The ServiceNow Paris release is just around the corner, so we compiled the top five things ServiceNow users should know about this new release. While there aren’t as many new features as came with previous releases, Paris has some fantastic enhancements that are well worth the upgrade. Keep reading for more details.
1. Process Automation Designer Makes Flow Design Easier
Good old Flow Designer is a great feature for automating processes, but some people without a technical background have occasionally found it difficult to use. That’s where Process Automation Designer comes in handy. Built on top of and powered by Flow Designer, its features make it totally usable for anyone on the team, no matter their level of technical expertise.
● A new builder experience enables process owners to create cross-enterprise workflows with no-code.
● A simplified task-oriented view provides visibility for agents and fulfillers across the process.
See? Easy! Process Automation Designer is included with CSM and ITSM offerings. It’s a feature to be excited about as you make the most of ServiceNow in your organization.
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2. Playbook Experience Lets You Zoom Out
Process Automation Designer has another trick up its sleeve: It powers Playbook Experience, which provides agents an overview of the current workflow and where they are within it. It’s easy to use, too!
Whether you’re using ITSM, CSM, or HRSD, this feature aggregates task data and the associated actions required, which increases efficiency. Plus, it ensures a consistent response to your customers, whether they are interacting with the same agent or not. Got NowPlatform or a ServiceNow licensing purchase? Playbook Experience is included.
3. Connected Operations Connects IoT
With Connected Operations, you can connect IoT devices to your ServiceNow instance. It’s a total game-changer! For example, for companies with a lot of distributed components—like oil and gas companies with pipelines and monitors on wells—Connected Operations allows technicians to spend less time traveling to monitor those assets. Instead, technicians only need to travel when there’s a problem, and they can automate notifications for problems via ServiceNow.
Connected Operations works with CSM, Field Services, and ITSM and has the following features:
IoT Bridge allows companies to connect IoT devices to the Now Platform by onboarding IoT devices and enabling communication between those devices and ServiceNow.
IoT Rule Engine makes it possible to add business context to IoT device data by rapidly building no-code rules. Users can build rules using a visual interface to determine the correct action to take and then execute these rules in near-real-time against IoT data.
Finally, Operations Incidents allows staff to take quick action on IoT data. They can investigate, triage, and remediate Operations Incidents in the Connect Operations Workspace. Directly from the workspace, they can create Incidents, Customer Service Cases, or Field Service Work Orders as part of the remediation process.
4. Legal Service Delivery Gets Personal
Legal teams, get ready for Legal Service Delivery to supercharge your work! In the Paris release, Legal Service Delivery takes the place of Legal Service Management. It’s essentially an ITSM designed specifically for legal teams.
The Legal Counsel Center helps legal teams improve their productivity at business velocity. Automated workflows replace unstructured email; automatically categorizing and assigning legal requests allows for rapid responses; and the ability to work on multiple requests and legal matters concurrently puts legal team productivity into full gear.
Legal Self-Service totally removes manual email processes and allows teams to use Virtual Agent to automate responses for common legal requests. Teams can also configure and deploy OOTB or company-specific workflows for any legal scenario.
Legal Matter Management is just what it sounds like—it allows legal teams to track, prioritize, and fulfill ongoing legal affairs with speed and accuracy. Importantly, it gives teams the ability to balance demands against all other matters in process so that first things really come first. Finally, teams can easily configure matter templates to match their most common legal procedures and policies. That way, the workflow is completely personalized and natural to use.
Last, but not least, Legal Reporting and Dashboards give teams a quick look at what’s going on in their legal IT matters. Everyone from managers to new employees can view reports to get actionable insights.
5. Hardware Asset Management Goes Solo
This might be the biggest change in the Paris release. After years of living within IT Asset Management, Hardware Asset Management is growing up and moving out! HAM will now be a standalone offering. This may have some tricky implications for licensing, but it also brings with it a few really nice enhancements.
For example, there are dedicated tabs for key asset lifecycle milestones. And teams will easily be able to identify hardware and consumables requests for procurement, normalization status, and approaching end of life. Hardware Normalization, which uses the same process as SAM, allows teams to do the following:
● Automatically track IT asset inventory with associated lifecycle data
● Plan for future asset refreshes with clean and reliable data normalized in the CMDB
● Utilize the robust content library and content service with verified manufacturer attributes
On top of that, Asset Lifecycle Automation allows teams to leverage Flow Designer to configure low-code asset lifecycle workflow and eliminate manual processes (and the associated risk of data inaccuracy) when ordering assets; making bulk stock orders; deploying, swapping, or retiring assets; and disposing of assets.
There you have it! Process Automation Designer, Playbook Experience, Connected Operations, Legal Service Delivery, and Hardware Asset Management are the new or updated features Paris has to offer. If you’re not sure how best to implement these changes, send us a message and we’ll help you make the most of this new update.
