BCIT leverages ServiceNow for comprehensive service and support excellence

For higher education institutions, digital transformation is essential to keep pace with user and student expectations and increase efficiency for complex workflows. In addition, institutions are very administrative by nature, creating opportunities for automation and technology modernization to optimize administrative and repetitive tasks within day-to-day operations. 

The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) is a renowned public polytechnic institute with five main campuses and several satellite schools spread across British Columbia. BCIT delivers more than 300 programs to nearly 50,000 students annually through their schools, making them a premier higher education institute in Western Canada.

When BCIT’s ongoing success led to concerns about managing and scaling several service management processes, RSM and ServiceNow stepped up to optimize workflows and dramatically increase efficiency throughout several of the institution’s key operations.

With growth, technology challenges emerge

As BCIT grew at a rapid pace, their legacy service management tool had limitations and could not align with the institution’s evolving technological landscape. The legacy tool’s limited scalability hindered its ability to handle increasing ticket volumes and complex workflows, while the outdated user interface coupled with cumbersome navigation created a poor end-user experience for staff, faculty and students.

“Our IT team and our business environment has had to evolve over the years to respond to the changing needs of industry, and expectations of our students and our faculty,” says BCIT Manager of Service Management Hoby Chou. “People are often influenced by what they experience outside of academia. So, this means folks are expecting the Amazon experience when they come and they do their studies at BCIT.” 

Creating a proactive vision for transformation

To enhance and revitalize service management, BCIT leadership sought a next-generation enterprise service management (ESM) solution to initially support their large and diverse information technology environment, with plans to extend the technology to other key workflows within the institution.

When BCIT leadership evaluated potential ESM vendors, ServiceNow quickly rose to the top as a solution that could fill the institution’s current needs and scale with evolving demands. 

“The decision to move forward with ServiceNow, in my mind, was a really easy one,” says BCIT Associate Vice President, Digital Transformation and Chief Information Officer Omair Quraishi. “Over the course of my career, I've actually been in a number of different institutions where we've adopted ServiceNow, and it's really leagues ahead of the competition out there, and it really helps position our teams for success.”

After BCIT zeroed in on ServiceNow as the best solution for their needs, they initiated a process to select a qualified implementation advisor. But they were not looking for a firm to simply implement ServiceNow. Instead, they sought a train-the-trainer model, where BCIT personnel could be self-sustaining and manage further ServiceNow integration throughout the institution following the initial implementation. With that strategy in mind, RSM emerged as the clear choice for implementation support and guidance. 

“BCIT was not looking for a knowledge transfer,” says RSM Canada ServiceNow Practice Manager Glen Chiasson. “They were not looking for a solution to be handed over. They wanted true mentorship, and they wanted to be ServiceNow developers after the project was over. RSM was happy to oblige, and that made the project unique and enjoyable, in my opinion.”

Implementing a comprehensive solution for short- and long-term success

Once the ServiceNow project began, RSM conducted workshops and learning conversations, where the team gathered requirements and listened to BCIT stakeholders to understand what the entire enterprise needed.

“We had that aha moment pretty quickly with RSM,” says BCIT Senior Systems Analyst Matthew Beaulne. “It was within one of the first or second meetings where Glen offered up the mentorship sessions. I had an immediate feeling like, ‘Oh, they're invested in us and making sure that we're enabled to do what we need to do for the better of BCIT.’"

RSM’s depth of industry knowledge was also a key element of understanding BCIT’s requirements and designing a solution that seamlessly aligned with them.

“RSM’s experience working in higher ed has really been beneficial to us,” says Chou. “Having folks who have worked in higher ed before and who are local meant that we could hit the ground running.”

The RSM team implemented ServiceNow IT service management (ITSM) by following recommended best practices and fulfilled BCIT’s goal of having a comprehensive suite of ITSM capabilities, consisting of incident management, problem management, change management and knowledge management. RSM leveraged a range of accelerators—such as project plans, workshop templates, baseline user stories, training materials, and comprehensive go-live and implementation plans—to establish efficient and effective project execution.

To accomplish BCIT’s goal for widespread ServiceNow integration throughout the institution, RSM broke the implementation project down into two phases. ITSM was the first concentration, establishing the Service BCIT service management platform. Once that workstream was operational within ServiceNow, RSM and BCIT worked to expand Service BCIT to streamline key human resources processes. Beyond HR, BCIT plans to take what they’ve learned and extend the functionality to various departments, including education technology resources as well as safety, security and emergency management.

“We're going to be rolling out with new departments over the coming months and years, and there's no end in sight,” says Beaulne. There will be improvements made all over the place. We're going to start connecting our students and employees at BCIT with the solutions that they need, and it's only going to get better from here.”

From a training perspective, the RSM team gave BCIT users a strong foundation to further develop and advance ServiceNow well after the engagement was over by implementing an Agile methodology to manage the platform’s development and ongoing evolution. At the start of the implementation, RSM led the Agile activities, but as the project progressed, leadership steadily transitioned to BCIT.

“RSM implementing Agile methodology to our development practices was a game changer for our team,” says Beaulne. “Their team helped introduce Agile to us, but they also taught us how Agile worked. Now it’s just a part of the fabric of how we work in our team.”

Innovation and collaboration yield rapid results

The ServiceNow implementation paid immediate dividends for BCIT, transforming their service delivery approach and drastically increasing efficiency.

Chou detailed the benefits and improvement in BCIT’s processes. “We found a 400 per cent increase in the number of users who use the website to reach help, and a 53 per cent decline in call volume,” he says. “Meanwhile, we were able to resolve tickets 76 per cent faster than before.”

One of the critical elements of the ServiceNow implementation project’s success has been the close collaboration and alignment between RSM and BCIT, and a shared vision for the future.

“One of the things that sets RSM apart from other implementers is that they’re here for the long haul,” says Quraishi. “What we’ve established with RSM is an ongoing relationship where we continue to work with them to explore the platform. RSM does such a good job of identifying where we are in our journey internally and then helping to map what our future could look like with ServiceNow.”

In fact, the three entities—BCIT, RSM and ServiceNow—have worked together seamlessly to generate rapid operational improvements while also addressing the institution’s long-term strategic goals. 

“I was surprised about how friendly and open RSM was with us, as well as with ServiceNow,” says Beaulne. “We were like a triangle. There's BCIT, RSM and ServiceNow all working together. It wasn't separate silos.”

ServiceNow Enterprise Account Executive Laura Thompson also emphasized the success of the BCIT implementation and integration. “It's been a master-class implementation, and everything has gone extremely smooth so far—and that's not always the case,” she says. “I've been extremely impressed with both BCIT and RSM in this implementation.”

Looking forward to a bright future

The comprehensive ServiceNow service management project has not only enhanced BCIT’s day-to-day operations but also aligned with their broader vision for service excellence. By providing a centralized platform for service requests and support, BCIT, RSM and ServiceNow have enhanced the overall experience for the institution’s community, leading to greater efficiency and satisfaction.

“Now that we have ServiceNow, the future's looking really bright,” says Chou. “Not only do our staff get to focus on higher-value-added work—our students and faculty get the service and support they need, faster and more efficiently.”