For those heading up information technology initiatives for large organizations with many moving parts and players, it is imperative that the systems in place add value to the business functions and the end users — regardless of whether they run on-premise with legacy systems or in the cloud. This is the case for Cox Automotive, Inc., which is in the business of buying and selling automobiles, offering services to dealers from vehicle information to auctions to planning showroom space. The company includes some recognizable auto industry names, such as Kelley Blue Book and AutoTrader.com.

After AutoTrader.com acquired Kelley Blue Book in 2010, the ServiceNow Inc. platform became part of Cox’s overall organization as a ticketing system.

“We saw some great wins with the platform that we thought, Hey, this really should be our help desk ticketing system. … Over time, just like many other platforms, it starts to get highly customized. Fast-forward to a couple of years ago, we had a need [to support] HR and communications from a technology liaison perspective,” said Donna Woodruff (pictured), service enablement leader at Cox Automotive.

During ServiceNow Knowledge17 in Orlando, Florida, Woodruff joined Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, to provide her perspective as a ServiceNow user and how she has taken the platform to new levels.
(* Disclosure below.)

Bringing simplicity and efficiency to the organization

Based out of the technology group at Cox Automotive, Woodruff’s role spans a variety of areas. She is a problem solver for the business, tackles problems to provide services internally and externally, and helps the organization run more efficiently and effectively.

After the ServiceNow platform became part of the company as a ticketing system, Woodruff saw the potential to help other areas of the company using the tools offered. She spoke about one of her first forays into developing new efficiencies.

“We were in a transitional time in the organization where we were collapsing our help desk tools onto ServiceNow, and they said, ‘We need some help, here. We just want to do a few requests.’ … We identified early on … that this ticketing platform can do what you need it do,” she said.

Paired with a business analyst and an intern, the team met with the business unit to understand its requirements, ultimately launching an HR portal. Now the company is moving into other business functions by implementing governance risk compliance and vulnerability management. Additionally, it is using ServiceNow’s Project Portfolio Management and reworking the platform’s Configuration Management Database in order to do more automation.  

“We’ve [also] done some orchestration with storage agility and how we can get those engineers more productive by doing zero-touch ticket requests from our developers to expand file shares and to sunset file shares, or to request new file shares with other applications,” Woodruff explained.

The company goal is to eliminate all other ticketing type systems, and Woodruff already has requests from other parts of the company to use the platform. To improve all of Cox Automotive’s functional areas and support customers and team members, the ServiceNow platform is a system of action that is providing efficiency and a tangible return on investment across the organization, Woodruff concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of ServiceNow Knowledge17. (* Disclosure: ServiceNow Inc. sponsored this Knowledge17 segment on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither ServiceNow nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE