Modernizing ITSM: Unistar's Empowered Transformation

Have you ever experienced being overwhelmed managing IT operations? Dealing with incidents flooding from various sources such as calls, emails, walk-ins, and more? Managing the manual routing of continuous tickets from one agent to another? Let’s explore Unistar Credit and Finance Corporation’s process of modernizing their ITSM.

Highlights

About Unistar Credit and Finance Corporation

Unistar Credit and Finance Corporation, based in the Philippines, is a transformative financial solutions provider dedicated to empowering lives through a human-centered approach. With a team of committed financial experts and collaborative partners, Unistar guides customers through their financial journeys, offering steadfast support at every step. The company’s mission is grounded in the belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to discover and create value through finance, reflecting a commitment to redefine and enhance financial experiences for all.

Their ITSM Challenges

Unistar Credit and Finance Corporation deals with approximately 2000 monthly incidents. These are routed manually between agents. Their legacy ITSM lacks features such as notification or alerts to immediately notify the service desk. The combination of issues lead to slower response times and risk user satisfaction.

There is also the reliance on email as the sole communication channel. This complicates matters, as information gathered is inconsistent and sender-dependent, exacerbating the challenge of addressing unique incidents efficiently. Emails result in the constant back-and-forth communication between the sender and the support agent. This inefficient process significantly consumes an agent’s time when addressing a single ticket. Now, envision managing thousands of tickets and employing this time-consuming approach to each one.

Unistar’s existing IT Service Management (ITSM) system operates on-premise, posing challenges in alignment with the organization’s Cloud-First direction. The inherent difficulties associated with maintaining an on-premise system, including the need for resources such as labor and skills, hardware, and software, underscore the importance of transitioning to the cloud. Recognizing these challenges, Unistar is actively exploring a move to the cloud as a strategic initiative to enhance efficiency and streamline its IT operations.

Journey to Solving the Problem

In mid-2023, Corqspace and Unistar Credit and Finance Corporation initiated a modernization project for their IT Service Management. A crucial aspect of this endeavor involved exploring cloud-based solutions and implementing automations, including notifications and automated routing, to ease the burden on the IT team’s workload. This strategic shift aimed to allow the team to concentrate on their core competency—addressing end-user challenges.

The implementation process followed the Scrum Framework, with daily stand-up meetings providing transparency on Corqspace’s progress to the client. The project had an ambitious timeline of 8 weeks. With the commitment and collaborative effort to make the project work, the Unistar and Corqspace team achieved Go-Live within a remarkable 4 weeks. This accomplishment underscores the team’s dedication and sets the stage for a more efficient and customer-centric future.

Project Highlights

One of the key factors contributing to this success was the adoption of the Scrum Methodology, which brought a host of benefits to the table. By embracing an iterative approach, the project was structured into shorter scopes within specific intervals, also known as sprints, allowing for continuous progress. This approach, often summarized as ‘moving slowly to move faster,’ proved instrumental in maintaining a steady and effective pace throughout the transformation process.

Additionally, the implementation of short daily standup meetings ensured accountability and provided a platform for real-time issue resolution. These standups became a linchpin of progress and clarity, enabling the teams to address challenges promptly.

Ultimately, a significant advantage of Scrum lies in its capacity to be flexible to grasp end-user issues. One highlighted concern was asset management, emphasizing the importance of efficiently tagging assets through automation within a centralized system. This approach enables a data-driven approach to investment decisions, providing insights into incidents related to specific assets and facilitating informed choices throughout each asset’s lifecycle.

If you’re not familiar with Scrum, take a moment to read our brief overview: Scrum Simplified: Completing Projects Ahead of Time.

Benefits of the Project

The digital transformation of Unistar Credit and Finance Corporation’s IT department brought forth several compelling benefits with their newly acquired ITSM, Freshservice:

Efficient Incident Management: With a structured incident management process in place, incidents are now logged, categorized, and automatically routed to the appropriate teams with precision. This has led to a significant reduction in turnaround times for incidents, resulting in minimal downtime and improved service availability.
Integrated Asset Management: Utilizing the recently integrated asset management module, assets are housed within the system, allowing each incident to be linked to a specific asset. This facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the asset’s entire lifecycle, aiding in more informed decisions regarding procurement and retirement.
Cloud Solution: The ITSM solution enhanced flexibility and scalability, leading to decreased expenses in labor, hardware, and software. Simultaneously, it contributed to streamlining and advancing their Cloud-First objectives.

In conclusion, Unistar Credit and Finance Corporation’s commitment to modernizing its IT Service Management (ITSM) using Freshservice exemplifies the transformative power of technology. By embracing a flexible and efficient incident and asset management system, they have set a benchmark for organizations looking to optimize their IT operations and provide exceptional support to their employees.

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