take pictures of the vehicle,
“We actually wanted to modernize and take a new and enter the vehicle’s VIN. A system then pre-populates
approach,” Beer says. much of the data that would previously have been
entered manually inside the store, drawing from CarMax’s
Step 3: Collaborate across the C-Suite and integrate IT extensive car database as well as third-party sources.
into the business This gives associates access to the information they need
Of course, no matter how strategic a CIO’s initiatives, none to assess the vehicle in real-time and provide an appraisal
of this work can be done without buy-in from the business without leaving the vehicle.
owners and employees whose processes are being targeted
for transformation. Still, collaboration is a struggle for The new workflow streamlines the process for associates
many CIOs. and creates a much better customer experience. The
information is more accurate, too.
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 8
“This has created quite a lot of efficiency and cost reduction,” Previously, the IT department was highly centralized.
Mohammad says. Now, 60% of IT personnel work directly for one of these
units. These technologists are “very, very close to the
With more than two million appraisals a year, shaving off business,” says Helmuth Ludwig, the company’s CIO.
a few minutes per appraisal adds up quickly. And since
CarMax often buys from and sells to the same customers, They work with the now smaller central IT department
improving this process enhances its relationship with them. on cross-company projects, including deploying new
In addition, building this technology has enabled CarMax platforms. But by working in the business units, they’re
to make appraisal offers on customer’s vehicles remotely, better able to focus on helping their colleagues “sell better
so customers can receive an appraisal offer on their current [and] address their customers better,” Ludwig says.
vehicle and complete the car buying and selling process
from home. Step 4: Embrace a test-and-learn mindset
Just 16% of CIOs say they’re highly effective at using data
Siemens, the global industrial conglomerate, has taken the to track the success of cross-team projects and adjust
notion of embedding IT teams inside the business lines a accordingly. Forward-looking CIOs now test and learn their
step further. The company earlier this year reorganized into way to the right answer, drawing inspiration from process
units focused on its different target markets, such as smart methodologies like agile and DevOps.
infrastructure and gas and power.
For CarMax’s online financing capability, for instance,
the company began with a small subset of customers to
see how they would react. Over the course of around six
months and many iterations, they enhanced and matured
the product before rolling it out to the whole country.
“We had a hypothesis that customers would like it, but we
really didn’t know much beyond that,” says Mohammad.
“We knew that if we turned it on, we’d learn something.”
At Nationwide, to ensure that new workflows hit the mark,
the people who will use the new processes (customers or
employees) are engaged throughout. This involves design
thinking, journey mapping, and an iterative, minimum-
viable-product approach to development.
A digital-enabled future
The results leading CIOs have achieved by following these
steps have had an outsized impact on their businesses.
Until recently, for example, Nationwide sent customers
a paper-based application when they applied for life
insurance. The customer would fill it out and then mail it
back. Later, the company would schedule a medical test
and blood work. The entire process could take a month
or more before the customer had a policy in hand.
IT team collaborating at Deloitte (Photo by Daniel Alexander)
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 9
Today, Nationwide customers fill out an online application.
Answers to certain questions might trigger a phone
ABOUT
interview with a company representative. But aside from
Abbie Lundberg
that occasional human interaction, many policy-issuing
decisions are automated. They’re based on the customer’s
answers combined with data Nationwide already has on Abbie Lundberg is a business technology analyst,
the applicant and from third-party sources. Predictive author and professional speaker with over 30
modeling, not a human, now determines things like years experience writing about the ways in which
whether a customer needs a medical test. business leaders transform their organizations. She
is a Contributing Editor to both Harvard Business
Because of these digital workflow changes, Nationwide Review Analytic Services and CIO magazine, where
can complete the entire approval, binding, and she was part of the founding team and served as
underwriting of a life insurance policy within a day for Editor in Chief for 13 years. Abbie has contributed
up to 30% of applicants. This has not only reduced cycle to research at the MIT Center for Information
time from around a month, it has reduced the cost to Systems Research (CISR) and the MIT Jameel World
process an application by about 75%. Education Lab (JWEL). For more information, visit
Abbie’s website, lundbergmedia.com.
