1. #6: Find, manage, and coordinate capable, certified partners
Success Pillar: Actively lead the transformation

2. Success Pillars – Structure
State and measure your business goals
Actively lead the transformation
Get your ServiceNow foundations right
Create excitement, drive adoption 1
State your transformation vision and outcomes 5
Engage executive sponsor to drive change and remove roadblocks 11
Manage to
“Out-of-the Box” 15
Design an engaging self-service employee & customer experience 2
Build your business case 6
Find, manage, and coordinate capable, certified partners 12
Discover and map your service assets 16
Design an optimal agent and rep experience 3
Build a phased
program plan, identify quick win 7
Build dedicated, dynamic governance process, policies & team 13
Plan your architecture, instances, integrations and data flows 17
Create change management plan 4
Baseline and track performance, usage KPIs and metrics 8
Reimagine how you want work processes to flow 14
Plan for upgrades at least once a year 18
Build internal team of ServiceNow experts & train users 9
Define and map out your business services 19
Build a community of champions 10
Manage platform demand

3. Find, manage, and coordinate capable, certified partners
Partners are critical to implementing and capturing value from ServiceNow®. In addition to providing critical skills for technical deployment, partner organizations have access to a large knowledge base from previous engagements – successes and failures – to build lessons learned for better implementations.
Do not treat partner relationships as transactional and contractual. This can limit the value that partners can provide. Having partners participate in strategy and governance conversations increases their ability to provide the right constructive advice and improve the value realized from your ServiceNow implementation.
Insight: Finding and managing a certified ServiceNow partner
Use a structured process to find, evaluate, select, onboard and manage a partner that will help you capture the full value from ServiceNow. This should include the following actions:
Define explicit partner requirements such as required skills and certifications, development processes, SLAs, and incident and support processes.
Seek partners with experience in your industry. Ask for customer references and NPS scores to validate partner quality.
Build assessments and scorecards in the evaluation and selection process, as well as to measure your partner’s performance. Use these measurements to provide continuous feedback to your partner.
Finally, identify a strategic partner relationship with a partner who demonstrates they will be a key contributor to your organization’s transformation and innovation. Use your strategic partner's experience and knowledge to promote your business outcomes.
Key Implementation Steps
Start
Improve
Optimize
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

4. Step 1a: Define partner requirements
Define what you need from an implementation partner upfront. Different partners may be more suitable depending on your organization’s requirements. Having requirements prepared ahead of time will help you be more effective in the partner evaluation and selection process.
Define partner criteria to support the ServiceNow implementation
List the skills and experience with ServiceNow products you need your partner to have, considering:
Implementation expertise in the ServiceNow product(s) the partner will implement
The number of ServiceNow certified professional on staff (to include up-to-date certifications in the specific ServiceNow product(s) the partner will implement)
Customer Satisfaction ratings and testimonials/references from prior ServiceNow implementations
The geography or geographies the partner serves
Relevant industry expertise
List the ongoing support you expect the partner to provide, such as:
The ability to provide product training to administrators and/or users
Their involvement in process and data mapping 
The availability of dedicated project management resources with applicable experience that can be paired up with your project management team
The ability to provide guidance and/or resources to support change management and governance
Document your expectations for how your partner will deliver incident and support processes
Define your preferred channels for support: in person, via self- service portal, chat, , phone, and/or mobile
Define the internal process your organization will use to submit and escalate issues to the partner
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

