Serco connects dispersed workforce through ServiceNow-backed platform

Serco has gone live with a new mobile application aimed at securely connecting its dispersed contractor workforce across Australia.

The outsourcing giant has implemented a front-end app, Serco Connect, that allows staff to apply for leave, access payslips, log support requests, and complete training modules from a single platform.

Built on the ServiceNow platform, the app enables workers to connect to the Serco network using their contracted company’s credentials after traditionally being disconnected from internal systems while working on different sites.

Speaking at ServiceNow World Forum in Sydney last month, Serco Asia Pacific platform owner for ServiceNow Jamie Shields said the app came in response to worker feedback of feeling “disconnected” from the organisation that ultimately employed them.

Serco operates across a range of public services in Australia, contracting for facilities management staff, cleaning, and prison officers.

According to Shields, around 75 percent of Serco’s workforce is mobile and site-based.

As a result of this fragmentation, simple tasks like checking leave balances or retrieving payslips required calling Serco’s HR department.

Meanwhile, routine IT issues such as password resets had to go through support desks, Shields said.

“We had all this training, but in the past, people just didn’t do it because it was too hard to access,” he said.

To address the issues, Serco partnered with digital identity and access management specialist Sysintegra to develop and deploy the new platform within six weeks.

The app includes native integration with ServiceNow to support access management, identity lifecycle management, and governance administration.

It also incorporates Sysintegra’s proprietary identity tool, ZertID, which enables single sign-on functionality using the employee’s contracted company credentials.

“An employee is now logging in using their Serco credential -- they just don't know it,” said Shields.

“We work at customer sites on another domain. [Workers] have their [contracted company] email address, but they can link that to Serco Connect and then log in.”

According to Shields, the project was the result of tight collaboration between Serco’s HR, IT and cyber security teams.

“It very much was a cross-functional project, and it was about really understanding the business problem we’re trying to solve,” he said.

“It wasn't trying to put in this solution, and everyone's got to take it.”