The improvement was so extreme that the first agent who
went through the process with a customer thought there
must have been a problem with the system. “The agent
called our call center because the policy came back so
quickly,” Fowler says. “They actually couldn’t believe that
it was real.”
CIOs and their business partners are mapping the future
through workflow digitization. Those who manage the
process effectively will be well positioned to lead their
industries in the years ahead. Elsewhere in this issue,
we look at how companies are digitizing workflows in
different functions, collaborating with outside partners,
and talk to former Department of Defense CIO Teri Takai
about how she’s advanced digitization projects throughout
her long career.
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 10BUSINESS EXAMPLES
New digital
workflows,
better results
How CIOs led transformations in
customer service, finance, and HR
BY ABBIE LUNDBERG
A
s chief information officers transform their
organizations through workflow digitization,
they are looking across business lines to improve
efficiency, experience, and business decisions. Jim Fowler, Chief Information Officer, Nationwide (Photo by David Kasnic)
While 57% of CIOs report they’ve digitized workflows in IT 15%, report their teams are highly effective at integrating
to a great extent, they’re now making significant progress technology across the business to enable collaboration.
in finance, customer service, legal, and human resources as
well, according to a survey of 516 CIOs conducted by Oxford The following workflow digitization examples, spread
Economics and commissioned by ServiceNow. For instance, across different functions, illustrate how CIOs can
51% say they’ve digitized workflows in finance to a great overcome these hurdles, standardize processes, and
extent, 48% in customer service, and 40% in HR. achieve remarkable results.
“Every corporate function is going through major Finance
transformation now,” says Lori Beer, Global CIO at Seventy-seven percent of CIOs say digitizing workflows
financial services giant JPMorgan Chase. has increased finance’s effectiveness. CarMax, the nation’s
largest used-car seller, counts itself among them.
In the process, data analysis shows they have increased
the effectiveness of each function. On average, across 10 Many of today’s auto buyers, like all consumers, start
business functions outside of IT, 77% of CIOs reported their journey online, researching models and prices, and
an increase in the function’s effectiveness as a result of checking out inventory. At CarMax, more than 90% of
workflow digitization. customers begin their car-buying expedition this way. But
until a few years ago, applying for financing at CarMax was
But there are challenges CIOs must overcome to ensure still stuck in manual.
process and strategy changes lead to results. For example,
just 17% of CIOs say they’re highly effective at educating Customers had to physically go to or call a CarMax store
the organization about new technology and changes to and work with a sales consultant to submit a credit request
workflows. Only 17% also say their organization is highly in the point of sale application. This created a major
effective at actively researching new areas for collaboration impediment to the company’s goal of enabling customers
between IT and other business functions. Slightly fewer, to engage with CarMax however they want—in person,
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 11through the website, or over their mobile device—at any
stage of the car-buying process. Business functions benefit from workflow
digitization, but strategy challenges may
So, a cross-functional technology and finance team set hinder results
out to digitize the process and provide customers the To what extent has your organization digitized
workflows in the following functions and how has it
opportunity to obtain financing pre-approval online.
had an impact?
When they mapped out what they believed would be
the workflow for this product offering, they anticipated This function is somewhat digitized or digitized to a great extent
Digitizing workflows has increased this function’s effectiveness
there would be some 80 steps involved.
