Bournemouth U Consolidates Systems with IT Service Automation Suite

Bournemouth University in England has consolidated numerous IT systems to increase automation and provide a self-service option for faculty, staff, and students.

The university's IT department used to have a "hodgepodge of tools," none of which were flexible enough to manage the broad scope of its IT processes, according to Mark Flexman, service planning manager for the university. “As a result, we didn’t have visibility into our IT assets, which made our hardware and software license management system ineffective," he said in a prepared statement. "In addition, our request fulfillment process was not well managed, causing frustration among our users.”

To solve the problem, the university implemented the ServiceNow IT Service Automation Suite, software-as-a-service that manages incidents, changes, configuration, requests, a knowledge base, and IT assets through a single system. According to the company, the solution has helped the university's IT department become more efficient and enabled them to shift IT staff from system administration to more strategic projects. The company also reported that faculty and students enjoy being able to use the self-service knowledge base to solve problems themselves, especially in the evening when there is more student demand for IT support.

“Since migrating to ServiceNow, we’ve seen dramatic changes,” added Flexman. “We understand root causes of our problems better, can prioritize our top service requests and quickly identify who we need to inform when services are affected.”

Bournemouth University is located on two campuses on the southern coast of England. It serves more than 18,000 students and employes 1,700 faculty and staff.

Further information about the ServiceNow IT Service Automation Suite can be found at servicenow.com.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Hand holding a stylus over a tablet with futuristic risk management icons

    Why Universities Are Ransomware's Easy Target: Lessons from the 23% Surge

    Academic environments face heightened risk because their collaboration-driven environments are inherently open, making them more susceptible to attack, while the high-value research data they hold makes them an especially attractive target. The question is not if this data will be targeted, but whether universities can defend it swiftly enough against increasingly AI-powered threats.

  • hand typing on laptop with security and email icons

    Copilot Gets Expanded Role in Office, Outlook, and Security

    Microsoft has doubled down on its Copilot strategy, announcing new agents and capabilities that bring deeper intelligence and automation to everyday workflows in Microsoft 365.

  • Graduation cap resting on electronic circuit board

    Preparing Workplace-Ready Graduates in the Age of AI

    Artificial intelligence is transforming workplaces and emerging as an essential tool for employees across industries. The dilemma: Universities must ensure graduates are prepared to use AI in their daily lives without diluting the interpersonal, problem-solving, and decision-making skills that businesses rely on.

  • business man using smart phone in office

    Microsoft Copilot Adds Voice Commands, Teams Collaboration, Local Data Processing

    Microsoft has introduced new features within its Microsoft 365 Copilot offering, aimed at making further foothold in the enterprise, including voice-based interaction, group collaboration tools, and an expansion of in-country data processing.