- 4 months ago
Introduction to ServiceNow Modules: SPM
with
Hassan Sheikh
MD & CTO | RT Tech
&
Adan Saqib
ServiceNow Consultant | RT Tech
This session on Introduction to ServiceNow Modules: Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) offers an overview of how organizations can align strategy with execution. It will explore key capabilities such as demand management, project portfolio planning, and resource optimization. Participants will learn how SPM supports informed decision-making and value delivery. The session is ideal for those aiming to enhance visibility and control across enterprise initiatives.
with
Hassan Sheikh
MD & CTO | RT Tech
&
Adan Saqib
ServiceNow Consultant | RT Tech
This session on Introduction to ServiceNow Modules: Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) offers an overview of how organizations can align strategy with execution. It will explore key capabilities such as demand management, project portfolio planning, and resource optimization. Participants will learn how SPM supports informed decision-making and value delivery. The session is ideal for those aiming to enhance visibility and control across enterprise initiatives.
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00:00Hi everyone, I'm your host Talha Ahmed, welcome to the mind bite series presented
00:00:29by Techman and today's session is about strategic portfolio management and this video is an
00:00:36introduction to strategic portfolio management and we are going to discuss the sub-modules
00:00:42of it as well as every component and feature that includes strategic portfolio management.
00:00:48The speakers for today's session are Adhan Saqib John and Hassan Sheikh and both are very
00:00:54competent TMA certified trainers and consultants and you can also watch our sessions on LinkedIn
00:01:03and Facebook as well and the strategic partners for today's session are OGMC, Esmark and Artitech
00:01:12Solutions Group.
00:01:13So, also I would like to give you a quick rundown to our upcoming sessions that are on October
00:01:232nd which is about the CSM and the on October 16th that is about the APM, Application Portfolio
00:01:31Management.
00:01:32So, today's session, it's divided into two phases.
00:01:37In the first phase, Adhan will describe us in detail about the strategic portfolio management,
00:01:43each component and some module of it and then Hassan would go through the Q&A sessions, the
00:01:52questions that you have sent in the comment box.
00:01:55So, don't forget to send your comments and questions in the comment box and without any
00:02:02further ado, I will call upon Adhan Saqib to just start the session now and describe us in
00:02:09detail strategic portfolio management.
00:02:41Adhan, we can't hear you.
00:03:11I don't think you are still audible.
00:03:23There would be some technical issue there.
00:03:33No, I don't think so.
00:03:43Maybe you can just turn off the mic and then on the natural audio you can see whether it
00:03:48works or not.
00:04:09Yeah, so Adhan is just fixing his mic, I think there is some kind of a technical issue.
00:04:21Once he is done, we would start off on strategic portfolio management.
00:04:40Am I audible now?
00:04:55Yeah, you are now audible.
00:04:58So now we can start.
00:05:01Okay, so today at MindBite, we are going to look into ServiceNow's SPM.
00:05:10So let's just start with the basics.
00:05:12What exactly is SPM or strategic portfolio management?
00:05:18Basically it's a module in ServiceNow that is there for making sure that your resources
00:05:23align with your business goals.
00:05:26Not IT but resources because usually in ITSM, we say that it's there for making your IT services
00:05:33align with your business goals.
00:05:36But the focus of SPM is on your resources, your finances, your manpower or your initiatives
00:05:43and making sure that all of those align with your business goals.
00:05:48So basically at its core, SPM is about making sure that the work an organization is doing
00:05:55actually aligns with its strategy and brings you the best ROI possible back to your company.
00:06:03I mean, think about it.
00:06:04Most companies have way more ideas and requests than they could actually realistically deliver
00:06:09because at any given time, at any given point, a company has a fixed amount of resources which
00:06:15they cannot exceed, they're limited by their resources.
00:06:19So they have to choose, they have to strategically plan in such a way that whatever initiatives
00:06:25they take, it doesn't exceed those resources and don't fail.
00:06:31Like for example, I mean by having many ideas and requests, I mean that we can take an example
00:06:38like marketing wants a new campaign.
00:06:41Now, the main challenge here is which ones do we actually fund and prioritize?
00:06:55So that's where SPM comes in, in ServiceNow's case, the platform helps you decide whether ideas
00:07:04should move forward because not all ideas can deliver the highest ROI and not all ideas will
00:07:09be that effective.
00:07:12Also it helps you decide where to put your money because again, resources aren't unlimited.
00:07:26It also helps you allocate people and resources in a more effective way.
00:07:31And most importantly, how to make sure that outcomes support the bigger business goals.
00:07:36For example, let's say your company has a strategic goal of becoming more digital.
00:07:45SPM ensures that when someone submits a request, like request or an idea like for a new mobile
00:07:52app, you can assess whether it's truly supporting the digital converting to digital strategy, how much
00:07:59it will cost, what resources, what resources it will need, and whether it's more valuable
00:08:04than the other competing initiatives or other competing ideas that you have already thought
00:08:09about.
00:08:10So if I sum it all up in one line, SPM is about connecting strategy to execution.
00:08:16Making sure that you're not just doing work, but doing the right work and the work that delivers
00:08:23measurable business value back to your company and brings back the highest ROI possible back
00:08:29to your business.
