Understanding Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. is a global platform that connects people and things with movement and delivery services. Founded in 2008, headquartered in San Francisco, California, Uber has grown into a business with tens of thousands of employees, operations across many countries, and a wide set of services including rides, food delivery, freight and more. According to the ServiceNow-published case study, at the time of the transformation:
- Employees: approximately 32,000
- Countries served: 70+
- Processes moved to the ServiceNow platform: 25+
- Monthly users of the ServiceNow risk platform: around 5,000
The Risk Challenge – Manual, Fragmented and Hard to Scale
Uber’s growth and business complexity brought with it a major challenge: managing risk, compliance and third-party oversight at scale. Key issues included:
- Many manual processes (spreadsheets, fragmented systems) were used for issue management, policy exceptions and third-party risk.
- Lack of real-time, global visibility into controls, regulatory change status and vendor risks.
- Rapid expansion into different markets and business lines meant that risk frameworks had to scale and adapt quickly.
- Without standardisation, the organisation faced inefficiencies, potential control gaps, and a slower reaction to regulatory change.
The Vision – Create a Unified Risk & Compliance Platform
Uber set a clear strategic goal: build a single, enterprise-wide risk and compliance platform that would provide real-time visibility, support multiple geographies and business lines, and enable scalability. They prioritised:
- Digitising risk workflows to replace manual spreadsheets and isolated tools.
- Bringing policy lifecycle, vendor risk, issue management, and regulatory change into one platform.
- Enabling thousands of users across geographies to engage with the system consistently.
- Gaining control over third-party risk, internal controls, and achieving faster reaction to regulatory shifts.
Solution Overview – How ServiceNow Enabled the Transformation
Uber deployed ServiceNow’s risk, governance and compliance modules as the backbone of this transformation. The key components of the solution included:
- Implementation of ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management (IRM): Uber brought issues and policy exception management onto the platform and then extended it to other processes.
- Deployment of modules such as Policy & Compliance Management, Regulatory Change Management and Third-Party Risk Management.
- A dedicated policy portal has been created so that internal and external policies globally are hosted in one location.
- Empowerment of ~5,000 monthly users across geographies to engage with the platform.
Key Capabilities – What Uber Gained
- Real-time visibility into controls and vendor risks: Rather than relying on periodic reports, Uber now uses live dashboards.
- Standardised risk-process workflows: More than 25 distinct processes are managed on the platform.
- Vendor (third-party) risk management at scale: The system supports the oversight of a large number of third-party relationships globally.
- Global policy-lifecycle management: All policies are managed in one place, improving consistency, tracking of regulatory change and exceptions.
- Higher user adoption and streamlined experience: The ServiceNow workspace provides an intuitive interface that drives engagement.
Implementation Approach – Phased, Scalable, Global
Uber’s approach followed these steps:
- Foundation: Started with core IRM capabilities (issues, exceptions) to replace spreadsheets and manual tracking.
- Expansion: Added additional process modules (Policy & Compliance, Vendor Risk) and extended usage globally.
- User Adoption: Enabled thousands of users across multiple countries, standardising processes and training stakeholders.
- Governance & Visibility: Built dashboards and reporting mechanisms for executive oversight and continuous improvement.
- Scaling: With standardised workflows and a single platform, Uber achieved global scale with consistent practices.
Service Now Product Used
- Integrated Risk Management
- Policy and Compliance Management
- Regulatory Change Management
- RPA Hub
- Third-party Risk Management
Results & Impact – Measurable Shift in Risk and Compliance Capability
Here are the key impact metrics from Uber’s implementation of ServiceNow IRM:
| Metric | Baseline | After ServiceNow Implementation |
| Monthly users of IRM platform | Near-zero standardized tool (manual tools/spreadsheets) | ~5,000 monthly users |
| Number of processes managed on the platform | Manual, fragmented | 25+ processes now managed via ServiceNow |
| Countries supported | Multiple systems, limited global visibility | 70+ countries served by the platform |
| Efficiency & visibility improvements | Manual, reactive workflows | Real-time control views, improved vendor oversight |
Why This Matters – Connecting Risk, Regulation and Business Growth
In Uber’s digital-platform business, speed, trust and scalability are critical. By building a unified risk and compliance platform:
- The company gained operational resilience, enabling safer and more consistent movement of people, goods and services.
- Real-time visibility into third-party risk helps prevent disruptions and reputational damage.
- Scalability across geographies supports Uber’s growth into new markets and business lines.
- A standardised platform reduces cost, complexity and supports regulatory compliance proactively rather than reactively.
Lessons – What You Can Take Away
- Start with the highest-impact manual workflows and migrate to a single platform rather than multiple, isolated tools.
- Standardise processes globally to gain scalability.
- Measurement and visibility matter: build dashboards and track user adoption early.
- Choose technology that supports both current risk requirements and future growth.
Conclusion – Risk Transformation with ServiceNow as the Foundation
Uber’s transformation of its risk and compliance function shows how a digital workflow platform like ServiceNow can become a foundational element of enterprise resilience and growth. By replacing spreadsheets and fragmented tools, Uber built a global, scalable, visible and proactive risk management capability.
For businesses looking to strengthen governance, oversight, and third-party risk control, this is a strong example of how a ServiceNow Implementation can deliver tangible outcomes: higher adoption, process standardisation, global reach and real-time visibility.
