KeenStack | Cranial Technologies
Full Visibility, Zero Delays: Cranial Technologies Transforms Hardware Asset Management with KeenStack and ServiceNow
900+ employees • 125 clinics
Tempe, AZ
Cranial Technologies
Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, Cranial Technologies is the global leader in the treatment of infant head shape abnormalities. The company created and is the sole provider of the Doc Band®, a cranial helmet that helps improve a baby’s head shape. With more than 900 employees and 125 company-owned clinics across 38 states, Cranial Technologies has successfully treated over 400,000 babies.
Shripathi Krishnan, IT Director and Security Official, and his team are dedicated to supporting the company’s growth and internal services for 125 clinics nationwide. After spearheading the successful launch of ServiceNow’s IT Service Manager (ITSM) solution earlier this year, Krishnan turned his sights on Phase Two, the implementation of the Hardware Asset Management (HAM) application to replace the company’s legacy and manual systems.
“As an IT leader and IT department, you need to know where all the equipment that you're deploying is physically, especially if the equipment is over a certain dollar threshold. And if you don't know that, then you're in big trouble. We now have a foundation for reliable, scalable hardware asset management.”
Incomplete Asset Tracking Creates Operational and Financial Challenges
The gaps created two issues. First, the team wasn’t able to confidently fulfill or forecast demand. Occasionally, new employees started without the equipment they needed, which resulted in a scramble to remedy the situation. It forced emergency overnight orders, increased shipping costs, and the IT team was pulled away from supporting clinic operations.
In addition, new clinic openings depended on everyone staying ahead of the curve through manual efforts. The system would break down if someone went on vacation, because of human error, or if the IT team was not notified on time.
Second, whenever the Finance team requested a list of assets for depreciation purposes, computers were the only asset that could be reported with any confidence. The other assets were either invisible or incomplete.
“We didn’t have a system that was tracking everything,” Krishnan noted. “We had outgrown partial tools and manual processes, yet still needed a solution we could afford and implement without disrupting ongoing operations.”
“KeenStack went above and beyond. Because of their relationship with ServiceNow, they were able to negotiate a package deal that brought the licensing to a price point that we could support, and they performed a complementary ROI analysis before any contract was signed.”
Legacy Platform Creates Bottlenecks
When Krishnan joined the company, he quickly recognized that the existing service management platform couldn’t scale with the business. The workforce was steadily expanding and new clinics were opening regularly. This heightened the strain on existing systems and made it increasingly difficult to maintain required service levels.
Several key challenges were identified that created bottlenecks for customers and the IT team. The lack of a customer-facing portal meant that customers had no visibility into the status of their requests, resulting in frustration and dissatisfaction with the process. Customers often submitted tickets through email. This resulted in free-form text that was difficult to categorize, assess for urgency, or prioritize. It was impossible to differentiate between a request and an incident. All requests went into one bucket, which blurred the lines between routine needs and true emergencies.
The entire process was manual and subjective with primitive reporting capabilities. The absence of change control, reliable metrics, automation, and workflows was creating mounting fatigue for Krishnan’s team.
“The high call volume jammed phone lines for routine issues. If issues went unresolved, our clinics wouldn’t be able to operate efficiently. Although our current product was low cost, it also had low capability, which was unsustainable long-term. I knew we needed a more sophisticated and capable product, even if it cost more,” said Krishnan.
KeenStack Makes Enterprise Capability Affordable and Practical
In 2025, Cranial made the decision to adopt ServiceNow ITSM Pro and HAM Pro and planned a staggered approach to implementation starting with ITSM, which went live in March and HAM in June.
“Before joining Cranial, I had worked for larger companies and thought ServiceNow would be out of reach for a mid-market healthcare company like Cranial,” said Krishnan. “KeenStack went above and beyond. Because of their relationship with ServiceNow, they were able to negotiate a package deal that brought the licensing to a price point that we could support, and they performed a complementary ROI analysis before any contract was signed.”
KeenStack integrated NinjaOne (which monitors and updates assets remotely) with ServiceNow’s HAM. They also built a custom FedEx integration, which automatically pulls tracking information into the asset management system, eliminating the need to search FedEx if a shipment question arises.
Hands-On Implementation Builds Inventory Control and Workflows
The first step was to gain physical control of inventory. The team purchased asset tags and completed a full scan of every item across two physical locations. The team configured catalog items so employees could request role-based equipment with manager and IT approvals built in. Once approved, the system automatically reserves the item so it cannot be double-allocated. For fulfillment, KeenStack created workflow tasks and subflows based on Cranial’s own logic.
“KeenStack was very flexible in working with our timelines and our resource availability, which I really appreciated. Not everybody will do that,” noted Krishnan. “They also provided on-site training and hands-on support during the initial scanning process and helped the team quickly adopt the new workflows.”
“Our operational goals are now supported by a process rather than a hope. The combination of asset visibility and comprehensive onboarding tasks means that the IT team will spend less time hunting for equipment and more time keeping clinics and customers productive.”
Immediate Control Over Inventory and Ordering
Within the first month of going live, the IT team finished tagging and verifying every item in the corporate stockroom and off-site warehouse. The new asset tags and barcode scanner made receiving faster and more accurate. Field assets across the 125 clinics (including roughly 300 TVs and monitors) continue to be tagged and scanned gradually as technicians visit each site.
Concurrently, the self-service catalog went live. Employees can now select approved equipment based on their job title through an Amazon-style cart experience. Approved requests are automatically reserved for the employee, eliminating the risk of double allocation.
Increased Visibility, Control and Efficiency
In the past, it was a challenge to provide a complete view of assets to the Finance department for depreciation purposes. With the new system, inventory forecasting will improve as demand and supply data live in one place.
“The ability to create specific tasks for our technicians to work on is one of the biggest benefits,” said Krishnan. “KeenStack created workflows that combine asset-related steps with non-asset onboarding tasks into a complete list for each new employee.”
“Our operational goals are now supported by a process rather than a hope. A new clinic will never again be delayed by missing IT equipment,” explained Krishnan. “The combination of asset visibility and comprehensive onboarding tasks means that the IT team will spend less time hunting for equipment and more time keeping clinics and customers productive.”
Looking toward the future, full inventory audits, broader internal adoption of the catalog, and KPIs for ensuring that employees get their equipment on time will further quantify the gains.
“As an IT leader and IT department, you need to know where all the equipment that you’re deploying is physically, especially if the equipment is over a certain dollar threshold. And if you don’t know that, then you’re in big trouble,” said Krishnan. “We now have a foundation for reliable, scalable hardware asset management.”
CHALLENGES
- New-hire and clinic delays from missing equipment
- Incomplete asset lists for Finance
- Human error in manual stock counts
- Limited asset visibility
VALUE-CREATED
- Asset data for Finance and security
- Standardized asset and task workflows
- Self-service catalog with approvals and asset earmarking
- Full stockroom and warehouse inventory scanned
SOLUTIONS
- ServiceNow Hardware Asset Management (HAM) Pro
- NinjaOne Integration
- Custom FedEx Integration
