ServiceNow Change Management is designed to bring structure to the complicated process of updating IT systems. Done correctly, it can reduce errors, improve team communication, and give stakeholders confidence that every change is handled responsibly. However, things don’t always go according to plan. Common missteps—like failing to define roles, overlooking crucial steps, or missing opportunities for automation—can leave teams frustrated and systems at risk.
Here are the top seven pitfalls that often sabotage an organization’s success with ServiceNow Change Management. Along the way, we’ll explore the root causes behind each misstep and share practical strategies to avoid them, so you can keep your operations running smoothly.
We often believe that by implementing a sophisticated platform, we’ve solved the problem. Buy enough licenses, configure enough workflows, and everything will be fine.
Except technology doesn’t operate itself. People do.
ServiceNow can do a million things—automate approvals, track changes, manage risk. It’s a robust system. But if the culture around it is lax, disorganized, or apathetic, all those features turn into a checklist nobody actually respects.
How to Avoid This
Shift your mindset from “We bought this tool” to “We’re building a practice.” Recognize that ServiceNow is a vessel that holds your process, but the process itself—driven by people—must be deliberate. That means training, accountability, and real engagement.
Begin with a simple question: “Are we relying on the platform to solve our communication, or are we making sure communication underpins our use of the platform?”
Busy isn’t necessarily productive.
Some teams fill out every possible field in a change record, hold lengthy meetings, and chase multiple sign-offs. They have a flurry of activity. But is that activity making the organization safer or more efficient? Sometimes, it’s just busyness masquerading as thoroughness.
Why It’s a Problem
When busywork takes over, people become cynical. They roll their eyes at the tenth mandatory field, the fifth sign-off, the never-ending “urgent” requests. They start to bypass the system because it feels like a bureaucratic chore. That means you’ve lost them—and once you lose user buy-in, the system is doomed.
How to Spot It
Look for the ratio of “information asked for” versus “information used.” Are you requiring 20 fields but actually reviewing only five? That’s a sign.
Focus on essential data. Streamline your approvals so that each step has a purpose. Aim for progress—changes implemented effectively—over mere activity.
Some changes get rigorously reviewed. Others slip by with barely a glance. The same kind of request might go through one procedure in one department, and a totally different procedure in another.
Inconsistency undermines trust in the process. People grow frustrated when they see random approvals or double standards. They start to feel like the system is arbitrary.
How It Damages the Whole
A scattered approach to approvals increases risk. If one high-risk change is overlooked while a routine one goes through massive scrutiny, you’re focusing resources in the wrong places.
A Better Way
Define a universal risk matrix or set of categories. Make the rules public, so everyone understands why a particular request needs two sign-offs while another needs one. Use ServiceNow’s features to automate these rules—so you eliminate guesswork.
Approach it like a shared agreement. Because consistency isn’t about stifling creativity; it’s about protecting what matters most.
Change Management doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s intertwined with Incident Management, Problem Management, Configuration Management, and more.
But sometimes, we silo our processes. We say, “Let’s handle changes here, incidents over there,” and never connect the dots. That separation can be disastrous. A new change might resolve one issue but create another, or it might be addressing a root cause from Problem Management without referencing the actual problem record.
Where It Falls Apart
In a disjointed environment, your ServiceNow data becomes incomplete. The same configuration item might appear in multiple modules with no cross-linking. The risk is greater because teams aren’t fully aware of the big picture.
Real Integration
Link records. If an incident is driving a new change, make sure that change references the incident. If a problem record informs your plan, tie them together.
Think of it this way: each ITIL process is a piece of the puzzle. You don’t want to solve half a puzzle.
No matter how well you design the workflow, if the people expected to carry it out don’t understand it, it might as well not exist.
Some organizations offer an initial training session—maybe an hour or two—when they roll out ServiceNow. And then never mention it again. People forget, new employees join, and old workflows get replaced with new ones.
What Goes Wrong
Without ongoing training, usage becomes inconsistent or sloppy. People skip required fields. Approvers don’t know what they’re approving. Over time, the overall data quality deteriorates.
Investing in Capability
Training shouldn’t be a checkbox—think of it as a continuous process. Offer refresher courses, short how-to videos, or office hours for questions. Utilize a Digital Adoption Platform like VisualSP to provide users with in-context support in the form of walkthroughs, help tips, searchable articles, and more.
People often ask: “Why do we even need all these steps?” If the answer is, “Because that’s how we do it,” you’ve already lost them.
Humans need context. We want to understand how our tasks connect to a bigger goal, a broader strategy. If the rationale behind the approvals, testing, or documentation is unclear, people treat the steps as unimportant “box-checking.”
The Cost of Missing Context
When the “why” is opaque, shortcuts proliferate. People see the system as red tape. They become more willing to violate protocols.
