Workflow Quarterly FALL 2019 The Strategy Issue How can CIOs reshape the future of work by advancing workflow digitization across the business?
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Workflow QuarterlyFALL 2019
The Strategy Issue
How can CIOs reshape the future of work by advancing workflow digitization across the business?
View the full issue
workflow.servicenow.com/quarterly
INTRODUCTION
Letter from the editor The gap between investment and outcomes is determined by strategy
Workflow Quarterly is dedicated to publishing original research and enterprise journalism on workflow digitization.
BUSINESS EXAMPLES
New digital workflows, better results How CIOs led transformations in customer service, finance, and HR
FEATURED ARTICLE
How CIOs advance workflow digitization A guide to crafting a digital strategy that will make work better
Q & A
5 Steps to influence change Teri Takai shares advice on how to win support, digitize workflows, and transform organizations in the public sector
VISUAL GUIDE
The CIO’s visual guide for advancing and tracking digitization ServiceNow’s approach to implementing workflow digitization across functions
FEATURED ARTICLE
Digitization relies on great vendor relationships Digital workflows require CIOs to build effective partnerships inside and outside their organizations
DATA VISUALIZATION AND Q & A
Measure value to prove impact ServiceNow platform data analysis combined with survey responses show how CIOs are driving results
TIPS
Meet the experts Influential CIOs and business experts share advice on how to advance digital workflows
03
05
11
15
18
26
28
32
36
39
IN FOCUS: COUNTRIES
Digitization best practices around the world Statistics on how CIOs in different countries apply best practices
IN FOCUS: INDUSTRIES
Digitization strategy across industries Statistics on how five different fields apply best practices
The Strategy Issue Contents
Cover photo: Jim Fowler, Chief Information Office, Nationwide, meeting with his team (By David Kasnic)
3Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
The gap between investment and outcomes is determined by strategy BY RIVA FROYMOVICH
More than half of chief information officers say in a global survey commissioned by ServiceNow that they have significantly increased budget
for workflow digitization, a sign that these technology leaders are accountable for identifying how process automation can transform work to meet today’s business demands.
However, when we talked more in depth with CIOs, we learned that outcomes from these investments rely on how they set up their organization for success. That includes collaborating with peers and vendors, aligning IT goals with the rest of the business, embedding digitization initiatives across the organization, and holistically tracking results. Few CIOs are developing these foundational blocks highly effectively, according to research published in the latest issue of Workflow Quarterly.
In fact, fewer than 20% of CIOs surveyed say they are highly effective at using emerging technologies to transform services and operations, equipping employees with digital tools to manage workflows, or even educating their organization about new technology and changes to workflows.
Perhaps, then, it’s not surprising North Carolina State University’s Enterprise Risk Management Initiative reported that digital transformation is the 2019 top-cited risk by business executives, jumping from the 10th spot, as leaders worry about their business models, new customers, and workplace culture.
For digital transformation to work, CIOs need to get their organizational strategy right. In this issue of Workflow Quarterly, we share data and advice on how industry leaders are doing just that.
Read how CIOs from JPMorgan Chase, Siemens and Nationwide, among others, are building a digital strategy, the key elements to rolling out workflow digitization across business lines, and how ServiceNow created a framework for digitizing any function. The Strategy Issue also explores never before analyzed ServiceNow platform data to understand how companies are achieving value through their process automation strategies—and how you might consider tracking outcomes. Plus, hear fresh perspectives from Teri Takai, executive director of the Center for Digital Government.
INTRODUCTION
Letter from the editor
Nationwide headquarters (Photo by David Kasnic)
Tell us your thoughts on workflow digitization strategy @ServiceNow.
Download the research summary workflow.servicenow.com/quarterly
4Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Research Methodology
The Strategy Issue draws on a survey commissioned by ServiceNow of 516 Chief Information Officers across 12 countries and 24 industries. The survey explores how technology leaders are collaborating with business partners and external vendors, investing in automation, and aligning digitization goals to the broader organization to drive value across functions, including customer service, finance, human resources, and legal. Alongside in-depth interviews with CIO experts, the data illustrates how best-in-class CIOs devise an organization-wide workflow digitization strategy. Oxford Economics conducted the survey via Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI), during which respondents were guaranteed anonymity, could ask clarifying questions, and confirmed demographic information.
Respondents by country
Australia (39)/New Zealand (7)
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States
46
46
47
49
46
48
46
45
45
48
50
Respondents by industry*
50
50
50
31
35
Financial Services
Government Healthcare
IT Services
Retail
*Industries with greatest number of survey participants
Respondents by number of employees
10,001–20,000 1,001–5,000 < 1,000 5,001–10,000
19 183 212 69
Respondents by digitization stageRespondents by company revenue
Over $5B
$1B–5B
$500M–$1B
258199
58 Far along
In the early stages
Beginning to evaluate
Not focused on digitizing167
167182
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Before Jim Fowler joined Nationwide as chief information officer in June 2018, he and the company’s CEO talked at length about the challenges facing the 100-year-old insurance giant. The insurance
industry, they both felt, hadn’t yet been disrupted by technology and the pair wanted to be the ones who did it first.
While Nationwide was well into a massive modernization of its core transactional systems, this wasn’t transforming the business. To drive Nationwide into its next phase of growth, Fowler asked himself: “How do we take advantage of these new capabilities to meet our customers’ needs in new ways?”
To do that, he concluded, he needed to better connect IT’s goals with the goals that other business functions cared about. And he needed to collaborate with those other leaders to identify steps and even entire processes that could be automated.
FEATURED ARTICLE
How CIOs advance workflow digitization A guide to crafting a digital strategy that will make work betterBY ABBIE LUNDBERG
Jim Fowler, Chief Information Officer, Nationwide (Photo by David Kasnic)
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Few CIOs say their organization is doing a good job at understanding the value of different business functions, or the tools they need to succeed.How effectively does your overall organization perform the following activities related to process digitization?
Now, Nationwide has cross-functional teams embedded with the lines of business to make sure IT is digitizing processes in a way that makes work more efficient for employees and results are faster for customers.
“You’d have a hard time telling who was from IT, who was from finance, and who was from operations,” he says.
“That whole team is measured on the success of shared business metrics.”
A year into this effort, Nationwide has reduced the time it takes to issue a new life insurance policy from a month to, in some cases, minutes.
Fowler attributes these successes to the company’s ability to implement a digital workflow strategy.
CIOs are being tasked by boards, investors, and business leaders to digitize workflows, the interdependent business processes required to reach a result, like onboard a new employee or resolve a customer issue. Workflows are the circulatory system of any enterprise. Digitizing the repetitive parts of these processes can grow the productivity of organizations, improve customer experiences, and empower employees to spend more time doing meaningful work.
Nine out of 10 CIOs expect to digitize at least 60% of their company’s workflows in the next three years, according to a survey conducted by Oxford Economics and commissioned by ServiceNow. Among the benefits these CIOs are already achieving through this transition are speed to market, attracting and retaining customers and employees, and operational efficiency.
The survey, which includes responses from 516 CIOs from around the world, offers a comprehensive look at how companies are approaching workflow digitization, including the business lines they start with, how standardized their approach is, and the peers they lean on most to see results.
The data also reveals the CIO’s greatest challenges. For example, a significant percentage of IT departments
Somewhat effective Mostly ineffective
Highly ineffective
Highly effective Mostly effective
don’t effectively understand the value of various functions or are communicating the goals of technology investments clearly.
In complementary interviews that contextualize the survey data, leading CIOs—from a range of companies including Nationwide, Siemens AG, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.—describe how a good workflow strategy can help overcome these and other challenges. As Shamim Mohammad, chief information and technology officer (CITO) of CarMax, the largest used-car retailer in the U.S., says: A comprehensive strategy can equip a CIO with the “tools and tactics and
Educate the organization about new technology and changes to workflows
17% 36% 32% 12%
Act upon digitization opportunities for high-priority processes
20% 34% 8%34%
Actively research new areas for collaboration between business functions and IT
17% 36% 11%33%
Set workflows and business goals that permeate all areas of the business and are clearly understood by all employees
18% 39% 10%30%
Understand the extent of digitization across the business
20% 34% 11%29%
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policies” necessary to ensure the digitization journey is successful.
Here are four components of a good digital workflow strategy.
Step 1: Tie digitization goals to business goals To be successful, a digital workflow strategy must reflect the priorities and goals of the business at large. Yet this is an area where many CIOs struggle: Just 18% of CIOs report that their organization is highly effective at understanding the ways that various business functions provide value, with the same percentage saying they’re highly effective at setting business goals that permeate all areas of the business. Even fewer, 17%, say they’re highly effective at tying their plans to business outcomes.
Stephen Mansfield, Chief Information Officer, Americas & Global Executive Sponsor, ServiceNow with colleagues (Photo by Daniel Alexander)
Nationwide’s Fowler won’t take on a digitization effort without that link being clear. He starts by connecting the company’s strategic priorities to IT efforts. He asks his team: “What are the things that have to be true technically for the business to be able to achieve those business goals by 2021?” The answer becomes his digitization goal.
For example, to improve customer engagement and satisfaction, his team is working on making all of Nationwide’s products and services available through APIs on different channels, such as social networks and the company app. “We can hook into whatever ecosystem our customer wants to use to interact with us,” says Fowler.
On top of that, Fowler’s team regularly rechecks whether the projects are meeting goals and readjusts strategy accordingly. Progress is measured with business-impact metrics, not IT metrics like uptime. For example, when digitizing to improve how long it takes to complete transactions, the team measures insurance-industry KPIs like time to quote, time to bind, and time to process service requests.
The digitization goal “drives the technology strategy, which drives the tactical planning for the next three years of what initiatives we’ll run,” says Fowler.
Step 2: Have a standard process for digitizing workflows Almost 8 out of 10 CIOs have a standard process for digitizing workflows across functions, but given the scope of processes running an enterprise, many still struggle with figuring out the opportunities ripe for improvement. Just 14% of those surveyed by Oxford Economics say they’re highly effective at creating a catalog of all processes and assessing what can be digitized. Successful CIOs have developed tricks for doing this that help them prioritize which workflows to start with.
