After the self-developed IT service management tool reached its limits, wind turbine manufacturer ENERCON decided to implement a new, future-proof solution for the management of internal IT processes. With the support of agineo and Materna TMT, the company is introducing ServiceNow worldwide as a platform for transparent and highly professional IT services. But that’s not all: the aim is to map further processes using ServiceNow and to develop the tool into an enterprise service management platform in the long term.
ENERCON GmbH is the largest German manufacturer of wind turbines and is one of the global leaders in the industry. The company employs 13,500 people throughout the Group, 7,500 of them in Germany alone. The IT department was using a self-developed solution to provide employees with IT products and services globally. However, this reached its limits when the IT strategy and the department’s self-image changed fundamentally.
“We aspire to support our colleagues not just as an in-house service provider, but as a value-adding partner,”
explains Cláudia Bispo, Head of Department Service Desk.
Based on this understanding, she and her team selected an IT service management tool that can be modularly adapted to the requirements in order to generate real added value. In addition, this tool was to form the basis for a future enterprise service management system with full process transparency.
The right tool was soon found in ServiceNow: a highly available, scalable platform for digitizing, automating and optimizing processes. In order to be able to actually present standardized services and map user-oriented processes via a single portal, it quickly became clear that ENERCON needed the support of external partners.
“We needed a partner who could advise us on how best to use the tool and support us with the customizations,”
reveals Cláudia Bispo.
Creating a solid foundation with the right expertise
The team of experts at agineo, a subsidiary of the Materna Group specializing in ServiceNow, supported ENERCON right from the start.
“agineo advised us, helped us with the development work and is always the first point of contact for assessing which new requirements can be sensibly implemented in the agile process. This also includes putting on the brakes if, for example, customizing does not have an optimal long-term effect on our project.”
In the first expansion stage, ENERCON is using ServiceNow as an ITSM tool. In order to create a basis for later expansion, a standardized IT portal with consolidated tools is to be created first. Three of the most important processes, Incident, Request and Knowledge Management, are already live.
Other important interim goals are the creation of measurability, transparency and cost allocation. One example of this is the optimization and further development of the service catalog: A service catalog is already offered via the internal customer portal “Employee Center”, which is intended to comprehensively reflect the IT services offered by the IT department:
Previously, there was a lack of a clear overview of the IT services, their descriptions and categorizations. The newly planned service catalog provides employees with a clear overview and makes it easy for them to find and order the services they need. Each specialist department has its own recognition value, so that employees from the different areas immediately know where to click to find all the relevant services in a package for their area. Long searches and tedious compilation are a thing of the past. Where possible, the required services are provided automatically at the touch of a button.
Another important point is the creation of a central database into which certain data from the internal address book is integrated in ServiceNow. This acts as a single point of truth for personal data, allowing users to update information such as telephone numbers or job changes. Such adjustments are small, but particularly important for departments that deal with them intensively.
ServiceNow’s improved reporting capability allows users to work more efficiently and create customized lists. These can then be shared with the whole team to ensure everyone has the same information. This breaks down data silos in a targeted way and shares data and insights.
“This is invaluable for collaboration and mutual understanding,”
summarizes Cláudia Bispo.
In the area of incident management, questions about the actual number and critical importance of incidents or problems in the company per month are of great relevance. The additional options offered by ServiceNow, such as the consideration of countries with multiple locations or the detailed breakdown of incidents by location, provide support here. For a well-founded assessment of possible operational disruptions or of the security situation, it is important to obtain a reliable picture of the situation in order to identify and close weak points at an early stage. Such reporting options were not available in the old tool.
ENERCON innovation center in Aurich
Change management as the key to acceptance of the new tool
The project team worked closely with internal customers from the various specialist departments to understand their needs and requirements and incorporate them into the planning. There are still some issues to work through, but the team is confident that it can overcome these challenges and continuously improve the service. The project managers have involved key users and business partners to establish an effective demand or requirements process that takes into account and maps new requirements from the business area for services.
To ensure that such a major IT change process as the one that took place at ENERCON is successfully supported by all stakeholders involved in an organization, Materna TMT was responsible for the area of learning as part of the IT project-accompanying change management. Like agineo, Materna TMT is a subsidiary of the Materna Group and specializes in digital learning, among other things. Change management aims to create maximum acceptance among the workforce, reduce concerns and allay fears. An elementary component of the change process was to ensure that ENERCON employees were familiar with the changed processes in their day-to-day work and were able to use them confidently. To this end, the Materna TMT team of experts designed and produced eight interactive and multimedia e-learning courses. The experts relied on a particularly varied media mix to keep learning motivation high and make the associated learning experiences as positive as possible. Among other things, explanatory films were produced to impart knowledge about the new tool, interactive infographics, screencasts that illustrate work processes and click paths in the new live system, click simulations in which the knowledge acquired in e-learning is put into practice in a protected learning environment, and various forms of quizzes to provide a personal learning success check.
Cooperation is the be-all and end-all
The project is designed to run for several years and is ongoing. In conclusion, Cláudia Bispo summarizes the creation of a sound basis for enterprise service management:
“Collaboration was crucial to drive the integration of processes. Careful planning was essential to bring structure to the process and ensure quality in the long term. The project team has undergone a remarkable transformation and is now responsible for supporting individual products.”
The introduction of ServiceNow as an ITSM tool and the associated change management is seen as a flagship project that should serve as a template for other departments. It is therefore important to communicate transparently and demonstrate the full potential. The focus is on ensuring long-term quality before the project is expanded into comprehensive enterprise service management. Around 300 IT employees and external partners around the world are now working with the new solution.
Other tools and processes that are to be integrated into ServiceNow in the future include the CMDB with the IT infrastructure, software asset management and application management. The focus is also on topics such as the mobile app to map the service catalog in the Employee Center. Other important ITSM processes such as change and problem management are also on the agenda and are already being technically developed and introduced.
This is ENERCON
As a pioneer in wind energy technology and a partner in the energy transition, ENERCON specializes in the development, production, sales and service of onshore wind turbines. With the mission “Energy for the world”, the company has been committed to sustainable energy generation from onshore wind since 1984 and is one of the world’s leading manufacturers thanks to its innovative turbine technology, high quality standards and many years of experience. More than 13,000 people at ENERCON’s administrative, sales, production and service locations worldwide are committed to the energy transition every day.