Customer service 92%
Working with customers and field associates, CarMax operations
75%
streamlined the customer process to just 8 to 10 steps and
enabled it to be completed online. In doing so, it not only 92%
IT
77%
digitized the pre-approval process, it also was a critical first
step to give customers the ability to complete the entire Finance 91%
car-buying process from home. 76%
Human resources / 89%
Talent
Customers can now apply for financing from anywhere 75%
using the CarMax website or mobile app. When a customer
Legal / Governance / 84%
fills out an application, they in turn become a promising Risk / Compliance
75%
lead. Online finance leads have become the top lead
type CarMax receives. And by digitizing this workflow,
along with the other steps in the customer journey,
CarMax has achieved its goal of offering a truly omni- To digitize the patent application process, ServiceNow
channel experience. involved engineers, applied design thinking, and took a
mobile-first approach. They used rapid iteration to develop
Legal a minimum viable product, which they rolled out to learn
Seventy-five percent of CIOs say digitizing workflows at scale as they continued to evolve the product. The result
has increased the effectiveness of legal and compliance. was a process that was much easier for engineers to use.
ServiceNow CIO Chris Bedi is among them. In his case, he
had to make sure his company’s most valuable asset, its Within two quarters, just by changing the experience,
intellectual property, wasn’t being squandered. the company saw an 83% increase in the number of
patents it filed.
As a software company, ServiceNow wants its engineers
to file patents on their work in order to protect the Human resources
company’s intellectual property. But engineers weren’t Global companies are reinventing their approach to talent
doing so, mostly because the process was cumbersome management, shifting from a siloed, compliance-based
and had too many unnecessary steps. approach to developing employees and managing their
performance in a more comprehensive and integrated way.
When he and the general counsel looked at the existing Traditional HR systems don’t support this. Instead, most
workflow, they discovered “it was a really clunky, horrible” large organizations have separate systems for performance
way to do things, says Bedi. To increase IP protection, they management, employee engagement and learning, with
needed a better way for engineers to file for patents. Their business units often running their own systems and data.
question was: “How do we reimagine this process?”
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 12experience through journey mapping and personas,
applying the same techniques as they use when addressing
customer workflows. “So, if I’m a road warrior versus a
trader versus a software engineer, my personas are going to
look very different,” says Global CIO Beer.
One of the decisions they made was to go with a mobile-
first strategy. IT helps their HR colleagues get the tools and
capabilities they need to better serve employees. “But we
also work side by side with them, transforming the whole
way we look for talent,” says Beer.
Customer service
Seventy-five percent of CIOs say workflow digitization has
increased the effectiveness of customer service. Carsales.
com, Australia’s largest seller of new and used cars, did it
without even trying.
A few years ago, during one of its company-wide
hackathons, a team of engineers decided to streamline
a labor-intensive process for identifying cars. Company
photographers took up to 6,000 pictures of motor vehicles
each day, then spent 30 minutes per day to classify,
catalogue, and tag the images, which were then uploaded
to third parties and to its own classifieds site. The entire
Jim Fowler, Chief Information Officer, Nationwide (Photo by David Kasnic)
manual process ate up 9,000 person hours per year.
JPMorgan Chase is addressing this challenge by
implementing a new software-as-a-service platform across The engineers at the hackathon figured, “if we could do this
its human resources organization and, in the process, electronically, we would get the photographers back out in
optimizing its HR workflows. The IT organization is the field taking more photos, and not thinking of what do
working collaboratively with HR not only to help them with they have to do when they get back in the office,” says the
the technology piece, but also to shepherd them through company’s CIO Jason Blackman. “Rather than have to do
the workflow development process. that, they’re going to take more photos.”
Some 75% of CIOs say they have increased the function’s Using open source image libraries, the team created
effectiveness through workflow digitization. But most a machine learning algorithm that streamlined and
organizations aren’t yet maximizing the potential. Focusing automated the process. Later dubbed “Cyclops,” and
on talent and culture strategies, just 21% of CIOs say they’re trained using millions of images that Carsales had
highly effective at reducing time spent on repetitive tasks; collected and stored over the previous decade, the AI
20% at improving the employee experience; and 21% at has successfully reduced those 9,000 person hours.
improving onboarding. But it’s also done something else.
