Deliver on the promise. That’s what I love about being a ServiceNow Solution Architect.

[Sandeep Tandon]

Since I’ve published this blog, I’ve also been a guest on the Accelerate podcast. If you’d like to listen, you can find the episode in your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

Often, in solution selling there is a slip between the cup and the lip. As a project moves through its deal cycle, customers may find a gap between what was promised and what is being delivered. At ServiceNow, we believe in delivering what we promise, and we have a team of solution architects to make sure we do exactly that. I’m Sandeep Tandon, and a proud member of that team as a principal solution architect in ServiceNow Expert Services.

Let me tell you a bit about myself. I come with a background in Global Business Services and Human Resources, having worked in the industry for over 25 years. I’ve had the good fortune of working with large global organizations in various capacities and locations across the world. The last few years of my career have been focused on large, multi-year, digital transformation projects. Through that work, I’ve realized the value of a solution like the ServiceNow platform. A lot of challenges that we used to struggle to solve during my experience with large digital transformations, were inbuilt solutions in the out of the box platform offering at ServiceNow. I was so enthused that I decided to pursue a career as an implementation consultant at ServiceNow. Five years later, I lead the Employee Workflows solution architecture for ServiceNow in the Americas West region.

So, how do I make sure ServiceNow delivers on its promises? ServiceNow solution architects engage with customers in the pre-sales cycle. We work with them to understand their vision, goals, and objectives for implementing ServiceNow. We design the right solution approach that is fit for purpose. And once the customer is ready to implement, the solution architect works with the Expert Services delivery team to ensure that the result is what the customer envisioned in the first place. The connection between pre-sales, post-sales and until the product is delivered is critical. It ensures we deliver the promised customer outcome.

Sometimes our customer needs are varied and complex. I’m part of a great team of solution architects, each with their own area of specialization. And we don’t work in silos. We truly collaborate to deliver business outcomes for customers, especially when solutions have multiple functional components, such as Human Resources, Information Technology, Workplace Services, Legal Services etc. The ServiceNow platform makes it easy to deliver connected, consistent solutions that span different business areas. Equally important, we have a culture of collaboration and accountability that starts with our leadership and permeates our entire organization.

Why do we deliver great results for customers? I have already talked about continuity, collaboration, and accountability—and, of course, the platform. Another key thing is our Now Create Methodology, which we have fine-tuned in countless customer engagements. We’ve got proven tools to deliver success at each stage of a customer engagement and are constantly learning and updating these tools with each project. And then there’s agility in approach. While we keep a laser focus on delivering what we scoped, we also know that things change, and we need to be ready to respond and adapt using Agile Development principles.

For example, I remember one customer who started out with the intention of building a centralized global HR Shared Services. But midway during implementation they were impacted by a corporate event requiring them to leave certain processes in country for some countries. We were able to quickly redesign the solution to meet these new needs, keeping the customer solution delivery on track. The customer was part of a large global conglomerate. Two years later, their parent organization hired us to replicate the solution across all group companies. Using ServiceNow is like embarking on a journey where the platform keeps offering added functionality and value to all stakeholders.

I’ve been with ServiceNow for five years now, and I enjoy every minute of it. Why? First—and this goes without saying—I love working with customers to solve business problems. There’s no better feeling than knowing you’ve made a difference and that the customer appreciates it. Then, there’s the opportunity to continue learning. As I said, I’ve been in the industry for 25 years, but I’m still learning. And ServiceNow has a wonderful learning culture. I’m expanding my horizons beyond the traditional functional areas I’m familiar with to learn about other areas, which is great for me and hopefully great for our customers as well.

So here’s to the next five years. At some point, perhaps I’ll have the opportunity to deliver on our promises to you. If so, I’m really looking forward to working with you!

[anubhavkapoor76]

@Sandeep Tandon - Spot on! 👏