Need Help

[jeennyj]

Has anyone here worked with ServiceNow CRM to streamline sales, service, or order management? I’m looking for some expert tips and best practices to improve efficiency and boost productivity across the front, middle, and back offices. Any advice on maximizing its potential for growing revenue while enhancing customer experiences would be greatly appreciated!

[Itallo Brandão · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I’ve worked on several projects that implement ServiceNow’s CRM-related features to streamline the sales, service, and order management processes. Here are a few recommendations and best practices I’ve gathered along the way:

1. Align Your Data Model Early

   • Ensure that your customer data (Accounts, Contacts, Leads/Opportunities) is well-structured.
   • Define clear relationships between Sales, Service (CSM), and Order Management data.
   • If you’re integrating from multiple sources (e.g., ERP, billing systems), a solid data dictionary and data management plan will help maintain consistency.

2. Leverage Out-of-the-Box Workflows

   • ServiceNow often provides baseline workflows and modules (e.g., for CSM or Field Service Management).
   • Start with these pre-built flows to standardize processes (like lead-to-opportunity or quote-to-cash) before customizing.
   • Extending out-of-the-box flows rather than building from scratch usually saves time and ensures smoother upgrades.

3. Automate Front to Back Office

   • Front Office: Use Agent Workspace and Virtual Agent to handle inquiries efficiently, unify customer data, and speed up response times.
   • Middle Office: Integrate your contract, quotes, and approval processes into the platform. Business rules and Flow Designer can automate steps like discount approvals or cross-department notifications.
   • Back Office: Connect order and fulfillment details to back-office systems (like SAP or Oracle) to reduce manual data entry and provide real-time visibility of delivery status.

4. Drive Proactive Service with CSM

   • If you’re leveraging the Customer Service Management (CSM) module, set up proactive alerts for customers with open or recurring issues.
   • Empower your agents to see a “360-degree view” of each customer—open cases, orders, entitlements—to quickly address potential escalations.
   • Automate the creation of problem or change records if you detect systemic issues impacting multiple customers.

5. Enable Personalized Engagement

   • Use Customer Journeys and “Next Best Action” approaches to offer relevant cross-sell/up-sell recommendations.
   • Configure dashboards and performance analytics so sales teams see real-time progress on pipeline, renewal rates, and customer health scores.

6. Centralized Knowledge Management

   • Consolidate knowledge articles for both your sales and service teams. This knowledge base helps everyone find consistent information quickly—pricing, product specs, and troubleshooting.
   • Ensure that knowledge feedback loops are in place (e.g., letting agents comment or mark articles as helpful), so content stays fresh and accurate.

7. Performance Analytics and Dashboards

   • Build out tailored dashboards for sales reps, service agents, and managers.
   • Track KPIs like average response times, conversion rates, pipeline coverage, and order fulfillment times.
   • Use Performance Analytics to trend historical data and forecast future capacity or demand.

8. Keep the Customer at the Center

   • ServiceNow’s platform is very extensible; as you add features (chatbots, AI search, mobile apps), always keep in mind how it affects the customer experience.
   • Simplify the UX for your end users—internal teams shouldn’t need to navigate multiple forms or custom scripts for routine tasks.

9. Integrate Where Possible

   • Consider using IntegrationHub for connecting with key external systems: Salesforce (if you’re hybrid), ERP for financials, or other marketing automation tools.
   • Clean, well-documented integrations ensure that data flows seamlessly without duplication or drift.

10. Governance and Roadmap

• Establish a governance board or similar structure for your CRM and CSM processes—especially important as you scale up.
• Plan for incremental enhancements, so you can continuously improve as you gather feedback from sales teams, support agents, and customers.

Summary
By taking a platform-wide perspective and standardizing workflows across front, middle, and back-office operations, you can maximize ServiceNow’s potential for revenue growth and enhanced customer experiences. The key is to strike a balance between using out-of-the-box modules and carefully planned customizations.

Hope these tips help! 

Best regards,

Itallo Brandão