00:08:31So that's basically what SPM was.
00:08:34Now let's look into why exactly do we need it?
00:08:37How effectively do organizations need SPM?
00:08:41Honestly, the reality is that most companies don't fail because they lack ideas.
00:08:47They don't lack in, they're not lacking in the ideas department.
00:08:50They have, they can brainstorm many ideas, but where they fail is because they can't prioritize.
00:08:56They can't fund and execute those ideas in a structured way.
00:09:01So that's a huge liability for companies, but, and without SPM, what usually happens is this.
00:09:11Businesses push their own projects into silos.
00:09:14Resources are stretched much thinner than they can be across too many competing initiatives.
00:09:20So instead of completing one idea, it simultaneously harms every one of the things that are going
00:09:27on.
00:09:28And other thing that have usually happens is executives often don't have a clear line
00:09:33of sight into what projects are actually delivering value.
00:09:36So they don't have insights according to what exactly is happening.
00:09:40What's going to happen?
00:09:41No forecasts are available to them.
00:09:43So they can't make informed business decisions that will make things go forward.
00:09:47Now I've seen many cases where companies had hundreds of active projects, but when someone
00:09:53asks which ones directly support our top strategic goals or business goals, nobody
00:09:58can give a straight answer.
00:09:59And that's the problem.
00:10:01But SPM solves this by giving organizations a single connected system where strategy, funding,
00:10:11resources, and execution all come together in a strategic and consolidated way.
00:10:17It forces prioritizations, not just what's urgent, but what's most valuable to the business.
00:10:24It does this through scoring, which can be configured through your own company's personal needs.
00:10:30And it also gives many out of the box functionalities for scoring options.
00:10:35But we're going to discuss scoring later in the session.
00:10:40But right now it helps you prioritize by not what's urgent, but what delivers the most value.
00:10:47Like for example, instead of approving projects, just because a senior executive requested them,
00:10:53SPM allows you to score them against different business drivers, things like risk reduction or customer impact.
00:11:00And then invest only in the initiatives that actually truly matter.
00:11:07So put it simply, SPM is needed because it prevents wasted effort.
00:11:12That's the biggest part of it.
00:11:14It helps you get direction.
00:11:16It helps you aim your resources and helps you prevent wasted effort.
00:11:23So now we're going to look at SPM in ServiceNow.
00:11:33In ServiceNow, SPM is powered, not just by applications themselves,
00:11:37but by the platform capabilities set that sit underneath.
00:11:46Okay. So by that, I mean, for example, strategic planning workspace
00:11:51is what gives executives and PMOs a single view of strategy, investments and performance all in real time.
00:11:59And that's one of the biggest features in ServiceNow that ServiceNow provides regarding SPM.
00:12:04Apart from that, not only even though SPM is basically a suite of workspaces and applications,
00:12:11that's the main part, but it also ServiceNow also provides the other platform capabilities and tools
00:12:20to enhance SPM, like ServiceNow also brings in performance analytics,
00:12:25which turns basically raw project and portfolio data into live dashboards and KPIs.
00:12:31Instead of waiting for manual reports, leaders can immediately see whether initiatives are on track
00:12:37or to deliver outcomes, and they can even see the forecast of how the project is going
00:12:43and what's the likely impact, what's the likely risks that they can have.
00:12:47So performance analytics helps you give your executives proper insights into what's going on
00:12:54to manage those projects better and to make proper business information based decisions regarding them.
00:13:02And more recently, Generative AI or Gen AI has been added across all the platform modules that ServiceNow has
00:13:12heavily integrating into the platform.
00:13:14And even in ServiceNow, this means things like summarizing project updates without needing to do the work,
00:13:23and providing context for related records, and even using a chatbot interface to cure your portfolio,
00:13:30so that the managers spend less time digging for information and more time actually making decisions
00:13:36and doing work that aligns better with the business's goals.
00:13:40So SPM and ServiceNow isn't just about managing projects, it's about using these tools to make strategy.
00:13:47Execution and outcomes are fully connected and visible because of this.
00:13:54Also, ServiceNow provides SPM in basically two different main packages,
00:14:00which is firstly standard and professional.
00:14:02These are to help you scale your business, because if you buy the professional one out of the pad,
00:14:10out of the gate, you will get way too many functionalities that you won't use,
00:14:15which will hurt you more than it will help you.
00:14:18So it helps you scale according to your company.
00:14:21And whereas your company grows, you can upgrade your plans from standard to professional and even further than that.
00:14:28So, and ServiceNow originally positioned this space as IT Business Management or ITPM.
00:14:36And for a long time, that focus made sense because the primary use case was IT project delivery,
00:14:44cost tracking and aligning IT resources with business requests.
00:14:49But over time, organizations realized that these challenges aren't just IT problems, they are enterprise problems.
00:14:56So marketing, finance, HR, even operations, everyone needed a way to prioritize their work,
00:15:02allocate resources and show business value for what they have been doing and what they are going to do.
00:15:08That's why ServiceNow rebranded ITM into Strategic Portfolio Management or SPM.
00:15:15This shift is about moving from IT-centric view of projects to an enterprise-wide focus on strategic outcomes.
