DEFRA ensures continuity with ServiceNow

DEFRA brings six citizen-facing applications inhouse to ensure it is ready to conduct business as usual as the UK departs the European Union. The agency implemented CSM to connect different departments and processes to help ensure that issues are handled efficiently and proactively.

The food we eat, the air we breathe
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding the country’s natural environment, supporting the food and farming industries, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Its broad remit means DEFRA plays a major role in people’s day-to-day lives, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

Taking control of critical applications
Ahead of the UK’s planned exit from the European Union, DEFRA needed to take control of six critical, citizen-facing applications. These would include new processes around the management of chemicals, animal exports, fisheries, and more. With uncertainty around what these new processes might look like, DEFRA wanted to create a separate support model to deal with expectations of a high number of citizen queries.

Establishing a coherent, digital workflow
ServiceNow Customer Service Management (CSM) enables DEFRA to knit together a variety of existing cloud-based reporting systems, producing a coherent workflow for its new applications. It connects different departments and processes to ensure issues are handled efficiently and proactively. In addition, CSM enables DEFRA to function effectively through COVID-19 restrictions. DEFRA has increased its team of agent analysts by 40%, onboarding all to the CSM platform while working from home. “The CSM platform is virtually self-explanatory,” says Ben Davies, APHA Service Desk Manager, DEFRA. “We had new agents up and running within the hour.”

Enabling service continuity in uncertain times
The engagement has enabled DEFRA to stand up six critical, citizen-facing applications, meeting a succession of deadlines throughout 2019. It ensures DEFRA is ready to conduct business as usual as the UK navigates uncertainty around its departure from the European Union. DEFRA has a number of other, legacy applications, many of which are aging and with limited functionality. CSM provides a framework on which DEFRA may migrate these applications in the near future.

Creating a seamless flow to case management
For DEFRA support teams, it has halved call times. It means more time spent addressing customer issues and less time tied up in repetitive admin. This has benefited morale and mental health.

With all administrative processes on the Now Platform®, there is a seamless flow from cases to incident management. It is easier to manage and maintain one system; the user experience is improved. Internally, the project is seen as evidence of DEFRA’s ability to act quickly and adopt a modern, digital approach.

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