Item: ServiceNow Now Platform
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with ServiceNow Now Platform

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use several modules within ServiceNow Now Platform. Primary being the Customer Service Module (CSM) which also includes the standard ITSM modules. We also use the ITBM for Project Management for Project and Time integrations within the platform and GRC for our auditing and compliance. The CSM portal is our customer facing interface for clients to connect with us for requests and issues along with our being our notification platform to communicate with them for outages and maintenance. All of our customer on boarding and orders are run through Projects in the ITBM for a project manager to coordinate between internal resources and the client.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Full API for communication to and from other tools
Following ITIL framework for Incident and Requests
Continued development and new feature releases
Data reporting and analytics

Cons

CMDB is very open ended and finding examples or easy to follow guides for design are almost non existent if not subscribing to other modules to do it for you.
Project module is designed around MS Project with a lot of configuration that is hard to override or change when it doesn't fit your own process model.
Some of the usage licensing can be very difficult to track. There are items that will seem to register against it that shouldn't at times.
Deployment of new features or new modules almost always requires the use of 3rd party partners to do the work successfully.

Return on Investment

Has had both positive and negative when interacting with customers. We have gone through several iterations in building out our customer portal in how they can interact. Some have been very poorly received which caused issues but as the product has improved we have been able to present a better view that our clients appreciate and value.
As new modules are developed and released, sometimes it results in a shift of how features are implemented or tracked. We have had cases where things we have been using are no longer included in our licensing so we need to upgrade or increase our costs with the tool to maintain current functionality. There have also been times where other features we were looking at become included with our current license tier so we gain those new features with no additional costs.

Usability

It can be as usable as you want to make it. Nearly every aspect of the tool can be configured or customized to fit a need. The challenges come with sustainability. The more you customize the portal the more overhead you have to manage the uniqueness where you may not be able to rely on support for any issues that arise.

Alternatives Considered

ConnectWise PSA

I used ConnectWise previously as a ticketing module prior to a company acquisition where our new parent company moved us from ConnectWise to ServiceNow Now Platform because it was the tool they were using. All of our core functionality remained in moving between the tools, there were just changes to process and how we might need to accomplish what we were doing prior.

Key Insights

Do you think ServiceNow Now Platform delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with ServiceNow Now Platform's feature set?

Yes

Did ServiceNow Now Platform live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of ServiceNow Now Platform go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy ServiceNow Now Platform again?

Yes

Other Software Used

LogicMonitor, NinjaOne, Salesforce Revenue Cloud

Likelihood to Recommend

ITSM is straight forward creation of Incidents and Requests. It can get more confusing as you layer more modules on top of it with event management, risk, project, etc. It also becomes more costly as everything is a different license. Integration between other external applications is very easy to do with their API. You can easily create endpoints for external apps to talk to or create REST messages for the platform to reach out directly.

Using ServiceNow Now Platform

Users and Roles

200 - We have technicians, Service Desk, Project Managers, and developers. ServiceNow Now Platform is used to interact between all of those roles to complete different types of tasks. Our Project managers need resources from all the other departments and they all fulfill their requirements through tasks assigned to them from the PMs. Our Service Desk takes phone calls and triages emails from customers to provide support. Our customers also interact with the portal to open cases and check the status of open issues.

Support Headcount Required

1 - Because we have single individual they need to be very well rounded. They have to be able to analyze reported issues to try and determine a root cause. Develop and configure new enhancements to the platform. Implement new modules, or work with a 3rd party implementation team as the liaison with the organization during the project. Communicate and discuss with other parts of the organization to determine their needs from the platform and provide guidance on what is possible.

Business Processes Supported

Cases - all our customer interactions flow through cases to a resolution.
Projects - All of our products are configured through a project once sold to a client. Any internal work that we would look to capitalize the labor or require interactions from multiple departments to complete are all run through projects.
Risk and Compliance - We maintain several compliance certifications that are all tracked and completed through the platform.

Innovative Uses

Track and report usage billing of specific product.
Design custom applications to work within the platform to meet specific business requirements like facility access control tracking and sales interactions.

Future Planned Uses

Investigating ITOM to better build out the CMDB to provide relational data and improve outage communications.
Telecom Network Inventory is a module we are shopping to better provide support to our customers currently purchasing telecommunication products from us.

Likelihood to Renew

While we are very likely to renew, we are also assessing if we should renew all of what we currently subscribe to as we try to reduce costs. Some parts of the business feel there may be a better tool out there to fit their process requirements. We are currently working with them to identify what those requirements are to see if it makes sense while also pointing out a reduced cost of tooling is not always the best fit if we have an increased cost of customization and maintenance between tools.

Evaluating ServiceNow Now Platform and Competitors

Products Replaced

Not Sure

Key Differentiators

Cloud Solutions
Scalability
Integration with Other Systems

The ability to integrate while being a cloud platform. We want a tool that we can link to other systems either through it calling our or other systems calling in for data while not residing on premise at one of our locations for optimal ease of maintenance and availability.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

Ensure that all aspects of the business have properly defined their requirements for the tool even if they don't think they might be using it.

ServiceNow Now Platform Implementation

Implementation Rating

We went through a re-implementation last year with a partner and were very pleased with the outcome. We looked at several partners and chose one that was able to provide an entire scope and cost upfront of what would be required to complete our requirements. We worked very closely with the dedicated team assigned to our project throughout the process and they fully delivered on all of our requirements that we presented in the initial scope.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Third-party professional services

InfoCenter

Implementation Phases

Change Management Lessons

Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled - We knew going into the project that it would be a big change for our organization. We changed many of the methods and flows of how things were accomplished to align with best practices to keep our platform as close to "out of box" as possible. We wanted little to no customization in our platform as the primary reason for the reimplementation was to remove considerable tech debt from our previous instance. So while we would achieve the same end result, the method for getting there in some cases was very different. We had groups of users throughout the project testing and validating functions while also learning the new methods to take back to their teams and share the knowledge for a seamless transition.

Implementation Issues

Working out instance renames and migrations with ServiceNow support.
Identifying if the requirement presented was truly a requirement or just something nice to have since it was the way it was done before.
Getting full participation and support from all departments across the organization. Several felt the implementation would have no effect on them despite repeated warnings otherwise.

ServiceNow Now Platform Support

Support Rating

Depending on the issue that you raise and how you set the priority getting a response can be days. About the only thing that can get a quick response is when the entire portal is down, but even that could be a few hours. Because the system is so customizable it is also a challenge working with support to validate the issue you are having is not the result of something you might have done to yourself and often times any attempts you make at troubleshooting the issue yourself prolongs the support team because they tend to focus on the recent changes made in trying to troubleshoot.

ServiceNow Now Platform Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Kept well informed Support cares about my success	Slow Resolution Difficult to get immediate help Need to explain problems multiple times Slow Initial Response

Premium Support

Did not purchase any additional support because the total cost of the product is already considerably high. It is the greatest budgetary expense within our organization and we don't look to increase the cost, but reduce it.

Bug Resolution

Yes - After several month of back and forth with support, they were able to identify the issue I was having as a bug. They opened a problem around it and then closed my case. I wouldn't say it was closed to satisfaction as I still had to wait for a new release to correct the bug, and a workaround was provided to correct it in the meantime. We simply had to stop using that feature until it could be corrected.

Exceptional Examples of ServiceNow Now Platform Support

We get exceptional support from our sales and customer support team in running down cases and helping to escalate issue. Without their support I am not sure we can point to a time where support was exceptional on its own.