Johnny Beverton
Empiric Insights is our video series where our team interviews high performing experts for guidance and perspectives from different specialties and roles that we recruit for.
For our latest Empiric Insights video, Andy Manion, Director at Empiric, spoke with Damien Davis, Senior Director of Customer Excellence at ServiceNow. They discussed ServiceNow's future, the impact of AI, the importance of customer success, and the evolving landscape of technology careers. Here's a recap and breakdown of the key takeaways – be sure to watch the full episode below, too!
Damien's Journey at ServiceNow
Damien is now in his 14th year at ServiceNow, joining the company when it was just a small tech start-up with only 350 employees globally. He was headhunted out of the blue by a recruiter to join “an emerging tech startup” with a small London office and over the years he has witnessed the company's explosive growth, which now boasts over 26,000 employees.
He describes the unique experience of having what he calls "three careers" at ServiceNow: spending his first six years working in tech support, followed by seven years in product management for ServiceNow's largest business unit, IT service management, and now working in the customer success organisation, which has recently been rebranded as the Customer Excellence Group.
The Impact of AI on Business
ServiceNow has been successfully using AI for many years, with its first capabilities launched in 2017. Damien offered a compelling perspective on AI, viewing it not as a job eliminator, but as a catalyst for process automation and new career opportunities. He shared some interesting examples of companies using AI to upskill their staff, including a particularly inspiring one – Ikea retrained 17,000 call centre agents as interior designers, highlighting its potential to drive business growth.
The Importance of Customer Success
Damien highlighted ServiceNow's commitment to ensuring that customers get the most value out of their investment – in particular how ServiceNow helps customers understand what they are licensed for and how to use it effectively and get maximum value.
He discussed how ServiceNow helps customers overcome challenges such as slow time to innovation and legacy manual processes. "We have a process mining and a process optimisation functionality within the platform that can actually mine the data within an organisation and make best practice guidance recommendations on how to optimise and fine tune their processes."
Strategic Partnerships: Expanding the Ecosystem
Damien emphasised the critical role of partnerships in ServiceNow's growth. He explained that ServiceNow relies on partners for essential services, "from strategic advisory consulting...to literally physically hands on keyboards, deploying, implementing and configuring the ServiceNow platform." These partnerships deliver specialised expertise, ensuring customer success. Damien also highlighted ServiceNow's strong partner organisation and their ongoing collaboration to meet partner needs.
The Evolving Landscape of Technology Careers
Damien highlighted the talent shortage in the marketplace and ServiceNow's efforts to address this through its RiseUp program. He stressed that a computer science degree is not essential for a career in the ServiceNow ecosystem, and that the company's Now Learning portal can help individuals identify their strengths and pursue relevant career paths. "Anybody can start their journey in the ServiceNow ecosystem," Damien said. "It doesn't matter if you work in McDonald's. It doesn't matter what background you come from."
Damien pointed to his own career trajectory at ServiceNow as a compelling example of the vast opportunities for professional growth and development within the sector, highlighting that he didn’t attend university and in fact had a stint at McDonalds during the early part of his career. Tech is for everyone!
The Role of Recruitment Agencies
As mentioned earlier, Damien acknowledged the role of recruitment agencies in his own career, having been placed at ServiceNow by a recruiter 14 years ago which he describes as – “a springboard to launch my career by putting me into ServiceNow at the right time". He also highlighted the opportunities for recruiters in the ServiceNow ecosystem, given the large number of partners who do not have their own internal recruitment agencies.
Career Growth Tips
Damien strongly emphasised the importance of networking, both online and offline, for career growth and opportunity. He considers it a cornerstone of professional development, stating, “Networking is the most critical thing you can do to expand your personal brand and build your network.”
He highlighted that throughout his own career, building relationships and connections has opened doors to new opportunities and provided valuable insights. In the fast-paced tech industry, where knowledge and connections are paramount, Damien believes that actively engaging with industry professionals is essential for staying ahead and advancing your career.
Wrapping Up and The future of ServiceNow
Looking ahead, Damien is excited about the potential for ServiceNow to help customers overcome their business transformation challenges. He is particularly focused on addressing the slow time to value with AI, the lack of expertise, technical debt, and the risk to continuity. "What am I most excited about is taking all four of those challenges and showing how ServiceNow can solve those problems," Damien said. He also emphasised the importance of customers being AI-ready and adapting to the changing business landscape - "Let's make sure we're ready to hit those challenges in the face and grow and innovate".
Ready to Navigate the ServiceNow Landscape?
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Be sure to watch the complete interview, and if you're keen on exploring exciting ServiceNow opportunities or building your own team, browse our current global openings across the various ServiceNow modules here.
Be sure to connect with Andy and Damien on LinkedIn
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