Empower, Automate & Collaborate:

Driving ROI from ServiceNow

Produced by:

MARKET VIEW 01

Martijn Schoonus

DIRECTOR GLOBAL IT

AND APPLICATION SERVICES

What is the value of AI to businesses right now?

Artificial Intelligence, AI, has been around for the last ten years or so. But it’s only recently that much of the public has become aware of it, through tools like ChatGPT getting a lot of press coverage. Whilst the ability to search in a smarter way and create content is now the most well known way to leverage AI, it is not the most useful for enterprise businesses right now. The real value of AI right now is in digesting and synthesising data. It interrogates data far quicker and finds insights more efficiently than any human can. Being able to spot unidentified patterns early allows businesses to become efficient earlier on and therefore save costs in a shorter timeframe.

The real value of AI right now is in digesting and synthesising data.

To change the way that people work is a larger job than many realise.

How can businesses ensure success when onboarding new software?

Without a proper digital transformation plan, any new software brought on by a company is likely to fail. To change the way that people work is a larger job than many realise. To achieve successful software adoption and digital transformation, businesses need to step back and think about how the changes integrate into daily business operations. If the changes make life easier for employees, then they are far more likely to be adopted.

When reviewing opportunities for digital transformation, there are three key areas that businesses need to consider. The first is existing technology - as a rule of thumb, older existing technology is likely to need to be replaced first. From here, businesses should consider the change capacity of their people. In reality, how likely are they to adopt any new technology or ways of working? And finally, how critical is it to make the change? As they old saying goes… “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”.

What makes a successful IT leader?

A successful IT leader is only possible through a successful IT team. And a successful IT team is not a one-man band. It requires collaboration between a number of specialist roles such as product & process owners, infrastructure experts, IT architects and IT specialists with HR and procurement backgrounds. Knowing how to find and recruit the right mix of people is one part of becoming a successful IT leader, but knowing how to retain them is the other. Retaining IT staff requires positive coaching, which can only be achieved by understanding what your people want, where they are in life and offering them opportunities to progress. Over the coming years it is likely that the size of IT teams will reduce as we see combined skill sets, successful IT leaders will be those who recognise this and adapt accordingly.

A successful IT leader is only possible through a successful IT team.

Martijn is an experienced IT services professional who specialises in co-creating sustainable value through strong partnerships and trustworthy delivery of high-performing digital solutions.