00:15:23Instead of just asking, are we delivering IT projects on time?
00:15:27The question becomes, are we investing in the right world?
00:15:30That means our company strategically forward.
00:15:33So, the evolution of ITBM to SPM reflects the bigger scope from supporting IT delivery to enabling enterprise-wide strategic alignment and value realization.
00:15:50After that, now we have the key concepts of ServiceNow SPM.
00:16:03Now, it's really important, at least for me, that the ability of SPM to sort ideas, to filter through ideas.
00:16:11And think of it, think of the whole process of turning ideas into funded projects, like a sluice box.
00:16:20It's basically used in gold mining.
00:16:22You pour in a lot of raw materials or sediment at the top, which can be rocks, sand, dirt, maybe even gold, and the water runs through.
00:16:31The lighter materials are washed away, and while they are heavier and more valuable pieces, get caught in the refills.
00:16:38And by the end, what you're left with are the gold nuggets that are actually worth keeping.
00:16:43Just like that, that's basically SPM defined in an analogy.
00:16:48So, you get ideas, you brainstorm, you get surveys through your employees, your managers, and get a ton of ideas.
00:16:57But not all of them are useful.
00:16:59Some of them are pebbles, some of them are sand, some of them are dirt.
00:17:03And when you run it through SPM, it washes away those things.
00:17:07And what are actually left through different scoring methods or different methodologies are the actual gold nuggets that are worth keeping.
00:17:16One of these methodologies is the gold framework.
00:17:24It's basically how organizations separate the signal from the noise.
00:17:29Leaders basically set high level objectives, like improving customer experience or reducing costs.
00:17:35Those are the main objectives, and those goals become the criteria against which every idea is measured.
00:17:43I mean, without any risk chasing projects that sound exciting, but don't actually drive strategy and strategic value for your own company.
00:17:52Again, think of it like a sluice box in gold mining.
00:17:55Dirt and travel flow in, but only the heavy gold settles.
00:17:58In the same way, only ideas aligned with goals that have enough weight to them are captured and sent for further review.
00:18:08And that's where innovation management comes in.
00:18:12It's there to further review your ideas.
00:18:16It's basically, it's the raw input of ideas flowing from employees, managers, even customers.
00:18:23So in ServiceNow, these are submitted through the idea portal, basically, in the employee service center, where people can log, even comment and vote on their different ideas.
00:18:36And have them have the company decide how they have give them their reviews on those specific initiatives that companies thinking of taking.
00:18:44So once submitted, they are automatically linked to the goals, scored and then dropped it for review.
00:18:51Now, the beauty here is the structure.
00:18:54You not, you're not just collecting suggestions.
00:18:57You're actually filtering them through strategic priorities.
00:19:00And often the best ideas come from the front lines, which is either the employees or the people working for you.
00:19:06So this process makes sure that those nuggets aren't actually lost, but actually they serve their surface and they're properly evaluated.
00:19:18And once those ideas pass the initial filter, they move into demand management.
00:19:25Now that's another process, they move into demand management.
00:19:29And this is where basically the business case gets real.
00:19:33You evaluate their cost, their expected benefit, their risk, the possible ROI that you can get from it.
00:19:40And other other factors that you have to consider are basically done over here.
00:19:46So in ServiceNow, demands are captured in a demand workspace where you can attach estimates, score them against different models and route them for approvals.
00:19:59This step is very critical because it forces the organizations to ask, is the idea basically worth investing compared to everything else that's on the table?
00:20:10Every other idea that's been submitted, every other initiative that company has thought of through brainstorming, basically.
00:20:18And from there, the approved demands actually drove into portfolio management.
00:20:25That's the next process.
00:20:29So think of portfolio management like a container, basically.
00:20:35That groups related initiatives, IT, finance, marketing, all aligned to strategic goals.
00:20:44In ServiceNow, portfolios give executives visibility into their budget resources and the projects progress across the projects.
00:20:54There are dozens of projects that are going on currently in your company.
00:20:58It helps give you visibility across all of them.
00:21:02So it's not about managing just one project in isolation.
00:21:07It's about managing and making sure that the whole portfolio is balanced and actually delivering the highest business value possible.
00:21:14Because that's basically the main goal of SPM, delivering the highest and best possible business value.
00:21:20That's the crux of it.
00:21:22And together with demand and portfolio management, they ensure that you're not just chasing the loudest request,
00:21:29but funding the right initiatives and tracking them as part of a bigger strategic picture and how they align with other ideas and other initiatives.
00:21:43So those were the key concepts.
00:21:45And now we're going to look at the core modules and workspaces inside ServiceNow SPM.
00:21:51One of the biggest strengths of ServiceNow SPM is basically how it packages all of its functionality into dedicated workspaces.
00:22:01Because at the end, SPM is just a suite of different applications, different tables and workspaces working together to provide you with business value.
00:22:13Now, if you're not actually familiar with workspaces, think of them as focused dashboards or think of them as control centers designed for specific roles.
00:22:27Instead of navigating a dozen of menus, each workspace brings together data, tools and actions a particular user needs in one place.
00:22:37So if you're a manager, you don't need to stumble across the instance in different tables, different modules just to do one specific task.
