Making in-house development more human-centric

Syslabo is a Japan-based IT solutions provider specializing in end-to-end services and systems integration. Its key offerings include system and operations planning, design, development, and testing.                                              

As well as working as a systems integrator for larger IT companies, Syslabo offers B2B services to customers, ensuring exceptional quality by setting SLAs that meet each customer’s unique needs.

In response to rising demand for cloud and ERP solutions, Syslabo is expanding its business to infrastructure and application development. It also supports customers’ in-house development programs by acquiring and sharing knowledge and updates on the latest industry trends.

Syslabo introduced ServiceNow App Engine as its development platform for business applications within the company. In addition to improving its efficiency across the application development lifecycle, it also actively trained specialist engineers to become ServiceNow Consulting and Implementation Partners.

“We started working on a project with a customer who had ServiceNow in 2022,” says Yuichiro Sato, Acting Director at Syslabo. “Our engineers had such a good experience with ServiceNow, we realized it was the right platform for our business needs too.” 

Redesigning sales systems and breaking down silos

ServiceNow was introduced to replace a 30-year-old legacy system that had become so difficult to use that engineers were developing their own apps to optimize their daily workload. As well as being inefficient, this created silos and made it impossible to get a clear overview of in-house development across the company. And the development team wasn’t the only department impacted by legacy technology.

App Engine was implemented as part of a project to rebuild the sales support and sales management systems. Yuichiro leads a team of eight, including sales reps with in-depth knowledge of sales operations and engineers with ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS) accreditations.

“The sales team used an off-the-shelf SaaS solution, and a sales management platform built using Scratch development. We had no visibility of which prospects were converting into sales because data was siloed between the two systems,” explains Yuichiro. “We needed to simplify internal workflows, connect data, and manage that information from a single database to avoid duplicating effort between sales, HR, and admin teams. The best way to do that was to update the system infrastructure.”

Syslabo tested various approaches, including in-house development, before deciding to use App Engine to develop new business applications and rebuild workflows.

Shinya Yamada, Manager of Solution Sales Department 2 at Sales Headquarters, leads the application development team and is responsible for training engineers to use App Engine while sharing knowledge across the company.

“We’re running training and production workshops to develop prototypes and improve accuracy,” says Shinya. “By rebuilding general purpose workflows with App Engine, employees can learn how it works in a real world setting, which supports user adoption.”

These workflows include ordering business cards, loaning devices, and applying for paid leave using App Engine. When the sales transformation project is complete, Syslabo plans to make App Engine available for citizen development across the business.

To make sure the new applications resolve their pain points, the sales team is heavily involved in the project. But the implementation hasn’t just brought the sales team closer, it has also improved collaboration between key team members.

“Designers and developers are working together more closely, which makes the process much smoother,” explains Shinya. “Employees know that we’re proactively working on system improvements, and there’s a framework in place to submit feedback and requests.”

Generative AI empowers citizen developers to do more

Syslabo’s application development team also uses Now Assist for Creator, a self-service generative AI tool for developers of all skill levels to improve efficiency when they use the Now Platform. Now Assist for Creator automatically generates code, flows, and playbooks; however, the App Generation capability, which creates application prototypes, has made the biggest impact on the team.

“I come from a sales background, but when I used the App Generation function I could mock up an application really easily,” says Yuichiro. “For a citizen developer like me, App Engine will cut development times by half.”

Shinya also estimates that using AI Agents doubles the pace of learning for both App Engine and integrating application functions. With generative AI, business users with no prior knowledge can take part in development without learning the entire process. And there are benefits for experienced developers as well.

“Now Assist for Creator isn’t just great for citizen developers, it helps experienced employees too. The Now Platform has vast functionality, and there are lots of different ways to implement processes,” he explains. “Developers don’t need to spend time looking for the right workflows; they can simply ask Now Assist for Creator. Meanwhile, App Generation ensures we always use the best development practices. For me, it’s useful to be able to request an image of the workflow I want to create. AI Agents give me a good starting point, which reduces development times and gives me a deeper understanding of the platform.”

This hands-on experience also helps Syslabo deliver successful ServiceNow implementations for customers.

Faster in-house development with Now Assist for Creator

The successful App Engine adoption is getting attention from Syslabo’s senior management team, which will help to encourage a shift in culture at the company.

“Creating protypes and proof of concepts is going really smoothly thanks to App Engine and Now Assist for Creator,” says Yuichiro. “There’s a lot more awareness and enthusiasm for in-house development across the company, and employees are starting to get more involved in optimizing business systems.”

The company now plans to continue promoting App Engine and AI Agents for internal development and customers – in fact, by increasing in-house knowledge and skills it’s already winning more business.

“We’re using App Engine and Now Assist for Creator to replace peripheral systems and reduce operational costs,” explains Shinya. “Our successful track record within the business will give us a blueprint for application development and solutions for customers in the future.”

The company expects more than half of its employees will be able to develop their own business applications using App Engine in the future, and around 60% of 100 employees have licenses. The more it uses ServiceNow, the more it’s improving operational efficiency and building skills to offer more value to customers.