ServiceNow Paris Release Targets Unique Needs of COVID-19 Economy

ServiceNow is evolving beyond its IT service management heritage and taking the channel along for the ride. Much of the company’s momentum comes as it seeks to help customers adapt to what it calls the COVID-19 economy.

As such, this week, ServiceNow continued its transformation toward offering organization-wide workflow management, not just ITSM. The code released this week, “Paris,” in the Now Platform, features industry-specific applications. For example, banks now may issue credit cards and telecom service providers can manage service management and network performance.

Those are just two of the many possibilities partners can facilitate for their clients. In fact, consultancy Deloitte already is handling the retail banking part for ServiceNow, and fellow channel partner Accenture is working with telcos.

The following new products within Paris enable other capabilities, too:

• Business continuity management: This component automates and supports business impact analysis, business continuity plan development and crisis management. ServiceNow says organizations must anticipate disruptions and develop plans to minimize impact. This new element helps with that.
• Hardware asset management: This piece of the platform automates the IT asset life cycle from procurement to end of life. It tracks the financial, contractual and inventory details of hardware and other devices. Companies have to know what IT assets they own and where they live to maintain the greatest accuracy and enable smart decision-making.
• Legal service delivery: This element eliminates manual emails and phone calls for legal departments.

Microsoft, Twilio and SailPoint Play Big Roles

Yet, there’s more. ServiceNow now integrates with Microsoft, Twilio and SailPoint, as well as the new ServiceNow Service Graph Connector Program.

Regarding Microsoft, look for four integrations within Azure and Teams:

• ServiceNow Onboarding integration with Azure Active Directory
• Azure support for ServiceNow Cloud Insights
• ServiceNow software asset management integration with Azure Active Directory
• Virtual Agent Lite plug-in for Microsoft Teams

“By connecting ServiceNow’s digital workflows with Azure and Microsoft 365, we’re empowering customers to leverage the cloud to make work better,” said Ari Schorr, senior program manager for strategic alliances at Microsoft.

Meanwhile, ServiceNow has brought cloud communications provider Twilio’s conversational messaging to its customer management solution. Organizations now can engage with customers through Twilio, directly through ServiceNow.

Molly Fischer is senior director, strategic ISVs, at Twilio.

“The customer experience is crucial for business success in the next normal,” said Fischer. The Twilio integration lets businesses “communicate on the channels they prefer, all in an easy, streamlined and efficient way.”

Finally, ServiceNow also has expanded its partnership with …