Virtual highlights from Knowledge 2020, Week 1

Knowledge 2020 made history this week as ServiceNow’s first-ever virtual conference for thousands of its employees, partners, and customers participating from their homes around the world. 

Kicking off the event, CEO Bill McDermott spoke of how the Now Platform is helping meet the challenges of the current global crisis. “The world is in a seminal moment,” he said, adding that participants should use K20 to tap into the power of community to create needed solutions. “One is never smarter than all of us,” he said.

Chris Bedi, ServiceNow’s Chief Information Officer, echoed McDermott’s message in a remote chat with Jennifer McNamara, CIO of Washington State’s Department of Health.

As the crisis hit, Washington became an early outbreak hotspot. The state turned to the Now Platform and the ServiceNow team, to build an emergency response app that helped state officials manage caseloads and staffing. Working together, they were able to bring the app to the public within three weeks, and make it freely available for other organizations as well.
 

Our first week of Knowledge kicked off with  great content, brought straight to your screen. Here's a quick recap of what went down—and make sure you're registered or signed in to get direct access the keynotes and sessions mentioned below.

Strategic IT

In the IT Workflows keynote, Pablo Stern, SVP of IT Workflow Products, explained how ServiceNow was able to meet a huge initial challenge.  “We had to take 10,000 employees remote almost overnight,” he said. “IT was really the hero of that transformation.”

Looking forward, Stern explained the potential of recent advances in the Now Platform to bolster IT as a strategic force for the enterprise. Virtual agents powered by advanced natural language processing, improved self-service functionality, and increased integration with machine learning will help companies keep pace with the speed of digital innovation.

Stern invited Majhi Mohseni, director of IT operations at Delta, to share how the Now Platform’s IT automation helped them support 30,000 employees as they transitioned to remote work. Mohseni also touted new AI features that allowed Delta to predict operational issues before they became problems.
 

Citizen CSM

In the Customer Workflows keynote, Farrell Hope, SVP of Customer Workflows, explained that as demand for online customer service skyrocketed during the pandemic, the Now Platform met the moment across its customer base with both functionality and scalability.

ServiceNow, she explained, already had been working with the state of Tennessee to take all of its citizens’ food assistance applications digital. Applications processing is now moving 10 times faster than it was previously. When the Covid crisis hit, Hope said, the state was ready to handle a surge of unemployment applications—it was able to process new claims in as little as 48 hours.

Looking beyond the crisis, Hope explained that the Now Platform is tapping virtual agents and AI capabilities to deliver ever better customer experiences moving forward.

The power of employee self-service

The power of self-service, chatbots, AI, and ML to improve employee experience was the focus of the Employee Workflows keynote by Blake McConnell, SVP of Employee Workflow Products. Whether that means onboarding, replacing a broken laptop, or answering a benefits question, McConnell said, “our focus is on frictionless employee service delivery. ”  He invited executives from American Express Global Business Travel to discuss how self-service features handle 90% of employee cases.

Other virtual highlights

Week 1 of Knowledge 2020 boasted other exciting speakers and sessions as well. Customer experience expert Shep Hyken offered tactics and tools to build stronger relationships with consumers. Walmart data science leaders discussed how they tapped the Now Platform for performance analytics insights. And if you ever wanted to be an IT Jedi, ITAM Manager Jeanna Murphy can train you in the art of becoming a rebel hero with limited resources.

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