Leveraging Servicenow to transition AudioVisual to Unified Communications

[Matthew Fearnle]

With Unified Communications (UC) replacing legacy Audio Visual (AV) systems ServiceNow users can take advantage of this opportunity to finally make AV a full IT function.

AV has always been an odd fit in IT since it was the only IT discipline that did not grow up in an IT silo. Hence practices, protocols, supply chains and people all came together in this quasi IT but not IT discipline. AV sat at the kids table at the IT Thanksgiving dinner.

If you don't have an AV CMDB or an AV ITSM roadmap or an AV ITFM lifecycle plan, not to worry, now is your perfect opportunity.

AV CMDB: Building an AV CMDB brings AV in from the cold and is the foundation of AV as a pure IT function. Classification of assets such as touchpanels, processors, monitors and the corresponding data (I.P., MAC, physical location, phone number) allows for a new level of stability not possible through traditional lack of AV support methodologies. The AV CMDB now allows anyone to build an AV service support infrastructure.

AV ITSM: For many on the enterprise AV service is rolled into desktop services or a "boots on the ground" approach. A solid Service Management approach will allow you to see the real time the adoption of new systems. The classification and analysis of service queue tickets will determine adjustments in your rollouts. Are there compatibility issues? training issues? technical issues on the network? we all know there will be issues. ServiceNow provides the opportunity to capture diagnostics and analyze the data for a smoother rollout and a more stable environment.

AV ITFM: Traditional AV has been introduced to the enterprise in a room by room rollout or at times, a phased rollout. Both approaches introduce a tiered asset and software cascade that has a multiplier effect when it comes to lifecycle management. Some components outlive others and many don't see an issue until systems start failing. By onboarding new UC partners onto the ServiceNow platform, lifecycle management and ITFM are built into the overall UC strategy. The enterprise can then plan phased in replacement, upgrade and addition schedules based on plan as well as need.

There are some great products out there (in no particular order) Microsoft Teams Rooms. Zoom Rooms, Cisco Collaboration Meeting Rooms, and Polycom, BlueJeans and Crestron aare making serious contributions to the UC world as well. I try to stay vendor neutral.

No matter what platform you commit to, bring it into your ServiceNow environment. The transparency, service level, and stability increase while your costs decrease.

You'll be glad you did.