Michaela Kaufmanova, Autor SnowMirror

GuideVision has introduced a new pricing plan of SnowMirror that will better align our licensing structure to that of ServiceNow. We believe the new plan will set up a more streamlined price structure that meets the needs of SnowMirror clients, enable easier orientation in the pricing model and simplify the internal decision-making process within companies.

The new pricing model will come into effect as of April 1st, 2022 and will impact new contracts and contract renewals. All SnowMirror customers will be contacted well in advance of their renewal deadline to discuss the most suitable pricing option for them.

The change does not have an immediate effect on ongoing contracts or valid proposals. All current customers will continue to receive our services at the current pricing until the due date of their contract renewal.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach your dedicated SnowMirror representative.

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SnowMirror is the smart replication solution for ServiceNow, and we’re fully compatible with the upcoming ServiceNow San Diego release. There are quite a few technical improvements in ServiceNow San Diego that we are looking forward to, and we’ve got a brief overview of some of the more significant ones.

People working as Now Platform implementers or in quality assurance will especially appreciate several of the improvements in ServiceNow San Diego.

Breakpoints to the Now Platform’s Automated Testing Framework

One of the most important additions to ServiceNow San Diego involves the introduction of breakpoints to the Now Platform’s Automated Testing Framework, in addition to catalog order guide sequencing.

In code testing, a breakpoint lets you pause the execution of your test at any point when executing a test run. This makes troubleshooting much easier, because when a test fails, you’re able to better see which step is problematic. ServiceNow San Diego lets you build in breakpoints to testing steps for easier debugging. Then the steps can be repeated to identify the part that is causing the test failure.

While breakpoints are important, ServiceNow San Diego has perhaps an even more significant new feature: Automated Test Framework pause before rollback. This has consistently been a feature requested from the ServiceNow community on its idea portal, and quite a few people in the ServiceNow community are eagerly awaiting this.

ATF pause before rollback comes in handy when tests fail. It enables the viewing of log messages, and the data that is created during the test, which would previously be deleted, can now be saved before it is erased. Up to now, it was more difficult to debug tests because there was no option to do so.

Useful feature in catalog order guide sequencing

ServiceNow San Diego also includes another useful feature in catalog order guide sequencing. Many ITSM developers have tried to implement sequencing, and this will definitely come in handy. Now the ServiceNow San Diego release includes Order Guide Sequential Fulfilment out-of-the-box. Sequences can be generated, and the reference field and select are used. If there isn’t one in place, a modal window will appear which lets you open the Process Automation Designer (PAD) to configure it. We think many in the ServiceNow community will welcome this. Then you can view the existing sequence and edit it.

Improvements to Flow

The ServiceNow San Diego release also makes improvements to Flow, specifically in adding try/catch and error handler improvements. Flow now supports try/catch blocks, which enable designers to trap errors and continue the flow. In the event that something occurs in the later actions, Flow will catch that, send a notification and write an entry in the log. Flow’s Error Handler is still available, but try/catch is an improvement that will give implementers more power.

Flow getting stuck was not pleasant. But now that Error Handling is in place – it was first in the Rome release – this is getting much easier. For many, this will also provide incentive to go back-to-the-box, meaning to go back to an uncustomised ServiceNow.

One of the strengths of Flow Designer is the way it supports diagramming, because it lets business consultants more easily map out steps. This will especially be popular for users of ServiceNow’s low-code features. This will also make it easier to migrate, as well as to edit within Flow. This is an area where we can also look forward to an expansion of the view, which will be very useful for debugging.

Robotic process automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) is another area where the ServiceNow San Diego release shines. RPA lets users write and execute ‘robots,’ which ease the process of integration when the platform you want to integrate with doesn’t have an API. Instead of having people copy and paste data, now you can build a bot to do it for you – screenscraping becomes an option for more users. San Diego also includes and RPA Spoke, which enables bot management and calls to flows and subflows which trigger back on the instance. This feature is expected to be very popular among ServiceNow implementers. At the end of March 2022, more than 3,500 actions will be made available.

