Why You Should Consider Outsourcing ServiceNow Integrations

Outsourcing ServiceNow integrations allows organizations to benefit from expert services to implement ServiceNow integrations and maintain them over time. 

Integrations play a key role in enabling modern organizations to operate smoothly. They allow for data and information to flow between systems, improving the availability of data and reducing an organization’s reliance on error-prone, manual processes to move data around the enterprise. 

Both the implementation and maintenance of integrations are time-consuming tasks that require expertise and careful planning. 

What is Integration Outsourcing?

Integration outsourcing involves utilizing third-party services – integration service providers – to implement integrations and maintain them over time.

The approach gives internal employees more time to focus on value adding tasks, instead of creating/revising code and/or configuring integration solutions to ensure data is readily available to the systems and stakeholders that utilize it.

The integration service provider assumes responsibility for the technology facilitating the transfer of data and information without requiring access to the integrated systems and the data and information stored within them.

This means the customer organization retains full control of their data, while staying compliant with data and privacy regulations.

Typically, integration service providers deliver an integration solution/platform that can be interacted with by the customer organization.

Customer organizations can interact with the solution/platform and control what data and information should be integrated, when transfers occur, where data is transferred to, and who has access to integrated data.

Integration Outsourcing: Integration Service Providers vs Integration Solution Providers

Integration service providers differ from packaged integration solution providers. The latter provides the integration technology only, leaving the implementation, configuration and maintenance up to the customer. 

Such solutions are a pre-built, one-size-fits-all approach to integrations. They are typically API-based platforms with a graphical user interface that employees utilize to create and manage their own integrations. 

As with integration service providers, packaged integration solutions benefit organizations without the resources to build their own integrations from scratch. 

However, customization options are limited, with the degree to which such solutions can be customized varying from provider to provider. And while less complex than building integrations from scratch, the customization of pre-built integrations is still time-consuming and left up to the customer organization.

An example of a packaged integration solution is the ServiceNow IntegrationHub. In this case, ServiceNow is the integration solution provider, providing the platform upon which integrations can be configured by the end-user. They do not however, assist organizations in the creation and maintenance of such integrations. 

In contrast, integration service providers implement, configure and maintain the integration solution on behalf of the customer. 

In some cases, the integration service provider also provides support and training to ensure the customer organization can make the most out of their integration solution and services. 

Some integration service providers also work closely with the customer organization to capture the specific requirements of the customer, to ensure the integration solution can support their business objectives.

The Case for Outsourcing ServiceNow Integrations

While integrations can be implemented and managed in-house, the increasing complexity of modern organizations’ technology stacks often calls for a more sustainable approach. 

Many organizations simply do not have the resources to manage integrations effectively, and find their efforts to do so lead to a build up in technical debt as poorly performing integrations start to limit the availability of data and disrupt operations. 

Common difficulties include poorly mapped data and poor performance of integrated systems. 

Outsourcing ServiceNow integrations helps avoid such issues, with the organization benefiting from the integration service provider’s experience and expertise.

Among numerous other benefits, this approach to integrating systems with ServiceNow allows employees to make better use of their time.

While many assume that building and maintaining ServiceNow integrations in-house is cost-effective, the cost and efforts required to maintain the integration are difficult to budget for, and often increase significantly over time.

Moreover, DIY integrations often add significant technical debt as organizations spend considerable resources fixing issues, suffering from poor data availability as a result. 

Managing ServiceNow Integrations Internally vs. Outsourcing

When implementing and managing ServiceNow integrations internally, organizations should be aware of the following:

• Slow time-to-value: Building custom integrations in-house takes a lot of time and resources. While pre-built, API integrations – such as the IntegrationHub – can be implemented more quickly, significant and time-consuming  customization is required to ensure the integrations meet the organization’s requirements. 
  
• No code = / = No complexity: While many integration platforms provide a no/low-code means of creating new integrations options, the process is often complex, requiring a lot of time-consuming steps. 
  
