The Problem: Siloed tools and manual inefficiencies
A large financial organization faced significant hurdles in managing major incidents due to a fragmented operational landscape. While ServiceNow served as the system of record, it lacked the specialized functionality required for complex execution, forcing Major Incident Managers (MIMs) to move between different tools and disconnected apps. This lack of a centralized platform led to inconsistent communication across multiple siloed chat threads and a lack in process visibility. Stakeholders struggled to obtain timely and accurate status updates, and MIMs lacked a clear, real-time view of the resolution process.
These inefficiencies resulted in a slow mean time to resolve (MTTR) and limited the organization's ability to scale major incident management across the enterprise. Furthermore, the reliance on manual efforts and information fragmentation hindered effective post-incident reviews, making it difficult to establish repeatable patterns for future success. Because change was often the primary driver of these incidents, the inability to coordinate a streamlined response posed a persistent risk to business continuity.
The Solution: Centralized incident execution and automated runbooks
To address these gaps, the organization implemented Cutover Respond as a centralized execution platform. The solution integrates bi-directionally with ServiceNow, which remains the primary system of record. When a Priority 1 incident is initiated in ServiceNow, the data is used to automatically generate a dynamic incident runbook in Respond using predefined templates. This allows MIMs to start with a foundation of default tasks and add specific actions on the fly as the situation evolves.
The platform now supports an average of 1,200 monthly users, primarily MIMs and technical resolvers, with the capacity to handle thousands of concurrent users during peak activity. Once an incident is mitigated and resolved within Cutover, the data is pushed back to ServiceNow for final reporting and closure. This streamlined workflow provides a "single pane of glass" for central communications, relieving MIMs of the burden of manual status reporting so they can focus entirely on resolution.
The Outcome: 28% improvement in MTTR
The transition to Cutover Respond has yielded measurable improvements in operational efficiency and transparency. By utilizing the platform for hundreds of incidents to date, the organization has achieved a 28% improvement in MTTR. The integration allows for the precise tracking of both mean time to mitigation and mean time to resolve, which are recorded in ServiceNow to provide leadership with data-driven insights. Stakeholders now have enhanced visibility into the resolution lifecycle without requiring constant manual updates from the incident teams.