ServiceNow is the world’s leading digital workflow company, and its results for Q4 and all of 2021 have been truly impressive. “We once again reported results that significantly beat the high end of expectations,” said ServiceNow President and CEO Bill McDermott about the company’s Q4 results. “Customer demand for ServiceNow’s innovative platform is stronger than ever. Our unique culture has made us one of the best places to work. We are growing like a fast-moving startup with the profitability of a global market leader.”

ServiceNow’s recently-released Q4 and full 2021 financial results clearly show that the company, under McDermott’s leadership, has had an excellent year. In recent quarters, ServiceNow has seen major growth in several key areas, and Q4 continued this. As an example, subscription revenues hit $1,523 million in Q4, which meant year-on-year growth of 29% (30% adjusted for constant currency).

As of December 31, 2021, ServiceNow’s current remaining performance obligations (“cRPO”), which means contract revenue that will be recognized as revenue in the next 12 months, came to $5.7 billion, which is an increase of 29% year-on-year; adjusted for constant currency, it is 32%. ServiceNow also closed 135 new annual contracts valued at over $1 million, showing a massive increase of 52% year-on-year. The company also has 1,359 total customers with more than $1 million in annual contract value, a 25% year-on-year increase.

Improving the Now Platform in Q4

While ServiceNow’s financial performance is outstanding, it only shows part of what’s going on in the company. ServiceNow has grown the Now Platform’s features and functionality at a similar rate as their financial results, which is outstanding both for customers and investors.

At the beginning of Q4 2021, ServiceNow unveiled an integrated solution to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) across the enterprise. The company’s vision for their solution is to enable a real-time view of ESG compliance and risk, which will help business leaders make better decisions and help their companies to perform better long-term. By providing governance capabilities such as continuous control, risk assessment, AI, audits, privacy, and automation, ServiceNow intends to help companies face major environmental, social, and business challenges in a transparent way.

Customer engagement enhancements were also front and center for ServiceNow in Q4 2021. The launch of the ServiceNow Messaging Service was crucial to enabling a seamless experience from issue to resolution for both customers and employees. In Q3 2021, the Now Platform made improvements to the Rome release that paved the way for the launch of the messaging service in Q4.

Acquisitions were also key to the company’s Q4 growth. Perhaps the most important acquisition in Q4 was that of DotWalk. DotWalk strengthens business agility for companies through automation, and its artificial intelligence-powered regression testing improves application performance and enables its users to rapidly complete business goals while speeding digital transformation. ServiceNow is making use of DotWalk so that customers remain technologically agile and innovative.

2021 saw the second year of the covid-19 pandemic, and ServiceNow sees the stress that is palpable in the world. To assist in alleviating what they could, ServiceNow entered a partnership with Qualtrics to build empathy into customer service. As a result of this cooperation, companies can now access additional customer experience data from Qualtrics on the Now Platform through the Qualtrics CustomerXM and ServiceNow Customer Service Management integration. At the end of the day, providing care for companies and their customers is one of the main reasons ServiceNow continued its stellar growth in Q4.

There have been so many major enhancements to ServiceNow’s functionality every quarter, it comes as no surprise that they have consistently been ranked for the past five years as a Fortune Future 50 company. ServiceNow CFO Gina Mastantuono said the company “expects constant currency subscription revenue growth to accelerate year-over-year in Q1, setting us up for another strong year and putting us well on our way to becoming a $15 billion plus revenue company.” The outlook remains strong for the Now Platform, and 2022 looks increasingly auspicious.

As ServiceNow implementations mature, many companies’ configuration management databases, or CMDBs, collect large numbers of configuration items, with numerous items not as new or out of date completely. This can make data quality worse and slow down your database performance.

As a way of making it easier to update information in situations like these, ServiceNow’s Rome release includes a new tool called the CMDB Data Manager. The CMDB Data Manager is a policy-driven framework which leverages Common Service Data Model (CSDM) life cycle standards. In CSDM, hardware or software catalog items go through individual phases – ideation, purchase, inventory, deployment and operation – before reaching their end of life. The CMDB Data Manager focuses primarily on these transition points, and life cycle standards help to effectively track assets as they move through the various stages of the cycle.

ServiceNow CMDB Data Manager: Ready-made policies

Out of the box, the new CMDB Data Manager includes policies which are intended to effectively retire CIs which can be archived and eventually deleted. As an extra precaution, life cycle stages are not able to jump from operational to end of life immediately – CIs first have to be retired and then archived.

