Highlights of ServiceNow Knowledge13

, Jun 17, 2013

A delegation from Logicalis SMC recently attended the ‘Knowledge13’ annual ServiceNow user conference, which this year was held in Las Vegas. At the Benelux ServiceNow User Group meeting of 25 June we’ll look in greater depth at the main developments we heard about, but Bart van Muyen, one of the representatives of Logicalis SMC, will first give us a sneak preview.

Using ServiceNow outside IT

“The number of visitors at this event seems to double every year,” says Bart. “This year there were 4,000 users, who were kept fabulously entertained and informed. Everything in Vegas is lively and spectacular, and in that regard ServiceNow did not disappoint. Despite the stunning surroundings, however, it was really all about content, and that’s a credit to the organisation. Many users had an opportunity to speak about their experiences of ServiceNow. It was notable that around 50% of the stories were about using ServiceNow outside IT, for example in HR, Quality Management, Facility Management, etc. After all, the IT market has its limits, and this trend enables ServiceNow to open doors to new markets. We are also seeing growing demand for this type of application in the Netherlands.

User portals

Another clear trend is that end-user portals are becoming increasingly important. Our client KPN spoke on that subject in a presentation about its end-user portal, which we built for the company. End-users increasingly want to deal with things themselves. That means less pressure on the service desk, leading to savings. There is even a trend whereby the first-line service desk is being eliminated for certain incidents, and end-users who cannot resolve their problem through the portal are immediately put through to the second line. With clients who use us for the rest of the service desk we’re currently discussing plans under which we’ll be responsible for making the portal so effective that the number of first-line transactions is greatly reduced. Another clear trend is that companies are discovering the possibility of also using ServiceNow to place the IT, HR and FM service desks in a single service centre. ServiceNow does indeed offer that option with its own built-in CMS, and we are often asked to adapt the portal to the customer’s own house style, but of course that’s not rocket science. 

Mobile solutions

ServiceNow also presented two other important developments. The first was the move into mobile applications, with end-users able to request service from any location. ServiceNow is currently working hard on that. The other is what they call the ‘Citizen Developer’, whereby every citizen must be able to build simple functionality into ServiceNow, such as a small application for a booking system. We’ll tell you more about that on 11 June, and about the other trends I’ve already referred to. It’s clear that ServiceNow is a strong player that is expanding its boundaries into other segments. Logicalis SMC is naturally doing the same. ServiceNow users have made the right choice. We knew that, of course, but it was confirmed again in Las Vegas. It’s a cast-iron solution. We‘ll be there again next year in San Francisco.”

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