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ServiceNow IT Service Management vs. Microsoft SQL Server

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    ServiceNow IT Service Management

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/ABuilt on the ServiceNow Now Platform, the IT Service Management bundle provides an agent workspace with knowledge management, and modules supporting issue tracking and problem resolution, change, release and configuration management.N/A

    Microsoft SQL Server

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft SQL Server is a relational database.

    $1,418

    Per License

    Pricing
    ServiceNow IT Service ManagementMicrosoft SQL Server
    Editions & Modules
    ITSM Standard
    Custom Quote
    ITSM Pro
    Custom Quote
    ITSM Enterprise
    Custom Quote
    Subscription
    $1,418.00
    Per License
    Enterprise
    $13,748.00
    Per License
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ServiceNow IT Service ManagementMicrosoft SQL Server
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsITSM Pro and ITSM Enterprise also are available with optional "Plus" add-ons. These include AI Agents, an AI Agent Studio, and other features that augment the capabilities of the platform using AI Virtual Agents to automate tasks.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ServiceNow IT Service ManagementMicrosoft SQL Server
    Considered Both Products
    ServiceNow
    Chose ServiceNow IT Service Management
    Have not used any other product for ITSM.
    Incentivized
    Chose ServiceNow IT Service Management
    Our contact center (call center) uses Ivanti Service Management, a product that parallels how ServiceNow operates. Though the out-of-the-box offering resembles an incident management solution, we had customized it to be more of a call tracking tool for folks calling into our …
    Incentivized
    Chose ServiceNow IT Service Management
    SNOW provides a single platform to support multiple use cases with a strong Incident Management solution, extensible Knowledgebase, and powerful content management. There are not many products with the same scalability and robustness.
    Incentivized
    Chose ServiceNow IT Service Management
    Other products did not have the needed functions. Pricing was also very advantageous with ServiceNow. The industry needs in this area are constantly evolving, so it is important to choose a tool that allows for the integration, workflows, and customer experience required. …
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    53 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    38 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    46 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    25 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    39 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    28 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    45 Answers
    Features
    ServiceNow IT Service ManagementMicrosoft SQL Server
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of ServiceNow IT Service Management and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    ServiceNow IT Service Management
    8.4
    85 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Organize and prioritize service tickets9.184 Ratings00 Ratings
    Expert directory8.167 Ratings00 Ratings
    Service restoration8.170 Ratings00 Ratings
    Self-service tools8.282 Ratings00 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications8.279 Ratings00 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation8.674 Ratings00 Ratings
    ITSM reports and dashboards8.779 Ratings00 Ratings
    ITSM asset management
    Comparison of ITSM asset management features of ServiceNow IT Service Management and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    ServiceNow IT Service Management
    8.5
    77 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Configuration mangement8.576 Ratings00 Ratings
    Asset management dashboard8.375 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy and contract enforcement8.666 Ratings00 Ratings
    Change management
    Comparison of Change management features of ServiceNow IT Service Management and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    ServiceNow IT Service Management
    8.4
    78 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Change requests repository8.678 Ratings00 Ratings
    Change calendar8.472 Ratings00 Ratings
    Service-level management8.474 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    ServiceNow IT Service ManagementMicrosoft SQL Server
    Small Businesses
    Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Amazon RDS
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Score9.2 out of 10
    SingleStore
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Ivanti ITSM
    Score6.4 out of 10
    SAP IQ
    Score5.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ServiceNow IT Service ManagementMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.3
    (96 ratings)
    7.9
    (107 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    8.1
    (29 ratings)
    7.6
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (23 ratings)
    7.9
    (26 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ServiceNow IT Service ManagementMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    ServiceNow
    We found that ServiceNow's ITSM product is overall a great product to use in all areas of IT. Whether it be Security, Infrastructure, or Networking, nothing is too complicated to bring into ServiceNow for processing. Being able to use flows to automate task creation and auto assign has helped to fill process gaps that existed with our previous product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft SQL is ubiquitous, while MySQL runs under the hood all over the place. Microsoft SQL is the platform taught in colleges and certification courses and is the one most likely to be used by businesses because it is backed by Microsoft. Its interface is friendly (well, as pleasant as SQL can be) and has been used by so many for so long that resources are freely available if you encounter any issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    ServiceNow
    • Integration
    • Good search capabilities. Applications are created within CMDB and we can search for the app to see the changes, incidents and problems created
    • Reporting. Great store of MIS reports and will let you to create custom reports
    • Visual Task Boards - use it as Kanban boards
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Easy to configure and use with Visual Studio and Dot Net
    • Easy integration with MSBI to perform data analysis
    • Data Security
    • Easy to understand and use
    • Very easy to export database and tables in the form of SQL query or a script
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    ServiceNow
    • Finding requests that I opened and have since been completed by the assigned group/individual is very difficult to accomplish unless I've written down the request numbers somewhere.
    • Requests that I opened and are subsequently closed, often continue to appear in the list of "My Open Requests" giving the appearance that they were not completed when in fact they were.
    • It may exist, but if it does I haven't found it yet, which makes it less than intuitive, but I would like to see the ability to recall a request in ServiceNow.
