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BPM helps Equifax Align its Global Operations with ITIL 

Centralized Process Repository with ITIL brings Standardization and Alignment across Global Borders

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The Challenge: Delivering top services and timely products to global customers.
How: By Connecting People, Processes, and Technology.

Equifax Inc., a household name in credit data, has been providing value-added information solutions to businesses and consumers for 108 years. With more than 6,900 employees, the company’s presence spans three continents and 14 countries in North America, Latin America and Europe. A global leader of information solutions, Equifax continues to embrace new technologies and best practices to drive innovation and partner with its customers in their growth.

Equifax uses information and enabling technologies to provide customers with a variety of data and analytic solutions. Storage, access, security and maintenance of this information are managed by a sophisticated technical infrastructure. To provide performance levels that meet customer expectations as well as specific customer service agreements, Equifax leverages industry best practice frameworks to design, develop, deploy, monitor and measure IT Service Management processes.

Equifax is working on a multi-year Global Service Management (GSM) program with our partners to deliver on the following objectives:

• Implement Global Service Management Program: Implementing an IT Service Management optimization program can be a lengthy and expensive proposition. To reduce program risks and maximize return on investment (ROI), Equifax has developed a three-tiered Global Service Management Model to formalize the process of best practices and enable a cycle of continuous process improvement. Tier one is designed to standardize a baseline level of ITSM processes across the globe. Tiers two and three increase investments to integrate processes holistically with best- in-breed technologies.
• Meet high demand for IT service delivery: The Global Service Management program was developed to align IT services with business needs. To improve system performance and meet service delivery demands, Equifax is leveraging a suite of best practices including BPMN, ITIL, Lean SixSigma and Capability Maturity Management Integration.
• Fast time to market: Improving IT processes, system performance and decreasing project development lifecycles will enable Equifax to meet time-to-market demands.
• Efficient service delivery: Leveraging BPM simulations and Run Book automation capabilities will allow Equifax to increase process efficiency and reduce resource costs by eliminating unnecessary activities and automating Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s).

 

The Solution: Standardize Processes and link People and Applications on a single platform: the Enterprise Process Center® (EPC).

Equifax selected the Enterprise Process Center (EPC) in 2006 as its primary process development and repository tool. Initial focus areas include ITSM processes and other BAU operational processes.

ITIL deployment required a process mapping tool that went beyond simple flowchart design. Given GSM requirements, a more holistic platform was needed to capture process information with enough detail to create a realistic process model. At the same time, the tool had to remain accessible to the project team, allowing for dynamic process updates and organizational mapping.

“The EPC is allowing us to fill in process gaps that standard flowchart tools could not.” – Dave McCloskey, North American BSM Leader

The EPC offered Equifax the right framework to manage processes and standardize them according to the ITIL standards. Process information was made accessible and teamwork/ knowledge sharing was encouraged due to the EPC’s multi-user environment. Full dynamic process and organizational modeling allowed for the generation of powerful swimlane process views without the need for maintenance. This made it easy to perform a gap analysis according to ITIL standards. Best of all, ITIL processes came fully mapped with the EPC, eliminating the need for Equifax to map ITIL processes in-house. This saved Equifax valuable time and money.

• In phase I of the GSM program, eight new Equifax processes will have been mapped in the EPC. Today, Equifax has four ITSM processes built inside the EPC with several supporting processes mapped.
• The EPC follows Equifax’s process design methodology making the build cycle logical and comprehensive. Organization mapping has helped Equifax define the appropriate COE responsibilities required to implement such an ambitious program. Attaching non-human resources to specific activities has provided Equifax with a deeper understanding of the technology hooks associated with the process.

 

The Benefits: Creating an Agile Culture for Managing Change

The EPC enabled Equifax to understand its process gaps between current state and to-be, making the pathway toward ITIL certification easier and allowing key decision makers to manage change from a holistic perspective. Leveraging the EPC, Equifax was able to respond quickly in making changes to process maps, allowing for effective implementations of IT controls based on the ITIL framework.

Key benefits:

• The EPC facilitates Process Architects and SME’s with the framework to be more accurate in mapping sequential activities.
• The EPC is a self-contained process development tool that has increased the speed with which processes can be mapped and written.
• Segmenting process workflows into a hierarchical structure has made it easier for teams to understand how the process performs.
• Once we populated the simulation tool with resource and financial data, we were positioned to improve process efficiency and ensure that key performance metrics were achieved.

 

What’s Next: Faster Execution and Time to Market Delivered by Process-Driven Applications and Services

With standardized processes that can be easily changed to meet market demands and new strategic directions, Equifax is now ready to move to the next level of execution.

• Process performance measurements leveraging key performance indicators, self-assessments (CMMi) and other benchmarks.
• As Equifax moves beyond Tier One GSM, leverage Run Book Automation in conjunction with BPM to automate certain Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s).
• Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): By implementing SOA, Equifax will be able to leverage its Application inventory in the most optimal way to deploy adaptable services that are invoked through business process need.
• Implement a Business Service Management (BSM) framework to provide real-time performance and availability information.

 

Quotes:

• "The EPC is an integral tool to enable the delivery of our Global Service Management strategy.”
• “The EPC is robust, intuitive and highly collaborative.”

   

About ITIL

• ITIL is a best-practice framework that aims to improve the efficiency and accountability of IT operations.
• The ITIL framework is provided as a series of libraries that a company implements to align IT strategies and provide better support and services for business requirements.
• ITIL implementations must be handled on the process level and include steps for the delivery of IT services and the improvement of IT systems.
• ITIL deployment requires:
• Gap analysis to clarify inconsistencies between existing processes and ITIL processes.
• A process mapping environment that would allow for not only processes, but also organizational modeling.
• ITIL processes must be accessible to the project team to work on collaboratively with the ends of improving processes across-the-board.

 

About Equifax

• Headquartered in Atlanta, Equifax leverages its unique data assets, technology leadership and advanced analytics to help businesses make informed decisions and stay ahead in the marketplace.
• With information on 300 million consumers and 100 million commercial entities, Equifax has built a reputation in today’s global marketplace as a trusted steward of information.
• Nearly 1,000 organizations, including some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions rely on Equifax technology solutions.
• Equifax was named one of the Most Admired Companies in America by FORTUNE magazine in 2007.
• The company’s commitment to technology has helped sustain its leadership position in a number of areas. For the past four consecutive years, Equifax has been named a top 25 IT innovator on the InformationWeek 500, a listing of the nation’s largest and most innovative providers of information technology.

See more case studies here: BPM Case Stories.

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