At JPMorgan, the digital transformation team for HR is As customers on Carsales’ platform upload hundreds of
using design thinking to really understand the employee thousands of photos per week, the AI identifies the exact
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 13model and offers suggestions on how best to showcase that
particular model on the site—especially high-end cars that
might require specific types of photos.
Customers can choose which photo order is best suited to
market the vehicle based on the AI’s suggestions, giving
both the seller and the buyer more control in the process.
Blackman calls the innovative Cyclops creation
“the birthplace of AI at Carsales.” The company has since
used its “moonshot” hackathons to deploy AI for other
customer-facing functions. For example, it has automated
the process for reviewing a customer’s classified ad, which
was once vetted by humans for inappropriate content
and could take up to four hours to approve. That caused
a backlog of ads and endless frustration for the click-and-
have-it online public.
“That’s long in this day and age,” says Blackman. “That’s not
a great customer experience.”
Today, an AI called TESSA does the checking and the
process now takes mere seconds. “That frees up our
customer services team to have more time to deal
with customer problems and help customers out,” says
Colleagues at Deloitte (Photo by Daniel Alexander)
Blackman, “which decreases wait times and calls into
the call center.”
Neither Cyclops nor TESSA started life as a customer-facing
tool. But “our internal process improvements also mean
external customer benefit,” Blackman says.
And that, he says, is what the 22-year-old company must be
about in order to thrive in the digital marketplace. “We’re
fundamentally here to help consumers,” says Blackman.
“We help buyers get together with sellers and we help
sellers get their products to buyers.”
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 14Q&A
5 steps to
influence
change
Teri Takai shares advice on how to
win support, digitize workflows,
and transform organizations in the
public sector
Teri Takai, Executive Director, Center for Digital Government
T
eri Takai has had a long career as a CIO, both in government
Watch the video and in the private sector. After 30 years working in IT at Ford,
in 2003 she began a series of government CIO jobs, first for the
states of Michigan and California, and then from 2010 to 2014 for the
workflow.servicenow.com/quarterly/ U.S. Department of Defense. Most recently, she was CIO of Meridian
issue/3/top-cio-digitization-strategy Health Plan.
Along the way she’s learned that great ideas aren’t enough. She has had to
build consensus, prioritize projects that would advance the organization’s
overall goals, communicate often, and practice a lot of patience.
Now executive director of the Center for Digital Government, Takai spoke
with Workflow Quarterly about how to succeed as a technology leader, best
strategies for digitizing workflows, and what she thinks government CIOs
should focus on moving forward.
Edited excerpts:
Is there one thing that stands out as critical to your success?
The most important thing for any chief information officer to remember
is that your job is not about technology. It’s really about how you use
technology to improve the organization.
You have to get in and listen. You have to really understand what the
organization sees as success. Then, when you can help them, you get
credibility and then you’re able to do a number of things that perhaps
might not have been on their agenda in the beginning.
As individuals, if we have a great idea and we try to sell that idea,
if somebody else didn’t agree with us, we get upset or offended.
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 15But really, as CIOs, we’re negotiators, and I just think running differently. Every plant had their way to do it.
it’s a skill that we don’t often think of as important. Every plant knew their way was the best. It took us close
Everything we do is in negotiation. How do you work to a year just to get a leveling of those processes, just to
with your customer to get to a solution that works for show people that we weren’t going to damage their jobs
them and works for you? even before we started to actually implement software.
I actually attended a workshop where they brought in I had a similar case in government. Many state
the authors of the book “Getting to Yes.” It just really governments were putting in new child welfare systems.
emphasized to me that having a good idea isn’t really what It took my state, Michigan, three tries. Two of the three
it’s all about. It’s really about being able to sell that idea. failed. Ultimately, it was a combination of the technology,
leadership, and then working with those individuals that
I think it’s important because, again, sometimes we as had to change their workflow in order to make it successful.
technology folks see everything as black and white, and
we don’t necessarily realize that in order to get the best What did you learn from these experiences?
impact for our ideas, we have to modify, we have to First of all, don’t introduce technology for technology’s
change, and we have to fit to the circumstances. sake. Also don’t assume that the most complex technology
is going to be the best. I used to tell my folks I would rather
Do you have a set strategy you use for workflow put in a really simple technology that everybody liked than
digitization? a really complex technology that nobody could understand.
