Hydroelectric Company Optimizing the IT service management environment

This North American company handles electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, serving more than four million people. Around 97% of its electricity generation comes from clean or renewable sources. It operates more than 30 hydroelectric facilities and several natural gas-fueled thermal power plants. Its various facilities generate around 50,000 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, depending on prevailing water levels.

This hydroelectric company was seeking a significant improvement in the quality of its IT Service Management (ITSM) tool capabilities in order to support service integration and management, and provide better service quality for the business. The main issue was that the infrastructure data was scattered across multiple tools limiting transparency.

It was also highly customized and challenging to manage with a principal focus on ticket management rather than broader ITSM requirements. The company wanted a new holistic service environment that would drive down costs, while streamlining processes and providing better visibility of data. It decided that ServiceNow best met its needs but wanted the right implementation partner.

“The implementation on the legacy ITSM platform had limited transparency, was vendor dependent, it didn’t meet our needs, nor did we have proper tool architects and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) process experts during the life of the platform,” explains a representative of the North American hydroelectric company. “Fujitsu is a global leader in ServiceNow implementation, and has extensive knowledge of our business, which made it the perfect partner.

Fujitsu’s global ServiceNow teams, located in Canada, US, UK, and India, were instrumental in working with the customer to define the detailed requirements. Fujitsu also provided a certified ITIL Master as a consultant to the customer to redesign processes and to identify opportunities for improvement. Several experienced technical resources with extensive experience in ServiceNow, architecture design, process improvement, legacy systems, and program management all contributed to the successful implementation. Over two years, Fujitsu, a local partner, and the customer meticulously deployed and migrated to the new environment.

The core platform comprises ITSM, ITOM, Asset Management, Service Mapping and several integrations with SAP and Smart Meter systems. Now 6,000 users log around 5,000 tickets per month providing a user engaging experience.

“Fujitsu’s dedicated and knowledgeable local account and delivery team took a low-risk, implementation approach,” adds the representative. “Its industry-leading consulting around Service Integration and Management (SIAM) processes helped ensure the project was a success.”

The new environment gives the customer improved control and visibility of its IT Infrastructure, service issues, and available solutions, it automates routine service tasks enabling IT staff to work on complex issues, and ensures a more streamlined and responsive IT operation. Also, by reducing licensing requirements, the new solution lowers costs.

End-to-end reporting and enhanced visibility of data enables better decision-making through a single system of record for the company’s IT service management information. This mitigates risk and reduces the impact of service outages by providing more consistent information.

“We now enjoy a more accurate picture of our IT services through automated mapping of configuration items and the relationships between them. We have eliminated dependency on our legacy tool and its related applications,” concludes the representative. “Fujitsu has provided a robust foundation for further optimization and the ongoing evolution of our service environment.