The CMDB Data Manager is easy to set up. The first step is to activate Life Cycle Mapping, which applies life cycle standards to existing records and constantly applies them to new ones. This is done only once. Then you have to activate the CSDM Activation plugin, which enables the application itself. What’s best about all of this is that it’s completely free – no additional licenses are needed.

The CMDB Data Manager knows about the various roles and groups within the organisation. These include data manager admin and user. Roles can be customised according to needs; it’s possible to create a group called ‘Lenovo Inspectors,’ for example. The application also runs several scheduled jobs, such as a stale task cleaner, archive or delete policy processor and retire policy processor. For developers, the CMDB Data Manager Helper will be the most useful. It includes a number of functions that developers can take advantage of.

How to create policies in the CMDB Data Manager

Data admins have the ability to create policies within the CMDB Data Manager. For example, to set up a policy that automatically retires Lenovo computers that haven’t been updated in three months, the steps are simple. You can build in a function for ‘needs review’ with a simple check box, and that calls the task approval task should be generated for the new policy or not. If ‘needs review’ is not selected, when the policy is launched it will go through the CIs and automatically retire the Lenovo computers without any approval. (We think it’s a good practice to have approval of these policies, by the way.) The next step is to choose the policy type, where the options in this case are ‘delete, retire and archive.’

The CMDB Data Manager includes a powerful set of condition filters that let you be as specific in your criteria as you want, and the filters can include multiple criteria using AND or OR operators. In our example where we want to remove Lenovo computers that haven’t been updated in the past three months, this would be that ‘Class’ is a ‘Computer’, ‘Manufacturer’ is ‘Lenovo’ and ‘Updated’ is at or before ‘Last 3 months.’ The filter presents the count of records that match the condition, and the preview function lets you review the records.

CMDB Data Manager: From Policies to Actions

The Action section of the CMDB Data Manager includes a subflow for ‘Retire Configuration Items’ out-of-the-box. You can add your own actions as well, such as ‘Retire Configuration Items and corresponding assets’ – in this case it is used because the CMDB Data Manager does not yet have a syncing function between assets and CIs.

When defining the policy, the CMDB Data Manager provides an indication of the scope of work the policy will create; it displays the count of the number of CIs that may be impacted. This is in addition to providing a granular preview of the records the policy will affect. One nice feature of the preview is that in the listing of the affected records, you have the possibility of excluding individual records by simply ticking a checkbox. The CMDB Data Manager also displays a count of the tasks generated by the policy; in our example, there are two tasks generated because some of the computers have the ‘managed by group’ field set to ‘Lenovo Inspectors.’ In that case, the task will be generated for the members of that group. Another task will be generated for the remaining CIs and given to our admin.

Once the policy is ready, you publish it. It’s also important to note that it is possible to unpublish a policy; unpublished policies will not be triggered by scheduled jobs. The CMDB Data Manager provides an overview of policies, excluded CIs and open policy tasks on its main menu. This overview also provides detail on the number of drafts, the number of published policies, inactive policies and those that failed evaluation, in addition to the number of CIs deleted, and retired.

Scheduled jobs are set for around 3am out-of-the-box, but can also be triggered manually if necessary. The CMDB Data Manager also includes a task called ‘Stale Task Manager,’ which examines if no one has taken on a task in a certain amount of time – 90 days by default – and they are closed.

How to Archive and Delete in the CMDB Data Manager

The CMDB Data Manager also includes policy types for Archive and Delete. In the case of Archive, there is a checkbox for ‘Apply Retention Time,’ which lets us choose how long archived records should be stored in the Archive tables. If the checkbox is not checked, they will remain until manual action is taken on them.

What are Archive tables? They are used for storing archived CIs which can still be brought back if needed. In our example, we are working with computers, and the base table for them is ‘cmdb_ci_computer’ and in order to get to the Archive table we need to add an ‘ar_’ prefix so that we have ‘ar_cmdb_ci_computer’ in the link. These don’t have to be input manually – they can also be selected from the ‘System Archiving -> Archive Computer’ list on the left of the screen.