00:22:48For example, executives don't have to dig through project schedules and project managers don't need board level strategy like KPIs, etc.
00:22:58So workspaces solve this by tailoring the experience to the person's specific role.
00:23:07And whether you're in a C-suite or a PMO analyst or a project lead, it doesn't matter.
00:23:12There are different workspaces designed specifically by ServiceNow and configured through your choice and through your preferences,
00:23:20to your specifications to give you the best possible. Basically, it makes SPM a far more practical in real world situations because different stakeholders can all work in the same system.
00:23:34But each of them sees the view that's most relevant to them according to their role and configured according to their preferences.
00:23:43So now let's start with the strategic planning workspace. This is this one is really built for like executives and PMO leaders.
00:23:55So its purpose is to connect the high level strategy with actual investments being made.
00:24:02Inside this workspace, basically, you can define and track strategic objectives.
00:24:12It also gives you many different tools and multitasking abilities as well.
00:24:18It helps you map those objectives and investments so that you can literally see which projects or products are aligned with your business goals.
00:24:28And specifically which goals as well.
00:24:32So it also helps you monitor funding and budget allocations, making sure that money is flowing through into the initiatives that support strategy.
00:24:44Like I've said before, and the real value here is basically transparency.
00:24:48It helps you see a dozen different things that are going on in your project all at once in all the same space in the same place.
00:24:57So that you can compare them all. You can weigh them with each other and make decisions based on according to that.
00:25:07So instead of strategy being like PowerPoint slides that get forgotten eventually.
00:25:13The strategic planning workspace gives leaders a living view, basically a dynamic view that changes as things go on of how strategy translates into execution.
00:25:23And whether the portfolio is still aligned with business goals and whether the portfolio is still aligned with business goals.
00:25:29So that's basically how portfolio and is basically planned in strategic planning workspace.
00:25:43Next we have is demand demand workbench.
00:25:52So this workspace is designed for evaluating and prioritizing demands.
00:25:59Basically a demand could be anything from a project request to a enhancement request in your existing service system.
00:26:09Or even a proposed innovation can be considered a demand as well.
00:26:13So, but the main challenge here is most organizations face is that the biggest challenge that they face is that the requests pile up in basically an email stretch spreadsheets or informal conversations and scattered across all of them.
00:26:31And there's no consistent way to compare them.
00:26:34This is where a demand manager demand management helps the most.
00:26:37It gives you a clear chart basically according which can be configured according to your demands or your specifications.
00:26:45But basically the demand workbench solves this by putting all demands into a single view, as you can see over here and where you can this way you can assess them against a common criteria, which can be things like cost or expected benefit risk resources needed, which you can define according to yourself.
00:27:05Because right now there are in this example, there are three dimensions basically to how they're evaluating.
00:27:14Sorry.
00:27:19Right now there are basically.
00:27:22In this example, there are three dimensions to how they're evaluating their demands value risk and the size of those.
00:27:30Demands which can be and there's all they're also color coded through and categorize in the highest value demands would be in the top left, which are green and the lowest that provider will be in the bottom right because they are the lowest on the scale of both value and risk.
00:27:51So basically it solves the problem of not being able to compare or not being able to organize those demands in a clear and strategic way.
00:28:02And from my perspective, what makes this powerful is the structured decision making that you get through it.
00:28:09Like I have been saying before, instead of improving business, improving projects based on who shouts the loudest, the demand workbench forces everything through a transparent criteria based evaluation.
00:28:20Man displaying them on a chart to help you visualize the decisions better.
00:28:29That way leadership can make confident investment decisions, knowing that there are funding initiatives that actually make basically make them make the needle move and bring the most value back to your company.
00:28:42So, and even you can even customize this in compare right now is being showed as the size of the dots is being shows as the size of the project basically the bigger the project, the larger the size of those dots will be.
00:29:01But you can change that according to your specific needs, you can transfer that to the cost of the project or the risk of the project and you can basically the configuration is endless according to your needs.
00:29:14So this was ServiceNow's demand workbench.
00:29:19And these are basically the main workspaces that there are in ServiceNow's SPM.
00:29:25These are, it's not just these, there are many others, but these are the ones that we are going to, we have discussed for today.
00:29:32So that's that for SPM.
00:29:36And now we're going to move on to the Q&A section.
00:29:42Thank you so much, Adan, for that detailed and insightful walkthrough of ServiceNow strategic portfolio management.
00:30:01You have given us a clear picture of how SPM is SPM is not just about managing projects, but it's about connecting strategy funding resources and at the end of the day execution all in one place.
00:30:17So from your explanation, what I can understand is that how SPM helps organization is that firstly, it align investments and resources with overall business.
00:30:30with overall business plans and goals.
00:30:33Then it prioritizes the right ideas and demands based on ROI, risk and value.
00:30:41Thirdly, it improves visibility for executives.
00:30:45And ultimately, I think it ensures that every initiative directly supports organization goals and values.
00:30:54So that was a very comprehensive overview.
00:30:57And I'm sure that our audience now has a much stronger grasp of how ServiceNow SPM can transform the way organization plan, fund and execute their portfolios.
00:31:11So now we'll head over to the Q&A session.