5. Step 1b: Define partner metrics
Establishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) early helps to support the partner evaluation process and promotes accountability once the partner is selected. To ensure partners are supporting your organization’s defined business outcomes, partners should also be goaled on how effectively they up-skill your internal team and improve optimization.
Define metrics for the partner to be included in the contractual agreement
Define SLAs such as:
Guarantees in the certification and backgrounds of partner staff assigned to your organization
Expected timeframes for responses, and processes to escalate and resolve issues (e.g. Mean Time To Repair)
Financial remediation for failure to meet SLAs
Motivate partners by defining contractual incentives that create rewards for going above and beyond continuous improvement metrics
Overachievement on specific SLAs (e.g. skilled up internal staff, delivery ahead of schedule)
Identification and delivery of new innovations (e.g. uses for artificial intelligence (AI), added capabilities that allows the organization to address new markets or creation of new business models)
Identification and delivery of service improvements (e.g. more efficient processes, improved automation)
Practitioner Insight: SLAs should be “living documents” – as organizational priorities shift, SLAs should be amendable to reflect new requirements.
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

6. Step 1c: Build an evaluation team
Engage the right internal roles early in partner exploration and selection. These stakeholders will provide the right expertise to support the decision-making process, help gain support from business partners, and will be involved in onboarding and managing the partnership.
Create a cross-functional Evaluation Team to ensure an effective evaluation is conducted
Create a Partner Evaluation Team of key stakeholders which will lead the review of prospective partners and decide on the final selection. As possible, include stakeholders from:
Legal
Procurement
Finance (as a prerequisite, make sure you work with Finance to have an approved set budget for partner services)
Vendor Management
Program Management
ServiceNow Executive Sponsor
NOW Platform Owner
Members of Steering Committee (if applicable)
Conduct a kickoff session with this team (scheduled and run by your implementation project manager) to establish  a common understanding of the business case and partner requirements, and explain the team’s roles and responsibilities (e.g. evaluation and selection decision)
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

7. Step 2: Search for prospective partners
Having a comprehensive partner strategy in hand will help provide guidance in researching and identifying prospective partners.
Create qualification assessment criteria for prospective partners. Include factors such as:
Industry reputation and experience
Number of years in business
Defined business requirements you can identify publicly
Select 4 – 6 partners to target with requests for information
Work with Procurement to write a Request for Information (RFI)
Distribute your RFI to prospective partners that meet your qualification assessment criteria and ask for a response within 15 – 20 days
Receive and evaluate responses with the Partner Evaluation Team, and create a short list of 3 – 4 partners
Assemble a list of potential partner candidates
Start by reviewing partner options on the ServiceNow Partner Portal
Ask your ServiceNow Account Executive for recommendations
Attend ServiceNow events such as Knowledge to meet with multiple potential partners all at the same place
Attend local ServiceNow User Groups (SNUGs) to talk with ServiceNow customers to ask for referrals and to experiences with partners
Research partners on sites like Hoovers and community groups like the ServiceNow Community that provide a way to get previous customer references when needed
Ask for referrals from the personal networks of Evaluation Team members
Practitioner Insight: Evaluating a larger number of partners can drain resources and dilute the effectiveness of the assessment process.
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

8. Step 3: Evaluate prospective partners
Choosing the right ServiceNow partner is vital in ensuring a successful implementation. Your choice of an implementation partner is just as important as your choice to use the Now Platform, but many organizations do not put enough effort into properly vetting partner quality during the selection process.
Notify partners that through the RFI evaluation they have been selected for the next stage of the evaluation process
Work with your Partner Evaluation Team to write a Request for Proposal (RFP) and include the requirements defined in Step 1a (work with Procurement to use your organization’s standard format)
Ask for a minimum of five customer references that are represent peers who are similar in size, data complexity, and industry
Provide a due date for submission (e.g., 30 – 45 days)
Narrow down and evaluate remaining partner candidates (continued)
Schedule “partner evaluation days,” led by your Partner Evaluation Team:
Provide partner candidates an agenda of topics you want them to cover during the scheduled time. This should include the candidate’s company business model and financial status/solvency, partnership methodologies (including support, development, implementation, and escalation), pricing, industry relationships, and references
To “test drive” the partner candidate’s ability to deliver the specific needs of your organization, provide them with requirements for a current service request (e.g. requesting a laptop or a building maintenance request) related to a challenge you may be having, and ask them to develop and present a proof of concept (PoC). This should not just be a standard product demo but a translation of requirements to product delivery – a “proof point” that the partner can deliver value
Create a partner evaluation form for the Partner Evaluation Team, including criteria from the defined partner requirements (i.e. partner capabilities defined in step 1a, management and culture, results of reference checks, etc.)
Collect and score partner evaluation forms 
Ask partner candidates to provide a final project proposal, including a statement of work (SOW) and pricing.
Narrow down and evaluate remaining partner candidates
Review submitted RFP forms with the Partner Evaluation team and use an established scorecard process (either developed by the Partner Evaluation team, or using standard formats from your organization’s Vendor Management and Procurement functions) to identify two to three partner candidates for final evaluation (i.e., a “bake off” between partner candidates)
Contact customers listed by partner candidates as references and interview them on their experiences. Ask about overall satisfaction, business value realized, any challenges experienced and how the partner resolved them
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