The CMDB Data Manager policy type for ‘Delete’ essentially serves as a death sentence for a configuration item record, meaning that it is deleted from the archiving tables.

CMDB Data Manager and Data Certification – What’s the difference?

The CMDB Data Manager is different from Data Certification in several key ways. Data Certification provides broader possibilities when it comes to deciding on the fields the approval assignment should be generated. For one, the CMDB Data Manager does not make it possible to assign approvals for multiple fields, select assignment types and only allows for policy/schedule run types, while Data Certification supports both approval assignments for multiple fields and assignment types selection, and can be either automated or on-demand. Data Certification is a useful tool, especially in audits.

Using both tools helps to improve the CMDB’s data quality and consistency. They make decision making on particular CIs easier.

Finally, an agent workspace CMDB-oriented extension is coming very soon. It provides a more comprehensive view of attributes than the default CI view, and allows you to inspect infrastructure relationships, open dependency views and check multisource data.

Using AI to automate routine business processes and prioritise business-critical issues

There are myriad state-of-the-art solutions to the issues businesses face today, but although they are widely available, the covid-19 pandemic has reminded us how vulnerable the economy is. What remains true is that although there have been several consistent decades of progress and innovation, companies are not as resilient as previously thought. Even under optimal circumstances, the modern global market consistently adapts and evolves, and consumer habits adapt along with it.

The tempo of change has been accompanied by a degree of complexity that is hard for people to deal with on their own. Issues that could not have been predicted, such as the immediate need for employees to work remotely, have brought with them major interruptions and difficulties. In order for companies’ operations to be made resilient against disruptions and made future-proof, organisations have to play a more active role in preparation.

Automation of regular operations

Every company performs numerous activities on a daily basis that can be automated. As an example, employees in the marketing department may devote a large amount of time preparing social media or blog posts for manual publishing. The organisers of events may spend time sending emails to all of the people who signed up. Groups of researchers may work for hours searching the web for information on the latest trends. All of these are examples of activities that can be automated.

The automation of routine operations is not only about replacing human jobs with computers. It is much more about strengthening employees’ capabilities by bringing down digital noise and providing them the ability to concentrate on the work that matters the most. Despite the clear benefits, automation and artificial intelligence are largely misunderstood. The goal is not to make your operations less human – quite the opposite. The goal is to provide your team with the time required to focus on activities that require a human touch.

The list of routine practices includes items such as requests and non-critical alerts. As an example, AI operations can assess alerts to consider if they can be automatically processed based on the metrics and supporting data at hand.

Cutting down on human error

Digital technology is frequently blamed when something does not go as expected, but the facts remain that human error usually is the cause of problems. This stands to reason: laborious and repetitive manual processes are likely to result in human error, if only because it is more difficult to maintain focus while performing monotonous tasks. In addition, certain systems are too complicated for humans alone to manage. One example is Big Data, which refers to sets of data that are too large and complex for human understanding alone.

AI does not eliminate human error from common operations. It can also identify critical issues more rapidly and with increased accuracy. This proves to be exceedingly important in information security, where more and more sophisticated attacks target a large number of interconnected systems. AI systems can create maps of these events and point out the sources of the incident. This provides people with the opportunity to take rapid action and quickly make informed decisions before the situation gets out of control

AI can do even more by making recommendations based on successful outcomes in the past, and by redirecting critical work to the correct employees. With regard to the availability and security of systems deemed mission-critical, AI proves to be more effective every time over the sluggishness of human response.

Accommodating and evolving to change

Modern organisations need to evolve rapidly to swift changes on the market, including situations where something entirely unexpected occurs. Companies must also have the capacity to grow organically without the risk of falling apart under their own weight. To put it differently, organisations must have the ability to adapt in a time of unceasing change and economic unpredictability.

One very large benefit of AI-augmented automation is that it provides the ability to scale massively. While it is true that AI demands considerable computing power, such power has become much more affordable and readily available than human resources. Considering the scalability of cloud data centres available to you, operations can grow much more easily. As an example, AI might be able to identify unforeseen spikes in online activity and automatically scale server capacity to take into account the increased demand.

Once automated workflows have been put into place, they can be applied to almost every task. This results in fewer business processes to manage when working at a high level of performance.

