As in many organisations, the service management team at commercial insurance provider Brit Insurance plays a pivotal role in maintaining the quality of IT services and cementing the internal reputation of the IT organisation.

At Brit Insurance, however, the service management capability enjoys a degree of autonomy from the IT department. So when it became time to select new software to support the team, change manager Lewis Martin was free to take his pick.

He plumped for SaaS tool ServiceNow.com, which helped minimise upfront costs, he says. At three months, it was relatively quick to deploy, and the organisation has been able to extend service management functionality to other divisions of the business.

But while the service management team made its application selection independently, the input from IT during implementation was crucial in making the project a success, says Martin.

“We had long discussions about the data: who owned it, how it was secured, how we could get it back from the supplier if need be,” he explains. “Even though the data we deal with on our service desk isn’t as sensitive as some that we deal with, we’re an insurance company – these things matter to us.”

Security and compliance experts were also drafted in at the design stage to ensure that the project would be delivered safely, Martin adds.

The supporting role that the IT department played in Brit Insurance’s SaaS implementation may provide a glimpse of the future of IT work.