Alternative to email notifications for fulfillers/resolvers out of ITSM

LMBrotz · 3 weeks ago

We recently deployed ServiceNow ITSM in our organization replacing a very archaic system for our IT requests and incidents (I feel like we upgraded our car from manual/crank windows to power windows!). We have not yet deployed the Employee Portal to our customers, and are reliant upon the email notifications for both fulfillers/resolvers and customers related to ticket activity. We are also not using the mobile app at this time.

Our fulfillers are already getting email fatigue with all of the email notifications - when a ticket is opened, updated comments, updated work notes, resolved/closed, adds to the watchlist. We have fulfillers on both ends of the spectrum - some rely upon the emails for notifications, others are comfortable using dashboards and notifications in the ITSM.

How are other organizations configuring their notifications? Looking for some insight to guide us as we move forward in maturing with ITSM, gaining efficiencies and adoption along the way.

We are an organization with 2500 employees, IT department of 70. We have one ITSM Admin configuring the system.

Brian Lancaster · 3 weeks ago

On notification like comment and work notes you can uncheck the "send to event creator". This will make it so that the notification only gets sent to the person who it is supposed to go to if they are not the ones who caused the notification. For example if work notes are added by the fulfiller that is assigned the incident the notification will not be sent to them.

MackI · 3 weeks ago

The core solution for tackling fulfiller email fatigue is to reduce the reliance on email for operational updates and move notifications into centralized platforms and targeted communication channels. This supports both types of fulfillers you mentioned: those who prefer dashboards/notifications, and those who currently rely on immediate alerts.
Here is an overview of how other organizations configure their notifications, focusing on leveraging ServiceNow's built-in platform features to gain efficiencies and adoption, despite your current limitation of not having the Employee Portal or Mobile App deployed.
1. Centralising Fulfiller Notifications in Service Operations Workspace (SOW)
Since you have deployed ITSM, leveraging the Service Operations Workspace (SOW) is the primary method to address fulfiller preference for using dashboards and reducing email volume.
• SOW as the Primary Interface: SOW provides a unified experience for Tier 1 and Tier 2 agents to manage the lifecycle of task records such as incidents and requests. It features a tailored landing page that gives a quick overview of assignments, outages, announcements, allowing agents to prioritize work based on SLA, priority level, and urgency, minimizing the need to hunt for updates in an email inbox.
• In-Platform Notifications: Instead of relying on email, agents receive real-time updates via the notification icon (bell icon) within SOW. This icon displays alerts and a badge count for new notifications. These notifications cover updates to assigned incidents, problems, or change requests.

Redirecting Email Links to SOW: Your single ITSM admin can configure email notifications so that the links to incident records redirect users directly to the Service Operations Workspace instead of the classic UI16 interface. This encourages fulfillers who still rely on email to transition their workflow context into the modern workspace, provided they have the necessary sn_sow_user role and the sow_email_notification_redirect property is set to true

Leverage Collaboration Tools (Slack/Microsoft Teams): Instead of sending emails for every comment or work note update, you can integrate collaboration services like Microsoft Teams or Slack directly into the task record pages in SOW

Critical Alerts (On-Call Scheduling): For high-priority tasks where immediate response is required (and email might be too slow or easily missed), organizations utilize On-Call Scheduling. This allows agents and managers to define preferred communication channels, potentially including SMS text, Voice messages, Microsoft Teams, or Mobile push notifications, as escalation paths, ensuring critical alerts bypass general email congestion

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anand9 · 3 weeks ago

In addition to what Brian mentioned, you can allow users to unsubscribe the notification if this feature is not already enabled.

Thanks

https://agentic-now.dev

MaxMixali · 3 weeks ago

You can do this:

Actions (Next 2-4 Weeks)1. Implement Notification Preference GroupsCreate user preference groups to accommodate both ends of your spectrum:Navigate to: System Notification > Email > Notification PreferencesCreate three preference profiles:Profile A: "Email Power Users" (for those who rely on email)

Ticket assigned to me
Ticket updated (comments only, NOT work notes)
Ticket awaiting my approval
SLA breach warnings
Ticket resolved/closed
Profile B: "Dashboard Users" (for those comfortable in platform)

Ticket assigned to me (only)
Ticket awaiting my approval
SLA breach warnings (critical only)
Disable: updates, work notes, watch list notifications
Profile C: "Balanced Users" (recommended default)

Ticket assigned to me
Direct @mentions in comments
Ticket awaiting my approval
SLA 75% breach warning
Ticket resolved (only if they're assigned)