Industry

• Technology

Location

• Headquarters: Netherlands, global operation

Challenges

• Legacy solution required staff from service providers to work in Prosus systems;
• Staff required multiple licences when supporting more customers; and
• High operational costs.

Solution

• 4me provides more functionality at a lower cost;
• 4me Self-Service Portal enables Prosus to deliver service on-demand;
• Fewer licences are needed; and
• Seamless integration with other tools.

Seamless integration, increased functionality and a reduction in licences are a few of the benefits that have been achieved.

Prosus Group is a global consumer Internet group, one of the largest companies listed on the AEX. The group is known worldwide for investing in companies like Tencent, Mail.ru, Delivery Hero and PayU. Investing globally in markets with long-term growth potential, Prosus builds leading consumer Internet companies that empower people and enrich communities.

The right fit for the firm’s philosophy

Prosus decided to look for a new service management tool as its legacy solution, ServiceNow, had some drawbacks. ServiceNow required staff from Prosus’ service providers to work in Prosus’ systems and users needed multiple licences to be able to work for multiple customers. This resulted in high operational costs.

Rob Waterlander, IT Service Delivery & Contract Manager at Prosus Group, says: “It did not fit our philosophy anymore. We want to own and control our data and not hand it over to service providers, nor do we want them to have access to all data. With 4me, they can only access data relevant to them, from their own service management environment.”

Prosus had seen 4me at one of its suppliers, Optinet – Dimension Data, and had been impressed. Before making the switch, Prosus wanted 4me to demonstrate that it could offer the same functionality as ServiceNow.

After reviewing all the ServiceNow modules that the business had signed up to, Waterlander says: “We came to the conclusion that we got more functionality with 4me. I actually have a more complete product at a lower cost.” The fact that 4me integrates seamlessly with Optinet – Dimension Data, without any technical integration and at no additional cost, was also a big advantage.

Prosus has seen multiple advantages by selecting 4me. For example, the speed with which developments are available to customers and getting the new functionalities within existing licences, without having to pay extra. Waterlander adds: “What I really like is that 4me shows that it listens to customers and implements desired changes quickly.”

Implementation

4me partner 2Grips led the implementation and training for Prosus. 2Grips guided Prosus through the set-up, ensuring that Prosus staff got to know 4me inside out. The lead time was four months from start to finish.

Scope

• Request fulfilment
• Incident management
• Configuration and asset management
• Service level management
• Change management
• Release management
• Project management
• Risk management & governance

Go-live

Users of the 4me portal have found it user-friendly and, since it went live, have been doing far more themselves. Waterlander is also thrilled with the freedom that 4me has brought for Prosus: “We can now implement change ourselves, without the need for expensive consultants. That means we can quickly introduce new features and improvements that will benefit our customers.”

Prosus has been particularly impressed with the UI Extensions, which is an easy way to add extra functionalities, fields, choices, design to forms and records. It has also found the Workflow Automation very powerful. “We are not yet exploiting its full potential. We are going to use it even more,” Waterlander says.

Results

Prosus has realised a number of cost savings by switching to 4me for its service management tool.

• The running costs were reduced by 75%, at just a quarter of what Prosus used to pay for its previous tool yet with increased functionality.
• Staff from Prosus’ providers can use their own tool, meaning 70 fewer licences. In addition, the costs per licence are significantly lower.
• The licensing model is scalable up and down.
• The project management tool was too expensive within the old system, at 4me it is included.
• Time tracking is also included with 4me. That alone is saving Prosus $30 per user per month.

Another key improvement that 4me has given Prosus is that managers now have good insight into the total workload.

Waterlander says he would definitely recommend 4me to other firms looking for a new service management solution, because of its ease of use and clarity. “It is easier to set up than our previous tool and now we configure instead of programme. 4me’s response rate is super-fast. For example, search, reports and dashboards are now so fast it saves me hours per month.”

The project was a positive experience from start to finish. Waterlander says he really appreciates 4me’s openness, how it listens to clients and acts on their requests with speed. “If only we started years earlier!” Waterlander concludes.