00:31:14And we have with us Hassan Sheikh, which is the TMA certified consultant and trainer.
00:31:20And he has a very strong grasp on ServiceNow, especially on strategic portfolio management.
00:31:27So now we'll move forward with our question and answer sessions.
00:31:30And the first one is from Trevor, which is the what are the biggest challenges company face when adopting SPM and how do you overcome that?
00:31:47Yeah.
00:31:50Thank you for having me here today.
00:31:51And thank you.
00:31:52I really appreciate the way you.
00:31:54So we, I think, I think as we have just a small lag in your voice and having that.
00:32:00Is it still the same or it's better?
00:32:04Yeah.
00:32:05Maybe adjusting the mic would make it better.
00:32:07Yeah.
00:32:08All good.
00:32:09Okay.
00:32:10Um, so the question, the first question we have today is what are the biggest challenges companies face when adopting SPM?
00:32:32And how do you overcome them?
00:32:36So, um, definitely it's, it's a great question.
00:32:39And in, in regards to, you know, when we think of challenges or when we think of the toughest challenges, I think always they're not technical.
00:32:51Most of the time they are cultural.
00:32:54You know, what I mean by cultural is what really happens is, you know, people love their spreadsheets.
00:33:03They don't want, you know, let go of those spreadsheets.
00:33:07Or in other words, you can say teams are very used to submitting demands, tracking them their way.
00:33:13So everyone is very much involved or very much used to what they have been doing.
00:33:20At the same time, if I talk about, or if I think of leadership as well.
00:33:26So leadership also sometimes treats SPM as just another, uh, one of their dashboard or one of their reporting tool instead of, you know, a very new way of working.
00:33:38So that's what, uh, you know, that's what differentiation or that that's where approach comes into the picture.
00:33:44So how exactly we have to overcome this or overcome these challenges are you, you know, there are certain best practices.
00:33:53You always have to start with, you know, initially you break it down, then you start with small things or small areas, or, you know, you find out certain pain points that are there.
00:34:07Uh, just to think of one example, it can be related to the demand intake, or it can be some, uh, single execution.
00:34:15So you have to start with some small picks, you know, you have to show the value quickly to the leadership, to the people, to the teams that will be utilizing the platform, the procedures or the process itself.
00:34:29Then when people see real-time data instead of chasing some dashboards or chasing some other directions, so they will naturally or they will automatically adopt and they will grow within the platform naturally.
00:34:45So I think that's, that's my approach or that's more preferable approach that I would recommend.
00:34:50And most importantly, you have to, um, you know, for every company or for every team you work with, there are some executive level sponsorships as well.
00:35:03So you have to involve them.
00:35:05You have to get their, uh, involvement within if leaderships, um, you know, understand SPM, if they know what exactly that is and how exactly SPM is gonna help transform their procedures or their, um, you can say,
00:35:19um, you can say mechanisms within, so they will, you know, not treat SPM with just another tool.
00:35:26They will stick with it.
00:35:27They will be part of it.
00:35:28They will love it.
00:35:29They will enjoy, and they will help you guys to, um, make good enhancements or good changes within the platform.
00:35:37So I think in my experience, uh, those small bins, uh, combined with the strong sponsorships are what turns adoption into long-term success.
00:35:47So I think that's how you can cover these, um, or overcome these challenges.
00:35:54Yeah.
00:35:55Thanks for such a detailed answer.
00:35:57Um, now we will move forward with another question.
00:36:01And, uh, that is scan service now strategic portfolio management sport, both agile and traditional project management methods in one platform.
00:36:14So they're trying to ask that both agile and traditional project management can be done in one platform or not.
00:36:20Uh, I think, yes, absolutely.
00:36:23I think that's one of the biggest strengths that SPM or as I've also mentioned previously that SPM is, or was any shared, um, or coming out from IT business management.
00:36:35So, yes, uh, that's one of the biggest strength of SPM that it supports both agile or any other traditional project management method.
00:36:45So, you know, what I have noticed or what I have realized with time or with experiences, or I would call it a realistic approach that most organizations are hybrid.
00:37:00Some teams are running agile, uh, agile, meaning they are scrum, they are safe, they are running Kanban, you know, any other, uh, you can say child, uh, approach that is there within agile.
00:37:12So other teams are still utilizing, uh, waterfall or any other traditional project planning.
00:37:18So SPM is something that does not force you to pick one, you know, agile work can be managed through agile 2.0, whatever projects can still be managed or tracked in the project management.
00:37:31So both of these, you can say strategies or both of these, uh, methods, uh, feeds into the same portfolio view for the leadership.
00:37:42So I think that exactly means that executives don't need to worry about delivering methodology.
00:37:47They just, they just have to see the progress.
00:37:50They have to have a better visibility into the risks and they have to analyze what value they're getting all in one place.
00:37:57So I think that's what SPM is.
00:37:59It's giving you a one, um, one solution, one stop solution.
00:38:05So it's, it's just, it's really about bridging the gap between how teams work and how leadership wants to see the outcome.
00:38:12So I think service now SPM definitely, uh, supports both agile or any other traditional project management method as in a one core platform or as in a one core module.
00:38:26Yeah.
00:38:27Thanks.
00:38:28And for that, uh, now we'll move forward with another question.