Conclusion – taking decisive action toward to digital transformation

Although automation provides IT employees to perform a large number of repeatable workflows set off by specific inputs or events, the true power rests in how modern solutions make effective use of artificial intelligence. AI augments automation by being proactive, and acting on the basis of minor trends which can be identified within increasingly large and complicated data sets, in addition to behavior patterns in history. Put differently, AI can take automation to the next level by handling routine decision making.

ServiceNow is growing at a very rapid rate across an increasing number of industries, and workflow automation and rationalised services are becoming more and more prevalent.

Over two days, ServiceNow published two posts with regard to key services they offer in cybersecurity and IT. Although these sectors are considered close to each other, they demand completely different approaches. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that regardless of the sector, ServiceNow can offer numerous improvements.

A case in point is November 2021. The month was very successful for ServiceNow, as the company expanded its reach into technologies and industries via acquisitions and partnerships. One of these is the announced acquisition of ngena, and the ServiceNow platform is also making moves into the world of cryptocurrency.

ngena Acquisition

On November 18, 2021, ServiceNow acquired ngena, a firm that offers its customers through the provision of cloud services via that are comprehensive, entirely automated and easy to use. ngena does this through its SD-WAN as a Service. The deal also includes Thirdera (a professional Now Platform onboarding services provider), and the goal is to enhance the field of network service providers. By using Thirdera as a broker of knowledge between ServiceNow and ngena, the three companies intend to build automated end-to-end services for network service providers.

The combination of ServiceNow’s focus on simplifying full cycle network cycle workflow processes from start to finish with ngena’s cloud and analytical services will mean that network service providers will be able to offer more powerful, more reliable connectivity to their clients. In addition, they will add a strong core of proactive customer service.

“Leveraging the power of ServiceNow’s telecommunications workflows, integrated by Thirdera, and the ability to seamlessly connect customer and service operations and bring new services to market quickly, ngena’s centralised connectivity network will now deliver an unrivaled experience for customers,” said Rohit Batra, ServiceNow’s Head of Telecommunications, Media & Technology Product. Thirdera CEO Jason Wojhan stated that the partnership has the potential to ‘double the revenue in B2B.’

ServiceNow and cryptocurrency with Hedera

Another positive headline from ServiceNow was with regard to the cryptocurrency industry. Until now, the only interactions between ServiceNow and the crypto community were through an Ethereum integration for the ServiceNow platform called EthNow.

Recently the Hedera Hashgraph Governing Council sought to implement on the ServiceNow platform for decentralized transactions. Hedera is an enterprise-grade distributed ledger cryptocurrency company which has set as its goal to ‘provide the most secure network connectivity and transaction processing in the world,’ according to a company press release.

Hedera believes that by using the Now Platform, they can make improvements in the trustworthiness of digital transformation transactions. The two companies previously worked closely together to build a ServiceNow-injected digital ledger which can handle interactions between several companies.

ServiceNow now holds membership on the Hedera Governing Council in conjunction with its creation of more resilient digital ledger technology.

Conclusion

ServiceNow has repeatedly proven that no matter how it is used, the Now Platform can revitalise companies, their operations or even entire industries. Workflow automations and rationalised services are now the standard for any company wishing to be taken seriously, and it is ServiceNow which is providing the means to make that happen.

ServiceNow provides various state-of-the-art solutions to any number of business challenges. ServiceNow products are highly solution-focused as well as heavily customer-centric. There are several features available in the ServiceNow platform out-of-the-box which can be enabled and configured to increase user engagement. Some of these powerful features provided by ServiceNow include:

These features help improve user experience and engagement while providing the best platform services. Most of these features are quick wins as these are configured using low-code to no-code methodology.

Service Portal

Service Portal allows organizations to build a self-service and user-friendly web interface for internal and external users. Implementing the Service Portal is simple enough with the use of the standard out-of-the-box portals. It is also flexible, with the ability to configure and create company-specific themes, menus, page designs, widget designs, and custom functionalities. Companies can and should leverage this robust tool to improve and enhance their users’ experience and interaction with ServiceNow.

