How to Extend ServiceNow Workflows into Other Applications

Through eBonding integrations, organizations can extend ServiceNow Workflows into other applications to introduce bi-directional synchronizations between them. 

Among other benefits, this allows employees to work within one application and have updates dynamically pushed to other solutions to save time, boost productivity and maintain consistent and accurate records.

What is ServiceNow Workflow?

ServiceNow Workflow “automates multi-step processes that occur between any combination of people and systems.” 

A Workflow comprises an array of activities, like generating records, running scripts, etc., in a drag-and-drop interface. Automated workflows simplify business interactions involving events, requests, and approvals via easy-to-understand flowcharts. 

ServiceNow’s Workflows benefit organizations by:

• Optimizing IT service operations

You can execute automated digital operations securely to enhance productivity, predict & prevent issues, and deliver scalable services. Thus, workflows help you design a stellar ITSM experience.

• Aligning investments to priorities

Managing investments and initiatives across all parallels becomes easier as you can monitor, plan, and prioritize operations according to your business objectives. 

• Managing risk, security, and cost

Seamlessly automate IT workflows in real-time to manage risks, improve IT resilience, and reduce hardware/software and cloud costs.

Why Should You Extend ServiceNow Workflows

Through integration with other applications, organizations can extend ServiceNow Workflow capabilities to automate processes and activities between multiple applications. This helps streamline activities relating to ITSM and eliminate redundant processes.

By eliminating redundant processes and integrating core business operations, organizations can improve efficiency, and transform IT into an engine for growth. 

Large organizations cannot rely on manual processes and disjointed tech stacks as these impede business communication and growth. 

Enabling inter-application workflows in ServiceNow offers numerous benefits to organizations by unsiloing their data and various organizational processes. Inter-application workflows allow the data to flow smoothly and securely between apps. 

Creating inter-application Workflows between ServiceNow and other applications has multiple advantages, including:

• Integrating and synchronizing disparate processes, eliminating bottlenecks.
• Minimizing errors and improving service delivery quality.
• Automating multi‑step processes and eliminating redundant actions for increased efficiency and productivity.
• Automating the routing of requests/approvals/actions, etc., and simplifies their interactions.
• Connecting previously disjointed processes to enable end-to-end automation.
• Enabling greater agility and business scalability to help you maximize the value of your investments.

How to Integrate ServiceNow Workflows With Other Applications

There are a number of potential methods for integrating ServiceNow workflows with other applications:

DIY integration 

Small and medium-sized companies often opt for DIY integrations as a seemingly cost-effective option. However, building integrations internally is time-consuming and labor-intensive, as it takes roughly 370 hours for ServiceNow users to design DIY integrations. 

Due to the DIY nature of this approach, integrations are typically web-services based and rely on ServiceNow’s operational bandwidth to run.

As data volumes scale, this approach impacts ServiceNow’s performance, slowing query speeds, delaying reporting and negatively impacting employee productivity and by extension, services/support offered by the organization.

DIY integrations are also at risk due to employee turnover. If the developers/teams handling the custom integration leave the company, they take their understanding and expertise with them, making maintaining the integration difficult.

This also limits an organization in terms of backfilling the position, as new developers need expertise in-line with departing employees. 

Manual or swivel-chair integration 

Another method common in small organizations handling lesser data volumes is manually replicating ServiceNow data and processes to other apps, by “swiveling” between them. 

Even in smaller enterprises, this method increases the likelihood of human error. The process is also inefficient, with no scope for scalability.

Security is also a concern with this approach, as it often relies on employees sharing credentials to manually transfer data from one system to another. There is of course, no encryption available with this approach either. 

Third-Party custom integrations and iPaaS

Many organizations opt to work with integration providers to build custom integrations that accommodate their specific requirements and business goals. With this approach, organizations can leverage expert resources for the integration’s implementation.

However, with Integration Platforms as-a-Service (iPaas) in particular maintenance is often the responsibility of the organization using the implementation, not the integration platform provider. 

As with DIY integrations, third-party integrations also typically rely on web services, leading to  performance degradation in ServiceNow.

Organizations evaluating third-party custom integrations and iPaaS solutions should explore the levels of encryption available, as some offerings may not meet enterprise-security standards.

Integration as a Service (IaaS)

For enterprises with huge data volumes and complex architecture, Integration as a Service is the recommended approach. It insulates organizations from the issues with DIY, swivel-chair and typical third-party approaches to integrations.

With IaaS, the integration service provider implements and maintains the integrations – freeing organizations from resource consuming maintenance obligations. 

There are even native-application based integrations-as-a-service that avoid web-services-related performance degradation. One such solution and service, is Perspectium.

Perspectium is an excellent solution for extending ServiceNow data and workflows to other apps. It is a no-code approach for ebonding ServiceNow, and creating bi-directional synchronization with other platforms.

Delivered as a service, Perspectium functions as a native application within the ServiceNow user interface you’re already familiar with. 

Instead of relying on web-services, Perspectium uses “Push” technology and a message broker system to push data from ServiceNow into the cloud so it can be dynamically retrieved by your other applications. Data is encrypted both at-rest and in-transit to maintain high security standards. 

Perspectium Perks:

• Performance-impact free eBonding integrations for ServiceNow
• No need to learn new tools to interact with the integration, as it is delivered as a ServiceNow-native application
• You can easily control and manage ServiceNow connections from within the Now platform
• Since the application creating the data encrypts the automation, you need not share/pass credentials around

A native solution like Perspectium ensures that data owners exercise complete control over their data while eliminating potential security risks. An added advantage is that the automation is always aware of the underlying application, so any changes in that app get automatically reflected in the automation process.

Perspectium: The Best Solution for Extending ServiceNow Workflows Into Other Applications

Perspectium’s ServiceBond solution bidirectionally connects ServiceNow workflows to other incident fulfillers, external teams, and ITSM tools. The best part is that you need not build or maintain it – ServiceNow experts handle everything from implementation to maintenance. 

ServiceNow users should consider Perspectium because:

It functions natively

This enhances stability, giving users more control over their data during migration between systems or apps. Also, using a native solution means ServiceNow users need not dedicate additional resources for integration implementation and maintenance.

It transforms data at the source

Automated integration solutions transform the data right at the source before it leaves the system. It ensures that you can move the right data (in the correct format) to the right place at the right time.

It facilitates real-time data transfer

Perspectium solutions operate with near real-time data, ensuring your analytics and performance reports are accurate. It promotes better decision-making driven by current data insights. 

It offers 24×7 maintenance and support

Perspectium experts offer complete support for ServiceNow integrations. Users don’t have to worry about building or maintaining anything.

It is secure

Since Perspectium uses at-rest encryption and a message brokering system for data transfer, there’s no need for credential exchange. Everything is encrypted, ensuring optimal security and data privacy.

Pricing is transparent

Unlike building your own custom integrations, with Perspectium organizations understand exactly what they’re paying for and how much. No ballooning costs over-time due to underestimates in the resources required to implement and maintain the integration. 

If you wish to know more about ServiceNow integrations, talk to our experts today!