foreign Mike Lombardo Glide fast CEO servicenow Elite partner of the year two years running and this is day 15 of 100 days of service now and I'm Kylie Alexander servicenow technical trainer now if you don't know who Mike Lombardo is I have two things for you one where have you been and secondly and most importantly you are in for a real treat and without further Ado welcome to the stream Mike Lombardo good to have you here Kylie great to be here thanks for having me a hundred percent a hundred percent now you're known around the servicenow ecosystem as the mayor of service now how did you get that moniker uh I wish it was a little more uh uh fun but you know I I appointed myself the mayor really uh growing up my mother always said to me Michael one day I want you to be the mayor you should be the mayor of our city so I kind of just uh that stuck with me one time and you know as I was trying to build Glide fast and build our brand I I just uh I love that servicenow mayor um and so I really have to thank my mother for that but uh it wasn't really a cool story like some other people's nicknames man whenever there's a story that involves big mama that's a cool story so thank you Mama Lombardo because you definitely are the mayor you know we're the you're like you know that kind of touch point when you enter the service now ecosystem it's like certain things that you have to do and certain people you have to know and you're definitely that guy so tell me a little bit about your servicenow story how did you get into service now yeah so I um I got into service now I was I was uh this was 2010 so Aspen release it's easier to go buy releases than years um but you know 2010 Aspen release uh I was working the help desk at a large Hospital in Boston and um uh my manager came to me one day and said hey we just bought this platform called servicenow and um you know you built a knowledge base I had built a knowledge base uh outside of you know obviously we didn't have service now at the time and he said hey they have a knowledge base you know you built one do you want to try to be the admin of this platform and I said sure I don't know what service now is but I'll take a look at it and uh you know from that from that day on I just fell in love with the platform uh absolutely obsessed with it and you know it just got my full attention 24 hours a day I mean uh my friends used to call me uh laptop boy sometimes because I'd have at parties and everything I'd have my laptop walking around with me still you know trying to learn you know how to code and how to build workflows and all that and and uh and and then I joined a consulting firm and and then started Glide fast uh uh eight years ago 2015 so uh over a decade now in the space and loving it yeah that's that's a really great story you know I love when I hear people's servicenow story and especially those those what I call the while and told stories like we're bringing on this platform hey how about you learn this thing but it served you well it has really served you well I want to ask you about you said in 2015 is when you started Glide fast and when I introduced you to the stream I said hey you know this is the CEO of life as Consulting servicenow Elite partner of the Year 2022 2023 two years running when you think about those early days like how what goes through your mind when you juxtapose where you work live fast is now to those early days in 2015 in Aspen you know it's funny because uh well 2015 was an aspen but uh I would actually it's a great question I wonder what release we were on in 2015 when we started Glide fast but it's really it's funny because it's really the same energy it's really the same challenges you know it's not like we're in a place now where we think we're perfect and there's no improvement needed right so it's always been how do we get better how do we provide a better implementation and a service to our customers how do we be a better partner to service now how do we be a better place to work for all of our Consultants you know um so and it starts with me right how can I be the best leader how can I support people and you know so that's always been the mission and so it's like you know what were we thinking then it's like the same thing we're thinking now it's still day one you know we got a lot of work to do you know this space is growing so fast right and changing so fast every new release we have new products we have enhanced products so we need to stay up to speed with all the new releases and that's always been the challenge right you know I remember when they first rolled out uh scoped HR app and you know that like we we had a huge initiative to start rolling customers off of their custom built stuff or the the non-scoped app and and move them into the into this into the scoped app and so it's there's always something to learn there's always improvements to make there's always ways to make things better for at our home at Glide fast for people who live here and um really that's the same energy and I never want to lose that I I could you know because once you once you lose that you you lose your business and you lose the X you lose the elite status um that you have yeah that brings me to to my next question when people because there are lots of Partners out there when people choose Glide fast yeah what are they getting that they're not getting anywhere else yeah I mean when you when you choose Glide fast you know I always say you're not just getting one consultant right and we have some of the best uh you know developers Architects uh process Consultants engagement managers out there but it's the team right you know so you you we we Embrace this um uh this this methodology called Ubuntu I know it's a little bit of a funny word um but I actually learned from it from your favorite team the Celtics uh Laker Nation all day baby I was watching actually Kevin Garnett documentary and um and they talked about this this thing called Ubuntu and it basically means giving yourself to the person next to you so putting the person next to you above your own needs um and then in turn it comes back around twofold you know so by you being there and everybody being there for the person next to them when they need somebody when you need somebody somebody is always there for you right when you're stuck on a on a on a technical question when you're not sure how to answer a tough question from a customer or deal with a conflict with a customer that you can reach out and there's always somebody there to reach down and give you a helping hand and that's what makes Glide fast special that's what makes Glide fast special to work at that's what makes Glide fast special for our customers and servicenow and you know I another thing that about Glide fast is we're not driven by money or we're driven by Passion you know we love the servicenow platform because because it solves real world problems we're doing good we're we're helping the workforce