ServiceNow extends services to OT for manufacturing

At the Digital Knowledge 2021 conference, ServiceNow announced today that it has launched a set of service management products for manufacturing, expanding its scope of influence from traditional IT services to the field of operational technology (OT).

Achyut Jajoo, General Manager of ServiceNow, said that as the company expands its Now platform to industry sectors where IT services are managed by individuals outside the traditional IT department, this will be part of a greater effort. “This is just the beginning of our journey,” he promised.

New kit

ServiceNow also announced that it is expanding its existing “return to work” program by adding to its workplace service delivery platform. This product provides the Neighborhoods function, allowing team members to reserve physical space in the office. The booking function has also been integrated with Microsoft Outlook. The company has added a planning tool to its safe workplace suite to track occupancy levels in the workplace.

Finally, ServiceNow announced that it has updated its tool set for organizations that need to manage COVID-19 vaccine management.

ServiceNow is continuing to expand the coverage of the platform, which initially focused almost exclusively on IT service management, to include everything from employee management to the Internet of Things (IoT) environment. Jajoo pointed out that the Now platform will be used to automate workflow processes in the OT environment in much the same way that it is used to increase the efficiency of IT teams today.

Changing landscape

As organizations continue to increase their investment in the Internet of Things, partly to drive digital business transformation plans, OT and IT management processes begin to converge. Jajoo pointed out that as this line blurs, it is becoming more common for IT and security professionals to work with OT professionals to protect the IoT environment from ransomware attacks. He added that this is important because when the production line fails, the organization loses revenue.

Jajoo pointed out that the data collected by the Now platform will also help organizations optimize staffing in the manufacturing environment. He added that automation is more important than ever, because epidemic-related restrictions in many parts of the world mean that teams cannot be sent to visit manufacturing sites in person.

Over the years, organizations have adopted a wide range of tools to manage OT processes. In some cases, these tools are provided through packaged applications. In other cases, custom applications have been created and require internal OT or IT teams to build, deploy, protect, and maintain. ServiceNow is providing a case for a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application platform that will be maintained and secured, and can also be extended with the low-code tools it provides. Siemens Energy is one of the first customers of its OT platform.

It is not yet clear to what extent the world of IT and OT will converge. However, as the investment level of IoT platforms continues to increase steadily, the OT environment has become more and more complex. For example, as management teams apply analytics to streaming data, the number of platforms connected to applications running outside the factory will increase. In fact, almost no part of the modern manufacturing process is not equipped with a large number of instruments. But now individuals in other parts of the company are more likely to appreciate the value of these data.