ServiceNow is diversifying. The ITSM leader is now clearly a competitor to PeopleDoc, NeoCase and Workday on the one hand, and Salesforce and ZenDesk on the other.
French CTO Matthieu de Montvallon also explained that the concept of a platform (overused elsewhere) and the concept of “horizontal” services are the core of this strategy.
Matthieu de Montvallon also purchased new business-oriented development tools with LeMagIT-close, very close to the old BPMà la Pega-and revealed some elements of the storage that ServiceNow will provide to its customers in 2019.
In the first part of this “internal” analysis, we discussed ServiceNow’s strategy in HR service delivery (HR portal, HR help desk, etc.).
$14 billion ambition
A&D: What is the global goal of ServiceNow?
MdM: Our stated goal is to reach US$4 billion by 2020. We have exceeded the planned crossing point in France and the world. Our president is now talking about $14 billion in 2030. We are setting up an organization accordingly.
A&D: We not only made $14 billion in ITSM…
MdM: it is true! (Laughs) If we start with IT. Mostly because of ITIL. This is the only black and white area where everything is written and used to manage requests (participants, roles, stages, etc.). In addition, our founder mastered the subject perfectly (Editor’s note: Fred Rudy, also co-founder of Peregrine and Remedy). First internally, and then externally, we have proven ourselves in the intermediary of services, that is, all the answers that occur between the participants in need and those who provide them. In short, we know how to equip everything that happens between request and data provision.
“We have proven ourselves in the service intermediary, that is, everything that happens between the actor in need and the actor who provides the response. We know how to equip everything that happens between the request and the data provision.”
Mathieu De MontvalonServiceNow France
Today, we present ourselves as a platform…We are the real platform from the beginning! Broadly speaking, by meeting the demands of more and more IT services, the platform becomes thicker and can be more strategic in enterprise IT.
A&D: In short, you are diversifying. How will you transfer your IT experience to other business areas?
MdM: The logic is that this way of handling service requests is the same everywhere: whether you are an employee talking to HR, a spokesperson for the legal department, or a customer provider communicating with customers. Modeling processes, orchestrating processes, decomposing processes into sub-processes, and calling different partners is always the same. This is why we are rapidly expanding into other industries.
Service RH (HR SD)
A&D: ServiceNow has diversified into human resource services. Can you give an example of HRSD (Human Resources Service Delivery)? Are you now competing with PeopleDoc?
MdM: Yes. The goal is to do exactly the same thing as IT, but to perform HR, which is to manage requests between users and suppliers. In this case, there will be a conflict between the employee and the HR agent (NDR: request for payroll, leave, etc.). But HRSD is only part of our HR product. This is where we have effectively become competitors in France through PeopleDoc and Neocase.
A&D: Is there a part? Is there another one?
MdM: Yes…in our human resources service-it runs very fast, it represents our most dynamic business unit-there are life cycle events (also known as employee life cycle management). It is no longer a “case”. We reasoned in time.
A&D: What is that?
MdM: A good example is “onboarding.” This example has been overused, but it can illustrate the problem. What happens when I think someone will join us until I think they are fully operational and complete the integration (upgrade)? Upstream, there is capture and recruitment; then the arrival of employees-only one step away-and then all training (things he has to do, day after day, once a week). ServiceNow has carefully arranged the following steps: “I know that after completing this step, there will be one next month, and then another.” There is a connection in time.
A&D: In my opinion, the HRIS editor is provided locally. Do you want to compete head-on with them? You are the right HRMS, not just the human resources department…
MdM: We are somewhere in between. If it is purely human resources, the event will exist in HRIS (CornerStone, Workday or other). For example, if I must receive training on “ethics and compliance” on a specific date when I join the company, the training must be in my e-learning department, not from ServiceNow. However, we will be linked to our process, which can coordinate all horizontal events of the company.
“The key to understanding is that we can do a “hybrid case.” The employee doesn’t care about this service or whether the service meets his request. HRIS alone cannot do this. It goes far beyond the portal.”
Mathieu De MontvalonServiceNow France
The difference with pure HRMS is that we manage employees. However, employees not only have human resources incidents. When he arrives, I will create an email for him (from ITOM), reserve an office for him (eFacility), and also create a cafeteria badge (between human resources, general services and accounting).
A&D: The distance is still very close.The more you go to the HR department, the more competition you have with business application publishers
MdM: I will not tell you the opposite. However, our best customers or potential customers are those who have established Workday or SuccessFactor.This is why we became their partner [1]. In the process of rationalizing the various HRISs that may exist in the company, we are still a good supplement. When the organization is mature and requires a large-scale Core HR system, we have the easiest time to start…because it also knows that it will encounter problems when reaching employees. .
A&D: Why do they encounter problems when asking employees for help?
MdM: For many reasons. Portal, interface. Publishers provide these services… However, they are usually systems that are more suitable for human resources than employees. ServiceNow-I say it again, but it’s important-is for employees.
The key to understanding is that we can do “mixed cases”. The employee does not care whether this service or whether the service fulfills his request. HRIS alone cannot do this. It goes far beyond the portal. Employees cannot only have human resources vision, this is not his concern. He has his own daily vision. For example, this might be a parking lot pass which no longer works because I should still be on vacation. There is HR (I am on vacation), but not only that. It is usually a more global issue.
[1] On Workday Rising Europe, Workday did not conceal MagIT’s ambition to go to the human resources department, and “no ServiceNow”
The second part of the interview discusses ServiceNow’s strategy in customer-related services.