of the world do a better job at at serving their customers right so um and a lot of us you know if you for me right I believe in this platform back in 2010 I believed it could be something I believe it could get to the next level it's not just going to be Incident Management and tickets and and and we saw that actually happen you know that the the the biggest thing you could do to to inspire passion and um and determination is you know believing in something and then it actually coming true I mean you know so so many people in the servicenow community are so passionate about service now because it like the the Dream came true you know Bill McDermott says dream big like we did dream big and the dream came true and we we're still we know there's so much runway left we know it can get to the next level yeah yeah and you're definitely taking it there when I first started learning service now seems like yesterday actually kind of was yesterday compared to how long you've been in the in the game my mom asked me what is servicenow and so I asked her like what is her her favorite shopping experience and she's at Costco and I said well the reason why you love Costco so much is not just because the prices but it's because there is this Automation and workflows that take place and the backdrop that allow you to have this seamless like experience and this is something that I shared with you when we first met our very first conversation and you were like well I have a story for you I did their first implementation tell me about that and maybe a little bit more about some of those early projects you worked on to help you sharpen your servicenow Acts yeah that that Costco uh re-implementation of service now was was really almost like a coming out of my shell project for me I already had um multiple years of experience in service now I've done multi I did multiple implementations but you know that was at a a scale I had never seen before it was 250 000 employees you know I I had come on just as a technical consultant but I ended up really becoming the architect and really uh taking the Reign so it was really just a leveling up project for me I can shout out to the whole Costco team like they were just phenomenal people I was in Issaquah Washington so you know every other week and um uh it just just just a great project I learned so much um and you know I built a really strong relationship with that servicenow team because it was a service now uh Professional Services project that they brought Glide fast in for but um you know it just built such strong relationships and really built a name for myself because it had so much visibility you know all the way up to uh sea level at servicenow um and super successful implementation you mentioned you gave a shout out to the folks that you work with at that time which brings me to how do you select talent for Glide fast yeah the first thing I care about and we care about uh because it's it's it's you know it's no longer just me right uh it hasn't been for a long time um you know we care about you know helping helping people we want good people we want we want to this is our home that we're here to live on live in right and this is a community so we want people who are honest that care about each other that care about customers that have that passion um that that you know just aren't driven by money and greed you know um we all obviously have to make money and you know this is a highly competitive space so we want to compensate people right but I want people that want to change the world I want people that want to make an impact I want people that want to smash big rocks and you know that's been my mission what gets me up in the morning is not a paycheck what gets me up in the morning is I want to totally dominate the service now space so you know you my mother always told me another big mama reference um you know show me your friends and I'll show you your future and so I want to surround I've always tried to surround myself with the right people and that's really you know what what we were fortunate enough to have it Glide fast early on was the right people around us and we kept that same mentality um and you know it's funny because people like oh Mike you know you do so much for glyfest whatever I'm probably the least valuable person at Glide fast you know the people around me are 10 times smarter than me they know 10 times more about the platform I'm just the crazy guy out there with the Glide fast flag running around uh screaming where the best company in the world right but it's we're the best because of the people who work here and that goes down to every single person I don't care if you're a non-billable person you're back office every single aspect of our business we need that that a plus five star service and that's what we have and I'm so proud to just be a member of this team that that makes me think about you have a couple projects that are going on or some of the the appendages I'll say of Glide fast Consulting there's Glide fast Consulting University GCU and there's also Glide fast plus and I mentioned both of those because in October 2022 CEO Bill McDermott of servicenow announced rise up the initiative to skill up one million people on the platform by the end of 2024 and this is a situation where you are really putting effort in that direction GCU I think is the only University that I've ever heard of where there not only is there no tuition but you actually pay folks to go to the university yeah tell me about that okay so I gotta go back to my career start to to explain GCU um So I entered the tech space through a program called year up and uh if you want to check it out not Europe year up like one year yearup.org and um you'll see I'm gonna be doing a lot with it's a non-profit Foundation focused on you know helping underprivileged minorities or Urban Youth um who maybe didn't go the traditional route of college or or don't have the money to to go to college and and and it basically it's a six-month training program and then a six-month internship and that's at 19 years old that's how I enter the the it field and that's how I entered the the professional Workforce I got an internship at Partners Healthcare doing help desk um and so but the same concept they paid us through the whole process which I couldn't not understand um and I was one of the early classes I was class nine I think they're on class like 45 or you know I it's a it's been around for 23 years now um and so but I just love that that model like it got me in the door okay you telling me I get college credits I get an internship in the Professional Organization and I and I get paid throughout the whole process um all right I'll give it a shot so I you know not only do am I forever grateful to the Europe organization anyone listening involved in Europe you know put in the comments it's you know it's the it's one of the greatest organizations doing so much good and has been you