Case Study: James Cook University achieves higher IT service satisfaction and streamlined HR request management with ServiceNow

James Cook University Discovers Efficiencies with IT Service Management

James Cook University, a multi‑campus Australian university with sites in Cairns, Townsville and Singapore, needed a modern, scalable way to manage IT and HR requests after its legacy ITSM tool became heavily customised, non‑cloud and poor on mobile. The old system couldn’t track incidents or provide meaningful metrics, and HR relied on email queues that made prioritisation, transparency and reporting impossible.

The university deployed ServiceNow (Incident, Change, Service Catalogue and HR Service Management) with partner UXC Keystone using PRINCE2, rolling out an initial implementation in 6–8 weeks and later extending the platform to HR and finance. The result was faster, more transparent service delivery — staff can track requests, receive notifications and complete surveys — improved KPI reporting and role‑based dashboards, reduced HR handling time with significant productivity gains for the 20‑person team, and a rise in IT services satisfaction from 22nd to 4th in a 2015 sector survey.

James Cook University

Lisa McGahey

Manager, HR Systems & Information Management