For example, at ServiceNow, every business function has three top priorities—things like speeding up the time it takes to close the financials, release new products, and onboard new employees. CIO Chris Bedi looked at each of these corporate priorities to see which had a dependency on technology. His conclusion: more than 70% did.
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This effort surfaced “the big rocks we absolutely have to knock down as an organization,” he says.
Bedi’s organization devised a digital assessment to standardize the process for each business line and then created a digital maturity “heat map” that visualized all the smaller processes where friction could slow down these big priorities. “Now when we ask the question at a very micro level—how digital is our accruals process?
—we have an answer,” he says.
The heat map also makes it possible to take a broader view. That way, Bedi says, he can answer questions like: “How digital is our financial close?” Zooming out even further, the heat map lets Bedi and the business process owners look across functions to identify disconnects that need to be addressed.
Using the heat map, he’s also able to generate a digitization scorecard for each business line. This not only helps to align IT more closely with the business, it provides a sense of accomplishment and momentum as scores improve.
To help identify priorities and guide decision-making at JPMorgan Chase, Global CIO Lori Beer created a “business-capability taxonomy.” The taxonomy helps isolate the most important processes—for example, real-time payments as opposed to payments more generally. Rather than take on the entire payments process, they were able to identify that real-time payments was the capability that needed to be a strategic priority, which led to the decision to build it on a modern technology infrastructure instead of the company’s legacy one.
“We actually wanted to modernize and take a new approach,” Beer says.
Step 3: Collaborate across the C-Suite and integrate IT into the business Of course, no matter how strategic a CIO’s initiatives, none of this work can be done without buy-in from the business owners and employees whose processes are being targeted for transformation. Still, collaboration is a struggle for many CIOs.
While 61% of CIOs say they collaborate with their company’s COO to standardize workflows through digitization and 50% of CIOs say they collaborate with their CEOs, far fewer work with other execs. In fact, 21% say they alone are responsible for workflow digitization. Meanwhile, just 15% of CIOs say their organization is highly effective at identifying executive sponsors to support digital transformation.
Likewise, 15% say their organization is highly effective at building out specialized teams across functions to carry out digital transformation. About one-quarter of all respondents say their organization is highly effective at integrating IT in all business functions.
One way that successful CIOs have overcome these challenges is by integrating technology teams responsible for digitizing a workflow directly into the business function. This approach, by its nature, creates a sense of
“collaboration and shared goals,” CarMax CITO Mohammad says. This in turn produces results.
For instance, CarMax appraises more than two million cars a year. This was previously a manual process, with appraisers physically checking vehicles in all weather, sometimes in the dark, armed with clipboards and cameras to fill out a paper checklist and document the car’s condition. Then, the appraiser had to leave the vehicle and go into the store to complete the appraisal.
A team of technology staff and field associates worked together to design a digital workflow in which associates use an app on a handheld mobile device to capture the vehicle assessment information, take pictures of the vehicle, and enter the vehicle’s VIN. A system then pre-populates much of the data that would previously have been entered manually inside the store, drawing from CarMax’s extensive car database as well as third-party sources. This gives associates access to the information they need to assess the vehicle in real-time and provide an appraisal without leaving the vehicle.
The new workflow streamlines the process for associates and creates a much better customer experience. The information is more accurate, too.
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“This has created quite a lot of efficiency and cost reduction,” Mohammad says.
With more than two million appraisals a year, shaving off a few minutes per appraisal adds up quickly. And since CarMax often buys from and sells to the same customers, improving this process enhances its relationship with them. In addition, building this technology has enabled CarMax to make appraisal offers on customer’s vehicles remotely, so customers can receive an appraisal offer on their current vehicle and complete the car buying and selling process from home.
Siemens, the global industrial conglomerate, has taken the notion of embedding IT teams inside the business lines a step further. The company earlier this year reorganized into units focused on its different target markets, such as smart infrastructure and gas and power.
Previously, the IT department was highly centralized. Now, 60% of IT personnel work directly for one of these units. These technologists are “very, very close to the business,” says Helmuth Ludwig, the company’s CIO.
They work with the now smaller central IT department on cross-company projects, including deploying new platforms. But by working in the business units, they’re better able to focus on helping their colleagues “sell better [and] address their customers better,” Ludwig says.
Step 4: Embrace a test-and-learn mindset Just 16% of CIOs say they’re highly effective at using data to track the success of cross-team projects and adjust accordingly. Forward-looking CIOs now test and learn their way to the right answer, drawing inspiration from process methodologies like agile and DevOps.
For CarMax’s online financing capability, for instance, the company began with a small subset of customers to see how they would react. Over the course of around six months and many iterations, they enhanced and matured the product before rolling it out to the whole country.
“We had a hypothesis that customers would like it, but we really didn’t know much beyond that,” says Mohammad.
“We knew that if we turned it on, we’d learn something.”
At Nationwide, to ensure that new workflows hit the mark, the people who will use the new processes (customers or employees) are engaged throughout. This involves design thinking, journey mapping, and an iterative, minimum-viable-product approach to development.
A digital-enabled future The results leading CIOs have achieved by following these steps have had an outsized impact on their businesses. Until recently, for example, Nationwide sent customers a paper-based application when they applied for life insurance. The customer would fill it out and then mail it back. Later, the company would schedule a medical test and blood work. The entire process could take a month or more before the customer had a policy in hand.
IT team collaborating at Deloitte (Photo by Daniel Alexander)
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Today, Nationwide customers fill out an online application. Answers to certain questions might trigger a phone interview with a company representative. But aside from that occasional human interaction, many policy-issuing decisions are automated. They’re based on the customer’s answers combined with data Nationwide already has on the applicant and from third-party sources. Predictive modeling, not a human, now determines things like whether a customer needs a medical test.
Because of these digital workflow changes, Nationwide can complete the entire approval, binding, and underwriting of a life insurance policy within a day for up to 30% of applicants. This has not only reduced cycle time from around a month, it has reduced the cost to process an application by about 75%.
The improvement was so extreme that the first agent who went through the process with a customer thought there must have been a problem with the system. “The agent called our call center because the policy came back so quickly,” Fowler says. “They actually couldn’t believe that it was real.”
CIOs and their business partners are mapping the future through workflow digitization. Those who manage the process effectively will be well positioned to lead their industries in the years ahead. Elsewhere in this issue, we look at how companies are digitizing workflows in different functions, collaborating with outside partners, and talk to former Department of Defense CIO Teri Takai about how she’s advanced digitization projects throughout her long career.
Abbie Lundberg is a business technology analyst, author and professional speaker with over 30 years experience writing about the ways in which business leaders transform their organizations. She is a Contributing Editor to both Harvard Business Review Analytic Services and CIO magazine, where she was part of the founding team and served as Editor in Chief for 13 years. Abbie has contributed to research at the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) and the MIT Jameel World Education Lab (JWEL). For more information, visit Abbie’s website, lundbergmedia.com.
Abbie LundbergABOUT
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How CIOs led transformations in customer service, finance, and HR BY ABBIE LUNDBERG
As chief information officers transform their organizations through workflow digitization, they are looking across business lines to improve
efficiency, experience, and business decisions.
While 57% of CIOs report they’ve digitized workflows in IT to a great extent, they’re now making significant progress in finance, customer service, legal, and human resources as well, according to a survey of 516 CIOs conducted by Oxford Economics and commissioned by ServiceNow. For instance, 51% say they’ve digitized workflows in finance to a great extent, 48% in customer service, and 40% in HR.
“Every corporate function is going through major transformation now,” says Lori Beer, Global CIO at financial services giant JPMorgan Chase.
In the process, data analysis shows they have increased the effectiveness of each function. On average, across 10 business functions outside of IT, 77% of CIOs reported an increase in the function’s effectiveness as a result of workflow digitization.
But there are challenges CIOs must overcome to ensure process and strategy changes lead to results. For example, just 17% of CIOs say they’re highly effective at educating the organization about new technology and changes to workflows. Only 17% also say their organization is highly effective at actively researching new areas for collaboration between IT and other business functions. Slightly fewer,
15%, report their teams are highly effective at integrating technology across the business to enable collaboration.
The following workflow digitization examples, spread across different functions, illustrate how CIOs can overcome these hurdles, standardize processes, and achieve remarkable results.
Finance Seventy-seven percent of CIOs say digitizing workflows has increased finance’s effectiveness. CarMax, the nation’s largest used-car seller, counts itself among them.
Many of today’s auto buyers, like all consumers, start their journey online, researching models and prices, and checking out inventory. At CarMax, more than 90% of customers begin their car-buying expedition this way. But until a few years ago, applying for financing at CarMax was still stuck in manual.
Customers had to physically go to or call a CarMax store and work with a sales consultant to submit a credit request in the point of sale application. This created a major impediment to the company’s goal of enabling customers to engage with CarMax however they want—in person,
BUSINESS EXAMPLES
New digital workflows, better results
Jim Fowler, Chief Information Officer, Nationwide (Photo by David Kasnic)
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through the website, or over their mobile device—at any stage of the car-buying process.
So, a cross-functional technology and finance team set out to digitize the process and provide customers the opportunity to obtain financing pre-approval online. When they mapped out what they believed would be the workflow for this product offering, they anticipated there would be some 80 steps involved.
Working with customers and field associates, CarMax streamlined the customer process to just 8 to 10 steps and enabled it to be completed online. In doing so, it not only digitized the pre-approval process, it also was a critical first step to give customers the ability to complete the entire car-buying process from home.
Customers can now apply for financing from anywhere using the CarMax website or mobile app. When a customer fills out an application, they in turn become a promising lead. Online finance leads have become the top lead type CarMax receives. And by digitizing this workflow, along with the other steps in the customer journey, CarMax has achieved its goal of offering a truly omni-channel experience.
Legal Seventy-five percent of CIOs say digitizing workflows has increased the effectiveness of legal and compliance. ServiceNow CIO Chris Bedi is among them. In his case, he had to make sure his company’s most valuable asset, its intellectual property, wasn’t being squandered.
