Cognition in ITSM: ServiceNow and IBM join forces

Injecting cognition into ITSM: This is the interpretation of the partnership between ServiceNow and IBM, one of the darlings of IT service management. The agreement aims to integrate the cognitive engine of Giant Blue into the automated workflow set by the CIO.

This association between ServiceNow’s automated tools and IBM’s analytical tools should lead to the creation of more successful predictive metrics in terms of service management, compliance (such as ITIL), or service performance (SLA-Service Level Agreement).

Most importantly, this merger with IBM is part of a well-established ServiceNow strategy. Last month, the company acquired DxContinuum, an expert in machine learning and predictive analysis, whose tools should eventually be integrated into the services of the ServiceNow platform.

“They are redoubled efforts to eliminate manual processes that still exist in low-level IT support,” said Sanjay Medvitz, an analyst at Technology, Business Research (TBR).

More generally, ServiceNow seems determined to automate every manual IT workflow, as well as those focused on business lines, such as human resources, customer service, security, and sales. According to a study published by McKinsey in 2016, 45% of office tasks can now be automated.

“There are many manual processes that can be automated across departments, from welcoming new employees to opening trouble tickets,” said Tony Baylor, Vice President of ServiceNow World Alliances and Channels.

Through this new agreement, some people believe that it has strengthened the technical relationship between the two partners. IBM hopes to integrate some of its cognitive technology Bluemix and its cloud management tool IBM Cloud Orchestrator into the ServiceNow platform. Neither company specified which cognitive technologies from IBM—mainly borrowed from Watson—will be integrated into IBM’s service platform. More details should be announced later this year.

Charles King, president and senior analyst at Pund-IT, said: “Usually, IBM’s cognitive technology works like this: It takes archived workflow information and runs it through Watson’s factories to identify trends.” “With the help of ServiceNow’s cloud. Model, there should be a lot of historical data that can be used to improve workflow.”

Another result of the agreement: Through this partnership, ServiceNow tools can now be made available to more companies through IBM’s commercial power. Since 2011, Big Blue has been providing self-managed ServiceNow products and currently has some of the largest deployments of the platform. Now, IBM customers can use the ServiceNow platform to develop business applications that automate many processes. IBM should limit itself to automating IT processes, not processes in other departments within large companies.

“If ServiceNow can take advantage of IBM’s scale and technical service level, it will be of great help to them,” Sanjay Medvitz said.

Piero Chiodo, vice president of IBM Global Technical Services, said that the agreement aims to improve customer satisfaction and productivity by combining the analysis, awareness and support services of IBM and ServiceNow with ServiceNow’s help desk tools.

He added that in recent months, more and more IBM customers have requested a “single point of contact” to change the way their IT service centers operate.

“We are also trying to change the user experience, by providing something closer to Apple Genius Bar, simpler and clearer.”