How to dismantle global siloes

By rethinking the way support services are delivered to employees and customers Boehringer Ingelheim transformed service delivery to provide a MyServices portal for all employees.

Strengthening ties with customers
Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. It generates revenues of more than €17 billion and funnels a little under 20% into research and development each year. It has 50,000 staff and research facilities in Europe, China, and the U.S. But the pharmaceutical business is changing. It is no longer enough to be innovative. Boehringer Ingelheim wants to transform the way it delivers services to both customers and employees.

Consolidating global support systems
Boehringer Ingelheim saw an opportunity to rethink how services were delivered to the business, and to customers. To start, the existing service management solution was functional but disjointed and difficult to scale. Upgrades and improvements were not straightforward. The business had 3,000 catalog items and 40 different support units around the world, all working off competent but aging technology. 

Building a global portal in 11 months
The global IT support platform is built on ServiceNow IT Service Management and ServiceNow HR Service Delivery. It provides a fully mobile experience for support agents and integrates seamlessly with SAP SuccessFactors. Working with Accenture, Boeringer Ingelheim was able to build the MyServices portal in just 11 months, unifying services across the global business. Today, users are presented with a single portal from which to manage a range of tasks, from software updates to password resets to HR requests.

Evolving service delivery
The response from employees has been overwhelmingly positive, and there has been strong interest from other business units to leverage the capabilities of ServiceNow. Boehringer Ingelheim created a Value Management Office to assess the possible impact of projects and prioritize resources. Collaboration and conversation are encouraged. Two new functions have already been added to the platform, including specific functionality for the go-to-market field sales team. Asset maintenance, performance analytics, virtual agent, and security operations are all on the roadmap.

“ServiceNow has many different modules and workflows we can apply, and we also have the reporting functionality to assess the impact,” says Henrich. “That is the power of the platform.”

Informing future improvements
The engagement with ServiceNow creates a global standard, capable of accommodating further features and greater scale. It enables Boehringer Ingelheim to remove siloes between departments. For users, it establishes consistent, dynamic support functionality. It is easier to self serve, information is more relevant and easier to find. User data informs future improvements.

Download PDF