As a software company, ServiceNow wants its engineers to file patents on their work in order to protect the company’s intellectual property. But engineers weren’t doing so, mostly because the process was cumbersome and had too many unnecessary steps.
When he and the general counsel looked at the existing workflow, they discovered “it was a really clunky, horrible” way to do things, says Bedi. To increase IP protection, they needed a better way for engineers to file for patents. Their question was: “How do we reimagine this process?”
To digitize the patent application process, ServiceNow involved engineers, applied design thinking, and took a mobile-first approach. They used rapid iteration to develop a minimum viable product, which they rolled out to learn at scale as they continued to evolve the product. The result was a process that was much easier for engineers to use.
Within two quarters, just by changing the experience, the company saw an 83% increase in the number of patents it filed.
Human resources Global companies are reinventing their approach to talent management, shifting from a siloed, compliance-based approach to developing employees and managing their performance in a more comprehensive and integrated way. Traditional HR systems don’t support this. Instead, most large organizations have separate systems for performance management, employee engagement and learning, with business units often running their own systems and data.
Business functions benefit from workflow digitization, but strategy challenges may hinder resultsTo what extent has your organization digitized workflows in the following functions and how has it had an impact?
This function is somewhat digitized or digitized to a great extent
Digitizing workflows has increased this function’s effectiveness
Customer service operations
IT
Finance
Human resources / Talent
Legal / Governance / Risk / Compliance
75%
77%
76%
75%
75%
92%
91%
89%
84%
92%
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JPMorgan Chase is addressing this challenge by implementing a new software-as-a-service platform across its human resources organization and, in the process, optimizing its HR workflows. The IT organization is working collaboratively with HR not only to help them with the technology piece, but also to shepherd them through the workflow development process.
Some 75% of CIOs say they have increased the function’s effectiveness through workflow digitization. But most organizations aren’t yet maximizing the potential. Focusing on talent and culture strategies, just 21% of CIOs say they’re highly effective at reducing time spent on repetitive tasks; 20% at improving the employee experience; and 21% at improving onboarding.
At JPMorgan, the digital transformation team for HR is using design thinking to really understand the employee
experience through journey mapping and personas, applying the same techniques as they use when addressing customer workflows. “So, if I’m a road warrior versus a trader versus a software engineer, my personas are going to look very different,” says Global CIO Beer.
One of the decisions they made was to go with a mobile-first strategy. IT helps their HR colleagues get the tools and capabilities they need to better serve employees. “But we also work side by side with them, transforming the whole way we look for talent,” says Beer.
Customer service Seventy-five percent of CIOs say workflow digitization has increased the effectiveness of customer service. Carsales.com, Australia’s largest seller of new and used cars, did it without even trying.
A few years ago, during one of its company-wide hackathons, a team of engineers decided to streamline a labor-intensive process for identifying cars. Company photographers took up to 6,000 pictures of motor vehicles each day, then spent 30 minutes per day to classify, catalogue, and tag the images, which were then uploaded to third parties and to its own classifieds site. The entire manual process ate up 9,000 person hours per year.
The engineers at the hackathon figured, “if we could do this electronically, we would get the photographers back out in the field taking more photos, and not thinking of what do they have to do when they get back in the office,” says the company’s CIO Jason Blackman. “Rather than have to do that, they’re going to take more photos.”
Using open source image libraries, the team created a machine learning algorithm that streamlined and automated the process. Later dubbed “Cyclops,” and trained using millions of images that Carsales had collected and stored over the previous decade, the AI has successfully reduced those 9,000 person hours. But it’s also done something else.
As customers on Carsales’ platform upload hundreds of thousands of photos per week, the AI identifies the exact
Jim Fowler, Chief Information Officer, Nationwide (Photo by David Kasnic)
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Colleagues at Deloitte (Photo by Daniel Alexander)
model and offers suggestions on how best to showcase that particular model on the site—especially high-end cars that might require specific types of photos.
Customers can choose which photo order is best suited to market the vehicle based on the AI’s suggestions, giving both the seller and the buyer more control in the process.
Blackman calls the innovative Cyclops creation “the birthplace of AI at Carsales.” The company has since used its “moonshot” hackathons to deploy AI for other customer-facing functions. For example, it has automated the process for reviewing a customer’s classified ad, which was once vetted by humans for inappropriate content and could take up to four hours to approve. That caused a backlog of ads and endless frustration for the click-and-have-it online public.
“That’s long in this day and age,” says Blackman. “That’s not a great customer experience.”
Today, an AI called TESSA does the checking and the process now takes mere seconds. “That frees up our customer services team to have more time to deal with customer problems and help customers out,” says Blackman, “which decreases wait times and calls into the call center.”
Neither Cyclops nor TESSA started life as a customer-facing tool. But “our internal process improvements also mean external customer benefit,” Blackman says.
And that, he says, is what the 22-year-old company must be about in order to thrive in the digital marketplace. “We’re fundamentally here to help consumers,” says Blackman. “We help buyers get together with sellers and we help sellers get their products to buyers.”
15Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Teri Takai shares advice on how to win support, digitize workflows, and transform organizations in the public sector
Q & A
5 steps to influence change
Teri Takai has had a long career as a CIO, both in government and in the private sector. After 30 years working in IT at Ford, in 2003 she began a series of government CIO jobs, first for the
states of Michigan and California, and then from 2010 to 2014 for the U.S. Department of Defense. Most recently, she was CIO of Meridian Health Plan.
Along the way she’s learned that great ideas aren’t enough. She has had to build consensus, prioritize projects that would advance the organization’s overall goals, communicate often, and practice a lot of patience.
Now executive director of the Center for Digital Government, Takai spoke with Workflow Quarterly about how to succeed as a technology leader, best strategies for digitizing workflows, and what she thinks government CIOs should focus on moving forward.
Edited excerpts: Is there one thing that stands out as critical to your success? The most important thing for any chief information officer to remember is that your job is not about technology. It’s really about how you use technology to improve the organization.
You have to get in and listen. You have to really understand what the organization sees as success. Then, when you can help them, you get credibility and then you’re able to do a number of things that perhaps might not have been on their agenda in the beginning.
As individuals, if we have a great idea and we try to sell that idea, if somebody else didn’t agree with us, we get upset or offended.
Watch the video
workflow.servicenow.com/quarterly/issue/3/top-cio-digitization-strategy
Teri Takai, Executive Director, Center for Digital Government
16Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
But really, as CIOs, we’re negotiators, and I just think it’s a skill that we don’t often think of as important. Everything we do is in negotiation. How do you work with your customer to get to a solution that works for them and works for you?
I actually attended a workshop where they brought in the authors of the book “Getting to Yes.” It just really emphasized to me that having a good idea isn’t really what it’s all about. It’s really about being able to sell that idea.
I think it’s important because, again, sometimes we as technology folks see everything as black and white, and we don’t necessarily realize that in order to get the best impact for our ideas, we have to modify, we have to change, and we have to fit to the circumstances.
Do you have a set strategy you use for workflow
digitization? You have certain strategies that you bring with you. You have a point of view; you have an approach that’s standard. But the first thing to do is to see how that approach is being received. Then adjust that approach depending upon the business area that you’re working with.
It’s important to have a point of view. You can’t just go in and say to someone, ‘What would you like to do?’ Because you have some folks that are afraid of the technology, you have some folks that embrace the technology but are maybe way out in left field, and then some folks that just want you to help them.
Also, very often the workforce identifies with whatever technology they’re using and, in many cases, whatever technology they’re using defines their workflow. When you bring a new technology and that changes their workflow, it’s easy to think, “Wow, this is just a technology change.” In reality, you’re actually disrupting the way they do their jobs. It’s important to recognize that distinction so that people aren’t threatened by the new technology.
Is there a project where you feel you did this well? In the automotive industry, we implemented software that made standard processes across all of our non-automotive assembly plants. Every plant was used to
running differently. Every plant had their way to do it. Every plant knew their way was the best. It took us close to a year just to get a leveling of those processes, just to show people that we weren’t going to damage their jobs even before we started to actually implement software.
I had a similar case in government. Many state governments were putting in new child welfare systems. It took my state, Michigan, three tries. Two of the three failed. Ultimately, it was a combination of the technology, leadership, and then working with those individuals that had to change their workflow in order to make it successful.
What did you learn from these experiences? First of all, don’t introduce technology for technology’s sake. Also don’t assume that the most complex technology is going to be the best. I used to tell my folks I would rather put in a really simple technology that everybody liked than a really complex technology that nobody could understand. I’ve put a few very complex technologies in that just never got traction because people didn’t identify with them.
It’s also really important to me to have a partner in senior leadership in that area say, ‘yes, we want to change.’ Then, to have that person identify one or two champions within their organization that would work with us to determine what the way ahead is. Without that, I’ve just seen so many projects fail.
Always involve those who are going to have to use the technology. Maybe not in the decision process because that gets a little tough, but at least make sure they’re represented and also make sure that they’re involved in the actual rollout of that technology.
How do you make sure people feel involved? My technique is to give everyone a chance to be involved. We can do it with work groups or focus groups—there are a variety of different ways to do it. But start off the process by saying, look, I want your input, but you’re going to have to come together and collaborate and come to a consensus.
The second thing I tell people is consensus means that we do it in a way that fits for everyone. But if you can’t come to a consensus, I will make the decision, which is not what you
17Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
want because I don’t have the experience and background that you have.
When you’re changing a workflow, you always get a few who are mad, and you always get a few that say, I don’t want to do this, but you also get some really creative input from individuals.
We did this with a process around being able to do field support in the state of Michigan. I had field support folks that came up with fantastic ideas that we implemented. People realize you’re listening to them and they realize that they have a role. They go out and talk to their peers. It isn’t just coming from Teri.
What process changes do you expect we’ll see in the
public sector over the near and medium term? Some of the process changes that are going to happen are due to the difficulty in hiring individuals to come to government. With the labor market the way it is, government jobs just aren’t as attractive as they once were. So every department in government has to figure out how they’re going to deal with fewer people.
A technology trend that fits that is artificial intelligence and machine learning. In other words, are we going to start to automate jobs that we weren’t thinking about before because we had a workforce?