00:38:32So how does strategic portfolio management help organizations make sure they are funding the right initiatives and stopping the wrong ones?
00:38:42An important question.
00:38:43Ah, yeah, definitely.
00:38:45It does feel like a very important questions and, uh, especially for, uh, you know, the leadership.
00:38:52So, uh, you know what I'm thinking right now.
00:38:56So, uh, whenever we think of the value or, you know, delivery of the value, how exactly SPM ensures it and ensures it in many companies just, uh, you know, most of the time projects just keep going because no one have a proper grip or no one have a proper governance.
00:39:20No one knows where exactly a project or at what specific time a project have to stop.
00:39:25So, you know, here's how you can call it.
00:39:30The SPM helps change that or change that, um, overall process or change that overall concept.
00:39:37So there is a life cycle that is being followed generally, uh, generally within, within, uh, if we call it demand management or if we call it the overall project management lifecycle.
00:39:49So every demand or any project or every project, uh, will be scored or you can call it, or can be scored within.
00:39:57And just for the scoring mechanisms, definitely you have different things or different concepts you have to think of in words to the business goals, in words to the financial impact, in word, in regards to the risks associated with the specific reports, specific, uh, project or specific demand.
00:40:16So, uh, here, as I think as everyone knows that a very strong entity or very strong, um, you can say thing about the service now is about their, uh, reporting skills or reporting, um, power itself.
00:40:35So leadership is there that gets a clear, uh, dashboard or that gets a better picture or better visibility showing which initiatives have the higher value and which are draining resources.
00:40:47So it's all about how exactly you are planning, how exactly you are evaluating your demands, how exactly you are evaluating your projects itself.
00:40:56So that's where, you know, you have to think very critically.
00:41:01That's where you have to analyze, you have to read, you have to go through each and everything very critically that yes, if we have a project, if we have certain demands, how exactly we are evaluating it on what criteria.
00:41:13And based on that, you will be deciding that yes, this is the priority of the demands or these are the demands that needs to be converted or then, or moved into a project.
00:41:22So you can see the portfolio side by side, you can make it, uh, obvious where the money is going.
00:41:29You know, if I'm thinking about the financial perspectives.
00:41:32So, uh, what exactly happens in, in practice is I have seen executives literally look at, uh, into the portfolio dashboard and see why we are still funding this.
00:41:43You know, that's the moment where organizations start redirecting investments into things that make you better.
00:41:50So just to put it simple, uh, SPM gives you a better confidence.
00:41:56I think that's really required.
00:41:57Confidence really comes in when you have a better visibility that yes, what exactly we're doing, what would be the outcome?
00:42:04What are some of the criteria we have developed?
00:42:06So yes, we do feel confident that yes, this has been a workout, or this is the need, or also the confidence where we have, or what will not work or what is not working right now.
00:42:19And this is something that doubles down on what delivers the very end of the day.
00:42:25And end of the day, everyone wants to deliver value.
00:42:27Everyone wants to know that yes, what would be the impact of what change will be coming in after, uh, initiating certain project or certain, uh, demands that we have.
00:42:37So I think that's how, uh, SPM is helping out organizations just to make sure whatever their fundings are, not just in terms of the financials, their resources, their teams, everything, what they have.
00:42:49So they are funding in the right initiatives and how exactly they can stop at certain points or certain, uh, areas if they have to stop.
00:43:01So dashboards are there, but it always depends on how exactly you are, uh, uh, how exactly you have designed those dashboards.
00:43:11How critically you have thought of in regards to planning those dashboards and how exactly you're moving or analyzing the demands and their movement into the project.
00:43:21So I think that's how SPM is helping out organizations to make the right decisions or being very confident where to invest.
00:43:32Yeah, thanks for that comprehensive answer. Now we can go on to our next question, which is that is ServiceNow SPM only for IT projects or can it be used for business initiatives like HR, sustainability or enterprise wide programs?
00:43:50I think, um, that's, that is, um, a very common assumption that I have noticed or seen recently, uh, that people think that SPM as I think, uh, then also mentioned that initially SPM or IT business management was thought of a solution that is just related to the, you know, IT projects.
00:44:16Um, but recently as service now have worked on it a lot, or you can say service now have evolved.
00:44:24It's it's on modules, everyone, but specifically as, as we are talking about the strategic portfolio portfolio management.
00:44:32So it has outgrown that box.
00:44:36You know, it was an IT tool, but now organizations are utilizing organizations to use SPM far behind.
00:44:45Um, I have worked on work with different clients where they, where, uh, you know, uh, SPM have supported HR transformation programs.
00:44:57HR have supported the, you know, sustainability, or if they have any ESG initiatives.
00:45:05Uh, if you have any product development or if there are certain areas where, uh, you have certain ideations or certain plans for research and development.
00:45:17So, and even recently the last project that, that I did, they were really keen to understand how exactly SPM can, um, help out in words to their enterprise wise, wise efforts.
00:45:31Like, uh, if there were certain mergers, there were certain acquisitions that they were planning to do.
00:45:36So SPM then gives them a very solid, you can say, understanding or a very solid platform that how exactly they will be monitoring everything.
00:45:46How exactly they will be managing anything.