Illuminate the Purpose
Explain that thorough testing is about protecting the brand’s reputation, not just avoiding blame. Emphasize that consistent approvals keep the organization reliable, so customers trust the service. Show how each step is part of a safer, more adaptable operation.
When you connect tasks to meaning, the team is more likely to follow through.
A big part of Change Management is learning from what happened. That’s why post-implementation reviews (PIRs) exist. You deploy a change, observe the outcome, and record insights.
Sadly, many teams skip this step—or rush through it. They check “change completed,” close the record, and move on. No lessons learned, no data for the future.
Why This Matters
Skipping the PIR means you lose an opportunity to refine your process. If a change failed, you want to know why. If it succeeded unexpectedly well, that’s valuable too.
Small, Consistent Actions
Conduct a brief, structured review for any significant change. Ask: Did the change achieve its goal? Were there unforeseen consequences? What could we improve next time?
ServiceNow provides workflow automation. You can route approvals to specific individuals, or entire groups, based on logic. That’s the mechanical part. But the human part is trickier.
People are busy. They ignore email notifications. They might delay responding if they don’t understand the severity of the request. Or they might just rubber-stamp approvals to get them off their to-do list.
When Approvals Become a Bottleneck
If you have multiple layers of approval with no accountability, changes stall. Critical upgrades might wait in purgatory because someone is on vacation or “too swamped.”
Strategies to Fix It
Establish clear turnaround times. Use ServiceNow to send reminders or escalate to a backup approver when deadlines lapse. Also, train approvers on the significance of their role. They need to realize that an ignored request can lead to service disruptions, or that a careless approval can open the door to major risks.
The human factor—motivation, availability, sense of responsibility—shouldn’t be an afterthought.
Not all changes carry the same weight. A small UI tweak that affects a minor component is not the same as a database overhaul that could disrupt a million transactions.
Yet some organizations treat every change as if it’s the same. They push everything through identical forms, identical risk assessments, identical sign-offs. This approach leads to “process fatigue.”
The Downside
High-value staff spend time approving trivial updates. Meanwhile, truly critical changes get lost in the pile. Morale dips because no one feels the system respects their time.
Introducing Change Tiers
Classify changes into categories like Standard, Normal, and Emergency. Standard might be pre-approved or streamlined. Normal changes get moderate scrutiny. Emergency changes follow a special path for rapid response.
This tiered approach respects the principle of proportional effort: big changes get big attention, small changes get just enough.
ServiceNow isn’t a one-and-done solution. Each release brings updates (new interfaces, expanded features, and refined workflows), yet many organizations never revisit their initial setup. They treat change management as a static project rather than a living process.
The result? Outdated forms, irrelevant approvals, and a growing gap between what teams need and what the platform delivers.
Why It Hurts
When your instance of ServiceNow stagnates, user adoption falls, and processes feel clunky. New employees can’t make sense of legacy workflows. Experienced users create workarounds. Over time, people lose trust in the platform’s ability to keep up with evolving business demands.
How to Avoid It
Schedule periodic reviews (quarterly or biannually) to assess what’s working, what’s not, and what new features or integrations might help. Every ServiceNow release brings improvements: read the release notes, test the enhancements, and update your processes accordingly. Also, look for complementary tools that offer in-context guidance, ensuring that users stay aligned with changes as the platform evolves.
These pitfalls can derail even the best-laid plans for ServiceNow Change Management. Fortunately, each misstep also has a solution, whether it’s clarifying roles, refining workflows, or keeping your entire organization on the same page through regular training and reviews.
One powerful way to bridge the gap is to integrate a Digital Adoption Platform like VisualSP. VisualSP places in-context help and real-time guidance directly within ServiceNow, addressing the root causes of many of the failures covered in this article. Its key features for supporting Change Management include:
Interactive Tutorials
Step-by-step walkthroughs for submitting, reviewing, and approving changes—no need for bulky manuals or guesswork.
Contextual Tooltips and Banners
On-screen prompts that clarify fields, forms, and terminology, reducing the chance of data entry errors or missed steps.
Micro-Learning Videos and Articles
Bite-sized training content that pops up at the exact moment users need it, ensuring continuous skill building without disrupting their workflow.
Real-Time Alerts and Announcements
Customizable notifications that keep everyone informed about new procedures, workflow adjustments, or critical updates—right where they’re already working.
Searchable Help Library
A self-serve knowledge base that consolidates all relevant guidance, so users can quickly find instructions on everything from emergency changes to routine updates.
Usage Analytics
Insights into how employees are interacting with ServiceNow and where they might need more support or training—fueling continuous improvement.
By embedding these features into the user’s day-to-day tasks, VisualSP transforms ServiceNow from a static system into a dynamic, user-friendly environment. Combined with good governance, well-defined processes, and regular platform updates, this in-context guidance significantly reduces errors, strengthens adoption, and ensures that your Change Management process evolves along with your organization.
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