In the next three years, what do you think government
technology leaders should prioritize when it comes to
their digitization strategies? Just continuing to make it easier for citizens to do business with government. A business should be able to say, ‘tell me all the licenses I need’ instead of needing to know that one is from environmental quality and one is from tax.
Another one is if you have a hunting license and two months before your license is due, you get a ping that says, click here and renew your license. Wouldn’t that be great? We don’t do much of that today.
Teri Takai is the Executive Director of the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. She worked for Ford Motor Company for 30 years in global application development and information technology strategic planning. From Ford, she moved to EDS in support of General Motors.
A long-time interest in public service led her to the government sector, first as CIO of the State of Michigan, then as CIO of the State of California, and subsequently the CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense, the first woman appointed to this role. She then served as the CIO for Meridian Health Plan. She is a member of several industry advisory boards.
Teri has won numerous awards including Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year, CIO Magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame, Government Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers, the Women in Defense Excellence in Leadership Award, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.
Teri TakaiABOUT
18Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
VISUAL GUIDE
The CIO’s visual guide for advancing and tracking digitization ServiceNow’s approach to implementing workflow digitization across functionsBY RIVA FROYMOVICH
CIOs are advancing workflow digitization across the entire business to improve experiences and unlock productivity. However, our research shows that technology organizations face challenges in
cross-function collaboration and reporting results. We spoke with Patricia Grant, vice president of IT strategy, planning and business operations at ServiceNow, on how her team designed a replicable process to guide and track digitization projects.
Why was it so important to create a repeatable digitization approach?
What does it look like? We needed to create a framework or central approach that we could use across our organization to automate repetitive tasks that were taking up too much employee time. Increasingly, our customers have also been asking us for direction on how to advance digital transformation in their companies. In talking with industry analysts, we found there really was no practical guide. We decided to create a step-by-step procedural view on our own.
First, we needed to figure out where we were in our digital maturity as an organization. To do that, we created an 11-question assessment for business groups to use to evaluate each process in their organization. Our goal was to make sure that each of these questions were understandable to a non-technical audience—and we could use the same questions, no matter the function.
Then, the groups select standardized responses to each question. A score is associated with each response, indicating a process’s level of digital maturity. The scores are also color-coded. So, at the end of the questionnaire period, we have a visual heat map that shows every
A visual heatmap is a useful tool to see how digitized an organization is—and to identify areas for improvement.
19Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
process inside a business function and very clear view of each group’s overall state of digitization.
The scores for each individual process are weighted and added through a ServiceNow-created formula, and then trigger a set of recommendations. As these recommendations are implemented and a group progresses, new recommendations are triggered, and the score is updated.
On a quarterly basis, IT and the business reviews progress over the past quarter and targets for the next quarter. Wins are celebrated and captured to help inspire our customers, and it’s great to see progress on the heat map quarter-over-quarter.
That’s how we created a system, but we needed to make sure each team was also excited to go on this journey and understood the value. We established shared mission statements and objectives at the outset, which aligned to our overall corporate goals and language used by our CEO. And employees got that and were excited to move forward, because it was in our language and the goals that we speak about every day. The teams also welcomed this process because it helped them learn how much time they were wasting on manual work.
How did you decide which team to begin with? It started with our CIO, Chris Bedi, socializing the idea with peers, like Chief Talent Officer Pat Wadors. Because of their alignment, we started in HR. This non-IT group also gave us the ability to pilot the framework to ensure it would resonate with other departments.
Once you identified teams that were interested, what
did you do next? We had to set expectations with the leaders of each department that embarked on this transformation program that there was going to be an investment in time at the beginning to catalogue what they do on a day-to-day basis.
We worked with HR to identify who would drive the transformation effort. That turned out to be the VP of HR Operations, who appointed a process expert to record key business processes. We used an interview-based approach
to identify processes that HR did on a regular basis. We then asked the process owners to answer the 11 assessment questions to identify their digital maturity levels. The framework automatically recommended specific actions they needed to take to move their digital maturity to the next level.
How did you work with each function to apply the
recommendations? The recommendations are crafted in a way that is easy to understand, yet actionable. For example, add a service to the catalogue to make it easier for users to request something. Any recommendation that requires a technical solution is managed with the support of an assigned business partner in the group. Service owners then package these recommendations into projects and small initiatives that ultimately become their digital transformation roadmap.
On a quarterly basis, we hold executive readouts that explain the progress we are making on the projects.
What was the impact of this digitization strategy
on employees, leadership, customers, and business
outcomes? We have been using this strategy for over two years now and have seen a very clear impact on a broad array of areas. For example, employees are excited to see how their everyday work contributes to the company transformation. They have a new common language for discussing their work with their team. In addition, the framework gives our leaders an actionable way to translate their vision and strategies into concrete transformational roadmaps.
Our customers benefit in two ways. First, digital transformation drives automation adoption, enabling ServiceNow to deliver services faster and, as a result, improve the customer experience. Second, many customers have found value in applying the methodology within their own organizations to help speed up their own transformation.
As a business, we’ve seen a remarkable change within ServiceNow as we automate repetitive tasks and enable employees to do more value-added work.
20Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Patricia Grant joined ServiceNow in March 2017 running our IT Strategy, Planning and Business Operations team reporting directly to our CIO, Chris Bedi. She is responsible for creating a world class PMO leveraging ServiceNow’s own products, and building a business operations organization to run IT like a business. She leads digital transformation across G&A generating business outcomes and real value. She is also responsible for creating and driving the company’s Now on Now programs to showcase how ServiceNow uses its own Now Platform™ to drive digital transformation.
She has been in IT for over 26 years and has held several leadership positions across the board during her tenure which gives her broad knowledge in many areas. She holds a BA in Communication from Ohio State University, a BS in Computer Information Systems from DeVry University, and an Executive MBA from California State University.
Patricia has several years of experience with ServiceNow as a former customer which is where her passion for ServiceNow products began as did her joy of meeting with customers to share her experiences to ensure their customer success.
Patricia GrantABOUT
Digital transformation is the foundation upon which we can unlock productivity and deliver great experiences to our employees and customers. Once the momentum started, teams were competing with each other to see who could drive the most automation in their areas.
What were some key lessons you learned along the way
that are shaping how you are rolling out digital workflows
going forward? We have learned several lessons in our journey over the last couple of years. First, every process does not need to be digitized. Our goal is to be able to identify the areas that make the most sense to automate and be able to track progress and impact over time.
We also learned to be adaptable and flexible. When the scores didn’t change while transforming one of our high-opportunity processes, we stopped, took a fresh look at what we were doing, and quickly evaluated.
Another lesson is that some groups have similar processes that appear to have the same potential for automation. But it’s important to remember that each group is at a different stage of the maturity curve. You can’t directly transfer the same automated process from one group to the other. We create greater efficiencies by sharing lessons learned from one group to another.
We invested significant time in developing the framework, so we were excited when it finally began producing results for individual groups. But each group is on its own transformation journey, with its own hurdles and milestones. A consistent, yet adaptable approach to digital transformation helps us mentor, coach, and guide them to success along the way.
Review sample heat maps for various business lines on the next pages.
21Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
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22Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
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n
Soft
wa
re a
sset
m
ana
gem
ent
Even
t m
ana
gem
ent
Know
led
ge
ba
se
ma
nag
emen
t
IP a
dd
ress
ing
Prob
lem
m
ana
gem
ent
Num
ber
ing
pla
n m
ana
gem
ent
Serv
ice
req
uest
m
ana
gem
ent
Patc
hing
&
cha
nge
ma
nag
emen
t
PSTN
confi
gur
atio
n
Qos
(des
ign,
m
onito
ring
)
Up
gra
des
and
fe
atu
re
dep
loym
ent
Voic
e V
LAN
cr
eatio
n
Ca
pa
city
p
lann
ing
C
ircui
ts
ass
etm
ana
gem
ent
Serv
ice
ma
pp
ing
C
hang
e m
ana
gem
ent
Ass
et
ma
nag
emen
tO
per
ati
ons
ma
nag
emen
tSe
rvic
e m
ana
gem
ent
Serv
ice
des
kC
onta
ct
cent
er
serv
ices
Dig
ital
med
iaIT
em
plo
yee
serv
ices
IT in
fra
stru
ctur
eIT
op
era
tion
s g
over
nanc
e
Sing
le s
core
52
Sam
ple
Dig
ital H
eat
Ma
p –
IT O
per
ati
ons
23Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Crit
ica
l si
tua
tion
m
ana
gem
ent
Com
ms
on
p1 c
ritic
al
& m
ass
out
ag
es
Follo
w t
he s
un
Inte
gra
tion
with
ch
ang
e m
ana
gem
ent
Acc
ess
aut
horiz
atio
nC
rea
te c
onte
nt
Crit
ica
l in
cid
ents
Tele
pho
ny
Cre
atio
n C
rea
te
cont
ent
-
com
mun
ity
Esca
latio
n /
eng
ag
emen
tD
ata
con
trol
Com
mun
ity -
co
llab
ora
tePo
rtfo
lio
ma
nag
emen
tEs
cala
tion
Onb
oard
ing
ne
w p
roce
ssN
ew re
lea
se
imp
act
a
sses
smen
t
Emer
gen
cy
ma
inte
nanc
eW
fmEs
cala
tion
Find
con
tent
Iden
tifica
tion
Gov
erna
nce
Com
mun
ity -
fin
d
info
rma
tion
Reso
urce
p
lann
ing
Exec
utio
nPr
oces
s g
over
nanc
eRe
lea
se
lifec
ycle
m
ana
gem
ent
Ma
jor c
risis
Reso
lutio
n &
cl
osur
eEv
olve
con
tent
Rem
edia
tion
Sup
por
t d
eliv
ery
Serv
ice
por
tal -
ma
nag
e m
y is
sues
Inta
ke
Proc
ess
qua
lity
revi
ews
Sup
por
tab
ility
a
sses
smen
t
Ma
ss o
uta
ge
Ass
ignm
ent
Con
tent
ev
olut
ion-
rele
ase
re
ad
ines
s ke
revi
ew
Serv
ice
por
tal -
m
ana
ge
my
req
uest
s
Mon
itorin
gRe
fres
h p
roce
ss
Inve
stig
atio
n P1
inci
den
tha
ndlin
gSe
rvic
e p
orta
l -
ma
nag
e m
y in
sta
nces
Lang
uag
e su
pp
ort
Inte
gra
tion
with
pro
ble
m
ma
nag
emen
t
Sens
itive
a
ccou
nt in
t m
ana
gem
ent
Shi (
a�e
cts
chg
as
wel
l)
Task
Serv
ice
por
tal -
m
ana
ge
my
upg
rad
es
Serv
ice
por
tal -
fin
d s
olut
ions
Out
rea
ch
Plug
-in
Rep
orts
ma
nag
emen
t
Com
mun
ica
tion
Com
mun
ity -
find
sol
utio
nsO
rg c
hang
e m
ana
gem
ent
Clo
sure
O�b
oard
ing
p
roce
ssM
itig
atio
n p
lans
Glo
ba
l que
ue
ma
nag
emen
tC
ase
m
ana
gem
ent
Know
led
ge
ma
nag
emen
tRe
gul
ate
dm
ark
ets
Secu
rity
resp
onse
Self-
serv
ice
Busi
ness
op
era
tion
sC
usto
mer
co
mm
unic
ati
ons
Proc
ess
&
Qua
lity
Rele
ase
re
ad
ines
sRe
por
ting
&
ana
lyti
cs
Sup
por
t d
eliv
ery
Sup
por
t op
era
tion
s
Lea
der
ship
in
sig
hts
New
re
lea
se T
OIs
Cus
tom
er
sta
tus
revi
ews
Con
tra
ctua
l ex
cep
tions
Nee
ds
ass
essm
ent
New
sta
�tr
ain
ing
De-
esca
latio
n/cl
ose-
out
Neg
otia
tions
Prot
otyp
e m
odel
ing
Skill
s m
ana
gem
ent
Exec
utiv
e cu
stom
er
hea
lth re
view
Pric
ing
Self-
serv
ice
Rene
wa
ls
Sale
s &
d
isco
unt
ap
pro
vals
Sale
s p
ipel
ine
ma
nag
emen
t
Dep
loym
ent
Con
tinuo
us
lea
rnin
g
Com
pre
hens
ive
pla
tfor
m re
view
Acc
ount
a
naly
sis
Tra
inin
gA
ccou
nt
esca
lati
ons
mg
mt
Aut
o-no
min
atio
n
Ma
nua
l no
min
atio
n
Nom
ina
tion
vett
ing
/acc
epta
nce
Up
gra
de
ass
ista
nce
pro
gra
m (u
ap
)
Inte
rna
l re
por
ting
/sta
tus
upd
ate
s
Get
-wel
l pla
n cr
eatio
n/ex
ecut
ion
Con
tra
ct
ma
nag
emen
t
Acc
ount
es
cala
tion
s
Mee
ting
m
ana
gem
ent
Clo
ning
re
que
sts
Cer
tifica
tion
tra
ckin
g
O�b
oard
ing
Com
pre
hens
ive
pla
tfor
m re
view
Del
iver
ab
le
ma
nag
emen
t
Onb
oard
ing
Enha
ncem
ent
ma
nag
emen
tEn
ab
lem
ent
tra
ckin
g
Hiri
ng p
ipel
ine
Onb
oard
ing
/a
cces
s a
pp
rova
l
Ava
ilab
ility
re
por
ting
Patc
hing
/up
gra
de
pla
nnin
g
Perf
orm
anc
e m
ana
gem
ent
Perio
dic
re
view
s
Op
era
tiona
l re
view
s
Cha
nge
ma
nag
emen
tA
lloca
tions
Cus
tom
er
ma
nag
emen
tEn
ga
gem
ent
wit
h ex
tern
al
tea
ms
Inst
anc
e rig
ht-s
izin
g
req
uest
s
Prob
lem
m
ana
gem
ent
RC
As
Inci
den
t m
ana
gem
ent
Esca
latio
n m
ana
gem
ent
Sta
m
ana
gem
ent
Sup
por
t a
ccou
nt m
ana
gem
ent
Sing
le s
core
53
Sam
ple
Glo
ba
l Tec
hnic
al S
upp
ort
– D
igita
l Hea
t M
ap
Q1
2019
24Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Acc
ount
s re
ceiv
ab
le
Acq
uisi
tion
ma
inte
nanc
eM
onth
end
je
and
GL
reco
ncili
atio
ns
4.1
wor
kboo
kA
ttes
tatio
n(s
ox, l
ega
l, se
curit
y)
Ba
cklo
g
rep
ort
Ap
pst
ore
ord
ers
Ob
tain
ing
m
issi
ngp
urch
ase
ord
ers
9.1
wor
kboo
k C
ontr
act
revi
ewD
ash
boa
rda
nd re
por
ting
Aud
it m
etho
dol
ogy
and
m
ana
gem
ent
Ben
efit
ded
uctio
nPa
y st
ub/
W2
ad
min
istr
atio
n
Ca
shD
efer
red
ta
xes
AR
/AP
rep
orts
AR
mon
th
end
slid
esPa
ymen
t p
ostin
g/
writ
e o�
s
Acc
rua
l/M
anu
al j
esC
ritic
al c
heck
Da
ta a
naly
tics
Aud
it p
lann
ing
Bon
uses
Polic
y a
nd
pro
ced
ures
Con
solid
atio
nsFo
reca
st ta
x p
rovi
sion
Ca
sh
ba
lanc
es
Paym
ent
term
la
ngua
ge
ap
pro
vals
Ba
d d
ebt
qua
rter
ly e
ntry
Fixe
d fe
e re
cog
nitio
n C
usto
mer
d
epos
it b
ala
nce
Ente
rpris
e ris
k a
sses
smen
t a
nd
ma
nag
emen
t (t
ier 1
, 2)
Aud
it re
que
st
ma
nag
emen
tD
irect
dep
osit
ad
min
istr
atio
nPr
oces
s p
ayr
oll
taxe
s p
aym
ents
Fixe
d a
sset
sIn
tern
atio
nal
tax
filin
gC
ash
fo
reca
stin
g
PO
req
uire
men
t ch
ang
es
Col
lect
ions
/es
cala
tions
Inte
rcom
pa
ny
pos
ting
sD
efer
red
re
venu
e re
con
Exte
rna
l aud
it tr
ack
ing
and
re
lianc
e
Aud
it re
sour
cing
Emp
loye
e ta
xatio
n a
dm
inis
tra
tion
Proj
ect
ma
nag
emen
tFl
ux a
naly
sis
IDS
Inte
rcom
pa
ny
Lea
se
acc
ount
ing
LSP
Op
ex
acc
rua
ls
Prep
aid
PTO
acc
rua
l
Reco
ncili
atio
ns
Inte
rna
tiona
l st
at
retu
rn
filin
g
Fore
ign
curr
ency
ex
cha
nge
Mile
ston
e re
cog
nitio
n C
omm
issi
ons
rep
ort
Cre
dit
card
tr
ain
ing
ord
ers
Cre
dit
chec
k re
que
sts
-re
selle
rs
Cre
dits
on
acc
ount
s re
conc
ilia
tion
Cus
tom
er
ma
ster
up
da
tes
Cus
tom
er
refu
nd
req
uest
s
Early
invo
icin
g
ap
pro
vals
Even
t sp
onso
rshi
p
ord
er e
ntry
a
nd in
voic
ing
Invo
icin
g
Ma
nag
ing
A
R in
box
es
Def
erre
d
reve
nue
rollf
orw
ard
Aut
oma
ted
co
ntin
uous
co
ntro
l m
onito
ring
Gov
't ID
ad
min
istr
atio
nTa
x p
lann
ing
/en
tity
stru
ctur
eFX
ga
in/l
oss
Mul
tiple
b
illin
g ra
teFl
ux a
naly
sis
Aut
oma
ted
ev
iden
ce
colle
ctio
n
Tax
reco
ncili
atio
nsFX
ma
rket
da
ta
PS c
ontr
act
a
naly
tics
On-
Prem
list
Con
tinuo
us
aud
iting
US
inco
me
tax
retu
rn fi
ling
US
sale
s a
nd
use
tax
filin
g
FX p
olic
y
PS re
venu
e re
conc
ilia
tion
Post
ing
re
venu
e
Prov
isio
ning
a
naly
sis
Rev
by
Geo
Reve
nue
ana
lytic
s
Sale
s ce
rtifi
catio
ns
Con
trol
d
esig
n
Recu
rrin
g
acc
rua
l
Invo
icin
g
Qua
rter
end
cash
p
roje
ctio
ns
upd
ate
s
Del
inq
uent
fla
g
ap
pro
vals
SN to
SA
P re
conc
ilia
tion
T&E
tie o
ut
reco
ncili
atio
n a
nd in
voic
ing
Tax
inq
uirie
s
VD
A ta
x b
ala
nce
Vend
or fo
rms
Wee
kly
colle
ctio
ns
mee
ting
/slid
es
Reve
nue/
exp
ense
a
ccru
al
RP
initi
al
uplo
ad
Stra
ight
line
re
cog
nitio
n
T&M
re
cog
nitio
n
Tim
eca
rd
inte
rfa
ce
Tim
eca
rd
reco
ncili
atio
n
Con
trol
life
cycl
e m
ana
gem
ent
Fra
ud ri
sk
ass
essm
ent
GR
Cd
evel
opm
ent/
dep
loy/
sup
por
t
Issu
e tr
ack
ing
a
nd
rem
edia
tion
Peop
le
dev
elop
men
t a
nd t
rain
ing
Polic
y m
ana
gem
ent
Inte
rna
tiona
l tr
ans
fers
Job
cha
nges
KB a
rtic
le
ad
min
istr
atio
n
Lea
ve o
f a
bse
nce
New
hire
or
ient
atio
n
New
hire
su
rvey
O�b
oard
On
call
pa
y
Onb
oard
One
tim
e p
ays
Req
uest
tool
Rese
arc
h/re
solv
e p
ayr
oll
exce
ptio
ns
Shift
pa
y
SOX
aud
its
Sta
tus
conv
ersi
ons
Stoc
k re
por
ting
Syst
em
ad
min
istr
atio
n -
AD
P
Tuiti
onre
imb
urse
men
t
UAT
Visa
a
dm
inis
tra
tion
Wa
ge
with
hold
ing
a
dm
inis
tra
tion
US
pro
per
ty
tax
retu
rn
filin
g
I/C
& c
ash
co
nver
sion
Inte
rcom
pa
ny
loa
ns
Inte
rcom
pa
ny
tra
nsfe
r p
ricin
g (T
P)
Inve
stm
ent
por
tfol
io
reco
ncili
atio
n
Con
trol
s te
stin
g
(com
plia
nce,
op
era
tiona
l)
Ad
dre
ss
ma
nag
emen
tPa
y ch
ang
esA
lloca
tions
Aud
it re
spon
se
Acc
ount
sig
ner
upd
ate
s
PS re
venu
eSu
bscr
ipti
on
reve
nue
Inte
rna
l aud
itPa
yrol
lA
ccou
ntin
g
clos
eTa
xTr
easu
ry F
X &
Ops
Ma
nag
emen
t re
por
ting
Ma
nua
l p
aym
ents
Mon
thly
ca
sh
rep
ortin
g
Net
mon
eta
