Governing a Federated Enterprise Through Automation
A Tier-1 bank reduced friction across a federated operating model by redefining ownership, modernising governance and automating enterprise workflows at scale.
Context
At the scale of a global financial institution, centralised platforms often coexist with federated accountability. While the organisation operated a single, enterprise-wide ServiceNow instance, responsibility for execution sat across multiple Business Units (BUs).
Over time, this imbalance created friction. Ownership boundaries were unclear, manual processes filled integration gaps and Business Units operated in silos, producing inconsistent outcomes across the bank. Governance existed, but it was slow, fragmented and overly reliant on human intervention.
Approach
This engagement focused on restoring flow by clarifying responsibility, curating what mattered and replacing manual governance with automation.
Define
The first step was establishing clear rules of engagement.
Roles and responsibilities across the federated model were meticulously mapped, defining where Business Unit accountability ended and where enterprise ownership began. This removed long-standing ambiguity and created a shared understanding of how teams should interact with the central platform.
At the same time, the existing process library was reviewed to identify where governance intent was being undermined by manual workarounds.
Align
With ownership clarified, effort shifted to alignment and remediation.
High-impact processes were prioritised, specifically those creating the greatest operational friction or data governance risk. Manual steps were redesigned or removed, and workflows were aligned to reflect the newly defined federated responsibilities.
A modern integration architecture was designed, ensuring ServiceNow operated as a connected hub rather than a silo, exchanging data reliably with surrounding enterprise systems.
Govern
Governance was embedded through automation rather than escalation.
Automated workflows replaced manual intervention, enforcing consistency, improving data integrity and reducing response times. Governance moved from reactive oversight to built-in assurance, operating continuously without slowing delivery.
Outcome
Federated delivery became faster, clearer and more consistent.
Manual bottlenecks were removed, service outcomes stabilised across Business Units and data quality improved. Clear ownership boundaries allowed teams to operate autonomously without compromising enterprise standards.
Most importantly, the organisation gained a scalable blueprint for governing a federated operating model, enabling local accountability while preserving the integrity of a mega-centralised platform.