KPMG opts for ServiceNow workflow after being advised by client-facing CIO advisory board

KPMG starts to listen to its own advisory practice for new software implementations

KPMG has started to use its own advisory practice when examining new software implementations.

It opted for IT service management (ITSM) provider ServiceNow to automate its workflow after advice from its normally client-facing CIO advisory board.

The professional services firm's IT department was better regarded across the firm after it had updated many of KPMG's legacy systems, and this has meant that it has a better working relationship with other arms and departments within the "Big Four" accountancy firm.

"Over the last 24 months we've been trying to get KPMG up-to-date, and I have seen my role change significantly because we've gone from being a backend plumbing service provider to partnering with the business," KPMG's CIO, Edel McGrath, told Computing.

"We have started working more with the business in the last 12 months, and a lot of that is to do with the credibility of our people because our technology was so old [before] that we had no credibility with the business, and now they've started to work with us," she said.

One example of this is when KPMG's CIO advisory practice advised McGrath to have a look at ServiceNow's product.

"In our advisory practice we sell ServiceNow integration capabilities to clients, and when I wanted to change the workflow, our practice asked whether I had considered ServiceNow and I hadn't at the time," said McGrath.

"I looked at it and we loved it as a product, so we told the advisory practice that we wanted them to do the integration for us because we wanted to see the client experience first-hand," she added.