foreign the oldest podcast is brought to you by all this International supplying your expert Ai and digital transformation staffing needs across the U.S and Europe today you are listening to our servicenow Series where we interview the best and brightest of the industry to share their story advice and views on the exciting world of servicenow and digital transformation [Music] hi everybody it's Mark Kelly keep Crystal officer co-founder of all this I hope you do really well wherever you are in the world today as part of our service now series I'm very very happy to welcome Chris dealy Chris is CTO visit development and strategy U.S government and higher education at servicenow and I've been waiting a while to have Chris on the show but I'm absolutely delighted that he's joining us today Chris bristley thank you very much for joining us on the episode I know you're very very busy man but we're delighted to talk about some of the work that you're doing in the world of service now higher education and government oh thanks for having me mark excited to be part of this and uh excited to share some of the great work we're we're doing across the servicenow ecosystem pretty Chris before we jump into some of the work that you're doing and your role in the service now which might just have a little bit of your background and how you got into this role yeah I've been a service now coming up on nine years it's just been a heck of a ride but but prior to that uh I like to refer to myself as a recovering Enterprise architect from the state of Iowa uh here in the U.S uh I was an Enterprise architect for about 11 years working across all facets of our government in a lot of ways trying to try to solve the same challenges that we're trying to solve today how do we do more with less how do we optimize the technology we're using and how do we deliver the best experience to to Citizens into the the workers that that serve all the citizens and now with the technology that exists today it's a lot easier than it was when I was uh when I was trying to solve these things it's one of these sectors and you know it gives a huge energy this isn't Healthcare and you know higher education is just so important because we all are affected by this within Society right we all have a reason for this to work well and I can see you know how people are so passionate about that can you tell me a little bit more about your job day to day and some of the kind of customers that you work with and help support yeah you know working primarily you know focused on on State and local government here in the US as well as higher education it's it's really about serving those uh that need Services you know in higher education we're serving students that are trying to get an education so they can add contribute to this world um and then people from a government perspective you know I started I'm kind of in the back office operations where the staff the workers that are really trying to serve um you know those citizens in need people don't get a government to make a lot of money uh people get into government to serve serve the citizens and so finding ways to help a staff find ways to help the workers uh deliver better services do more those that that really need that help and then from a citizen perspective you know how do we accelerate the time to get the services get the the funds get the food assistance the financial assistance the resources that that people need to support their families as as the next step not as a not as something from a long-term perspective but just give them what they need to get through until they find their next job until they find and uh you know fill whatever Gap that they have right now so you know when I work with States I'm working with them trying to solve those those big problems and trying to break down one bite at a time break down those those things that we can do to to help make things more efficient to integrate a system so somebody doesn't have to fill that out and the risk of of doing it wrong and so how do we accelerate those things to make everyone's experience a little bit better so we talk about digital transformation across government and higher education could you give us some kind of some examples where our previously manual that you're going to help automate and some of the ways that this may possibly impact yeah yeah you know one of the ones that that just comes to mind is is uh like integrated eligibility uh here in the US what that means is you know when somebody's applying for benefits you know for food assistance or financial assistance um in most cases there are many cases they're going to have to go to separate offices and apply for those things um you know separately and so how do we make a common experience where they're filling out they're they're having a digital experience and being able to fill this out and saying you also qualify or would you like to also apply for these other benefits you know if we can do those things to help accelerate what that does is it keeps people you know parents with their children longer or keeps keeps adults in their job longer that they don't have to step away and have to spend a half a day going and applying for the benefits that they need so if we can make that and accelerate that experience and then what we can also do is in the world of government I worked there for a long time it was often a first in first out mentality it wasn't about priority it wasn't about needs now we can begin to look at if we have a mother with children let's put those ahead from a priority perspective of maybe an adult male or or just another adult that doesn't have those children in need so how do we look at the situations holistically how do we use technology how do we use the right resources to workflow things to make the experience better and to accelerate and get things in the hands of those that need it when you look at the citizen engagement and trying to help set that up that becomes the process that you're removing that friction and allowing people to have different services that they're due and actually giving them that better