ry
ass
et/l
iab
ility
SOX
cont
rols
SOX
test
ing
Tra
de
confi
rma
tion
Tra
de
exec
utio
n
Tra
de
sett
lem
ent
Tra
de
ticke
t
Lett
er o
f cre
dits
GRC
Payr
oll
RTR
Tax
Trea
sury
OTC
Sing
le s
core
48
Sam
ple
Dig
ital H
eat
Ma
p –
Fin
anc
e
25Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Aud
its
10-Q
un
cond
ition
al
pur
cha
se
com
mitm
ents
Scco
unt
pro
gre
ssio
nLo
ng ra
nge
pla
nnin
g
Earn
ing
s re
lea
se>$
1m &
>$5
m
HQ
rollf
orw
ard
Acc
ount
co
nsol
ida
tions
Ba
cklo
g
fore
cast
M&
A d
eal
fore
cast
sA
C a
nd
bod
dec
kM
SP p
reb
uy t
rack
ing
Emer
gin
g
pro
duc
tsC
ata
log
item
m
ana
gem
ent
Sour
cing
ta
skC
arb
on
foot
prin
t A
pp
rove
p
aym
ents
Que
ue
ma
nag
emen
t
Cus
tom
er
brid
ge
Bes
p
fore
cast
ing
Op
ex /
ca
pex
fo
reca
st
Att
ach
rate
a
naly
sis
Mul
tipro
duc
t H
Q
Even
ts
exp
ense
re
conc
ilia
tion
Ma
nag
e b
udg
et
vs a
ctua
ls
ND
A fo
r ex
istin
g v
end
orKn
owle
dg
e re
cla
ss
revi
ew
Aud
it in
voic
esSu
pp
lier
colla
bor
atio
n
Bill
ing
s fo
reca
stLo
sses
and
d
owns
ells
Pate
nt
long
-ter
m
mod
el
Bill
ab
le t&
e a
naly
sis
NN
AC
V
brid
ges
Fixe
d d
ata
fin
aliz
atio
nM
&A
ch
ang
esVe
ndor
on
boa
rdin
gPr
epa
id a
irfa
re
qua
rter
ly e
ntry
su
pp
ort
Des
ign
&
imp
lem
ent
cont
rol
act
iviti
es
Neg
otia
tions
BU
acc
ount
p
rog
ress
ion
NN
AC
Vtie
out
PR fo
reca
stB
illin
gs
pro
ject
ion
Part
ner
outs
ourc
ing
a
naly
tics
Fla
sh
rep
ort
PS d
eplo
ymen
t up
da
tes
Vend
or ri
sk
ass
essm
ent
(vsr
a)
Roa
d w
arr
ior
qua
lifica
tion
revi
ew
T&E
acc
rua
l su
pp
ort
Tra
vel r
epor
t
Unu
sed
tic
ket
cred
its
Rep
ortin
g &
A
naly
tics
Mon
itor c
ontr
ol
e�ec
tiven
ess
Ap
pro
vals
Qua
rter
ly a
nd
full
yea
r g
uid
anc
e
Op
en
opp
ortu
nitie
s@
me
Bod
p
rese
nta
tions
Fx ra
te
ana
lysi
sPS
ex
tens
ions
Paym
ent
pro
cess
ing
Sig
natu
res
Qua
rter
ly
pre
pa
id
fore
cast
BU
P&
LG
2K
ma
rket
ing
re
por
t
Rem
edia
te
cont
rol
defi
cien
cies
Act
iva
tion
R&O
te
mp
late
sB
urn
rate
ana
lysi
sG
2K
refr
esh
Resp
ond
to a
p
inq
uirie
s
Aud
it in
voic
es
and
key
da
ta in
a
p s
yste
m
Ma
nag
e co
ntra
cts
Reve
nue
fore
cast
Bus
ines
s p
art
ner
chec
k-in
Coh
ort
Cus
tom
er H
Qup
da
tes
Da
ta c
ente
r P&
L
Def
erre
d re
nt
rep
ortin
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26Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Watch the video and explore the Now Platform data
workflow.servicenow.com/quarterly/issue/3/benefits- of-digitization-automation
ServiceNow platform data analysis combined with survey responses show how CIOs are driving results
ServiceNow analyzed its own platform data, in combination with other sources, to evaluate how higher levels of automation and connection within
an organization enable better business results.
We learned which industries are benefitting most from automation, the revenue that automated companies realize when they use the Now Platform, and what kind of process automation currently yields the best results.
Michael Hubbard, Global Vice President of Value Management at ServiceNow, explained to us why it’s so critical to identify and track these metrics:
Executives are looking for advice, looking for silver bullets as to the one or two most impactful changes they could make to get further faster on digital.
What we found through our research and through mining the usage of our platform among more than half of the Fortune 500 enterprises that are transforming the way work gets done across millions of employees everyday is getting serious about value management. Getting serious about the idea that, I need that map of the way work used to be accrued in terms of cost, experience, time, and then a clear set of goals as to how it’s going to change.
For example, analysis of Now Platform data show that the most automated companies are able to create $74,259 more annual revenue per employee compared with the least automated companies. It also shows that the operating margin of those more automated companies is 2.3 percentage points higher. The processes that contribute most to improved business efficiency when automated are: payment collection; IT technical support; payment to suppliers; password updates; software installation; and resolving IT threats.
DATA VISUALIZATION AND Q & A
Measure value to prove impact
Michael Hubbard, Global Vice President of Value Management, ServiceNow
27Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
When Lululemon Athletica’s website crashed in May 2017, then CIO Dave Berry had a moment of clarity about what collaboration means in the cloud era. The e-commerce site,
which accounted for nearly a quarter of the company’s sales, had been outsourced to a big tech company. Yet no one at the athletic-wear seller was able to get the vendor to muster the resources needed to develop a quick work-around.
As the minutes became hours, the downtime frustrated customers and cost Lululemon millions in lost revenue. Eventually, the vendor’s CEO got involved, and the site came back online—20 agonizing hours after it first went down.
“That was a few million in lost sales that was not coming back,” says Berry, reflecting on the experience. Beyond the dollars and cents—and the damage to its reputation—the incident proved to be a wake-up call about
FEATURED ARTICLE
Digitization relies on great vendor relationships Digital workflows require CIOs to build effective partnerships inside and outside their organizationsBY PETER BURROWS
Jim Fowler and team at Nationwide headquarters (Photo by David Kasnic)
28Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
the role of a CIO during a time of massive technological change. “You can’t hunker down and focus on your own organization,” Berry says. “You’ve got to be willing to be part of a larger discussion.”
Increasingly, that means re-imagining how your organization partners with third-party technology providers. With so much riding on digital systems and the workflows they enable—from speeding up the approval of life insurance applications to making it easier to file patents—the importance of vendor relationships is clearer than ever.
Most CIOs agree, and they rate their vendor relationships as stronger than with their CEOs. In fact, 68% of CIOs polled by Oxford Economics, in a survey commissioned by ServiceNow, said they collaborate effectively or highly effectively with outside partners.
But for many of the CIOs surveyed, the value they get from those relationships remains a work in progress. In fact, only 17% say they’re highly effective at working with external partners to drive digital transformation projects.
So how does today’s CIO do a better job of working with partners? It starts with demanding more from these relationships—both from the vendor and yourself.
“You can’t hope and pray that 1-800-YOUR-VENDOR is going to deliver when it’s a fundamental part of your business,” says Kristi Lamar, managing director and U.S. CIO program leader at Deloitte Consulting.
Indeed, to make sure they’re getting the best results for their businesses, effective CIOs must share their strategies with key vendors and talk to their product teams—not just sales. The two sides then must develop jointly a vision for how they can transform the business by working together.
Communication and thought partnership Good communication is the first ingredient for effective collaboration with a vendor, which requires a CIO to give as well as take. That often starts with granting a vendor insight into your strategy before you’ve even started working together.
CIOs aren’t deeply collaborating with vendors enough68% of CIOs surveyed say their collaboration with external partners is “effective” or “highly effective.” However, few say those relationships are “highly effective” at really contributing to digitization strategy.
Sharing the strategy shifts the responsibility to the vendor to identify how their technology can help a company. That facilitates what Teri Takai, the former CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense, calls a “next-level discussion.”
Without this background, “the CIO has to figure out how something is going to fit with the other technologies that you have,” she says. “It’s not that you’re not smart enough to do it. You just don’t have time.”