    • I believe our firewall rule change request for is a custom form, but it has a serious drawback. If I submit such a request and need to make a correction to it before it is approved, there isn't anyway for me to do so. The request has to first be rejected with the creation of a sub-task in order to edit it before it is resubmitted for approval.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise edition has a high cost but is the only edition which supports SQL Always On Availability Groups. It would be nice to include this feature in the Standard version.
    • Licensing of Microsoft SQL Server is a quite complex matter, it would be good to simplify licensing in the future. For example, per core vs per user CAL licensing, as well as complex licensing scenarios in the Cloud and on Edge locations.
    • It would be good to include native tools for converting Oracle, DB2, Postgresql and MySQL/MariaDB databases (schema and data) for import into Microsoft SQL Server.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    ServiceNow
    Excellent rating for exceptional service provided for efficiency and efficient output given by it. It helped both client as well business to coordinate better for the requirements they work. It help to generate reports for real time progress on task. It helps to keep active watch on progress made by all parties
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We understand that the Microsoft SQL Server will continue to advance, offering the same robust and reliable platform while adding new features that enable us, as a software center, to create a superior product. That provides excellent performance while reducing the hardware requirements and the total cost of ownership of our solution.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    ServiceNow
    The basic actions of creating, updating and tracking requests is easy to udnerstand and use. Only a short onboarding training is needed to train the users of how to use it properly. However, the UI/UX experience can feel bloated with the many options it offers when you start to customize the tool to your company needs. It is also not the best looking user interface compared to more modern web applications.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SQL Server mostly 'just works' or generates error messages to help you sort out the trouble. You can usually count on the product to get the job done and keep an eye on your potential mistakes. Interaction with other Microsoft products makes operating as a Windows user pretty straight forward. Digging through the multitude of dialogs and wizards can be a pain, but the answer is usually there somewhere.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    ServiceNow
    We have never had any issues with ServiceNow's availability that I am aware of in the two years I have been using it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Its does not have outages.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    ServiceNow
    For a massive system, page loads are reasonably quick, including searches.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    ServiceNow
    I would give it this rating because we have had no major issues with the support for ServiceNow after we implemented it at our organization. They seem to respond promptly and efficiently if we ever do need to open a support case with them about an issue we are having.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We managed to handle most of our problems by looking into Microsoft's official documentation that has everything explained and almost every function has an example that illustrates in detail how a particular functionality works. Just like PowerShell has the ability to show you an example of how some cmdlet works, that is the case also here, and in my opinion, it is a very good practice and I like it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    ServiceNow
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    It was good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    ServiceNow
    To type in what should be a text box, you have to click an empty cell, a tiny text box pop up opens with a check box and an X. You the. Type in the text box and have to click the check mark. If you have a bunch of fields to fill out, doing this is very annoying. Absolutely know thought went in to this. I'm sure somebody in marketing thought it was a good idea. It wasn't.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    very hands on and detailed training
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    ServiceNow
    While implementation the focus always should be on customizing features which are out of box to minimize the debts following the main features like Incidents, Requests, Change & Problem Statement. It should be strictly ensured to maintain right data quality, eliminating any duplicates or wrong workflows and incorrect reportings. Strong security and goverance to be implemented.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Other than SQL taking quite a bit of time to actually install there are no problems with installation. Even on hardware that has good performance SQL can still take close to an hour to install a typical server with management and reporting services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    ServiceNow
    Having used other ticketing/asset tools in the past with other companies. This time, we opted for ServiceNow, primarily because of the company's scale. Once you start hiring a lot of employees, you need a robust tool with some maturity. We wanted to split the IT team into back-office and front-office teams. We needed proper permissions and auto-escalation. Also, approval flows for certain requests (mostly hardware and file access requests). All of this is part of the standard ServiceNow package. Some of the cheaper alternatives we felt were more suited for very small businesses or teams.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    [Microsoft] SQL Server has a much better community and professional support and is overall just a more reliable system with Microsoft behind it. I've used MySQL in the past and SQL Server has just become more comfortable for me and is my go to RDBMS.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    ServiceNow
    ServiceNow works as an enterprise solution.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    ServiceNow
    • Personally as an end-user, I feel like my issues have been resolved more quickly/don't tend to get as lost when using previous tools.
    • Having a centralized place where all questions are asked and all issues are resolved means I don't have to spend time searching for the appropriate team. I can just create a ticket and it's channeled to the appropriate team for me.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Increased accuracy - We went from multiple users having different versions of an Excel spreadsheet to a single source of truth for our reporting.
    • Increased Efficiency - We can now generate reports at any time from a single source rather than multiple users spending their time collating data and generating reports.
    • Improved Security - Enterprise level security on a dedicated server rather than financial files on multiple laptop hard drives.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    ServiceNow IT Service Management Screenshots

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