You have certain strategies that you bring with you. You I’ve put a few very complex technologies in that just never
have a point of view; you have an approach that’s standard. got traction because people didn’t identify with them.
But the first thing to do is to see how that approach is being
received. Then adjust that approach depending upon the It’s also really important to me to have a partner in senior
business area that you’re working with. leadership in that area say, ‘yes, we want to change.’
Then, to have that person identify one or two champions
It’s important to have a point of view. You can’t just go in within their organization that would work with us to
and say to someone, ‘What would you like to do?’ Because determine what the way ahead is. Without that, I’ve just
you have some folks that are afraid of the technology, seen so many projects fail.
you have some folks that embrace the technology but are
maybe way out in left field, and then some folks that just Always involve those who are going to have to use the
want you to help them. technology. Maybe not in the decision process because
that gets a little tough, but at least make sure they’re
Also, very often the workforce identifies with whatever represented and also make sure that they’re involved in
technology they’re using and, in many cases, whatever the actual rollout of that technology.
technology they’re using defines their workflow. When you
bring a new technology and that changes their workflow, How do you make sure people feel involved?
it’s easy to think, “Wow, this is just a technology change.” My technique is to give everyone a chance to be involved.
In reality, you’re actually disrupting the way they do their We can do it with work groups or focus groups—there are a
jobs. It’s important to recognize that distinction so that variety of different ways to do it. But start off the process by
people aren’t threatened by the new technology. saying, look, I want your input, but you’re going to have to
come together and collaborate and come to a consensus.
Is there a project where you feel you did this well?
In the automotive industry, we implemented software The second thing I tell people is consensus means that we
that made standard processes across all of our non- do it in a way that fits for everyone. But if you can’t come to
automotive assembly plants. Every plant was used to a consensus, I will make the decision, which is not what you
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 16want because I don’t have the experience and background
that you have.
ABOUT
Teri Takai
When you’re changing a workflow, you always get a few
who are mad, and you always get a few that say, I don’t
want to do this, but you also get some really creative input Teri Takai is the Executive Director of the Center
from individuals. for Digital Government, a national research and
advisory institute on information technology
We did this with a process around being able to do field policies and best practices in state and local
support in the state of Michigan. I had field support folks government. She worked for Ford Motor Company
that came up with fantastic ideas that we implemented. for 30 years in global application development
People realize you’re listening to them and they realize and information technology strategic planning.
that they have a role. They go out and talk to their peers. From Ford, she moved to EDS in support of
It isn’t just coming from Teri. General Motors.
What process changes do you expect we’ll see in the A long-time interest in public service led her
public sector over the near and medium term? to the government sector, first as CIO of the State
Some of the process changes that are going to happen of Michigan, then as CIO of the State of California,
are due to the difficulty in hiring individuals to come and subsequently the CIO of the U.S. Department
to government. With the labor market the way it is, of Defense, the first woman appointed to this role.
government jobs just aren’t as attractive as they once were. She then served as the CIO for Meridian Health
So every department in government has to figure out how Plan. She is a member of several industry
they’re going to deal with fewer people. advisory boards.
A technology trend that fits that is artificial intelligence Teri has won numerous awards including
and machine learning. In other words, are we going to start Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year,
to automate jobs that we weren’t thinking about before CIO Magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame, Government
because we had a workforce? Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers
& Drivers, the Women in Defense Excellence in
In the next three years, what do you think government Leadership Award, and the Department of Defense
technology leaders should prioritize when it comes to Medal for Distinguished Public Service.
their digitization strategies?