The most successful partners, she says, understand your priorities and can clearly articulate how they can contribute to your success. “I tell my technology partners,
Somewhat effective Mostly ineffective
Highly ineffective
Highly effective Mostly effective
Collaboration with external partners/suppliers
Develop new business models and ways of working based on effective partnerships
Share a culture of innovation with external partners to drive digital transformation
Work with third parties and other vendors to drive digital transformation projects
20%
3%
17%51%
9%
30%
28%
31%
3%
4%
4%
18%
18%
17%
39%
41%
36%
10%
9%
12%
29Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
if you haven’t read the strategy before you walk in the door, don’t bother,” she says.
She adds: “Technology partners are really, really critical, and part of that reason is that some of the technology partners have been around longer than the CIO has... So, they actually have a perspective that the CIO can use.”
At ServiceNow, CIO Chris Bedi says he’s much more forthcoming than he was previously about sharing his strategy with key partners. But he expects something in return for that sensitive information.
“If I’m betting on you as one of my top five partners, you need to be coming to the table with innovation that fits into my strategic plans,” Bedi says. “I expect you to bring me thought leadership, not thinking about things the way you always have. Otherwise I can’t use you.”
Get involved with product development Top performing CIOs say a good partnership has to be a two-way street, in which both sides are invested in one another’s success. “This isn’t the old days, when a software company would sell you a bunch of stuff and then disappear, and then come back three years later to try to sell you more,” says Shamim Mohammad, chief information and technology officer (CITO) of CarMax, the largest used car retailer in the U.S.
Yet just 18% of CIOs surveyed say they’re highly effective at sharing a culture of innovation with external partners to drive digital transformation.
In order to make sure his vendor relationships are on that path, Mohammad shares his technology roadmap with partners and works with them to make sure they’re aligned.
For example, before he signed on with a major SaaS provider, Mohammad worked with that vendor’s head of product to develop new features that would meet CarMax’s particular needs. Engineers from both companies, who in previous days might never have met, worked side by side on the project.
Having teams from client and vendor working jointly not only helps the partnerships to deepen, it also allows for iteration, which is becoming an imperative as technological changes and market needs require companies to pivot ever more frequently. According to the Harvey Nash/KPMG 2019 CIO survey, 44% of companies expect to make major or radical changes to their products and services within the next three years. Not surprisingly, more than half of CIOs in the Oxford Economics survey say they’re effective at constantly researching new partnership opportunities, and 20% say they’re highly effective.
“We believe we’re doing a lot of innovative things,” says Mohammad. At times when vendors aren’t keeping up, he adds, “we’re challenging them to move faster.”
Fostering innovation At their best, partnerships with outside partners can lead to new opportunities that no one group could achieve on its own. Yet just 18% of CIOs say they’re highly effective at using partnership to develop new business models and ways of working.
Douglas Blackwell, SVP and CIO of insurer Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, spent years integrating systems with healthcare providers, hospitals, and medical records platforms. The effort helped the insurer create what Blackwell calls “longitudinal patient records,” which give a more accurate history of each patient. That helped the company to move to a pay-for-value framework that rewards good patient outcomes rather than a fee-for-service model that incentivizes overspending by healthcare providers. “In the past, it was more of a negotiation than a partnership,” says Blackwell.
Don’t forget about your own C-Suite The deep integration and collaboration that forward-thinking CIOs are adopting with vendors, while critical, is insufficient on its own. CIOs must make a similar effort to deepen their communication and relationships within their own C-suites.
Bridging that gap will require effort from both sides. But CIOs can’t wait around for an invitation.
30Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
CIOs can start by adopting more of a business mindset, carefully considering the costs of their proposed technology solutions as well as the business value they will provide. This is, of course, the same process they follow when they’re evaluating technology from a vendor and figuring out how to best collaborate.
But many CIOs don’t behave in that way when it comes to their relationships with C-suite colleagues, says Deloitte’s Lamar. That’s partly because, until recently, “many CIOs weren’t asked to put on their businessperson hat,” she says.
The very lessons CIOs have learned developing effective collaborations with outside partners can help them become better evangelists with the C-suite peers in their own organizations, she adds.
Berry, the Lululemon CIO who is now program leader for mergers and acquisitions at commercial jet-maker Bombardier, is a case in point. He says he’s become a better collaborator by educating his C-suite colleagues. His syllabus: being clear about what technology can make possible and what it can’t. “Everyone talks about digital,” says Berry. “But your CEO may not have a clue what the cloud means to the company.”
Of course, an educator needs to strike the right tone: “You can’t be condescending about it,” he says. “If you alienate them, they think you’re nothing but a geek.”
Stephen Mansfield, Chief Information Officer, Americas
Peter Burrows is a long-time technology journalist and author who has written for Business Week, Bloomberg News, MIT Tech Review and other publications.
Peter BurrowsABOUT
31Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
TIPS
Meet the experts Influential CIOs and business experts share advice on how to advance digital workflows
Chris Bedi Invest in experience to change behavior Chief Information Officer, ServiceNow
One way to ensure new digital processes are broadly adopted is to make sure they are faster, easier, and more satisfying for the people who need to use them, says Bedi. He uses mobile, analytics, and other technologies to create a better user experience. Bedi asks: “How do we make this as easy as possible?” And, he holds himself and his team accountable by measuring the rate of adoption of new processes, rather than just celebrating releases. “That is a critical proof point that investing in experience can make a huge difference.”
Dave Berry Strategy means being a citizen of the world Former interim CIO, Lululemon Athletica
Dave Berry has made a career providing interim CIO/CTO services to a variety of companies, including Lululemon Athletica, Daymon Worldwide, and Burger King. He says CIOs not only have to understand each business function, but how technology challenges vary from country to country. From data sovereignty to security laws, CIOs must understand the globality of their role. “The CIO role today is not what it was five years ago. Understanding GDPR (the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation) is not about understanding security. It’s about understanding the law.”
Lori Beer Great strategy starts with a great team Global Chief Information Officer, JPMorgan Chase
“You can pick up anybody’s technology strategy today and they’re talking about data privacy protection, cloud, AI, machine learning,” Beer says. “But talent, at the end of the day, is critical.” For Beer, that means making sure you have a team capable of executing on a company’s strategic technology imperatives. Having a solid team allows Beer to act decisively in executive meetings with C-suite colleagues. Now, Beer is in a position to ask: “What do we need to do to continue to win in the marketplace, serve the needs of our customers and clients, and enable business leaders?”
32Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Jason Blackman Communication is the foundation of strategy Chief Information Officer, Carsales.com
Blackman says it’s important for a CIO and their organization to communicate well across the organization, not just at the executive level. Otherwise, IT has a tendency to operate in a silo—as a service organization for the rest of the company and not a strategic driver of innovation. “You really need to be able to articulate at all levels of the business, from the basement to the boardroom,” he says. “It means that technology can no longer be this department operating in a corner, operating in a vacuum. It needs to be integrated.”
Douglas Blackwell Partnering is critical to digitization strategy SVP and Chief Information Officer, Horizon Blue Cross
Blue Shield of New Jersey
When it comes to big strategic initiatives, Blackwell looks outside his organization. “We want to partner; we want to integrate,” he says. The big projects that really transform a business require more new technology and more new capabilities than the company could muster on its own. So he focuses on finding the right partners and working closely with his colleagues inside the company to make sure the relationships are set up for success.
Jim Fowler Journey maps are key to strategy success Chief Information Officer, Nationwide
In the digital world, organizations seek to meet customer needs based on end-to-end journeys that cross multiple domains. “The hardest part of our digital transformation has been moving from teams that were organized around the functions they supported to cross-functional teams working on a problem or outcome,” Fowler says. To help make that shift, he has teams focus on the journey map of the customer. That means thinking about experiences from the customer’s point of view, whether they are an employee or buyer. “Moving to cross-functional teams helped us understand the trade-off between what looked like inefficiency within an individual function and creating an interaction that truly delighted the customer,” Fowler says.
33Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Michael Hubbard Great strategy is informed by value data Michael Hubbard, Global Vice President of Value
Management, ServiceNow
Best-in-class CIOs are getting serious about value management—mapping the value of work processes in terms of cost, experience and productivity, and then setting goals on how to improve each outcome. By doing so, leaders can assess what needs to change, whether it’s technology, culture or something else. “Every 90 days, I should be changing the experience as measured by quality and the experience as measured by efficiency,” says Hubbard. “[CIOs] are welcome to new business transformation conversations as long as they can marry the technology how into a financial why.”
Kristi Lamar Understand challenges of each business function Managing Director of Deloitte U.S. CIO Program,
Deloitte Consulting
To succeed, most CIOs will need to overcome sky-high—sometimes unfairly high—expectations for business impact. “Every veteran CIO has dealt with a CFO or a CEO that’s read an article on digital transformation in an inflight magazine,” says Lamar. The key to a successful strategy under such difficult circumstances, she says, is listening. Unlike the days when CIOs were mostly responsible for running the email system while keeping a lid on IT costs, they must now take the time to deeply understand the problems facing other business leaders. “The best CIOs are willing to slow down and listen to their counterparts in the company, to really understand the context.”
Patricia Grant Frameworks make strategies scalable, but require employee support VP of IT Strategy, Planning and Business Operations, ServiceNow
ServiceNow created a standardized approach to digitize each business function and automate repetitive tasks that were taking up too much employee time. It made digital transformations replicable and scalable across the business. But, employees have to be excited to make this journey successful. “We established shared mission statements and objectives at the outset, which aligned to our overall corporate goals and language used by our CEO. And employees got that and were excited to move forward, because it was in our language and the goals that we speak about every day,” says Grant. “Once the momentum started, teams were competing with each other to see who could drive the most automation in their areas.”
34Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Shamim Mohammad Retail workflows are omnichannel and evolving Chief Information and Technology Officer, CarMax
CarMax is transforming how its customers and employees engage with the company by offering a complete omnichannel experience. “Omni to us is basically enabling customers to buy or sell a car on their own terms from anywhere, anytime,” Mohammad says. “In order to do that, we have to transform, digitize, automate, and streamline the whole buying and selling process leveraging technology.” Mohammad expects this work will continue for years to come, as the company continues to enhance the customer experience.