experience because people who you know need these Services may not have a technical literary background or may not know how these kind of systems work so you know it could be that they're using a pay phone you know and they're they're you know their money is running out or maybe you're going to drive me in their car and there's some you know some kids in the background you know screaming and they're trying to work through and you know the call drops and we've all experienced a data one way or another different types of shapes so how how do you try to understand from the perspective of the users for that kind of design thinking perspective because when you're rolling out the servicenow um product suite and platform across the different areas how do you keep that in mind of the people that you're looking to serve no that's a great question and it is not one size fits all and you know my mother would not be come feel comfortable you know filling out a digital form and you know taking pictures with her iPhone of the different documents that she may need but when we create that experience from a digital perspective and those people that are comfortable doing that and it can accelerate the things that those those individuals need and want to do what it does is it increases the capacity and it gives more um more time more resources for those that do need you know to want to do it more of an analog way or a manual way to still be able to come to the office you know again I I grew up in the I grew up in the social system so I remember my mother and I having to sit in the office for three four hours waiting to see a caseworker to validate our documents to do whatever well when we could do things digitally for 50 60 70 of the population that can and wants to work that way what that does is it increases how those other individuals can can still engage with the government services that they need and also begin to to give them the more time and make sure that they get what they what they need to move forward what are some of the challenges and opportunities to introducing service now across some of these uh you know large states and these these government bodies I I think the biggest thing is is kind of looking at the big picture you know people know servicenow can do a lot you know we've we've got our start in the in the technology space and how do we support uh the service desk and those individuals within a Workforce that need service and support from that perspective but when you think about what a a service desk or a help desk ticket is it's a workflow it's a process it's I need something something's not working and I need to follow a structured process to to get that resolved well when you think about government services or you think about student engagement in the higher education space all those things are structured processes if I need to see an advisor or I need support for some of my classes or are crossed across my campus from a higher education or in in you know in Social Services or in across government services business licensing all those things are a process so how do we look at some of the common what you know what's common across all these programs it's typically about identity you know how do we verify that Chris Dilly is Chris Dilly and then how do we make sure we allocate and give him the right um resources based on his need if I'm working this department I'm going to need these things if I work on this campus or I'm a student in this major I need these things so how to provide that contextual experience and so I think you know your question is is how do people look at servicenow and understand you know kind of what we need to do or where do we look across the Enterprise we need to think think broadly don't don't put servicenow in a box think about what that overall experience is and how we can optimize that across the Enterprise and really serve those those situations and kind of getting a little bit more of technical weeds how does the servicenow platform integrate with existing systems because we know what in the world of technology one of the biggest challenges is integration existing systems how does that work and you know tell us a little bit more about that yeah you know servicenow recognizes we're not going to be the system of record uh for for many situations uh there's eligibility systems there's a student information systems that exist in the higher ed space and so we recognize that as we're doing a structured process or a workflow across those we're going to need to integrate so we we built out what's called an integration Hub um application that that resides in our platform and we have over 300 spokes that exist to be able to integrate to be able to tie in with you know some of the most the biggest platforms out there whether it's it's work day or whether it's uh you know Microsoft or um you know Salesforce whatever that may be because we recognize that data is going to be in other places so from a rest from so from different apis that are available so we can get that real-time information to continue to structure those processes servicenow really is the platform of platforms because as as Citizens as workers engage as students engage as faculty staff engage they can come through a common interface and then see the experience that they want that they need to be able to deliver their jobs and be able to and they don't you don't need to know where that other data is coming from where those those are the things there's security components to that and I recognize that but you know just like when I order a package on Amazon I don't know all the different systems that it's tied into from a from a UPS from a FedEx from a different carrier perspective all I know is I'm going to order the the package and I'm gonna get an alert when it's coming and all the different systems all that I don't need to see that's what we're trying to do for the citizens and that's why integration is so important to what we do and how we deliver those services and you know at all this we're a staff member service now we know that these technical skills it takes a while to