Guided Tours

ServiceNow’s Guided Tour is a powerful engine to enable users to self-train without additional assistance. It familiarizes users with the available ServiceNow application user interface. Guided Tours are live tutorials for end users to guide them through new features available on the platform. Guided Tours assist user onboarding and self-service. The ServiceNow platform provides several guided tours by default for core system application functions. System administrators can modify existing Guided Tours or create new ones according to the customer’s requirements.

Virtual Agent

The ServiceNow Virtual Agent is a messaging interface that uses artificial intelligence to assist users in resolving issues without agent interaction. Virtual Agent is configured and designed to carry on automated conversations with users. The Virtual Agent designer allows system administrators to create and manage topics. Virtual Agent topics act as the plan of communication with users. Users can access the required information, carry out common tasks and make decisions quickly with the help of the Virtual Agent.

Knowledge Management

ServiceNow’s Knowledge Management application allows companies to manage the knowledge articles in the managed repository of knowledge bases. Users can easily access the knowledge bases shared with them and browse through different categories to find relevant articles. Knowledge articles provide users with information on topics such as self-service, troubleshooting and task resolution. Users can also give feedback on the articles to improve content for future use. It promotes knowledge sharing and increases the self-service rates for internal and external users.

Surveys and Assessments

ServiceNow provides the capability to trigger surveys to users to collect customer satisfaction responses. Surveys are designed and triggered directly from the ServiceNow platform, and survey results are collected and analyzed within the system. Executive leadership can then make business decisions based on the user feedback contained in the survey reports to improve business performance. Users participate in continuous service improvement by giving feedback using surveys and assessments. The net result is enhanced user trust and confidence in business and support services.

All of these ServiceNow features are readily available to be implemented and configured according to the needs of the business. They are quick wins that help organizations to improve user engagement and enhance user experience, which is why we recommend taking advantage of them.

ServiceNow provides multiple business solutions widely used by organizations. Many users interact with the system according to the roles and privileges they have on it. Even though the simple user interface of ServiceNow is standard across all the user personas, it can get overwhelming due to enriched features.

Here are some simple tips and tricks for the regular users of ServiceNow that can help improve platform usage experience.

The filter navigation of ServiceNow is a wonder! It displays and helps to search for anything and everything made available for the logged-in user. Users can see the applications and modules in the order configured by the system administrator. Filter navigation comes in handy when a user needs to navigate any record, list, report or dashboard, etc. However, it can get cumbersome when a user frequently visits anything that takes a few clicks or few searches to navigate. The “Create Favorite” option comes in handy in this scenario and enables quick access to bookmarked items. This feature allows users to pin the most frequently visited items in the “Favorites” tab.

Users with access to a list view can search different result sets based on the filter query. ServiceNow allows users to save query filters with the additional ability to share with other users in the system.

The ServiceNow system administrator configures the instance theme reflecting the company branding. Users can also modify their theme to differentiate different instances or just for a change in UI.

ServiceNow is a relational database. It means that everything is stored in a table. Knowing and remembering the table names can be useful in quick access to table list view or new record view etc.

ServiceNow provides the ability to update multiple records in one go. This ServiceNow feature is very effective when similar updates are required for different records at the same time.

All users, admins, developers, executives, etc. can use these tips to make their daily tasks in ServiceNow even more effective!

As the smart solution for ServiceNow data replication, SnowMirror is proud to play an active role in the Now Platform ecosystem. We’re especially encouraged by the strong financial results reported by ServiceNow for Q3 2021, which illustrate the platform’s immense growth.

ServiceNow outperformed its guidance by a large amount across all metrics. The biggest news was the fact that subscription revenues increased by a whopping 31% year-on-year, an outstanding result in any sector.

In his remarks to investors in the Q3 results conference call, ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott gave his perspective on why the company has had such a good quarter. “ServiceNow is leading this 20th to 21st century migration for our customers,” McDermott explained. “The Now Platform, with its immense versatility and scalability, has become the control tower for digital transformation. The second dimension fueling ServiceNow is the reordering of the enterprise application platforms for hyperautomation. Leaders today recognize their technology architecture is their business architecture.”

“The Now Platform connects different applications and data sources to create intuitive mobile experiences, all at a consumer grade,” McDermott said, adding that the Now Platform’s openness is another key success factor. “We don’t ask businesses to bet everything on a single system or collaboration tool. We give choice, which not only unlocks value from our platform but from other platform investments as well.”

