India — Sept. 2023 — ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company making the world work better for everyone, today announced comprehensive new automation solutions in the Now Platform Vancouver release. The new solutions enhance security and governance, simplify critical processes in healthcare and finance, and accelerate talent transformation through AI.
As businesses across all industries face increased pressure to adapt to technological disruption and show immediate value from digital investments, they are turning to trusted partners to help them drive growth, reduce cost, and mitigate risk. The Vancouver release integrates the latest in automation technology—including powerful, new generative AI solutions—into the Now Platform to help organizations maximize productivity, improve agility, and drive cost efficiency, with high levels of digital trust and transparency.
“ServiceNow’s advantage is empowering enterprises to innovate for growth, on a single strategic platform that delivers fast results and great experiences,” said CJ Desai, president and chief operating officer at ServiceNow. “As we integrate generative AI across our workflows, we’re simultaneously expanding our platform capabilities with the Vancouver release to give our customers exactly what they need at this moment—new solutions that help protect their business, lower operating costs, and scale automation for end-to-end digital transformation.”
Managing operational and security risks without sacrificing agility
Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated, with a 38% increase in 2022[1]. In this heightened threat landscape, boards of directors and regulators alike are pushing CEOs to evolve security plans. IT leaders can no longer rely on point solutions to mitigate the barrage of threats they face. ServiceNow’s Vancouver release empowers customers to innovate faster and operate with more agility while managing increasing security risk.
ServiceNow has continued to expand its robust security portfolio to help customers adapt to modern threats. The Now Platform enables organizations to streamline incident identification and management with intelligent automation, offers an enterprise-wide view into critical risks including vulnerabilities, issues, and outages, and helps protect confidential data with native platform encryption, all on a single platform. The Now Platform Vancouver release represents the next step in ServiceNow’s platform-driven security approach for more resilient, secure digital business models.
ServiceNow Zero Trust Access is the latest feature in ServiceNow Vault, helping customers build a zero-trust framework for the Now Platform with granular authentication policies. By safeguarding the type of access available to a user in a session based on various risk parameters like location, network, user risk, and devices, organizations can expand their network of authorized ServiceNow users, while also protecting customer and proprietary data.
To counter growing security risks beyond the IT department, ServiceNow has expanded Third-Party Risk Management to serve employees in more departments and industries, improving visualization and management of security threats from outside organizations. This is critical as nearly every organization worldwide (98%) has experienced a breach with a third-party vendor in the last two years[2].
Third-party risk Management gives organizations a single source of truth to easily visualize risk from third-party applications, at scale, for a more holistic, streamlined approach to risk management. New innovations include automated inherent risk questionnaires and out-of-the-box due-diligence workflows to drive greater response time and IT team productivity, as well as enhanced executive reporting for improved board-level visibility and organizational agility.
Open-source software has become commonplace for application development, but it also can introduce security risks. ServiceNow has introduced Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) management to easily process and ingest software components inventory, gain comprehensive insights into its presence within business applications, assess security risk, and drive response workflows. By extending centralized visibility for third-party and home-grown applications, SBOM gives customers the ability to more easily manage cyber risks that can accompany open-source software.
Simplifying mission-critical processes and unlocking value with intelligent automation
Companies could automate 30% of worked hours across all industries[3], the majority of which include repetitive processes that are necessary for day-to-day operations but aren’t necessarily value-driving. ServiceNow’s Vancouver release allows organizations to do just that, automating manual processes so that employees can focus on more complex work, and driving ROI from digital investments with significant efficiency gains.
For example, managing the maintenance, security, and compliance needed for clinical devices diverts clinician energy from patient care to paperwork.
ServiceNow’s new Clinical Device Management (CDM) solution simplifies how healthcare providers install, service, manage, and maximize the life of devices, such as MRI and X-ray machines. CDM automates the upkeep and management of these devices, guides staff on ordering parts, and identifies the best technicians for device maintenance, leading to improved patient safety and care. In addition, healthcare providers can save on maintenance expenses related to critical, costly devices.