00:45:48How exactly they can visualize what exactly is happening and what exactly they have to do in regards to the future perspective.
00:45:55So the decisions that they have to make.
00:45:57So the reason is simple at its core ISPM is about connecting what strategy the company have, what fundings they have, what outcomes they are expecting.
00:46:09So that, uh, you know, applies whether you're ruling, ruling out, uh, a new idea system, or you are launching a global diversity program.
00:46:19So yes, it started with, uh, but now it's being used as a true, uh, enterprise portfolio management solution by different companies.
00:46:29It's all about what your intentions are with the platform itself.
00:46:33Definitely initially you start with something more, uh, realistic, and then you expand, then you diversify towards different directions.
00:46:42When you understand that, yes, this is, uh, the capability or this is what a module is capable to do or can do.
00:46:49So, yes, um, that's, that's where, uh, you know, SPM, I can say is not only supporting ID.
00:46:57It is a very diversified, uh, module that is supporting HR or any other sustainability or enterprise enterprise-wide programs.
00:47:07Yeah.
00:47:08Thanks for such detailed answers.
00:47:10I think we have one last question, which is that we have been managing portfolios in Excel and PowerPoint for years.
00:47:19What makes ServiceNow SPM different and why should we move on?
00:47:24Um, I think that's one of a very common situation that, um, I think almost every organization I have worked with, uh,
00:47:36uh, has, I would call it, they have relied on Excel or, you know, even PowerPoints as well at some point.
00:47:46No doubt or undoubtedly these applications or these ways are flexible.
00:47:53They are easy to start with.
00:47:55And, you know, at the same time, when we think of a different perspective that everyone knows how to use them.
00:48:01So that's where most of the companies start, but, you know, when you think in a longer one, there are certain challenges that are associated with, you know, the Excel or the PowerPoints.
00:48:13So the, the moment you save the, you know, uh, any spreadsheet, it, it usually, or you can say it already gets outdated.
00:48:25You know, data sits in silos.
00:48:28Finance has, you know, only one version PMO has another leadership often sees something entirely differently.
00:48:36So I think that's one of the bigger challenges that I have seen that you don't have any, um, as we were already talking about the confidence.
00:48:48Confidence comes in that is when you have solid information, when you have solid data available and a unified data available for everybody.
00:48:57So, you know, decision making gets really delayed because people are busy chasing the latest version that is what exactly is the latest version and who and how exactly on what criteria that's being updated.
00:49:10So instead of focusing on the strategies.
00:49:12So I think it's always important to focus on the important things that would be the strategy here.
00:49:20So that's where service for SPM changes by giving you, um, a single system affection, all your demands, all your, all your, uh, projects, all your financials.
00:49:32Um, the resources that you have, they are being updated on the real time.
00:49:39So executives or any other sponsors don't have, or don't need to wait for a quarterly PowerPoint.
00:49:46They can log in, they can see the life picture right away.
00:49:49So, you know, you can call it instead of, um, reactive reporting, you just move into a much more, um, proactive strategy executions.
00:50:02So I think once leaders sees that the life, uh, dashboards for the first time, they really, I think now they rarely ever want to go back into the spreadsheet.
00:50:14So it's, it's a transformation or it's a transition that is still happening, uh, or that will be happening with the best of time when the awareness of such platforms will be expanded, uh, dimensionally.
00:50:27So I think that's, that's how SPM, uh, is different from the legacy base and why exactly every team should move towards these, uh, you know, these phase with these concepts or these directions.
00:50:43Yeah, it is really a transformation.
00:50:47So because we had a lot of comments, we would take a last question.
00:50:51That is, um, can you please share how does data move between demand project and resource management in ServiceNow strategic portfolio management?
00:51:01So, you know, data movement, um, is when I'm thinking about the data movements, as just to give you a brief rundown of the, you can say the life cycle, um,
00:51:19that, uh, the project or a demand have.
00:51:22So usually a demand is generated from ServiceNow call it an ideation process or ideation concepts where, where the idea portal comes from the picture.
00:51:31You know, whatever ideas, whatever innovations the, you know, the people have, they just maintain it there.
00:51:49They, they just write it down the case.
00:51:51This is what we're, you know, what we're thinking.
00:51:53So there are certain, uh, people, certain criteria on which that demand will be evaluated as I've already talked about.
00:52:05So moving, moving from demand, from idea to demand, it's, it's a process.
00:52:11It's an evaluation that have to clear some strategic somewhere.
00:52:16The idea managers are there.
00:52:17That's one of the role that we have within the strategic portfolio management initiative.
00:52:22So idea managers are there.
00:52:24Their responsibility is to look into each and every idea and evaluate what's important.
00:52:29What's the priority, uh, on what basis we have to move, move it to a demand.
00:52:34Based on different things, based on the company needs, based on the company.
00:52:38Uh, you can say what exactly they are looking for, for which direction they are moving, you know, based on that.
00:52:45So whenever idea is moved into a demand or transformed into a demand, that's where, you know, you have to align the strategy, your goals.
00:52:55You have to estimate the demands that, yes, these are all the formulations or the mechanics of this specific demand.