know they've been doing good for people when it wasn't cool to do good for people right and you know they they've been around shout out to Gerald uh chartavian the CEO and founder he's an amazing person um but that changed my life and so we took that kind of same model of hey we know you can't just go through online training and you know uh in a silo and really become a service now expert you really need that hand-holding and you really need that um the the the infrastructure of a company like Glide fast to really nurture people to learn the platform so it's a three-month program where we pay people to come into the office sit down go through our program that we've spent a lot of time cultivating we're on our I think we're on our fifth cohort um and we're really shout out to everybody that's involved with GCU all the the cloud Pirates teams that made it happen um it's an amazing program and it's doing good like it's great that it's a profitable thing and you know we get we're building talent and you know it's better for Glide fast and better for our customers and better for service now but look at the career it created for for me for you for others we're taking people that maybe they were warehouse workers or you know we had some Baristas and some bartenders that came in and now they're they're developers and Architects you know so it's really exciting that we're helping people build careers it's not a handout they have to work as you know that was year up too it wasn't a handout you had to work for it so that's the vision you know give people the opportunity to work and learn and build a career and change their lives I have Omar Tariq in the chat and I want to shout him out he's leaving dropping fire bombs he was like GCU is the best learning experience I've ever had so I could not let that go unnoticed um I'm Kylie Alexander I'm talking to Mike Lombardo CEO of Glide fast Consulting tell me about Glide fast Plus Glide fast plus so you know servicenow has a ton of online training out there and it's phenomenal and now learning shout out to that whole servicenow uh our learning team but you know we want to build our own platform where um and who knows where it's going to end up right uh we do you you know our YouTube channel we do a ton of content we're we we're we're of the belief of we want to share the knowledge we don't want to hold it in and you know you know say we're the only experts right we want to everything we learn we want to share it with the world and we think that's only going to make service now stronger the more expertise just like the rise up program the more expertise that are out there the more people that do have the servicenow knowledge needed to take this platform further it's only going to help everybody right rise and Tide lifts all all boats so we wanted to build our own flavor of of online training um that's going to be a little bit further step up from uh just just available on YouTube so definitely requires you know a lot of investment I know you're going to be helping out a ton with that um so we want to offer it a small fee and then we want to give it to our customers uh for free just for working with us we want to give them access to all that training um and who knows where it's going to end up you know it's a lot of times we just lead with with passion and a belief and you know and let the world kind of uh work itself out and go with the flow yeah yeah for sure this is uh the day of this film if you're watching this live this is February 3rd 2023 2323 interesting okay I know it means something to someone I don't know but this is Black History Month and one of the initiatives that Glide fast started was a donation to black girls code tell me about that and why are initiatives like this important to you yeah so um I'll start off by saying like every month we have uh some money budgeted for a donation so we love to give to non-profits and in organizations that we believe in for me the biggest organizations that I'm supporting right now is Europe uh unbelievable nonprofit in the Joe and druzy Foundation another non-profit um you know fighting helping families uh pay for bills that are battling cancer so those two foundations personally to me um will I'll always uh be a main supporter of and and do everything in my my power to make sure they're successful um but you know we have a Culture Club here at Glide fast and they're responsible for identifying every month a new uh non-profit Foundation or an existing one that we have or that we have support in the past and and they came up with with uh with this with this organization so you know to be honest I don't know too much about it I trust that the culture team to to pick uh um an organization that they believe in that they want to support um it's a voluntary club and uh I love the progress and and all the the benefits were you know we just want to do good out there right like so anytime anytime we can add positivity in the world um you know I'm always all for that yeah if you those of you listening if you go to Glide fast LinkedIn profile there is a featured post that gives you information about how just some simple things that you can do and when you do those things like sharing the posts liking the post Glide fast will put money behind your engagement with that post so it's something to definitely check out on the Glide fast LinkedIn profile I'm Kylie Alexander this is Mike Lombardo CEO of Glide fast Consulting final question for you where would Glide fast be in five years oh we will be a global Elite partner we will be the unequivocal leader in the space um you know we will be uh side by side with with Bill McDermott and his leadership team and um you know man how many how many team members are going to have I don't know I'll tell you we'll be at the biggest uh projects making the biggest impact in the space having the most fun having the biggest parties um and and being there for each other you know that's you know the the the I'll tell you the secreting people who say what's the secret sauce to Glide fast it's simple we're there for each other we care about each other we love each other we don't put money above our relationships we don't put um you know greed above our customers you know we do we do the best work we can um and we have challenges of course everyone does that if you know if if we try to say we're perfect it's we'd be lying but you know we just we care you know I think we care where I've seen a lot of Partners out there I've worked for some of them and you know I think we care we're driven by just a different um a different uh energy it's just a we care about our customers in the big in the big projects and results yeah 100 Mike I want to thank you so much for sharing your time with us this has been a joy to be chatting with you and everybody out there I want to say thank you for coming Mike thank you again I appreciate your time and I will see you in the next one all right foreign [Music]