Need to track IT kit? Business continuity? Legal? ServiceNow has a package of satellite apps for you... now
(2020/09/17)
- Reference: 1600325886
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/09/17/servicenow_satellite_apps/
- Source link:
ServiceNow, the workflow company home to [1]humble-bragging CEO Bill McDermott, on Wednesday launched a package of tools to help organizations scratch an itch incumbent management software suites may not be able to reach.
For example, in IT asset management, ServiceNow [2]promises its latest software can track the financial, contractual, and inventory records of company hardware to improve purchase and disposal decisions. It is also targeting business continuity and legal services with these new workflow tools, all designed to tackle problems beyond the usual purview of management software: HR, supply chains, accounting, and the like.
Neil Ward-Dutton, veep of AI and automation practices at analyst IDC, said the move was a logical extension of ServiceNow's strategy toward IT service desk management and employee on-boarding, though he expected to see the outfit slam into its rivals' offerings.
"They're tackling lots of different use cases," he said. "When you look across the whole landscape of business, some of these are already quite well-addressed with competing systems – for example, Pegasystems, which has a massive footprint in the telecoms market."
There are lots of satellite processes and workflows that sit around the edges where, for whatever reason, the major vendors have never really managed to make it happen
The arrival of these six tools are part of a now generally available core platform [3]upgrade dubbed [4]Paris , which also includes a drag-and-drop process automation designer that allows users to build their own processes using a visual low-code or no-code approach.
Chris Pope, ServiceNow veep for innovation, said all this stuff can seem "complex and architectural" to users. "You don't need expensive developers," he insisted though. "You can federate this out to the business process owners who can drag and drop their process in and test it and go through due diligence. You suddenly exponentially increase the team that are available to you to put those new processes live on the platform."
While ServiceNow's strength lies in its ability to build workflows from the user's point of view, Ward-Dutton said its reach will be limited by incumbent enterprise application vendors such as SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, and Workday.
"There are core processes where ServiceNow, at least in the short to medium term, is not going to make any impact," said the IDC exec. "They are accounting, core HR, and supply chain management, for example. However, there are lots of satellite processes and workflows that sit around the edges where, for whatever reason, the major vendors have never really managed to make it happen."
As should be clear, there is a lot of competition in the workflow market, though for now ServiceNow has an edge in the way it has packaged and presented its product. "All that sales and marketing is very, very smooth and easy to consume," Ward-Dutton said. ®
Get our [5]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/30/servicenow_q2_2020_results/
[2] https://blogs.servicenow.com/2020/welcome-to-the-now-platform-paris-release.html
[3] https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/paris-release-notes/page/release-notes/family-release-notes.html
[4] https://www.servicenow.com/now-platform/latest-release.html
[5] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
For example, in IT asset management, ServiceNow [2]promises its latest software can track the financial, contractual, and inventory records of company hardware to improve purchase and disposal decisions. It is also targeting business continuity and legal services with these new workflow tools, all designed to tackle problems beyond the usual purview of management software: HR, supply chains, accounting, and the like.
Neil Ward-Dutton, veep of AI and automation practices at analyst IDC, said the move was a logical extension of ServiceNow's strategy toward IT service desk management and employee on-boarding, though he expected to see the outfit slam into its rivals' offerings.
"They're tackling lots of different use cases," he said. "When you look across the whole landscape of business, some of these are already quite well-addressed with competing systems – for example, Pegasystems, which has a massive footprint in the telecoms market."
There are lots of satellite processes and workflows that sit around the edges where, for whatever reason, the major vendors have never really managed to make it happen
The arrival of these six tools are part of a now generally available core platform [3]upgrade dubbed [4]Paris , which also includes a drag-and-drop process automation designer that allows users to build their own processes using a visual low-code or no-code approach.
Chris Pope, ServiceNow veep for innovation, said all this stuff can seem "complex and architectural" to users. "You don't need expensive developers," he insisted though. "You can federate this out to the business process owners who can drag and drop their process in and test it and go through due diligence. You suddenly exponentially increase the team that are available to you to put those new processes live on the platform."
While ServiceNow's strength lies in its ability to build workflows from the user's point of view, Ward-Dutton said its reach will be limited by incumbent enterprise application vendors such as SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, and Workday.
"There are core processes where ServiceNow, at least in the short to medium term, is not going to make any impact," said the IDC exec. "They are accounting, core HR, and supply chain management, for example. However, there are lots of satellite processes and workflows that sit around the edges where, for whatever reason, the major vendors have never really managed to make it happen."
As should be clear, there is a lot of competition in the workflow market, though for now ServiceNow has an edge in the way it has packaged and presented its product. "All that sales and marketing is very, very smooth and easy to consume," Ward-Dutton said. ®
Get our [5]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/30/servicenow_q2_2020_results/
[2] https://blogs.servicenow.com/2020/welcome-to-the-now-platform-paris-release.html
[3] https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/paris-release-notes/page/release-notes/family-release-notes.html
[4] https://www.servicenow.com/now-platform/latest-release.html
[5] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The no-code approach
Pascal Monett
I cannot imagine building a database of any complexity without coding. If you have a no-code design environment, then you will have to have modules and you will be constrained by what the modules allow. The modules will only allow for what has been coded in them by actual developers and the no-code approach means you can't modify them in any way.
So the only "applications" you can make are the ones that correspond to the modules' abilities. If what you need lies outside that scope, you can't build it.
There may well be some types of application that benefit from this approach, but I can't see people building everything they need simply with a drag-and-drop environment.
With one proviso
"ServiceNow promises its latest software can track the financial, contractual, and inventory records of company hardware to improve purchase and disposal decisions."
Great idea, provided that the kit is entered into the tracking system in the first place. Over a couple of decades, I don't think I've ever seen a complete asset inventory in any organisation. Equifax is a good example.
From the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report on the 2017 Equifax data breach:
"[Chief Security Officer Susan] Mauldin testified:
Q. Did Equifax have an inventory of this type of software? Would it have been part of Equifax’s software inventory?
A. [I] think that there were various inventory lists around, and I know that in Security, we had our own list . . . . we had a list that we worked on. I’m not sure what IT had.
Q. Did you have different lists?
A. I think that there were multiple lists around that people worked from"
No tracking system can take control under such conditions.