This week's ServiceNow Knowledge18 conference in Las Vegas will rank among the year's largest gatherings of technology executives, IT professionals -- and channel partners. In fact, the massive conference includes a ServiceNow partner gathering on Monday, May 7.
ServiceNow is one of the largest, fastest-growing IT service management (ITSM) platforms on the planet. But the company is pushing beyond help desks -- extending its software to support Security Operations, HR departments and more.
Monday's partner day attendee sessions are not open to the media. But the ServiceNow team was kind enough to grant several interviews with ChannelE2E. Our interview lineup on Monday is expected to include:
- Tony Beller, VP, Global Alliances and Channels
- Jimmy Fitzgerald, VP, Global Services
- Allan Leinwand, CTO
- Jen Stroud, HR Transformation Consultant
We'll post a full recap following the on-site interviews. In the meantime, here's what we expect to learn at the conference.
1. MSPs Embracing ServiceNow
Yes, it's happening. Beller provided some of the MSP-oriented trends during a ChannelE2E podcast back in November 2017. True believers include CareWorx, a major vertical market MSP that has built a multi-tenant version of ServiceNow, and integrated it with SolarWinds MSP's RMM (remote monitoring and management) platform.
Some major systems integrators are consuming ServiceNow and deploying the platform as a managed service for customers. Names to know include Computer Design and Integration LLC (CDI), which offers and manages customized ServiceNow instances for customers -- eliminating the need for customers to patch or upgrade the environment, CDI asserts. Side note: The CDI team kindly briefed me about their business strategy last year, but I never really published detailed information about the interview amid travel and pressing deadlines elsewhere. For that I apologize.
2. ServiceNow for Security Operations
CFO Michael Scarpelli shared some clues about the company's security strategy in April. The company intends to be the 'Switzerland' of security, ensuring that its IT service management platform partners and integrates with "many endpoint detection vendors."
3. Cloud Cost Management
ServiceNow in April disclosed plans to acquire SaaS cost management specialist VendorHawk. The deal should help customers to more effectively track SaaS license utilization rates and associated costs. Is the solution multi-tenant for partners? We'll be checking.
4. ISV Partners
During Q1 2018, more than 50 new applications and integrations launched in the ServiceNow store. store in Q1. During the quarter, Nuvolo, a pure-play ServiceNow ISV enterprise software asset management vendor, a $1.8 million deal with a Global 2000 customer, according to Scarpelli. And companies like LogicMonitor will be on hand at the conference to discuss their latest integrations.
Still, the ISVs efforts are "in the reasonably early days," Scarpelli said during the earnings call in April. "I think we have a good leadership there. We have increased focus. At Knowledge, we'll be having our CreatorCon day, which we're reaching out more to developers, both inside and outside the enterprise, reaching out more to third-parties, making it easier for them to build applications on top of our platform," he added. We'll be watching to see if CreatorCon generates more ISV momentum.
5. Additional Use Cases
Will ServiceNow extend down into SMB settings -- especially as a ticketing system for smaller IT service providers? Plus, how will the platform push into additional uses cases like HR? We'll be poking around for perspectives in those areas and more.
Got perspectives to share from Knowledge18? Feel free to email me: [email protected].
