Combining technical skills with customer care

The Mears Group is one of the largest housing solution providers in the UK, with more than one million homes and public buildings in its care. Three quarters of these properties are in the vital social housing sector, providing good quality, affordable homes for vulnerable people and families, those on lower incomes, living with disabilities, or with specialist housing needs.

Mears prides itself on combining industry-leading technical skills with outstanding personal service from its 5,400-strong team, with many getting to know the residents and families living in the properties they look after.

As a result, the company is dedicated to providing its people with the tools and technologies they need, not only to keep homes in good repair but also to deliver those services with care and consideration.

Mears is a long-term user of ServiceNow, a partnership that has accelerated significantly as it embraces ServiceNow as the AI platform for digital transformation to support its growth, build its capabilities, and enhance its employee experience. 

One platform for all employee services

“We provide lots of central services, but many are still accessed via email, with a wide variety of different forms in use,” says Mark Blyth, Head of Business Solutions, Mears Group. “Systems have been organized around historical business needs and individual business units, rather than the needs of users, who often aren’t sure how or where to access information or seek help.

“We want to turn that on its head and replace it with a single platform providing everything our people need, presented in a way that’s fast and easy for everyone to use, whatever their location or role.

“We’ve used the ServiceNow platform for a long time, historically IT Service Management and more recently HR Service Delivery, which has already transformed the way our HR colleagues are supporting and managing our people. But our vision is for ServiceNow to be our core internal platform, one system with everything, including IT, HR, finance, legal, health and safety, all available in one place.”

Now Assist changes the game

As Mark shares his vision for utilizing the ServiceNow platform with colleagues around the organization, the adoption of Now Assist for IT Service Management has proved pivotal in showcasing both the power of the platform and the transformational potential of generative AI.

His team began its Now Assist journey by deploying its AI search function and applying it in the first instance to help employees looking for information about basic company policies and procedures. The Now Assist implementation was supported by the ServiceNow AI Solution Success (AISS) team who provided expertise to help Mears successfully integrate Now Assist into their operations. 

“If you have a question about, for example, maternity leave, previously how would you know which document to look for? Now the user asks a simple question, using everyday language, and Now Assist scans the documents and instantly provides a user-friendly, easily accessible summary.

“Now Assist is a game changer, in the user experience and in saving time and money for the business.

“If every time you ask a question you save five or ten minutes through not having to search for the right document, and then multiply that saving many times every day, that’s a huge impact.”

Mark explains that being able to demonstrate the power of Now Assist, using a simple example, is generating real excitement throughout the business. “Everyone can see the potential of Now Assist in their working environment because the possibilities are limitless.

“Think about recruits, trying to find their way around a new job for a new employer. Now Assist can transform that experience, by providing answers to everyday questions that will help the new starter hit the ground running with confidence and quickly become productive. At the same time, think of the reduction in requests and enquires that will result, and the knock-on benefits for those who would previously need to answer them.”

Enhancing the experience for all

Once established within Mears, the search component can be supplemented with additional functionality, including using Now Assist to generate new knowledge articles for the AI search function to interrogate.

Meanwhile, case summarization and resolution notes, using generative AI to read and distill employee service case information and create summary notes in seconds, enables faster resolution and saves time for everyone involved.

“The Now Assist functionality would be perfect for HR cases,” explains Mark. “Appraisals or performance reviews are often longer term and more complex, involving more people and requiring more documentation to track the history and progress of the case. Summarization will be invaluable, ensuring that everyone can get up to speed very quickly.”

Also on Mears’ ServiceNow roadmap, is an extension of its use of Customer Service Management (CSM) to enable customers to manage their accounts and submit tickets and requests directly into ServiceNow.

With Now Assist for CSM also deployed to streamline the management of long-term customer relationships, the result will be faster resolution, a transparent, shared management capability for Mears and its customers alike, and a live environment for continuous improvement.

“Our customers appreciate that we go further than what’s specified in a contract or service level agreement,” says Mark. “Our use of the ServiceNow platform will further strengthen these relationships by demonstrating our desire to supplement our services with additional features that add value and enhance the experience for everyone.”

Maximizing value and minimizing risk

To ensure the company maximizes the value of ServiceNow, Mark has also enlisted the support of ServiceNow Impact. Built on the Now Platform, ServiceNow Impact provides customers with personalized recommendations and expertise to help them achieve the outcomes their business needs. A dedicated Customer Success Manager coordinates a range of interventions and tools.

“We’re building our internal capability at a time when we are very busy deploying additional functionality, with more to come such as ServiceNow Risk Management, Legal Service Delivery, and IT Asset Management.

“We’ve made the strategic decision to bring all our central services onto the ServiceNow platform at the heart of the way we run our business internally, to support our operational teams to do great work and achieve their goals. We wanted the ServiceNow Impact team to support and guide us to make sure we’re using best practices, establishing firm foundations, and building a sound roadmap.

“Upgrades used to be daunting! But Impact’s Jumpstart Your Upgrade accelerator has ensured that the process is now smooth and comprehensive and that we’re using the very latest platform features and functionality.

“And Impact’s Health Assessment accelerator has been very valuable too, summarizing system performance and availability, a benchmark for us to set targets, identify priorities, and plan our next steps with confidence.”