ServiceNow enters SAM market by the back door, upsets partners

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ServiceNow enters SAM market by the back door, upsets partners

I’ve heard from ITAM Review readers that ServiceNow is approaching them with a full SAM offering in partnership with another software company.

This is in direct competition and conflict to their verified integrations in the ServiceNow store with the likes of Flexera and Snow.

Historically they have offered ServiceNow customers a multitude of partner options for SAM and promoted those partners, now it seems they are taking the revenue direct with a new and improved offering.

Aspera, BDNA, Concorde, Flexera and Snow have all been actively promoting the ServiceNow brand and attending their Knowledge annual conference. Now it appears ServiceNow is secretly converting that pipeline of interest to investments in their own platform.

ServiceNow has already got a good ITAM platform but has historically fallen short in terms of Enterprise grade SAM, notably no software recognition catalogue or means of managing the risk inherent in datacenter software publishers. Read this thread in our forum for more details.

When asked, ServiceNow would neither confirm nor deny the development of Enterprise SAM capabilities. We anticipate a formal launch this autumn or spring 2017. If the information we’ve gathered from ITAM Review readers so far is realized. ServiceNow would be offering a leading solution in the SAM market and would also place them ahead of the likes of Cherwell, BMC, Matrix42 and LANDESK in terms of ITAM capabilities in the ITSM market.

We’ve seen a similar stealth approach to market entry a few years ago when ServiceNow was working with Apptio. The integration was marketed heavily, and then ServiceNow turned up at Knowledge 14 with their own competitive solution to Apptio whilst Apptio were stood in the exhibition hall with egg on their faces. Speaking with existing SAM software tool manufacturers, the general impression is disappointment rather than surprise.

Kudos to ServiceNow for entering the SAM market, perhaps less kudos for the kitchen knife between the shoulder blades for the SAM partners that have fixed the gap in their offering and made it more competitive, but all is fair in love and software sales!

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