Just continuing to make it easier for citizens to do business
with government. A business should be able to say, ‘tell me
all the licenses I need’ instead of needing to know that one
is from environmental quality and one is from tax.
Another one is if you have a hunting license and two
months before your license is due, you get a ping that says,
click here and renew your license. Wouldn’t that be great?
We don’t do much of that today.
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 17VISUAL GUIDE
The CIO’s
visual guide
for advancing
and tracking
digitization
ServiceNow’s approach to A visual heatmap is a useful tool to see how digitized an organization is—and to identify
implementing workflow areas for improvement.
digitization across functions
C
BY RIVA FROYMOVICH
IOs are advancing workflow digitization across the entire business
to improve experiences and unlock productivity. However, our
research shows that technology organizations face challenges in
cross-function collaboration and reporting results. We spoke with Patricia
Grant, vice president of IT strategy, planning and business operations at
ServiceNow, on how her team designed a replicable process to guide and
track digitization projects.
Why was it so important to create a repeatable digitization approach?
What does it look like?
We needed to create a framework or central approach that we could
use across our organization to automate repetitive tasks that were taking
up too much employee time. Increasingly, our customers have also been
asking us for direction on how to advance digital transformation in their
companies. In talking with industry analysts, we found there really
was no practical guide. We decided to create a step-by-step procedural
view on our own.
First, we needed to figure out where we were in our digital maturity as an
organization. To do that, we created an 11-question assessment for business
groups to use to evaluate each process in their organization. Our goal
was to make sure that each of these questions were understandable to a
non-technical audience—and we could use the same questions, no matter
the function.
Then, the groups select standardized responses to each question.
A score is associated with each response, indicating a process’s level
of digital maturity. The scores are also color-coded. So, at the end of
the questionnaire period, we have a visual heat map that shows every
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 18process inside a business function and very clear view of to identify processes that HR did on a regular basis.
each group’s overall state of digitization. We then asked the process owners to answer the 11
assessment questions to identify their digital maturity
The scores for each individual process are weighted levels. The framework automatically recommended specific
and added through a ServiceNow-created formula, actions they needed to take to move their digital maturity
and then trigger a set of recommendations. As these to the next level.
recommendations are implemented and a group
progresses, new recommendations are triggered, and How did you work with each function to apply the
the score is updated. recommendations?
The recommendations are crafted in a way that is
On a quarterly basis, IT and the business reviews progress easy to understand, yet actionable. For example, add a
over the past quarter and targets for the next quarter. service to the catalogue to make it easier for users to
Wins are celebrated and captured to help inspire our request something. Any recommendation that requires
customers, and it’s great to see progress on the heat map a technical solution is managed with the support of an
quarter-over-quarter. assigned business partner in the group. Service owners
then package these recommendations into projects and
That’s how we created a system, but we needed to make small initiatives that ultimately become their digital
sure each team was also excited to go on this journey transformation roadmap.
and understood the value. We established shared mission
statements and objectives at the outset, which aligned to On a quarterly basis, we hold executive readouts that
our overall corporate goals and language used by our CEO. explain the progress we are making on the projects.
And employees got that and were excited to move forward,
because it was in our language and the goals that we speak What was the impact of this digitization strategy
about every day. The teams also welcomed this process on employees, leadership, customers, and business
because it helped them learn how much time they were outcomes?
wasting on manual work. We have been using this strategy for over two years now
and have seen a very clear impact on a broad array of
How did you decide which team to begin with? areas. For example, employees are excited to see how their
It started with our CIO, Chris Bedi, socializing the idea everyday work contributes to the company transformation.
with peers, like Chief Talent Officer Pat Wadors. Because They have a new common language for discussing their
of their alignment, we started in HR. This non-IT group work with their team. In addition, the framework gives
also gave us the ability to pilot the framework to ensure our leaders an actionable way to translate their vision and
it would resonate with other departments. strategies into concrete transformational roadmaps.
