IPCA Uses ServiceNow Platform to Support 3,000 Restaurants

Independent Purchasing Company Australasia (IPCA) provides supply chain management and business solutions to over 3,000 SUBWAY® franchisees in 13 countries across Asia Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, China and India.

Within the last five years IPCA has grown from a staff of 10 to more than 70 employees. It has also grown geographically, with offices now located in Sydney, Auckland, Shanghai, Delhi, Seoul, and Singapore.

Company growth supported by an adaptable system

Lucy Armstrong, Systems Manager, IPCA describes the business as one that is always branching into new areas. “We work on requirements such as making sure stores receive fresh produce all the way through to helping them recruit staff. We’re always looking for new ways to support the franchisees, which is ultimately what our business is all about,” she said.

For any organisation, achieving a continual expansion of services during a period of such rapid growth requires good support management systems and exceptional visibility of issues management activity. At IPCA, this task was becoming a challenge and there was a need to reduce the reliance on Microsoft Excel and Access and move towards a more scalable software in order to support the growth.

Armstrong said, “We were relying on basic software and, at the time, were a relatively small team. We didn’t have any software-specific knowledge and we didn’t know anything about scripting. We needed a system that was agile and responsive, that could manage queries and connect all our information.”

The search for a cloud-based solution

To minimise the technology burden on the organisation, Armstrong decided to look for a cloud-based service desk platform. The cloud would reduce maintenance demands and ensure easy access for management while travelling throughout the region.

“The solution we were looking for had to have clear process loads so we could monitor and easily know where we are up to with all of our tasks and franchisee requests,” Armstrong said.

After considering the options, she selected a proposal from DXC Fruition, based on ServiceNow, a leading cloud-based platform that focuses on transforming the organisation by automating and standardising business processes.

“We wanted to use the core functionality of the ServiceNow platform. At the same time, because we are not an IT help desk, we wanted something that we could customise easily without it costing a fortune. Ultimately any sort of business decision had to come down to a partner we could trust,” Armstrong said.

“ServiceNow’s self-service functionality and the licensing structure were key to the selection because if we’d had to pay for traditional licences for all of the 3,000 plus restaurants we support, or for the 1,000 supplier contacts, it wouldn’t have been possible.”

Self-service keeps franchisees in the picture

DXC Fruition deployed the platform and developed the custom applications IPCA needed.

“We used DXC Fruition to design the system,” Armstrong said. “The team helped to grow our ideas and decide on the best path of action. We needed that extra bit of external advice to get the best out of the implementation.” Initially, activity focused on developing service desk functionality for the support team. The project took six months to complete.

“It might sound like a long time but, within the initial build, we wanted to make sure we had the right relationships and the right structure to support future roll-outs,” Armstrong said.

As the system was rolled out across the region, users responded eagerly. Using the self-service functionality, for the first time, franchisees could log into a portal and track and view the progress of their requests to IPCA. Automated notifications also helped to keep them informed of activity.

“Prior to this, the communication with franchisees was via a phone call or an email, so this new visibility was really beneficial for them,” Armstrong said.

Within IPCA, Armstrong said, “ServiceNow has made everyone’s life a lot easier. It gives us clear audit trails and process flows. And DXC Fruition has really ensured the scalability of the platform and low maintenance requirements.”

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