9. Step 4: Select and onboard a partner
Use your evaluation process to carefully select a partner, negotiate to each other’s mutual benefit, remove contract ambiguity, and create a well-defined partner onboarding plan.
Select ServiceNow implementation partner
Make a final decision on partner selection based on a thorough review of the final partner proposals and scorecard results
Work with your Procurement, Legal, Finance and Vendor Management teams to negotiate, develop a contract, and sign with the selected partner
Embed partner requirements defined in Step 1a into the contract (e.g., SLAs, training, support model)
Onboard your partner and prepare your internal team for transition
Create a RACI to spell out what roles the selected partner will take on relative to key internal staff, such as the NOW Platform owner, the executive sponsor, Procurement, and other stakeholders.
Identify and include in the RACI any internal stakeholders who will be part of the overall implementation
Prepare a communication plan to announce and educate internal teams on the results of partner selection
Provide access to internal tools such as the network, the NOW Platform, and to any legacy systems and/or data for the new partner to ensure their services, security, and data are protected and the partner has access to what they need to perform their services
Practitioner Insight: When possible and appropriate timing-wise, hold off on notifying other candidates from your short list after selecting your preferred partner until you feel comfortable that final negotiations with the selected partner are going well. Negotiations can fall apart quickly for unforeseen causes, so hold on to other options.
Practitioner Insight: A clear onboarding strategy helps reduce early problems and paves the way for a mutually beneficial partnership.
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

10. Step 5a: Manage your partner's performance
One of the key components of managing a successful partnership is to employ a process to monitor the performance of the partner. To do this, it is necessary to create a partner management scorecard.
Create a partner management scorecard that you would present as part of a performance dashboard
Initially measure the key performance indicators (KPI) reflected in contractual SLAs
Include a corresponding timeline and set milestones that are in sync with the performance indicators
Include time, quantity, and quality-based metrics that can provide insight into the partner’s ability to meet SLAs
Incorporate a risk assessment to monitor potential risks associated with people, process and technology in the implementation project
Continually monitor partner performance
Review performance metrics periodically for improvement opportunities
Make partner aware of performance issues on a weekly basis
When improvements are identified, adopt mutually agreed upon an improvement plan
Service requirements and vendor capabilities change, so keep SLAs updated at least semi-annually
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

