Porta: Price changes without the headache with ServiceNow

The background & challenge

Price changes without the headache: How Porta automated retail workflows

Porta Corporate Group, a leading German furniture retailer with over 140 stores and a growing online presence, faced significant challenges with its legacy IT service management and operational workflows.
Their initial attempt to start the ServiceNow journey ended with an ITSM and CSM implementation that was hard to maintain due to technical debt and inadequate process understanding, prompting them to seek a fresh approach focused on sustainable digital transformation.

The challenge
A key bottleneck for Porta was managing pricing and article changes — tasks such as updating prices, replacing tags, editing product descriptions, and adding new items. These updates are often time-sensitive and may involve multiple teams, from the online shop to the disposition (dispo) team. However, only Central Data Management could execute these changes, working within a legacy ERP system. This process led to:

Delayed, uncoordinated updates
Communication breakdowns across teams
Dependence on specialized personnel
No clear reporting for management

Investment in ServiceNow

Recognizing these challenges, Porta partnered with The Cloud People to rethink their approach. Instead of retrofitting legacy processes, they designed a custom-built application tailored to Porta’s specific operational needs. The solution functions as an advanced workflow engine layered on top of ServiceNow, uniquely crafted for business processes in retail. Beyond workflow automation, the solution also leverages ServiceNow’s out-of-the-box reporting and dashboard capabilities to provide:

Real-time visibility into request status and team performance
Identification of bottlenecks and workflow delays
Comprehensive traceability and auditability for compliance and continuous improvement

Key benefits:

The new solution is tailored to orchestrate complex, multi-step workflows across departments and has given Porta’s employees and management various benefits:

Full transparency: All stakeholders can see the request status, who’s responsible, and any bottlenecks.
Real-time reporting: Out-of-the-box dashboards give leadership insight into efficiency and performance.
Scalable design: Built to onboard new departments and use cases with a unified interface.

The outcome

Enterprise-wide digital transformation

By replacing manual, fragmented processes with an automated, trackable workflow, Porta has transformed how teams collaborate on time-critical updates. The result is faster execution, better visibility, and a foundation for enterprise-wide digital transformation and better decision-making. Today, the company does not only see ServiceNow as a ticketing tool, but a true enterprise platform, breaking down silos and standardizing processes across the entire organization.