The aim is to ‘remove the friction’ by optimizing internal processes.
Leveraging a no-code ITSM platform, the team can easily configure workflow.
By bringing ITSM and PPM together, the team has better control and visibility.
Industry: Financial Services
End-users: 350
Previous System: Legacy
Frontwave Credit Union has adopted a digital-first strategy to deliver a heightened experience to all members. Based in Oceanside, California, Frontwave has experienced a lot of growth over the last few years and that’s resulted in many competing priorities as the organization continues to scale. Because of this, there is a renewed focus on understanding process excellence.
“We’ve dubbed this year the year of the process, and that’s where we are really focused,” explains Roger Estrada, Vice President of Process Excellence and the Program Management Office. “We are meeting this increased demand by restructuring what we do and how we do it by making our processes scalable, creating better escalation paths, providing self-service opportunities and prioritizing requests based on different criteria. But it all begins for us by really understanding our value stream and overall service flow.”
Estrada and his team work cross-functionally with IT, Operations, Finance and many other groups to support the respective team’s initiatives. The process excellence initiative dovetails seamlessly with leadership’s digital-first vision. In a recent webinar with Information Week, Estrada shared some examples of how his team supports various groups at Frontwave through process excellence; with the topic focused on how the Project Management Office (PMO) is able to support the organization’s broader vision.
When it comes to IT Service Management (ITSM), Estrada said the organization is hyper-focused on reviewing processes and ensuring there aren’t any non-value add steps that result in friction or a bad experience, “We want to make sure we’re properly set up to meet the needs and demands of our organization and our customers.”
To do this, his team engages with the IT organization to help uncover any areas for improvement. With the organizational focus on digital-first, Estrada is tasked with finding opportunities to support this vision. The PMO team is doing this by listening to the voice of the process, gathering data and analyzing it critically to really see where improvements can be made across the various groups.
As an example, Estrada worked with IT leadership to identify areas where IT technicians were spending too many hours on manual work. “As we started evaluating our processes, we were seeing there are a lot of manual processes that cause a drain on our resources,” Estrada said. “We think we can get some positive results and benefits by introducing some automation.”
“Many IT teams are loaded down with service tickets, so we wanted to look at our processes and see where there are opportunities to automate ticket resolution and find ways to improve our ease of service,” Estrada said. “The quicker and easier it is to resolve tickets, the better the experience is for everyone.”
With better analytics and improved workflow, internal processes can be optimized.
With tickets and projects together on one platform, there is better communication.
As part of this strategy, Frontwave made the switch to TeamDynamix as it offered a unified platform that encompasses IT Service Management, Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and enterprise integration and automation (iPaaS). With a no-code platform, the team can reduce time spent on system administration and can roll out new functionality, workflows and integrations faster.
As organizations seek to level up their key functions such as IT service delivery and to initiate digital transformation, many are requiring new technology solutions to be no-code. “We have a lot of competing priorities so we really want to understand the team’s workflows and priorities so that we can continue to deliver the best customer experience,” he said.
No-code IT Service Management and Project Portfolio Management is enabling faster deployment of new automation.
For most IT organizations, there’s been a real uptick in demand – especially when it comes to digital transformation – causing a tsunami of requests that bog down IT teams.
With the influx of new tools and solutions being implemented to usher in a new digital experience and an evolution of user expectations to have fulfilling digital experiences – especially when it comes to customer service – it can be a real hornet’s nest for IT teams to manage.
A single platform approach allows IT leaders to engage in resource capacity planning to improve their technicians’ workloads and quality of life. Additional benefits of using a single platform for ITSM and PPM include:
Having a self-service portal supported by a robust knowledge base can be a great way to meet the increased demand from end users. “The key to providing exceptional self-service, and getting people to adopt and use it, starts with being proactive and anticipating the needs of your users,” Estrada said. “You need to have a strong technology platform in place and build out your portal with a set of tools that allow users to find what they need with minimal effort, yet still provide an exceptional user experience.”
And at Frontwave, having flexible automation tied to the service portal is part of that exceptional experience as it can smooth out the escalation path when tickets come in through the portal and automatically get routed appropriately for resolution. The technology helps to streamline the way technicians work, allowing for more time to be allocated to strategic initiatives.
Within TeamDynamix ITSM you can quickly spin up a self-service portal supported by a knowledge base and can build out dynamic forms for additional automation – allowing you to manage requests quickly and efficiently as they come in.
Frontwave is looking to automate manual tasks that bog down resources. TeamDynamix can supercharge ITSM and PPM by integrating with enterprise systems, or it can be used to integrate any applications for data transfer and automation. This can include Workday, Salesforce, Teams, Slack, DocuSign, Office365 or any of the hundreds of solutions that make up an organization’s tech ecosystem. “Our focus is really on improving our operational layer and looking to optimize with technology,” he said. “Our biggest focus is on delivering the best experience, products, and service to our members.” And TeamDynamix is there to support that.