Teri Takai Take transformation cues from employees Executive Director, Center for Digital Government
Change isn’t always easy for an organization, especially when people are used to working a particular way. “It’s something CIOs don’t necessarily think about in terms of strategy,” Takai says. But employees’ desire to change can often make or break a digital workflow strategy. In her career, Takai has gotten around this by staying focused on a digitization goal while knowing that the company might not get there all at once. In this model, CIOs have a vision for the change they want to introduce, but have to “work with the organization to understand their tolerance for that change,” she says.
Helmuth Ludwig Strategy requires C-Suite collaboration Chief Information Officer, Siemens
To be strategic partners that can help transform a business, CIOs need to adopt a growth mindset, Ludwig says. Thinking about value creation, as opposed to systems, allows technologists to talk to C-suite colleagues about what’s changing in the market and how the company needs to adapt. “What’s really their vision, what’s the long-term picture of the future of the different businesses?” he says. Getting aligned on these questions is how “you support technological changes but also business model changes.” Ludwig believes that close collaboration with the CEO is key to any successful workflow digitalization strategy. At Siemens, he won’t even start strategy meetings unless the business unit CEO is present.
35Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Statistics on how CIOs in different countries apply best practices
A large majority of CIOs around the world report having a standard process for advancing workflow digitization across their organizations. However,
technology leaders appear to be more successful in some countries than others.
In a survey of more than 500 CIOs based in 11 different countries, with about 40 to 50 respondents from each country: 85% of CIOs in Australia say they have a replicable process for digitizing business functions, indicating a level of maturation in how those organizations approach digitization. That’s compared with 65% in France, 81% in Germany, 76% in Singapore, 77% in the U.K., and 72% in the U.S.
However, on average, CIOs in each country show varying rates of success in how they actually implement that process, including collaborating with peers and external vendors, investment in technologies, and how their organizations align digitization goals to the broader business.
That variation in strategy may be affecting how successful CIOs are in digitizing across business lines. For instance, in the HR function, 51% of CIOs based in Australia report the function is digitized to a great extent, versus 39% in France, 38% in Germany, 30% in Singapore, 40% in the U.K., and 34% in the U.S. In finance, 56% of CIOs in Australia report workflows have been digitized to a great extent, compared with 49% in Germany, 46% in the U.K., 43% in France, 43% in Singapore, and 42% in the U.S.
Here’s how CIOs in each country stack up in key categories of digital workflow strategy.
Collaboration with colleagues When it comes to collaborating with other executives to set business goals and make IT investments, 44% of CIOs in Australia say they collaborate with COOs, compared with 43% in France, 41% in Italy, 36% in the U.S. and Spain, 35% in both Singapore and the Netherlands, 29% in the U.K., 28% in Japan, 24% in Sweden, and 23% in Germany.
Fewer CIOs say they collaborate with the CHRO in this area: 24% of CIOs in Singapore; 21% each in the Netherlands, Germany, and the U.K.; 20% in both France and Japan; 18% in Italy; 16% in Sweden; 15% in Australia; 14% in the U.S.; and 13% in Spain.
Collaboration with external vendors CIOs in most countries report strong relationships with external vendors and partners, however there are some laggards. CIOs in Germany (64%), Italy (63%), the Netherlands (60%), and Sweden (58%) were somewhat less likely to report effective or highly effective relationships than their peers in Spain (76%), the U.S. (76%), the U.K. (75%), and Singapore (74%).
IN FOCUS: COUNTRIES
Digitization best practices around the world
Colleagues at Nationwide headquarters (Photo by David Kasnic)
36Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Empowering employees Equipping employees with digital tools to manage their workflows and track progress can be a key driver of transformation, and many CIOs in the survey are confident in their progress in this area. In Australia, 69% of CIOs say they’re highly or mostly effective at this, compared with Japan at 67%, the U.S. at 62%, and Spain at 60%. In some countries, CIOs were less likely to say they were highly or mostly effective, including Singapore with 41%, the U.K. with 42%, and Italy with 45%.
Aligning digitization goals to the broader business Aligning digitization goals to the broader business is key to increasing an organization’s strategic outcomes. There are a number of ways CIOs measure their ability to do this. Here are the countries where CIOs say they are highly effective at the following capabilities.
• When it comes to building specialized teams across functions to carry out digital transformation initiatives, 22% of CIOs in Sweden, Spain, and Japan say they’re highly effective, compared with 9% in Germany and 6% in Italy.
• One-third of CIOs in Japan and 30% in the U.S. say they’re highly effective at understanding the extent of digitization across the business. That compares with 9% in Singapore.
• For increasing communication between IT and the workforce about business process changes, 30% of CIOs in the U.S. called themselves highly effective, compared with 4% of CIOs in Italy.
• For understanding the ways business functions provide value to the organization, as well as the tools they need, 28% of CIOs in Japan say they’re highly effective, while 24% of CIOs in Singapore, Spain, and Sweden do. That’s compared with 9% of CIOs in both Germany and France, and 6% in Italy.
• Thirty percent of CIOs in Japan say they’re highly effective at actively researching new areas for collaboration between business functions and IT. That compares with 24% of CIOs in France, and 21% in Australia. CIOs in the Netherlands (10%) and Italy (8%) are least likely to say they are highly effective in this area.
37Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Workflow digitization results vary by countryHow effectively does your overall organization perform the following activities? Highly effective responses shown.
Build specialized teams across functions to carry out digital transformation initiatives
Understand the extent of digitization across the business
Increase communication between IT and the workforce about business process changes
Understand the ways business functions provide value to the organization, as well as the tools they need
Actively research new areas for collaboration between business functions and IT
Australia Singapore
Netherlands
Italy United Kingdom
Japan United States
Germany Sweden
France Spain
18%
21%
18%
13%
13%
15%
24%
17%22%
9%
23%
17%
9%17%
9%
4%
8%
6%10%
6%
24%
30%
22%33%
28%
27%
13%
22%22%
24%
9%
13%
13%9%
24%
21%
10%
13%19%
10%
13%
22%
16%24%
27%
25%
10%
10%23%
21%
30%
26%
18%30%
28%
38Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Statistics on how five different fields apply best practices
Many CIOs across industries say they have a standard process for advancing workflow digitization across their organizations. However,
technology leaders appear to be more successful in some industries than others.
In a global survey that included 50 CIOs each from financial services, government and healthcare, 35 from retail, and 31 from IT services: 84% of CIOs in the IT services industry say they have a replicable process for digitizing workflows, indicating a level of maturation in how those organizations approach digitization. That compared with 82% of CIOs in healthcare, 80% in government, 74% in financial services and 66% in retail.
However, on average, CIOs in each industry also show varying rates of success in how they actually implement that process, including collaborating with peers and external vendors, investment in technologies, and how their organizations align digitization goals to the broader business.
Here’s how CIOs in each industry stack up in key categories of digital workflow strategy.
Collaboration with colleagues Most CIOs say they collaborate with the CFO when it comes to setting business goals and making IT investments, including 78% in government, 74% in both IT services and healthcare, 72% in financial services, and 66% in retail.
Far fewer CIOs across these industries say they collaborate with the CHRO in this area: just 32% in IT services, 20% in healthcare, 23% in retail, and 16% in both financial services and government.
Collaboration with external vendors Most CIOs across industries collaborate well with external vendors and partners. Seventy-two percent of CIOs in government say their collaboration is effective or highly effective, compared with 68% in healthcare, 65% in IT services, 64% in financial services, and 63% in retail.
However, just a select group across each industry say they are highly effective at translating those relationships into driving digital transformation in their organizations: 22% in financial services, 19% in IT services, 18% in healthcare,12% in government, and 11% in retail.
Empowering employees CIOs must equip employees with digital tools to manage their workflows and track progress in order to drive transformation. This is a category where many organizations come up short: 22% of CIOs in government say they are highly effective at this, compared with 18% in healthcare, 13% in IT services, 11% in retail, and 10% in financial services.
IN FOCUS: INDUSTRIES
Digitization strategy across industries
IT team at Deloitte (Photo by Daniel Alexander)
39Workflow Quarterly The Strategy Issue
Aligning digitization goals to the broader business Aligning digitization goals to the broader business is key to increasing an organization’s strategic outcomes. There are a number of ways CIOs measure their ability to do this.
• Twenty-six percent in IT services say they’re highly effective at building specialized teams across functions to carry out digital transformation initiatives. That’s compared with 20% in government, 11% in retail, 10% in healthcare, and 8% in financial services.
• Twenty-four percent of CIOs in government say they’re highly effective at understanding the extent of digitization across the business, compared with 19% in IT services, 18% in healthcare, 16% in financial services, and 14% in retail.
• In government, 28% of CIOs say they are highly effective at increasing communication between IT and the workforce about business process changes, compared with 24% in healthcare, 23% in IT services, and 22% in financial services. Only 6% of CIOs in retail say this.
• Among CIOs in IT services, 23% say they are highly effective at understanding the ways business functions provide value to the organization, as well as the tools they need, compared with 20% in healthcare, 16% in government, 14% in retail, and just 8% in financial services.
• Sixteen percent of CIOs in government say they’re highly effective at actively researching new areas for collaboration between business functions and IT, compared with 14% in financial services and retail, 13% in IT services, and 12% in healthcare.
Workflow digitization results vary by industryHow effectively does your overall organization perform the following activities? Highly effective responses shown.
Build specialized teams across functions to carry out digital transformation initiatives
Understand the ways business functions provide value to the organization, as well as the tools they need
Actively research new areas for collaboration between business functions and IT
Increase communication between IT and the workforce about business process changes
Understand the extent of digitization across the business
10%
18%
24%
20%
12%
11%
14%
6%
14%
14%
8%
16%
22%
8%
14%
20%
24%
28%
16%
16%
26%
19%
23%
23%
13%
IT Services Retail
Financial Services Government Healthcare
Workflow Quarterly Upcoming issues
Visit workflowquarterly.com to read the latest issue online.
WINTER 2019: THE CULTURE ISSUE
Does workflow digitization make people happy?
This issue will identify the connection between people and machine through an in-depth ethnographic investigation, which will illustrate the impact of process automation on employees.
Jim Fowler at Nationwide headquarters (Photo by David Kasnic)
workflow.servicenow.com/quarterly
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