Banking on ServiceNow

Author: Doug Schairer - Director, Human Capital

There was plenty going on at the recent Australian HR Institute's annual conference in Melbourne. And during the three-day conference I was lucky enough to host an insightful fireside chat with Peyton Caffey, Director of Global People for ServiceNow in Australia & New Zealand and Callum Wilson, Product Owner – People & Culture Digital Channels at NAB, focused on NAB’s four-year journey to improve their HR service delivery operations and user experience.

Peyton kicked off by sharing the game-changing workforce trend he’s currently seeing in the market, while Callum unpacked how technology transformation at NAB is reshaping HR operations at the bank and delivering significant benefits. Here’s what we learnt.

No surprises on the key trend shaping HR

The most significant influence Peyton is seeing in the HR space is an increased use of GenAI to undertake repeatable, mundane tasks. This shift empowers HR professionals, including himself, to focus on more strategic and meaningful work, such as re-engineering ServiceNow’s people strategy with technology at the core.

On the topic of work redesign and people strategy, Peyton revealed another interesting finding from research ServiceNow conducted earlier this year involving C-suite executives from across the globe. The data uncovered that one of the top priorities for organisations over the next 18 months is employee satisfaction – this was rated above cost reduction and operational efficiencies¹.

This underscores the need for ServiceNow to ensure their HR service delivery platform is fast, frictionless, seamless and always designed with the user in mind.

NAB’s adoption of ServiceNow as a HR service delivery platform: A transformative journey

Callum shared the challenges that were the catalyst for NAB’s HR transformation, including unlocking workforce productivity and supporting the firm’s global expansion.

There were several reasons NAB chose ServiceNow as their HR service delivery platform. Firstly, they wanted to automate as many processes as possible to free their people from having to complete routine tasks, such as answering HR queries previously stored in knowledge article databases, email inboxes or on SharePoint sites. ServiceNow enables the automation of HR processes and queries with workflows underpinned by a robust knowledge management solution, empowering the HR function to respond more quickly to colleagues and therefore elevate their strategic value to the business. Additionally, the platform supports self-service so that colleagues can source content independently and reduce the administrative burden on the HR function. Secondly, they wanted their HR technology to be a key “running mate” aligned with NAB’s organisational purpose. The continuously-evolving ServiceNow employee experience supports a broader colleague base, with additional locations being rolled out and expansion into new business functions like Employee Conduct Management.

Between 2020 and 2024, NAB's incremental roll-out produced impressive results², including:

• A 25% reduction in the time HR professionals spent on case management
• A 49% increase in employees accessing online HR information and around 3,000 monthly interactions handled by an HR digital assistant, which has increased response times
• A 12-15% cost reduction over the past four years
• An uplift in employee satisfaction scores.
  

Callum emphasised the technology transformation NAB went through involved significant planning. However, he pointed out the greater challenge was in engaging the organisation, agreeing on problem definitions and identifying required solutions. This was where Deloitte was able to draw on their experience of working with similar clients to provide support and guidance to NAB, helping achieve the right outcome.

NAB had two essential learnings from the ServiceNow platform implementation:

• Engage key stakeholders from the start of the journey: It’s easier to lay the groundwork for a unified HR service platform that benefits everyone when you involve the right groups from the outset and align on desired outcomes
• Add capabilities incrementally: Select and implement additions over time, allowing you to measure the impact and reach a solution faster, while continually improving and deploying
  

Key takeaway

NAB’s adoption of ServiceNow and its ongoing automation evolution is effectively converting complexity into simplicity, driving substantial improvements in HR service delivery.

If you’d like to discuss how ServiceNow’s HR service delivery platform could help your organisation reach its employee satisfaction, productivity and operational efficiency goals, contact us for more information.

1. _{ServiceNow. Employee experience trends report. 2024.}   
2. _{ServiceNow. Amid a war for talent, NAB invests in employee experience to stay on top. 2024.}