00:53:03And from that demand, it's moved into a portfolio and portfolio is where you have to decide strategically that it's, it's a product.
00:53:10It's a program.
00:53:11It's a project or it's an epic.
00:53:13And also you have to, uh, decide which type of method you will be, you know, utilizing just to manage that product implementation or product.
00:53:25Or program implementation or project or epic.
00:53:29And based on that, you know, other things or, you know, change and everything.
00:53:32So that's how data is moved and data as you can call it scrutin or filtered out in an appropriate channel.
00:53:42So that's how it's moved and covering the second part that does, uh, what are the common options for customizing this flow?
00:53:50So ServiceNow have, um, good, uh, adaptability or flexibility versus customizations.
00:53:58Definitely ServiceNow have designed thoughtfully, uh, some flows out of the box, but most of the times companies have their own needs.
00:54:07So we do have the customization or we do have that flexibility of the box utilizing the flow designer, or if some companies are still utilizing work for editor that I won't recommend using.
00:54:21So we have that ability that we can, um, uh, you can say customize those out of the box, um, processes or flows.
00:54:32And, uh, we can somehow plan it out to meet the customer, you know, the internal process or the organizational needs.
00:54:41So yes, ServiceNow does have that flexibility or usability to, uh, make customizations in regards to the flow.
00:54:49So yeah, I think, yeah, that's how, uh, that's how the data moves.
00:54:53And those are some of the options.
00:54:55Options can be, you know, as I mentioned, flow designer tool is there.
00:54:59Option would be how exactly you understand the scope of the change or scope of the customization and how exactly you design it.
00:55:08And how exactly you, you, you will be implementing it and you will be managing and maintaining it in a longer one.
00:55:13So that's how you will be managing.
00:55:15So I think, yeah, that would be my response for this question.
00:55:18Yeah.
00:55:19Thanks a lot, Hasan, for answering questions in such a detailed manner.
00:55:25Um, and, um, and now we can just move forward with the Arctic solutions group website.
00:55:35And I, I will go through it and I will explain to you what things are there that we can see.
00:55:41And, um, so firstly that we can see that all the services that Arctic is providing.
00:55:52So there is service now administration, there is development, there is implementation, there is maintenance, there is support, there is consultancy.
00:55:59Then there is training and open advisory, every single thing is there.
00:56:04So we can see all of the things there.
00:56:07So three things I would like to specifically talk about in Arctic solution group is that they provide a full spectrum coverage.
00:56:17So this service is not just limited to implementation or support.
00:56:22They cover the entire life cycle, the advisory development, the training, the maintenance, and then they have this specialization in ServiceNow.
00:56:32The entire focus is around ServiceNow platform, which suggests that we have a domain, we have a deep domain knowledge for the best practices.
00:56:42And then there is a lot of flexibility in the model deliveries, which you cannot see on the website.
00:56:48But generally what happens is that because of the open advisory feature that we have, the open advisory service that we have, um, so they provide flexibility.
00:57:00And you don't always have to engage in a big project, but you can always get experts when you need.
00:57:07And then we can move on to the events that we are having.
00:57:11We are having an event on 2nd of October that is about CSM.
00:57:16And then we have having, um, an event on 16th of October, which is around 8pm.
00:57:22So we have those events.
00:57:24Then we have Architech Academy.
00:57:26So on Architech Academy, you can see the standard courses, the personalized coaching staff there.
00:57:33So all of the things that you can see are there, um, as it is.
00:57:38And then there's the Techman Academy.
00:57:40So on Techman Academy, there are video tutorials.
00:57:43There are three things basically.
00:57:44There are video tutorials.
00:57:46Then there are, um, certification examination.
00:57:51And then there, there are evaluation criterias and tests.
00:57:56So all of these things you can see are there on Techman Academy, which trains you if you want to be a ServiceNow professional.
00:58:03So it's not just about giving those services, right?
00:58:06And then it's about training people and making an ecosystem of ServiceNow altogether.
00:58:12So for that, we can also see very specific knowledge base of strategic portfolio management.
00:58:20Here is a very prime example of that.
00:58:24This is a book which explains in detail every single thing about ServiceNow strategic portfolio management.
00:58:31And then you can also see all the other books as well that are of ServiceNow by the trainer Zeeshan Ali.
00:58:40And, uh, if anyone who wants to have grip on ServiceNow specifically, they can go there.
00:58:45They can check it out.
00:58:46Anyone who wants to, who wants to see what Artitek Solution group is actually doing can see, can evaluate it through the books that are there, the certifications that are there, all the evaluations that are there.
00:59:01So that's a very brief of the website of Artitek Solution and the corresponding integrations of it.
00:59:14So yeah, here you can see all the ServiceNow books as well.
00:59:27Yeah.
00:59:28And then you can also see the Agile Risk and Agile Management books as well.
00:59:34So thank you so much for joining us today on the session of ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management.
00:59:41A big thanks once again to our speakers, Adan Saqib, Manhasan Sheev, for sharing expertise and giving us such visible insights.
00:59:51And I would also like to extend my gratitude to our strategic partners that are Artitek Solution, OGMC, and Asmark.
00:59:59Until next time, stay connected, keep learning, and we will see you in the next session.
01:00:04Thank you so much.
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