ServiceNow is a sophisticated information technology tool and one that can be easily underestimated.
Looking back, I initially thought ServiceNow was limited to a helpdesk front-end intake tool.
But lately, I’ve realized that while becoming the leading request intake tool, ServiceNow must have also recognized its advantage in offering additional capabilities sought by organizations of all sizes. Perhaps ServiceNow came to realize that aggregations of problem-related requests may be viewed from a different perspective: As an excellent barometer for latent pain-points. This prompted ServiceNow to pursue larger goals.
Inside/Out
Delving into ServiceNow permitted me to easily write code within SharePoint that reaches into ServiceNow to obtain or modify data in its tables. Additionally, I was also able to write code that let me reach outward from inside ServiceNow and obtain or modify data that resides in SharePoint.
This two-way data traffic was easily accomplished through the magic of REST and the appropriate sprinkle of user authentication. Any environment enabled with REST extensions would work just as well.
So ServiceNow is highly “integrate-able,” as we can easily extend outward from inside it, as well as extend inward from virtually any environment. Add in the fact that ServiceNow is a “Platform as a Service” (PAAS), and my eyes start widening with a feeling that I’ve stumbled upon an extensible business-support tool that might be the long-awaited game changer regarding how transactional work is organized, managed, and used to determine worthwhile projects, driven by demonstrated and specific business needs.
What’s Next
My expedition into the ServiceNow platform is still fairly new but it makes me stand back when I hear that some government organization leaders are considering replacing certain (perhaps many) SharePoint uses with the evolving tools offered by ServiceNow. Many large organizations have already adopted it, and the company has experienced extraordinary growth from its birth in 2003. In just 16 years, ServiceNow has grown to 6,000 employees worldwide with revenue of over $2.6 billion.
My experience using ServiceNow from the perspective of a full administrator has been extremely positive. As an administrator, I’ve been able to access anything I need through the ease of highly-simplified navigation. The vertical navigation segment lets me expand by clicking on high-level items. Alternatively, the navigator allows me to filter via a field that eliminates anything that doesn’t match the string I’m keying and surfaces items from the hierarchy for anything that does match. The result is a stunningly quick way to find any table, workflow, or tool built into ServiceNow for administrators. In fact, working as an administrator has been much more intuitive than entering a ServiceNow ticket for any specific request.
