KAR transforms IT service delivery using ServiceNow Performance Analytics

Transforming operation productivity

KAR chose ServiceNow IT Service Management to manage its mission-critical IT services
KAR Auction Services provides innovative remarketing solutions for the wholesale used vehicle industry. As a technology-driven company, KAR depends on IT to maintain its market leadership.  As a global enterprise, that technology must work 24x7. That’s why KAR chose ServiceNow^® IT Service Management (ITSM), built on the Now Platform^®, to manage its IT services and infrastructure, creating a single system of record for all of its operational data. 

KAR needed standardized metrics to deliver consistent support and drive IT service improvement
KAR was relying on manual processes to measure service performance. Individual teams would laboriously extract and analyze their own data, creating significant overhead and delays. This disconnected approach also created trust issues, since everyone was looking at the data from different angles.

Jason Hagen, Process Manager at KAR, explains, “We had no centralized ownership of metrics, so there was no consistency. For example, we had multiple ways of defining when an incident was resolved or closed. That’s a major issue—when people don’t trust data, they won’t act on it. And, when we tried to pull everything together, we ended up with a 90-page PowerPoint presentation that was weeks out of date and hard to understand. You can’t deliver consistent support or drive service improvement that way.”

KAR uses ServiceNow Performance Analytics to establish clear, unambiguous metrics
KAR chose ServiceNow^® Performance Analytics to automatically calculate consistent, standardized metrics using ServiceNow operational data.  Not only has this created a consistent data foundation, it has also reduced KAR’s metric maintenance efforts by an impressive 94%. And, because of Performance Analytics’ flexibility, it’s just as easy to add new metrics.

According to Jason, “Creating consistent metrics is critical. It lets you build a common language across your organization—whether you’re talking about executives, service managers, IT leaders, or frontline IT staff. People now collaborate instead of working in silos. That shared understanding lets you optimize your services by setting unambiguous objectives, driving aligned actions, and accurately measuring your results.”

KAR creates single pane of glass for IT executives, managers, and staff
For KAR, creating executive visibility was a top priority. “Once you get your executives on board, everyone else falls into line. ServiceNow Performance Analytics is great for that. It simplifies and demystifies data, so that anyone can understand. Not everyone is an analyst, and with ServiceNow Performance Analytics, you don’t have to be,” says Jason. 

The company has also created performance analytics dashboards for its IT managers and service managers, giving them a real-time performance view. Managers can now predict future events and take corrective actions before issues impact their service-level commitments. Importantly, they can also identify opportunities to further optimize service performance.

Individual IT staff are also benefiting from Performance Analytics. KAR has given each frontline IT employee their own personalized dashboard, containing all of the information they need to do their job. According to Jason, “Everyone can see their own incidents and service requests, along with how they are performing. That gives them a single pane of glass and creates operational awareness, so they work more efficiently and focus on the right things.”

KAR resolves incidents twice as fast and has dramatically lowered its incident and request backlogs
Since going live with ServiceNow Performance Analytics, KAR has dramatically enhanced its service delivery capabilities. By creating a consistent data foundation, empowering its entire organization, and proactively managing services, KAR has:

• Reduced the time it takes to resolve critical incidents by 60%
• Reduced the time it takes to resolve non-critical incidents by 50%
• Lowered incident and request backlogs by 70%

These are just a few examples and the momentum continues to build. Jason says, “Performance is a journey, not a destination. And, every step we take makes us stronger. With smart metrics and real-time visibility, ServiceNow Performance Analytics is helping us to create a high-performance IT culture. That’s good for IT—but it’s even better for our business.”