As an IT leader, it’s important to step back, sometimes, and view what you can do better with your service desk. Because small issues and inefficiencies can easily add up to day-to-day chaos. In organizations where IT services are aligned with business objectives, they are more likely to make investments in new technologies like AI & ML. Periodic reviews will make sure that the alignment stays. Here we are going to look at some areas where putting efforts can yield significant result.

On March 16th, we announced our Customer Care Program, including four no-charge emergency response apps. We’ve already seen tremendous traction with the apps. As of March 25, nearly 1000 organizations have downloaded the apps. In addition, our amazing community has generated many new ideas, resources, tools, and stories. Some are best practices, some are specific to customers of the Now Platform®, and some come from ServiceNow partners who are helping with new apps, services, and strategy.

Settling into any new job can be exhausting. New faces, new desk, new computer, new kitchen (and new kitchen rules), new… everything. On top of that, there are forms to fill in and return to multiple onboarding stakeholders, passwords to create, HR policies to read.

I have two big dogs that have gotten used to having me home. Sometimes they even block the exit from my home office! And, from what I’ve seen on social media over the past week, not only are lots of dogs happy to hang out on video calls, but plenty of cats are more than willing to warm up their humans’ keyboards. But what about the human element? How are we all doing in these times of uncertainty, and how can we be sure to care for ourselves, our families, and our communities?

The topic of workforce skills is much talked about, with a number of global organisations, including UNESCO, pointing to the fact that digital skills are becoming a critical requirement for employment. However, the skills gap is continuing to widen. The workforce of today has been educated for the jobs of yesterday, not tomorrow. This issue is particularly pressing in the technology sector, with many companies also struggling to bring a balance in diversity.

We are proud to announce that our SCOM ServiceNow Incident Connector has now been published in the Azure Marketplace. The OpsLogix SCOM ServiceNow Incident Connector enables you to bring service desk and monitoring data together. It provides a bi-directional connection between SCOM alerts and ServiceNow incidents.

With the current focus on social distancing and other health precautions, service management leaders are probably already thinking about short-term implications of these rapidly incoming changes. The large-scale increased use of remote work is one implication. This might be a new option or an immediate mandatory requirement for all employees. Regardless, many IT organizations may not be ready.

The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA) recently celebrated its one year anniversary. The goal of the legislation is to improve the way citizens interact with the federal government. The ability to provide a modern digital experience to citizens and employees is now a basic expectation for all federal chief information officers (CIOs). Today, trust in institutions is near historic lows, setting the stakes for successful digital transformations at an all-time high.

In a pandemic, it’s critical for government agencies and healthcare providers to mobilize quickly. Washington State is ground zero in the United States for COVID-19 where the first US deaths were reported in February 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Since then the disease has spread to nearly every state in the country, and is now a global pandemic. Health officials have been working around the clock to contain the virus.