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Week 3 highlights from Knowledge 2020
Week 3 at Knowledge 2020 was another big one, covering everything from Now on Now innovations to what’s next for companies who are plotting a path to bring employees back to the workplace. Here are a few highlights from a busy week. (Be sure to register or sign in to get access to everything below.)
Great CX starts with great EX
A global pandemic shouldn’t distract CEOs from their focus on implementing digital technologies and workflows or from fundamentally improving their businesses. “Digital transformation is hard,” said ServiceNow CIO Chris Bedi in his Knowledge 2020 keynote. “Everyone is going through it, and different companies have different pressures, especially in this new normal.”
One priority should remain constant: Companies can dramatically improve productivity by offloading manual processes to digital workflow platforms—ultimately creating better human experiences on the job. “It starts with an amazing employee experience,” said Dean Robison, ServiceNow’s SVP of global technical support. “If I can do that, then I can deliver what our customers truly need.”
Watch the full keynote: How ServiceNow achieves 10X ROI by driving digital transformation across its own business
How digital workflows revamped a mobile enterprise
When mobile devices fail or get lost at ABF Freight, which operates more than 200 service centers in the U.S. and Canada, operations fail quickly, too. The main reason? The company relied on a byzantine process for replacing mobile devices that resulted in endless email chains between executives, purchasing reps, and IT—and delays that often went on for months.
“Users had no way of knowing where their devices were in this jumbled mess,” said Stephen McCarty, a senior systems analyst at ABF Freight’s parent company, ArcBest, in a Knowledge 2020 presentation.
Enter the Now Platform and the conversion of those legacy email processes into digital workflows. Over a period of several years working with ServiceNow, ABF ultimately reduced its device-replacement process from months to days, and expanded its mobile capacity at the same time. Previously ABF mobile devices could be used on just three types of jobs. Todaythey can handle 11 different jobs.
“The next time you have to go dig up an email you got a month ago,” said McCarty, “you might want to take a minute and ask yourself—is this something we can streamline with ServiceNow.”
Watch the full session: Taming an unruly process
Clearing the path for a safe return to the workplace
Eventually, the pandemic will end and workplaces will reopen. But work will be different for almost everyone. Agile, distributed, “anywhere, anytime” workplaces will become the norm rather than the exception.
As organizations navigate myriad challenges over the coming months, returning their employees to the workplace will require careful planning and execution. That was the central theme in a presentation by Jeffrey Gore, senior director of product management at ServiceNow.
Following the release of ServiceNow’s COVID-19 emergency response apps, we recently announced new “safe workplace” apps that will help companies adapt as they gradually allow workers back into corporate spaces. These include:
- Employee readiness surveys
- Employee health screenings
- PPE inventory management
- Workplace safety managemen
- Safe workplace dashboards
As Gore explained, these apps support two related but different objectives—workplace readiness and workforce safety. In these trying times, it’s essential to give employees the right digital experience. “You must have the agility to respond to change,” Gore said. “We also understand what we don’t know. This is going to be a very complicated and iterative process for organizations to go through.”
Returning workers as safely, quickly, and efficiently as possible seems like a great first step.
Watch the full session: Managing safe turn to workplace with ServiceNow Employee Workflows
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