• Excessive resource consumption: Managing and maintaining integrations internally consumes a lot of resources over time. This includes employee’s time and the cost of revising poorly implemented/configured integrations. 
  
• More room for error: Excess pressure on development resources means integrations are often poorly managed, poorly documented and inefficient. This dynamic increases the likelihood that an integration will not function as required and incur a technical debt. Devs are taken away from more proactive, value-adding tasks to troubleshoot faulty integrations. 
  
• Poor data availability and operational disruption: With integrations, more errors means less data availability and data quality. Data takes longer to get to where it needs to be and organizations have less confidence that the data that is available is accurate due to the potential of misconfigurations in data mapping. 
  
• Low-to-no continuity: When managing integrations internally, organizations risk the continuity of the integration when developers responsible for their maintenance move on. Increased pressure on the development team means documentation for integrations is inconclusive. New hires have to reverse engineer the integrations before they can effectively correct issues. The organization is also limited to recruiting new hires with development experience that encompasses the type(s) of integration(s) in use.

In contrast to managing ServiceNow integrations internally, outsourcing ServiceNow integrations provides the following benefits:

• Fast time-to-value: Organizations benefit from the expertise of integration providers, leading to faster implementation and less opportunity for errors that require revisions in code and configuration.

• No Code, no complexity: Because the integrations are implemented and maintained by the integration service provider, the integration solution is no-code for the end-user, and configuration is handled and/or supported by experts.

• Internal resources not required and pricing is transparent: Since the integration service provider does all the heavy-lifting, the customer organization is free to work with readily available data. Budgeting for integration services is more straightforward, as there are no hidden costs such as those associated with revising faulty integrations.
  
• Less errors, more productivity: Integration service providers are well practiced in delivering and maintaining integrations. As such, customer organizations experience less errors, and should any arise, the service provider can handle them quickly and efficiently.
  
• Better data availability and less operational disruption: Integrations that work as intended ensure data is available to the systems that need it, when they need it. As such, organizations improve their operational resilience and experience less delays when completing tasks such as reporting.
  
• Indefinite continuity: When outsourcing integrations, integrations are not at risk when developers leave the business and organizations have a consistent means of ensuring data gets to where it needs to be. This provides organizations with greater flexibility when hiring new developers, as integration expertise is a non-factor. Organizations are also not required to maintain integration documentation.

Stop Fighting to Make ServiceNow Integrations Work, and Let the Experts Work for You

Outsourcing ServiceNow integrations to a trusted integration provider allows organizations to benefit from more readily available data, faster time-to-value, improved operational resilience and business continuity, a more productive workforce and more. 

It means organizations without the resources to build their own integrations can benefit from integrations that are configured to meet their specific requirements, without having to configure the specifics themselves. 

If your organization is looking for a trusted ServiceNow integration provider, then look no further.

Perspectium is an officially recognised ServiceNow integration service and solution provider, created by the founding developer of ServiceNow, David Loo. 

In creating Perspectium, David Loo used his intimate knowledge of ServiceNow’s architecture to create a solution that overcomes common challenges with replicating and extracting ServiceNow data. 

He was aware that many users faced performance issues when using API-based integration platforms. 

As such, the solution was designed to avoid the use of API, allowing users experience to extract, replicate and integrate massive amounts of ServiceNow data with no noticeable impact to performance. With Perspectium, users can extract and replicate over 1 billion records per month without impacting ServiceNow’s performance.

As a testament to the quality of the service and solution, ServiceNow themselves are also Perspectium customers. For extracting internal ServiceNow data in support of reporting and analytics, the organization prefers Perspectium’s integration approach to their own IntegrationHub.

On using Perspectium’s solution and service, Venugopal Malyala – ServiceNow’s Senior Director of BI, MDM & Analytics – said: “Everyone loves the product. It’s very easy to manage, and we are able to provide quick results to the business – that is key.”

So if you’ve been struggling to make your ServiceNow integrations work, let Perspectium work for you instead.

To get started, contact us.