HR Service Portal and Licensing

[Michael deHaas]

So not sure if anyone else is having this issue around HR module and the new licensing that seems to be coming.

Today we use HR Case Management with Managed Documents and a single custom application for managing employee work visa applications.

As per normal we pay a reasonable fee for fulfiller subscriptions for HR staff to manage the process that are in ServiceNow HR.

Now that we are in Helsinki we have seen the new HR Service Portal which does look great, shows a better UI, has some pre-built catalog items (mostly US focused). Integration into Workday and a good amount of nice and valuable items to take advantage of.   We are going to hire a number of new people in the future and our HR wanted to have a easier time to onboard these employees during the pre-employee phase.   Log to an 'app', complete a check-list with a number of tasks to read/watch/upload/etc and when completed they would be an employee.   Helsinki has this 'onboarding' function built in already so our assumption was we could leverage this OOTB functionality with some additional configuration and off we would be.

Well that is not really the full story.   Yes you can leverage the HR Service Portal that is available.   However, ServiceNow changed their pricing model from a price per month/per fulfiller to a price per month, per employee.   In short... we are sticking with what we have and potentially going in a different direction which is to build a custom application in ServiceNow which goes against what I believe ServiceNow is trying to do and is surely not what I want to do or support.   The new pricing, (even with a significant discount) provides no ROI for a company like ours so I don't really have much choice..  

I'm not sure what ServiceNow is planning but I feel that many customers like ours are going to struggle with this change and there will be impact.

Happy to hear if others are having challenges like we are and what they have done to resolve situations in what direction they take in the HR area.

Thanks!

Michael

[Jeffrey Gore]

Michael,

You are correct that ServiceNow has adopted a per employee per month (PEPM) licensing model for HR Service Management.   The rationale for the change in licensing model is:

1. Per employee pricing is consistent with how HR technology is licensed (e.g., Workday, Jobvite, etc.)
2. Per employee pricing aligns with the value HRSM provides to our customers
3. Per employee pricing enables the structuring of services such as onboarding and lifecycle events

In regards to that last point, ServiceNow is now enabling an organization to structure their HR Service Portal correctly without worrying about "who is a fulfiller" in the service definition.   In the onboarding example, we know that the event for the employee is that they are a new hire. Instead of waiting for them to submit a bunch of requests, we can proactively task that employee (and others in the process).   The licensing change also supports a lifecycle event model, which allows the employee to communicate in their terms (e.g., change in marital status, promotion, medical leave, etc.) vs them needing to know all of the catalog and knowledge content that would go into that process.

For customers that are on legacy SKUs, ServiceNow does provide migration options.   Please feel free to reach out to me or your account representative directly and we can review.

Thank you.

Jeffrey Gore

[Michael deHaas]

Jeffrey - thanks for taking the time in responding to my post as it is greatly appreciated.   To some extent I do understand SN direction.   For a company our size and our maturity we don't really need (at this time) all that SN HR provides.   I have been working with your partners and our account representative on this topic and there seems to be a great deal of confusion and challenges that I assume SN needs to manage internally to provide more transparency and support.

You have to understand that I today can support my 6k employees at a relatively reasonable price.   Moving to this PEPM cost even at a signification discount has me at the least doubling my cost.   To put it in another way - I just need a Chrysler Family Van and I most-likley will only need a van.   SN are pushing me towards a high-end Winnebago to pull my van... and all I will do is park the Winnebago and drive the van.

Our challenge I'm sure is not unique and unless there is other options to work for companies like ours there is a potential to have a few customers fall of.   It happens, it is the nature of business. Just unfortunate as we do like SN.

We have some more discussions with SN and your partners over the next week - but this has not been a nice experience by far.

[Jeffrey Gore]

Michael,

I have reached out to your Account Rep to join you on your next call.   We will work with you on the migration and to discuss your vision on the requirements for the "Family Van" version of HR Service Management.

Hoping to turn around the experience for you!   Look forward to speaking with you soon.

Thank you,

Jeffrey Gore

[Michael deHaas]

Jeffrey - thanks for reaching out. We have had some long discussions with our local reps and we have made some progress.   At the moment we are at the decision point on what direction we now take. Thanks again for your help and insight.

Michael