ServiceNow has updated its Now platform with three applications that increase user productivity by accelerating automation of customer services.
The offerings, Automated Service Suggestions, Service Request Playbook and Workplace Scenario Planning, are specifically designed to take advantage of the new capabilities of the latest release of the Now Platform, code named Tokyo, including simplified order management and scheduling.
The updates are part of the company’s goal to improve productivity with purpose-built applications that automate processes, according to Jeff Gore, ServiceNow’s vice president of product marketing.. :
The Workplace Scenario Planning offering is an example of a purpose-built, helpful application organizations are optimizing physical workspaces to meet employee and business needs. This is becoming an important issue for many large organizations facing the challenge of accepting a hybrid work environment as many employees prefer to work from home.
“This product gives those responsible for facility services and corporate real estate a way to make better decisions about workspaces going forward for people still coming into the office,” Gore said. .
While companies continue to make adjustments in very fluid hybrid workplace, CIOs and heads of IT departments are becoming more involved in the decision-making process. They often have to weigh technology purchase decisions that best accommodate hybrid work environments.
“As CIOs make key decisions that empower hybrid work, they now have a seat at the table with those responsible for commercial real estate,” said Stephen Elliot, group vice president at IDC. “Often they have to revisit what the company is spending today on technology compared to pre-pandemic, often at the forefront of that discussion.”
Automated Service Suggestions, available to users through the company Service Mapping Plus service, uses machine learning to analyze network traffic in an enterprise and suggest practical entry points for critical business services, according to ServiceNow. This allows IT administrators to more quickly put together a service map of infrastructure and middleware as well as create a more accurate mapping across the enterprise.
As an example, Gore said, if an enterprise’s email servers go down, the Service Mapping tool allows IT admins to quickly locate other systems powering those servers. This results in getting to the source of the problem and resolving the issue faster.
The Service Request Playbook, developed in-house Public Sector Digital Services offering, enables organizations to deploy pre-packaged applications that digitize and automate non-emergency service requests. An example is making 311 requests that people use find information about public services or to register complaints.
The primary function of the Playbook is to guide users step-by-step through the process of solving problems with a particular service. This ensures that users “answer questions the right way the first time,” and does so in a way that follows, Gore said.
“This gives users full visibility to follow a parent ticket that has multiple case tickets to better understand the problem,” he said.
The closest head-to-head competitors ServiceNow faces in the platform enhancement market are Salesforce and ZenDesk, although many of the enhancements each of these companies offer are for their respective core platforms. is difficult to compare with the new Now Platform apps.
For example, if a business has invested in Salesforce platforms but is missing an ITSM tool, they can buy into Salesforce ITSM instead of another established ITSM player like ServiceNow, says William McKeon-White McKeon, an analyst at Forrester Research. But as the features and functions of those products grow, so does the number of competitors and the complexity of identifying direct competitors.
While the platform enhancement market remains niche, it is expected to gain more appeal due to the introduction of more automation and as IT budgets tighten during the ongoing economic downturn.
“Not every organization has the resources to stand up to functions like planning organizational productivity or assessing how a new office layout will work,” says McKeon-White. “It’s hard to know the best way to leverage existing investments that require dedicated staff that many organizations don’t have or can afford.”
The new offers are only available through the ServiceNow online store
As Editor At Large with TechTarget’s News Group, Ed Scannell is responsible for writing and reporting breaking news, news analysis and features focused on technology issues and trends affecting corporate IT professionals.