Building the case for people-first automation

Why automation is the answer to your employee experience needs and the key to sustainable business growth

• Digital automation is delivering real employee and business benefits to businesses of all kinds on a daily basis
• · Transformation is essential – but it won’t get anywhere without compelling evidence or a clear roadmap.
• · ServiceNow can help you to navigate uncertainty and make your business case – with demos, calculators, and customer insights.

As a famous author once wrote, "a goal without a plan is just a wish".

The same can be said of building a business case for digital automation on breathless talk of the future – without a clear argument for why automation is right. In our current work environment, with so many of us working remotely and lacking direct physical access to expected resources or colleagues, does it make digital processes simpler? Can it break down information siloes? What kind of time could it save employees? And what could it save the business in terms of cost?

Without answers to questions like these – or the all-important buy-in from C-suite leaders and employees – your case isn’t likely to go anywhere.

As any enterprise leader knows, proactive and carefully considered transformation is critical to future business growth and success. Fail to innovate and your processes will soon become cumbersome and unwieldy – struggling to keep up with the workload or more agile competitors.

The result? Both your employee and customer experience take a serious hit, dragging engagement, retention and profit levels down.

For those successfully realising their automation ambitions, the rewards are significant. In our own research, we’ve seen that the automation of routine tasks can improve IT productivity by over 20%.

And a recent Forbes article says, “when automation can handle up to 45% of repetitive work”, employees have more time to focus on high-value projects that require critical thinking, discovering new solutions and delivering fresh innovation. This kind of empowerment boosts engagement and productivity, fostering a greater sense of value and satisfaction.

In spite of transformation’s upsides (and the dangers of standing still), the business case is often seen as an obstacle to be overcome. In truth, it's your closest ally in proving the need for change and inspiring action – offering a blend of your own observations, business strategy and objectives, and compelling evidence, all working together to secure the buy-in you need.

Next step forward

So how do you build a plan that’s powerful enough to take your business on that journey? Simple: make a case that can speak to any role within the business, and resonate with everyone.

Like any business case, your argument for automation must be able to address every 'why?' thrown its way; not merely hinting at a better solution, but actively paving the way with substantive, quantifiable evidence that demonstrates:

• The competitive advantage it will deliver
• How all stakeholders will benefit
• Short-, medium- and long-term ROI

The journey to a clear, compelling business case takes plenty of effort. But given automation’s potential benefits, it’s worth it. And we’ll do our best to help you every step of the way.

Preparing a solid plan with ServiceNow

Your business plan should be the result of a thorough investigation, comprising in-depth research and fresh thinking. The good news is that ServiceNow offers a range of tools to help you accomplish this – covering these three elements, and much more. One of our key differentiators is our ability to work as a strategic partner – both during and well after the business case journey – helping champions of change that are working to make transformation a success in their enterprise.

Our Proof of Concept community is a great example of how both we can provide assistance, enabling companies to develop and test products in live business scenarios. This allows case-makers to assess the merits of any possible solution and share the findings.

Assessing and communicating stakeholder benefits across enterprises is also made possible by our ServiceNow Inspire team, who frequently offer tailored consultancy throughout the business case journey. This includes working to identify goals and suitable solutions at the discovery stage, as well as helping to develop a subsequent roadmap for implementation, and offering continued support right through to realisation.

You can even explore the potential financial impact of using ServiceNow ITSM – with our Forrester-certified IT Value Calculator. 

You can also visit our automation page to learn more about how the right technology can help to transform the way employees work – and deliver value to your business.

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