ServiceNow’s Rome release came out in Q3 of 2021. ServiceNow Rome includes a number of major new features, including the artificial intelligence-powered Automation Discovery tool. It can provide AI-powered service operations by identifying where automation can be best used. Enhancements to AIOps also help employees stay productive by helping to predict and resolve problems more quickly.

The Rome release includes several other key new features, including an Automation Discovery tool, Employee Journey Management and new Customer Service Playbooks.

Rome’s new mobile app builder makes creating mobile apps based on ServiceNow much easier, faster and more powerful.

In addition to the Rome release, ServiceNow added innovative ways to integrate with other platforms. In Q3 2021, ServiceNow and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership that provides integrated workflows for use cases such as IT, HR, facilities and procurement into Microsoft Teams.

While ServiceNow started out as a tool for IT service management, it has quickly added powerful new features for businesses in areas such as finance and human resources. As part of the Rome release, ServiceNow launched Employee Center, a hub for employees to find information and get help across various departments such as IT, human resources, facilities and legal. Employee Center saves employees time on mundane tasks, helps them become more productive and may even help them to avoid burnout. Employee Center is now available as a collaborative app that can be embedded into Teams.

“Whatever systems, challenges or opportunities you have, however fast you need to move, you have a trusted innovator in ServiceNow,” McDermott said. “We want to make the world work better for everyone, and we’ll never lose our focus on the privilege that comes with saying, the world works with ServiceNow.”

ServiceNow’s impressive growth also bodes well for the Now Platform ecosystem, including SnowMirror, the smart replication tool for ServiceNow. SnowMirror makes it easy for replicated data from the Now Platform to be used on a customer’s premises. This lets companies use their ServiceNow data on powerful business intelligence platforms such as Microsoft PowerBI, SAP Business Objects, Tableau and Qlik. SnowMirror data replication also helps companies recover from disasters more quickly.

SnowMirror is also offered as part of Infosys’ Enterprise Service Management Café. The ESM Café is an AI-powered plug and play solution with all the process templates you need and the ready-to-deploy code that makes your ServiceNow implementation 40 to 50 percent faster.

Interested in how SnowMirror can help your business to get the most out of its ServiceNow data? Please get in touch.

Organizations have policies with multiple internal and external business processes. A business process is a definition of steps involving different people and tasks to be performed by people to deliver a service.

These predefined process definitions help organisations to carry out their business efficiently because they know in advance what to do and how to do it. ServiceNow assists companies with their digital workflows to deliver their processes efficiently. Let’s try to understand what ServiceNow workflow is and how this relates to business processes.

Workflows as ServiceNow concept

A workflow is the automation of initiation, transition, and completion of a process or group of processes altogether. Consider a defined business process to issue a laptop:

This process can be carried out manually or can be automated in the ServiceNow workflow. Here is a comparison of both:

Issue new laptop (manual process):

All of the activities are started manually by an employee initiating an email and the IT team forwarding the email to the next relevant person or department involved if and when needed.

Issue new laptop (ServiceNow workflow)

All of these activities can be managed by a ServiceNow workflow where people only have to take care of their own actions (approval, mark completion, etc) and the system will progress automatically.

Benefits of ServiceNow workflow

As seen in the example above, implementing the processes using ServiceNow workflows is much cleaner. It offloads administrative responsibilities and overhead from people while the system takes care of the most part. A ServiceNow digital workflow enables businesses to:

Workflows as ServiceNow capability

ServiceNow’s workflow capability allows any business workflow to be implemented into a technical workflow design. A workflow in ServiceNow is configured by developers or administrators according to the requirements given by the business process owners. Here is a link to understand the technical implementation details of the ServiceNow workflow in the platform.

Workflows as ServiceNow solution

ServiceNow groups its products together into four high-level solution categories. These solutions are targeted to optimize different business areas and contain relevant digital workflows, including IT, employee, customer, and creatorworkflows.

ServiceNow provides many reusable workflows out-of-the-box with the ability to create new ones for business needs. ServiceNow workflows enable businesses to drive efficiency in all their business processes. The company proudly promotes its state-of-the-art digital workflow features with its motto “Let’s workflow it!”