ServiceNow adds mobile app to 'New York' Now Platform
ServiceNow released the latest version of its Now Platform that features a mobile application giving remote users access to the core capabilities of the platform.
ServiceNow rolled out the latest version of its flagship Now Platform highlighted by a mobile application that allows remote users to access core capabilities of the enterprise workflow product.
The Now Platform New York release, which works with Apple and Android devices, was motivated by the company's own users, who increasingly demand mobile-optimized tools to make a wide range of tasks easier for remote users, from ordering computers to approving purchase orders to making travel request.
While ServiceNow users wanted these remote capabilities, they didn't want a slew of new applications to accomplish these tasks.
"We see enterprises bogged down by app overload meaning there are just too many applications each helping with separate workloads," said CJ Desai, Service Now's chief product officer. "We are trying to remove the friction associated with that as it relates to everyday work-related task."
One analyst believes the timing of the New York Now Platform is fortuitous given the needs of not just the corporate world, but consumers' growing need to use a number of mobile technologies.
"We are a mobile society in general, but with corporate customers' increased focus on IT operations and LOBs, there are a lot of intersection points where it makes sense to drive more automated workloads from a mobile environment," said Stephen Elliot, analyst at IDC.
Desai added that one of the goals of the new release is to create "consumer-like" mobile experiences for corporate users to make them more productive inside the office.
The New York release also includes a built-in onboarding application that works in concert with the mobile application, and that also taps into all the core capabilities of the Now Platform. The new offering combines all the necessary tasks that span multiple departments including IT, human resources, facilities, finance and legal as part of the process for bringing on new employees.
Business processes like onboarding employees is a big hassle to every company out there. The easier you make it to implement processes like can only increase the value of the platform.
Stephen ElliotVice president of management software and DevOps, IDC
Elliot said the addition of mobile technology to the Now Platform is an essential step in the maturity of the offering for both users and ServiceNow as a company, especially as the company continues to expand into new areas such IT operations, finance and human resources -- markets where you need a stronger mobile component.
"Different business processes like onboarding employees is a big hassle to almost every company out there," Elliot said. "The easier you make it to implement processes like that increases the value of the platform."
ServiceNow focusing on HR, finance workflows
Earlier this year ServiceNow redoubled its efforts around customer workflows focusing more on specific vertical markets as a way to expand the opportunities for its Now Platform.
"Most people know us for our IT workflows," said Farrell Hough, senior vice president of customer workflow products at ServiceNow. "But we are segmenting that business out and leveraging the strengths we have in the human resources, financial and telco markets."
ServiceNow has made improvements to the platform's natural language understanding (NLU) by integrating it tightly with its Virtual Agent. Through NLU, workers can interact with the Virtual Agent by using simple terms to find the answers to problems themselves, rather than using the IT help desk.
Company officials said this capability works in tandem with ServiceNow's existing Predictive Intelligence technology to improve the delivery of products and services to employees.
PayPal plans to use the new offering as a technology backbone to connect its engineers to all of its internal operations and create a centralized hub for resources including a number of self-service tools.
PayPal engineers use a number of applications to manage infrastructure, but the new version of Now Platform provides an opportunity to have just one platform that connects all of its digital workflows across all their systems of record and applications, according to a statement attributed to Dan Torunian, PayPal's VP or employee technology.
The New York release is available now, with the ServiceNow Mobile and Onboarding applications also available for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
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