Accounts Payable Operations (APO), an enhancement to Source to Pay Operations, is now generally available as part of the Vancouver release. APO, part of ServiceNow’s Finance and Supply Chain Workflows, automates the accounts payable process, allowing teams to digitize the invoice receipt, reconciliation, and payment process, which can positively impact cash flow as well as supplier relationships. With APO, customers can reduce their typical manual process costs (~$16 per invoice) by up to 80% with automation from ServiceNow.[4]
Accelerating talent transformation with AI
The growing skills shortage and employee demand for continuous learning are pressuring businesses and HR leaders to rethink the way they train and develop talent. Seventy-seven percent of employers report difficulty in filling roles—the biggest skills gap in 17 years.[5]
To help leaders better meet the needs of their workforce while optimizing for the future of work, Employee Growth and Development (EGD) is generally available today. EGD uses AI to collect, validate, and continuously update employee skills data, giving leaders greater visibility and insight into workforce capabilities so they can make smarter talent decisions that fuel business growth.
New in ServiceNow’s Vancouver release, managers can create customized and trackable growth plans for employees that align skills development to career ambitions. Employees can define career aspirations, explore career options, and self-drive career progression through guided actions. AI-powered recommendations and proactive prompts foster more informed career conversations between managers and employees and empower employees to take ownership of their career development all from a single career hub.
“Both CEOs and CHROs know that skills are a core driver of every company’s transformation. To enable this work at scale, technology has to keep pace. ServiceNow is leading the way with our Employee Growth and Development solution, harnessing AI to empower people to grow with more accessible, inclusive, and impactful opportunities while providing leaders the transparency to see progress across the enterprise,” said Jacqui Canney, Chief People Officer at ServiceNow. “This solution bridges the gap between employees’ existing skillsets and the necessary actions for development and propels organizational growth while unlocking everyone’s full potential. It’s not just a tool, it’s how we will help reshape the future of workforce development, placing people at the heart of everything we do.”
As a part of the Vancouver release, ServiceNow also launched Now Assist for ITSM, CSM, HRSD, and Creator to embed generative AI across all workflows on the Now Platform. With this update, customers can accelerate productivity, improve experiences, and increase agility across every business function through the power of generative AI.
What customers and partners are saying about the Now Platform Vancouver release
EY
“Collaborating with ServiceNow has allowed us to implement effective solutions to improve EY finance and procurement teams’ work experience,” said Hank Prybylski, EY global vice chair – transformation. “Building on this valuable alliance, new solutions in ServiceNow’s Finance and Supply Chain Workflows, such as Accounts Payable Operations (APO), will help EY teams operate more efficiently by connecting a wide range of data, systems, and people, so they can drive more business value.”
IBM Consulting
“Pairing IBM’s Skills expertise with ServiceNow Employee Growth and Development, we will revolutionize talent management,” said Deniz Demirel, talent transformation strategic partnerships leader at IBM Consulting. “By consolidating the digital experience platform with learning, development, and skills intelligence, our customers can gain data-driven insights to proactively identify and develop critical skills, effectively closing talent gaps and simplifying the overall employee experience.”
Optimum Healthcare IT
“At Optimum Healthcare IT, we recognize that healthcare organizations want a platform that provides a single view across the enterprise regardless of the type of asset. With ServiceNow’s Clinical Device Management, they can now take a holistic approach to managing their clinical devices on a single platform, optimizing the value of their investments,” said Brian Symonds, president of Optimum Healthcare IT. “This exciting new product, combined with our world-class staffing and consulting services, allows us to maximize value for customers through streamlined processes, compliance management, and risk assessment. This comprehensive approach resonates with many enterprise leaders as they desire heightened visibility and reporting, and it enables us to provide a whole new level of value for our customers.”