ServiceNow helps solve challenges to quickly vaccinate people against COVID-19

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company that makes work, work better for people, has announced new workflow solutions to help organisations get people vaccinated quickly. These solutions address vaccine management challenges at scale by removing logistical barriers to speed up the immunisation process. There are more than 100 organisations across the globe currently working with ServiceNow on their vaccine management efforts.

“Quickly developing effective vaccines was the world’s first challenge, and the scientific achievements have been outstanding,” said Bill McDermott, president and CEO of ServiceNow. “The world must now rise to the second challenge, getting people vaccinated quickly.

“Distributing, administering and monitoring vaccinations is the greatest workflow challenge of our time,” McDermott said. “ServiceNow is proud to help solve the complex logistics, co-ordination and effective delivery to people that is required. We are harnessing the power of our Now Platform to provide government agencies and others worldwide the scale, speed and flexibility needed. ServiceNow’s Vaccine Administration Management solves the last-mile challenges of keeping people healthy and safe.”

Despite heroic scientific achievements in developing the COVID-19 vaccine, organisations are trapped in the “last mile” of vaccine management as they lack the processes and infrastructure needed to vaccinate people quickly. The characteristics of the vaccine – limited supply, precise storage conditions, and two-part injection requirements – make its urgent distribution a complex workflow problem.

Introducing new vaccine management solutions

Disconnected, manual legacy systems are among the biggest challenges to getting the world vaccinated. To address these problems, organisations are using ServiceNow’s Now Platform as their vaccine management command centre. Available today, ServiceNow’s new Vaccine Administration Management solution gives organisations out-of-the box capabilities that allow people to access critical vaccine information, schedule appointments and receive appointment notifications from vaccine providers.

Vaccine Administration Management is built on ServiceNow Customer Service Management (CSM) and delivers a modern, self-service experience across desktop and mobile devices. The solution connects patient communication with vaccine inventory systems so organisations can easily notify patients when more vaccines are available, schedule appointments and send reminders.

Accelerating the last mile of vaccine management

As millions of people seek vaccinations, organisations are reliant on legacy systems and processes that are not optimised to support massive spikes in usage. Meanwhile, organisations do not have established processes in place to offer self-service capabilities and proactively schedule appointments that follow the requirements for effectively administering the vaccine.

Turning the tide on the COVID-19 pandemic will require more than the successful development of an effective vaccine. What matters almost as much is the effective distribution and administration of the vaccine to ensure maximum and timely uptake. Crucially, service management of the supply chain, along with seamlessly integrated workflows, will be the key factors in overcoming what is fundamentally a patient accessibility and product logistics challenge. The release of ServiceNow’s Vaccine Management solution extends the capabilities of the Now platform, offering the potential for safe and secure vaccine distribution management globally. While it will not be the only vendor offering this kind of service, it is well-positioned to deliver its platform services to any vaccine administration program anywhere in the world.

Bola Rotibi, Research Director, CCS Insight

Using ServiceNow as their vaccine management command centre, organisations can connect all of their data and make work flow across their siloed legacy systems, including scheduling, prioritisation and communication. ServiceNow’s digital workflows connect an organisation's existing technology infrastructure and provide a dashboard to orchestrate the critical elements of the vaccine management process, including:

• Distributing vaccines: Track vaccine delivery, manage inventory and monitor stock levels to support population prioritisation.
• Administering vaccines: Schedule vaccine administrators and support staff, track personal protective equipment (PPE), monitor no-shows and capture feedback. People can communicate with their vaccine provider on the channel of their choice.
• Monitoring vaccine outcomes: Monitor recipient safety, report adverse events and support safe return to workplace efforts and ongoing public health monitoring.

“What the world needs now is help overcoming unprecedented logistical challenges to get billions of people vaccinated as quickly as possible, which is the goal of this solution,” said Stephen Elliot, Program Vice-President, Management Software and DevOps at IDC. “Organisations urgently need workflows that connect siloed legacy systems to speed the immunisation process and get the world back to normal.”

'Workflowing' a healthier future

ServiceNow’s vaccine management solutions are a part of the company’s broader innovation effort to support customers and organisations as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. ServiceNow’s Emergency Response Apps help organisations navigate COVID-19 crisis management and have been downloaded by more than 1 800 customers worldwide. ServiceNow’s Safe Workplace suite helps organisations gauge workforce and workplace readiness as they look to safely return employees to the workplace in the new normal. The Safe Workplace suite of apps continue to be innovated bi-monthly; to date, more than 900 organisations globally have downloaded the apps, with close to 10 000 unique installations.

The company will introduce additional solutions to support organisations’ last mile vaccination efforts in the coming weeks.

Availability and more information

Vaccine Administration Management is available today on the ServiceNow Store for organisations to begin coordinating vaccination appointments. The company will introduce additional solutions to support organisations’ last mile vaccination efforts in the coming weeks.

Additional resources:

Watch a demo of the Vaccine Administration Management solution

Chief Product Officer Perspective: How to meet the biggest workflow challenge ever

Workflow article: There’s a better, faster way to distribute vaccines

ServiceNow blog: ServiceNow addresses vaccine management challenges