11. Step 5b: Monitor the partner relationship
Working with partners requires good relationship and project management to ensure the relationship is productive and the partner is accountable. It’s critical to coordinate, measure and manage the partner to ensure your ServiceNow solution provides optimal value to your organization.
Assign resources to manage the partner relationship
Assign someone with your organization to own the relationship with the partner (i.e. ServiceNow Platform Owner). This assignee should be the key interface between the two organizations and will own day-to-day management, including leading the implementation project, handling escalations, and building mutual trust  
Assign a project manager to the ServiceNow implementation to work in tandem with the relationship owner. The focus for the project manager should be to make sure the implementation project stays on track, monitor the implementation process and risks, and manage any reporting and communication between the partner and your internal project team
Review the partner contract semi-annually to identify opportunities for renegotiation due periodic changes in industry standards, technology adoption, and the regulatory environment
Setup lines of communication to kick off and manage the partnership
Conduct a joint partner kickoff meeting to be run by your assigned project manager in joint partnership with the partner counterparts
Allow the team to meet and get to know one another
Review the key elements of the project scope
Educate parties to make sure everyone has a common understanding of the project and their roles and responsibilities. For example, you might use a RACI.
Review the implementation timeline
Identify any potential risks to quality and timely delivery of milestones
Conduct Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR) including the partner, the ServiceNow account team, your internal implementation team, and your executive sponsor to review performance, address issues, and identify opportunities for innovation 
Practitioner Insight: Communication between your internal stakeholders and the partner should happen frequently (i.e. varies based on the role) – establish a well-maintained line of communication to avoid misunderstandings and proactively address issues before they become problems (which also build trust).
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

12. Step 6: Develop a strategic partner relationship
All partnerships have some level of importance, including ones that serve your day-to-day operational and transactional needs. But these are not necessarily strategic to the transformation and long-term success of your organization. To be considered “strategic,” a partner should be considered an extension of your organization. The partner should be jointly participating in governance not just at the technical level, but also as a major contributor to the development of your strategic roadmap.
Identify if your partner has demonstrated characteristics to be a strategic partner
Partner has demonstrated track record of meets or overachieving on SLAs
Partner openly provides insights and support for digital transformation
Partner collaborates on innovation opportunities
When you have multiple strategic partnerships, run strategy insight days to get the most value out their combined experience and collaboration
Schedule for 1 to 2 days
Invite your ServiceNow team (e.g. ServiceNow Platform Owner, Lead Project Manager, Service Owners, Executive Sponsor), along with other business and functional leaders who may wish to connect and discuss any strategic initiatives
Build an agenda for the meeting and send to partners in advance for suggestions and preparation
Conduct introductions, including any messaging your ServiceNow executive sponsor would like to deliver (e.g. encouraging partners to work together to offer innovative ideas that will help the organization achieve its goals, as well as highlight where spend can be reallocated to better align with strategy imperatives.)
Brief strategic partners on key business challenges, strategic goals and requirements
Articulate meeting goals (e.g. enhanced product integrations, joint transformation initiatives, sharing of industry trends, etc.)
Conduct workshops to uncover joint innovation ideas
Capture results of the meeting and incorporate any tasks/initiatives created as a result – follow-up on improvement during future meetings
Include the partner in strategic activities
Educate your partner on your company vision, mission, strategy, and business goals so they can contribute to your strategic business outcomes
Ask your partner to influence or improve the definition of your ServiceNow roadmap
Include your partner in organizational change management and governance activities
Use your partners’ ability to inject industry best practices into your organization
Jointly assess new opportunities with partner
Provide your partner access to business unit leaders to discuss ServiceNow opportunities
Engage your partner to educate business partners using demos, prototypes, and proofs of concept
Practitioner Insight: Establish joint-ownership of any intellectual property (IP) that may come out of innovations you develop with strategic partners. This can provide an incentive for partners to innovate, if the partner can share non-proprietary aspects of innovations you develop with other customers.
Steps
1. Define and establish a partner strategy
2. Search for prospective partners
3. Evaluate prospective partners
4. Select and onboard a partner
5. Manage your partner
6. Develop a strategic partner relationship

13. KPIs and Stakeholders Key Performance Indicators Essential KPIs
# of partner escalations
% achievement of contractual SLAs
% staff maintaining product certifications
% availability of partner support staff
% of assigned training complete
% on track to go-live
% of business value achieved
# of strategic partners identified
‘Nice to Have’
Internal team feedback on ‘ease of working with’ partner
# of innovations implemented
Stakeholder Map
Responsible/Accountable
CIO
Senior IT Leadership
Vendor Management Office
ServiceNow Platform Owner
Consulted/Informed
Development teams
Service Owners
Governance boards
Process owners
Service desk staff
Incident management teams