Starting in 2021, ServiceNow will provide its platform on the Microsoft Azure cloud in Singapore to meet the needs of organizations in regulated industries that have strict data sovereignty and security requirements.
Chia Wee Luen, Managing Director of ServiceNow and Vice President of Asia, said in an interview with Computer Weekly that the organization that signed the product will have ServiceNow process its data and store it in the Azure cloud, and Microsoft will serve as its subserver-Data processor.
He said: “In this way, we can reach the level of data residency required by customers in regulated industries.” He added that companies in non-regulated industries with similar requirements can also register for the service.
Chia said these companies may operate in one of 11 industries that the Cyber Security Agency considers to be part of Singapore’s critical information infrastructure. These sectors include media, maritime and aviation.
Chia said that the product has been in progress for a while, and ServiceNow has begun commercial and architecture-related discussions with some customers, and it is expected that these customers will have discussions as soon as the product is ready.
In the media announcement about the new product, ServiceNow said that several Singapore government agencies, including the Government Technology Agency, are already using ServiceNow’s Now platform. It is uncertain whether these agencies will eventually sign up for the new service.
ServiceNow has not introduced new features in the service, Chia said, this is more to meet the needs of organizations with security and data residency requirements. Nevertheless, he encourages customers to upgrade to the latest version of the Now platform to take advantage of the latest features, such as those in the Paris version.
When asked if there are plans to launch similar products with other public cloud providers, Chia said that ServiceNow is still not related to the cloud and will ensure that its platform can be used across major cloud services.
NCS is an IT service provider headquartered in Singapore. It regards the Singapore government as one of its main customers and is one of ServiceNow’s new product implementation partners. However, Chia said customers can also work with other ServiceNow partners they work with.
With the exception of Singapore, ServiceNow will launch the same products in France in January 2021, followed by the Azure region in the Australian Federal Market later that year, and the Azure Government in the US Federal Market.
Chia said that the choice of the market was based on several factors, including but not limited to Azure’s data center coverage, the level of digital adoption, and the market readiness of countries in new products.
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