Multi-Instance Approach to Telco Digital Transformation Journeys

[Chris Pearson]

Before embarking on your telco digital transformation journey with ServiceNow’s Sales and Order Management (SOMT), it’s crucial to consider whether all your business operations should run on a single instance or multiple instances of ServiceNow.

Customer-facing applications like SOMT, TSM, FSM, TNI, and TSOM are best consolidated in a single instance for seamless operations. However, once you’ve completed your transformation journey for your “green dollar business,” organizations often begin asking, “What’s next?”

When incorporating internal ITSM processes into the same instance running TSM, complexities can arise. For example, since TSM includes both Customer Service Management (CSM) Case Management and ITSM Incident Management capabilities, your customer-facing and internal IT teams would need to coexist within the same incident form, categories, and processes. This overlap might lead to challenges in ensuring smooth workflows and could be a strong argument for adopting a dual-instance approach: a separate instance for customer-facing processes and another for internal processes.

Another complication is the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). A single CMDB would mix both internal and customer-facing configuration items, making data management and visibility more complex. Not impossible to manage, certainly more complex.

While having two instances allows for the freedom to tailor processes to specific needs, it’s not without drawbacks. It requires maintaining duplicate foundation data integrations, potentially managing more MID servers, and running multiple instance upgrade projects per year, all of which increase the workload for your ServiceNow support team along with maintenance costs.

Investing in a multi-instance approach offers flexibility and clarity but involves higher initial setup and maintenance. Evaluating your organization’s needs will help determine the best path forward for your ServiceNow journey. Which approach is right for your organization?

#SOMT #TSM #TNI #TSOM #Telecom #Thirdera #ServiceNow