NTT DATA and ServiceNow set new benchmark for enterprise transformation

NTT DATA and ServiceNow have launched the Employee Service Center (One.ESC), a unified global platform that brings People and Culture services together for NTT DATA employees in 49 countries.

The launch is the latest milestone in a deepening strategic partnership between the two organizations. Beyond transforming how NTT DATA operates, both organizations see potential in what their combined capabilities can deliver more broadly — bringing together NTT DATA’s scale and implementation expertise with ServiceNow’s platform depth.

Nick Cheesman, Chief Information Officer at NTT DATA, led the initiative from the technology side and drove the decision to move at a pace and scale that challenged conventional delivery timelines.

“This is fundamentally about improving the day-to-day experience of our people,” he said. “We’ve moved from complexity to simplicity, giving everyone a single place to go for support, no matter where they are in the world. We made a deliberate choice to move fast and prove this could be done differently — and that’s what our technology strategy is designed to deliver: real outcomes, quickly and at global scale.”

One destination for employees’ needs

One.ESC creates a unified place designed around employee needs. Delivered in just 138 days under NTT DATA’s technology leadership, it reflects a new, more transformative way of working.

AI was used throughout delivery to accelerate tasks that would traditionally have taken thousands of hours to complete manually — from generating requirements and test cases to reviewing configuration and producing documentation.

Training was rolled out in six languages, and the delivery model is now a repeatable template for future programs of similar scale and complexity. Nihilent played a central role in the rollout, bringing deep platform expertise alongside ServiceNow to ensure quality at every stage.

Putting employee experience first

Louise Watkins, Area Vice President: Enterprise at ServiceNow, said: “NTT DATA has set a new benchmark in transformation at scale … this establishes a strong foundation for leveraging generative and agentic AI to drive operational efficiency and cost reduction at scale.”

Stijn Nauwelaerts, Chief People Officer at NTT DATA, noted that the platform reflected the organization’s broader commitment to putting employee experience first: “One.ESC brings our People and Culture North Star to life, simplifying how we support our people at every moment that matters.”

NTT DATA sees this as the beginning of a longer journey. Other parts of the business will be brought onto the platform over time, with onboarding journeys, employee lifecycle experiences, agentic workflows and AI-driven self-service all on the roadmap.