Why do 70% of Finland's biggest companies need a "platform of platforms"?

This is a guest article by CGI's technology partner ServiceNow.

When everything around us turns into services, seamless and smooth service experiences must build upon customer- and user-centricity. Nevertheless, strong technology foundations are also needed. User-centricity and creating a "Total Experience" for employees and customers alike frequently stop on point-like systems deployed over the decades.

More than 70% of Finland's largest companies already use ServiceNow's "platform of platforms" to support their digitalization journey. The platform binds technology platforms together and enables modern management and digital service experiences.

However, the best platforms only go so far without partners implementing the platform with a keen understanding of the customer's industry and business processes. Here, companies like CGI come in. CGI can effectively address customers' unique challenges in various industries, including telecom, aerospace, financial services, transportation, manufacturing, and government.

Finland in the spotlight of CGI's growing ServiceNow practice

Recently, CGI became a member of the ServiceNow Global Elite Alliance, a select group of systems integrators hand-picked by ServiceNow to help revolutionize the world of work for customers around the globe. "We have established a network of seven ServiceNow Centers of Excellence, with 350 professionals around the globe," explains Martti Reilander, CGI's Senior Vice President of Business and Consumer Services.

"CGI has established a network of seven ServiceNow Centers of Excellence, with 350 professionals around the globe."
- Martti Reilander, CGI's Senior Vice President of Business and Consumer Services

CGI has especially seen strong demand for ServiceNow in Europe's Nordic region, as customers in all industries seek to move away from legacy applications and digitize their businesses.

"The sponsor of the Global Alliance with ServiceNow is our own President of Finland, Poland, and Baltics, Leena-Mari Lähteenmaa. It is an advantage for our Finnish and Nordic customers to have a pool of ServiceNow specialists at hand in their region."

Reilander continues: "CGI's blended delivery model, where we expand the local expertise with near- or off-shore resources, ensures our customers always get the best possible service with local flavor, with the best possible price tag."

Managing extensive systems with an agile platform and agile methods

A great example of ServiceNow's collaboration with CGI in Finland is Fingrid, Finland's electricity transmission system operator.

Fingrid Datahub is a new, centralized information exchange system for the Finnish electricity retail market. The system is unprecedented in scale, with 3,7 million electricity accounting points and almost 200 different organizations using it. CGI implemented Datahub's support service on top of ServiceNow's platform.

Now, ServiceNow is the primary channel for all Datahub parties' customer service, feedback, and development ideas. Market parties can contact Datahub support via a portal that includes a self-service knowledge base. Messages are routed to the right support groups automatically, and users of the portal can monitor the processing of their tickets in real-time. Consumer inquiries go through the system, and Datahub's support staff can manage communications through the same interface. A dedicated handling process also exists for managing information security risks and breaches. Monitoring views display reports on inquiries and service levels. An interface enables administering access management and user data.

"We always want to utilize industry best practices for our customers instead of reinventing the wheel. Also, we utilize agile development methodology in our ServiceNow implementations. For example, the Fingrid Datahub support system project focused on making the service management system as versatile and easy to use as possible," says Martti Reilander.

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