Three mistakes Partners keep making around ServiceNow Adoption
Why clients struggle to actually use the solutions their Partners provide.
When it comes to implementing ServiceNow, most implementation partners know how to stand up the technology… but do they know how to ensure it gets used–and used how it was intended?
We find most Partners make the same mistakes over and over, resulting in poor ServiceNow adoption in their clients and a lack of value realization across the industry.
By the time you finish this article, you’ll understand the top three mistakes most Implementation Partners make around ServiceNow adoption—and what your firm can be doing differently in the future.
Mistake 1: Underestimating—or disregarding entirely—the work needed to help an organization adopt ServiceNow.
Research suggests that the average failure rate of post-COVID digital transformations is 87.5%. For anyone who works in the ServiceNow space helping organizations transform their operations, this should be an alarming statistic.
One of the major mistakes we consistently see from ServiceNow Partners when planning digital transformations is a disregard of the organizational impact of the initiative. Many Partners assume that “if we build it, they will come”—which research says is patently false when it comes to new technology.
Without internal adoption of new solutions, clients won’t derive the value of their digital investments—leading to failure (or at least delayed success, possibly with a different Partner).
Solution: Integrate a ServiceNow adoption perspective throughout all engagements.
ServiceNow Partners need to focus on supporting their clients’ adoption efforts from kickoff through deployment. This includes helping clients understand their stakeholders, assess the change impact associated with the engagement, and plan to helps all stakeholders to their “new normal.”
These activities should be included in overall project plans with realistic timelines.
Mistake 2: Selling Organizational Change Management (OCM) Services without knowing who will deliver it.
One challenge boutique consulting firms face is around scaling – when to hire, what roles to hire for, who to hire.
When it comes to selling a niche capability like Organizational Change Management (OCM), we see a lot of ServiceNow Partners selling in OCM services with no one on point to deliver it.
This brings risk to both Partners and clients—Partners have to scramble to find someone to deliver, often turning to internal resources who don’t have the training and experience to deliver complex transformational initiatives.
Clients may find the experience frustrating as they don’t receive the level of expertise the Partners’ sales teams promised.
Solution: Implement an internal OCM Process from Sales through Delivery
ServiceNow Partners who are consistently having to scramble to deliver OCM services that were already sold would be well-served to incorporate OCM into their internal processes starting with sales / scoping through how delivery and hypercare are provided to clients.
Partners who are ready to get started on this can download our free OCM Implementation Roadmap. This 13-page resource helps Partners think through what kind of OCM practice they need to build, who needs to be involved, and the first steps to take.
Mistake 3: Assuming anyone can do OCM.
We consistently see ServiceNow Partners under-valuing OCM and assuming any of their team members could deliver OCM if they had a couple of spreadsheets or an OCM certification. Because they don’t actually understand how OCM works, they assume it must not be that complicated and a junior business process consultant can probably handle it.
OCM is more than a toolkit: it’s a profession, it’s a practice, it’s a perspective. To think that an unseasoned consultant can “do OCM” because they took a single training or delivered it one time is a huge mistake.
In Oct 2023, Prosci released research that shows the correlation of organizational change management with the likelihood of an initiative meeting overall objectives:
Notice that the question of “doing OCM” isn’t a Yes / No. Change effectiveness lies on a spectrum, with excellently-managed OCM delivering 7x the likelihood of meeting project objectives as poorly-managed OCM.
ServiceNow Partners can’t just “check the box” when it comes to OCM because to do so delivers no real value. Poor change management results in poor adoption results in poor outcomes.
It’s unreasonable and unfair to put the weight of OCM—with all of its challenges and consequences—on the shoulders of someone who doesn’t have specific experience in the field.
Solution: Find an Adoption Partner who specializes in OCM
ServiceNow Implementation Partners aren’t ServiceNow Adoption Partners.
If you’re implementing ServiceNow, finding an OCM expert who has deep experience with both ServiceNow and organizational transformations is critical. That’s why we recommend you work with an Adoption Partner like SkyPhi—you drive the technology, we help the organization keep up.
If you’re ready to talk about how SkyPhi can partner on your engagements and adoption, give us a call.