Implementation Critical Success Factors

[Josh Personius]

I was recently presenting for a prospect when I displayed our talking points about what we call our 'critical success factors' (CSF) namely: People, Process, Technology, Strategy and Governance in no particular order.   These points were adopted from Gartner and we in ServiceNow Professional Services have worked with these ideas for years now.   It has been my experience whereas I have never been met with any disagreement to these points when presenting, as they do align to typically corporate thinking. I feel that any clear minded person can quickly and easily see the value on the surface of these ideas and it is clear that each one of these areas is important but the weight of how important and to what extent varies with each company and   to that point I feel that further examination is needed.

In this meeting I was questioned about the detail behind each one of these 'pillars' and asked to elaborate further on what did each one of these mean to us at ServiceNow Professional Services.   I was able to detail out what I felt each area contained and some of the critical points one should be on the looking for when reviewing them.   I truly believe in these critical success factors and have seen them in action over the years in ServiceNow Professional Services but it was time that I started to examine each one in detail, breaking them out into meaningful and practical examples of how I have seen each one in practical use.   I will examine each area in this blog, breaking each area down into practical real-world examples so the reader can then highlight where they may have gaps and/or needs they should consider when implementing our platform.   The examination will go beyond phase 1 builds and show applicability at any point within an implementation.