Global Manufacturing Organization Modernizes ITAM Strategy with the Help of ServiceNow
This global manufacturing organization has been supplying in-demand parts for commercial vehicles for over a century. Providing safe and reliable parts to ensure their customers’ vehicles run smoothly and efficiently has always been at the core of their mission.
Like other manufacturing organizations, the company has been adapting to an ever-shifting landscape, all while “keeping the lights on”. Broken channels of communication, lack of actionable data, and manual processes continue to plague manufacturing firms of every type – even those who have an existing Digital Transformation roadmap in place.
Spurred into Action
Facing the same challenges as its peers, this manufacturer was running their day-to-day business as efficiently as possible, all while knowing that the need to transform loomed larger in the distance as new breakthroughs in technology and process are made.
Then an audit hit the gas on their transformation efforts. Accustomed to using outdated tools and processes to track and manage their software assets, the company found that a large sum of them could not be located.
The audit they faced only highlighted a problem that already existed. Knowing this, the manufacturer immediately set out to gain a better handle on its Software Assets.
But the company didn’t only need to locate those missing assets. They also wanted to set themselves up for success by overhauling their entire IT Asset Management (ITAM) environment to drive efficiency gains and ensure future scalability. They knew that manually collecting software asset data from multiple sources and keeping it up-to-date and accurate was next to impossible, no matter how much time and resources they allocated. Automation was the only viable solution.
Implementing a Modern SAM Solution
The organization was already a ServiceNow customer. However, they’d been left wanting more from previous experiences with other partners and knew they were not using the platform to the best of its potential. They recognized that the ServiceNow platform could be the key to modernizing and optimizing asset tracking across the enterprise, but lacked the right partner to advise them
In addition to having an outdated Asset Management environment, the company struggled with silos within its IT organization and lacked a centralized, well-managed CMDB environment. They craved guidance on how the platform could be best leveraged to ensure future scalability and efficiency.
They knew that trusting in ServiceNow would help them drive down software costs, dramatically reduce compliance risk, and help them better use their existing software assets. ServiceNow had the added benefit of playing nicely with the manufacturer’s existing tech stack, integrating seamlessly with other vendors and third-party apps.
Soon after starting, the company found that the foundation they already had in place was not as stable or scalable as they needed it to be. It sat on an unstructured CMDB and business processes. They needed a partner who could repair their CMDB and implement a scalable ITAM solution that would solve their Software Entitlement worries, and they found that partner in Acorio.
The Anatomy of the Project
Acorio established a foundation for SAM and Application Portfolio Management (APM) in the manufacturer’s IT environment to increase visibility into software utilization and entitlements. The project focused on the business processes and foundation needed to mature their ITAM strategy and ensure sustainability, especially regarding SAM.
The project successfully:
- Established a foundation for SAM and APM in ServiceNow
- Increased visibility into software utilization and entitlements
- Aligned the organization to best practice for application management and rationalization
Empowered to Grow Sustainably with ServiceNow
By modernizing their ITAM environment in ServiceNow, this manufacturer is now optimizing software spend, eliminating waste, and is positioned to redistribute software budgets to better support strategic initiatives moving forward. It’s even helping their core IT team diagnose and identify their environment more easily and efficiently.
This project was an integral part of the manufacturer’s overall mission to future-proof their ITAM strategy. The organization can now confidently pass any audit and has successfully simplified the overall business processes that handle those audits. They now have a proactive Asset Management strategy to help them run their business in a more sustainable way through 2021 and beyond.