Once you identified teams that were interested, what Our customers benefit in two ways. First, digital
did you do next? transformation drives automation adoption,
We had to set expectations with the leaders of each enabling ServiceNow to deliver services faster and,
department that embarked on this transformation program as a result, improve the customer experience. Second,
that there was going to be an investment in time at the many customers have found value in applying the
beginning to catalogue what they do on a day-to-day basis. methodology within their own organizations to help
speed up their own transformation.
We worked with HR to identify who would drive the
transformation effort. That turned out to be the VP of HR As a business, we’ve seen a remarkable change within
Operations, who appointed a process expert to record key ServiceNow as we automate repetitive tasks and enable
business processes. We used an interview-based approach employees to do more value-added work.
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 19Digital transformation is the foundation upon which we
can unlock productivity and deliver great experiences
ABOUT
to our employees and customers. Once the momentum
Patricia Grant
started, teams were competing with each other to see who
could drive the most automation in their areas.
Patricia Grant joined ServiceNow in March 2017
What were some key lessons you learned along the way running our IT Strategy, Planning and Business
that are shaping how you are rolling out digital workflows Operations team reporting directly to our CIO, Chris
going forward? Bedi. She is responsible for creating a world class
We have learned several lessons in our journey over the PMO leveraging ServiceNow’s own products, and
last couple of years. First, every process does not need to building a business operations organization to run
be digitized. Our goal is to be able to identify the areas IT like a business. She leads digital transformation
that make the most sense to automate and be able to track across G&A generating business outcomes and
progress and impact over time. real value. She is also responsible for creating and
driving the company’s Now on Now programs
We also learned to be adaptable and flexible. When the to showcase how ServiceNow uses its own Now
scores didn’t change while transforming one of our high- Platform™ to drive digital transformation.
opportunity processes, we stopped, took a fresh look at
what we were doing, and quickly evaluated. She has been in IT for over 26 years and has held
several leadership positions across the board during
Another lesson is that some groups have similar processes her tenure which gives her broad knowledge in
that appear to have the same potential for automation. But many areas. She holds a BA in Communication from
it’s important to remember that each group is at a different Ohio State University, a BS in Computer Information
stage of the maturity curve. You can’t directly transfer the Systems from DeVry University, and an Executive
same automated process from one group to the other. We MBA from California State University.
create greater efficiencies by sharing lessons learned from
one group to another. Patricia has several years of experience with
ServiceNow as a former customer which is where
We invested significant time in developing the framework, her passion for ServiceNow products began as did
so we were excited when it finally began producing her joy of meeting with customers to share her
results for individual groups. But each group is on its experiences to ensure their customer success.
own transformation journey, with its own hurdles and
milestones. A consistent, yet adaptable approach to digital
transformation helps us mentor, coach, and guide them to
success along the way.
Review sample heat maps for various
business lines on the next pages.
Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue 20Workflow Quarterly
Sample Digital Heat Map – Global Talent (HR)
HR technologies Total rewards HR operations Talent acquisition
Business HRIS Benefits Compensation Analytics Compliance Global HR Shared Talent
The Strategy Issue
Systems mobility operations services acquisition
services services
HR NDA Assign Add New hire ACR Global Compliance Business travel Internal transfer Address change Manage Access Interview
workday beneficiary benefits headcount reporting request probation request: scheduling
security international enrollment reporting Periods linkedin rps
address international (international)
KB article Workday/ Add New hire Job change Quarterly Education and Employee RIF/ Reorg New hire Manager Contingent Job Posting
administration service beneficiary us benefits metrics training relocation processes password reset change worker
now data audit enrollment US conversion
Workday Add dependent Qualified status Mid-year Query & report Hr policies and Expatriate New hire Degree / Name change Contingent Background
password International change compensation requests procedures management survey - week 1 certification worker check Intl
reset-test international review update extension
environment
Workday hire Add Open On call pay Regional Policy revision Visa New hire Audit: workday Onboarding Contingent New contingent
(Global) dependent US enrollment reporting management administration survey-day 45 international worker worker request
process termination
international
Emergency Tuition One time SOX adults Audit: workday Onboarding Contingent New hire
contact reimbursement payment new hires us US worker orientation
change international transfer
Leave of Tuition Pay change Business title Phone number Close Req Background
absence reimbursement change change or check US
international US update
Holiday Qualified Quarterly Location Employee Early career- Offer
calendar status bonus process change inquiries feedback acceptance
administration change US surveys
Leave of Open Stock Contractor Offboarding Hiring manager Offer
absence US enrollment grand request extension (Involuntary) training extension
process US
Matching Stock Cfeate / Offboarding Early career Manage
gift request reporting edit cost (Voluntary) hiring request Req
center
Weekend Create HR case Employee Open
shift pay supervisory org management referral program requisition
Government ID Offer extension Sourcing
administration international request
Employee Request on
referral program interview room
inquire form
Offer TA
acceptance reporting
international
Single score
50
21Workflow Quarterly
Sample Digital Heat Map – IT Operations
Digital IT employee services IT infrastructure IT operations governance
media
Digital Collaboration End-point Service Contact Database & Hybrid Identity & Network & Asset Operations Service
media services services desk center Apps admin cloud Access Voice management management management
(Eis/ce) services management
The Strategy Issue
Video Box account End point IT onboarding Agent DBA Antivirus New system ADgroup Capacity Intrusion Capacity Circuits Service Change
production - creation configuration for new management management monitoring creation planning detection planning asset mapping management
internal management - employees and prevention management
windows
Video Onedrive Hardware IT offboarding Agent SAP admin Backup Patch AD group DHCP scope Load balancing Dial plan Global mobility Configuration Critical
production - account standards - for new provisioning configuration management membership creation configuration management management management escalation
external creation mac employees change management
Video content Slack - create Hardware Switch Capacity SAP GRC Capacity Physical server Service DNS record Network access End point Hardware asset Discovery Incident
management - workspace standards boarding planning planning provisioning account creation management provisioning management management
external windows creation
Video content Slack - add Os image Amazon dash Dial plan Servicenow Citrix Security Fault Network Geo dns Software asset Event Knowledge
management - single-channel deployment - management admin application remediation management scanning record management management base
internal guest users windows publishing creation management
Visual design Slack - Os image Tech lounge Ivr/Scripts/ Servicenow Data Sserver Firewall New device IP addressing Problem
& branding add apps deployment - Queuing release restoration configuration changes configuration management
mac management management
Event Os image Asset bundling Numbering plan Servicenow Datastore Server Firewall health Performance Numbering plan Service request
management management - management SOX provisioning decommission monitoring monitoring management management
mac
Live event - Os image Call center Patching & Disaster Shared mailbox Firewall policy Purchase Patching &
production management - services Change recovery configuration management equipment change
windows management testing management
Live event - Os Distribution list Shared mailbox Hardware Sw upgrades PSTN
broad casting upgrades - configuration creation standards configuration
mac
Tier1 events - Os Distribution list Storage zoning HW upgrade Switchport Qos (design,
local-only upgrades - creation configuration monitoring)
windows
Tier2 events - Patch Email alias Virtual server Internet Vlan creation Upgrades and
department management - configuration configuration management feature
wide mac deployment
Tier3 Patch Equipment Virtual server Wireless service Monitoring Voice VLAN
events – sub management - disposal provisioning creation
department wide windows
Tier4 events - SW Esxi server VM template
companywide packaging - image management
mac management
Digital asset SW Hardware Volume
management packaging - decommission provisioning
windows
SW Linux cluster Windows
standards - configuration cluster
mac configuration
Single score
52
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