kind of forget up the scale with them when you look at the kind of employees and government employees how do you help those people go on that Journey from kind of upskilling on those new uh servicenow products and modules that they're going to be EAS when they're engaging with yeah you know that's a that's a big question and so as we think about organizational change we know uh individuals need to be need to be skilled differently you know going forward and so how we look at you know some of our own internal programs you know servicenow offers the our Rise Up program where we're trying to help organizations like yours find the right resources we also have our skill Bridge um you know program which which helps veterans across military around the globe um you know re-skilled to make that transition into the private sector and have those skills that they need to be able to support administer and even develop on the servicenow platform and then from a from a you know internal Workforce perspective we really work with our customers and our partners to try to help them make that transition as they're doing an eight-step process today and trying to break that down to a new digital process that's only two steps we recognize that's a transition of how they're going to do their work and what they're going to do and knowing that they can add more value work because technology is kind of driving the process behind the scenes yeah it's what he said I recently caught up with uh her Thompson who's looking after the uh the veterans program there senior senior program manager and he was telling me all about the scale Bridge uh program that there that they've introduced and the massive success that you've had from it from being you know working as a mechanic in one Walk of Life to suddenly being a developer or an architect and we're on the surface now ecosystem so there are some fantastic case studies of great examples of how that transition has happened um as well and you know with the huge growth of service now across and higher education government the federal not to mention industry we're going to need those skills to to be up to part to make sure they can actually go on this journey and help people to succeed and it's really particular other areas of interest that you you have within the areas that you work on that that help in terms of kind of um areas in society the service now has been able to introduce I know there's been kind of particularly um answer some of the challenges were there in drugs and things like that that you've been able to work on and just to help Society maybe you'd like to share some thoughts on that yeah you know thanks Mark this is this is a passion of mine you know a couple different areas one is around students you know one of the biggest challenges we're seeing in in higher education in universities is student engagement it's easy for uh the the traditional student that's coming out of high school you know into college they're used to the digital world and so as they get into unfamiliar situations you know it's easy for them to hide behind the their laptops are not engaged and we're seeing a big drop drop off in in students and dropping out in higher education and so servicenow is helping recognize some of those risk points from an engagement perspective for students and so what that does is it it helps advisors and even Social Clubs to reach out and say hey Mark I see you haven't been involved in some of this stuff hey let's invite you listen and that's often what a student needs sometimes so very excited about student engagement we're doing there on the on the social side you know servicenow and we know we're not going to solve it but if we can help some of the homeless programs some of the homelessness that seems to be just becoming a growing growing issue not only in the US but globally and so how do we help bridge the gap and make sure again those services are available you know um anywhere from 80 to 90 percent of of homeless individuals or houseless um uh individuals have fun so how do we give them the services that they need to to find whether it's a shower whether it's shelter whether it's it's Food Services and and as soon as you provide that digital engagement that digital front door then it's not only the government serving the serving it there's also so many social programs there's also so many uh not-for-profits that are out there trying to help these resources they just don't know you know where they're at and so how do you connect all those resources what that's going to do is it's going to take the load off the government it's going to take the load off of some of those emergency services that when people don't know what they do they call 9-1-1 or whatever the Emergency Services is and so now we can utilize and connect some of those other resources to help support some of these programs and hopefully you know again fill a gap fill a need and help people to get to their the next situation or at least be safe uh or warm for a night yeah there's so many different areas that we could talk and go off for a separate podcast in that but this has been a really good educational piece for people just to get a taste of some of the work that you and the team do at servicenow and what I'd like to say thank you very much for for joining us on the podcast today you've been listed the oldest servicenow podcast as part of our government Federal higher education series I've had the opportunity to speak with Chris Dilley Chris is CTO business develop the strategy U.S government and higher education at servicenow Chris thank you very much for your time today mark thank you so much I look forward to a next discussion [Music] thanks for listening to this episode of the oldest podcast if you enjoyed today's episode don't forget to subscribe rate and review we are available on Apple podcast Spotify and any Android podcast of choice you can also head over to our website www.aldis.com to listen to more podcasts view our open roles and stay up to date with industry news thanks for listening and stay tuned for more great episodes coming very soon foreign