Tanium and Salesforce today launched IT Service Center, a combination platform that supports ITSM (IT service management), RMM (remote monitoring and management) and cybersecurity capabilities.
The new IT Service Center platform, which leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to automate tasks, is part of Salesforce’s Work.com effort. In some ways, the effort counters ServiceNow in the ITSM software market, as well as IT management and RMM platforms that MSPs leverage for endpoint management.
Loyal ChannelE2E readers knew the Tanium-Salesforce partnership was moving in this direction. When Salesforce invested in Tanium, we noted that the emerging partnership would potentially:
- Position Salesforce to compete against ServiceNow and SolarWinds Service Desk in the (ITSM and help desk software sectors;
- extend Salesforce into endpoint monitoring and security; and
- set the stage for PSA (professional services automation), RMM, help desk and CRM capabilities to live together on the Salesforce cloud platform. (Yes, numerous companies offer PSA designed for Salesforce's cloud.)
Tanium IT Service Center: Key Capabilities
The IT Service Center platform provides "comprehensive, real-time data about network endpoint devices, making it far easier for IT teams to monitor, manage and safeguard employee computers, no matter where they are," Tanium says.
With IT Service Center, Tanium says IT service management teams can:
- Manage IT assets, helping to ensure that employee devices are secure, patched, updated and compliant;
- Proactively remediate incidents, detecting and resolving problems before they interrupt work
- Manage remote endpoints continuously without requiring VPN access;
- Discover and manage endpoints in use, including endpoints overlooked by other service desk tools;
- Help ensure the security of employee endpoints;
- Help IT leaders make decisions using real-time, accurate and comprehensive endpoint data;
- Automate service desk tasks using the power of Salesforce Einstein AI; and
- Improve productivity for employees and help desk engineers.
Tanium IT Service Center: Salesforce Executive Perspectives
The platform is further described in this video:
In a statement about the Tanium partnership, Jim Alkove, chief trust officer for Salesforce, said:
“With our partner Tanium and IT Service Center, we’re safeguarding the health and security of employee endpoints, delivering better working experiences for employees while protecting the enterprise from digital threats. Together, Salesforce and Tanium are giving IT organizations the comprehensive endpoint visibility and control they need for supporting their employees in this work-from-anywhere era.”
IT Service Center sounds promising. But Salesforce tends to focus most on ISVs and end-customer opportunities. We'll be watching to see if IT Service Center is positioned specifically for MSPs in the SMB sector, and larger service providers.
