Optimizing digital workflows is the heart of ServiceNow. The cloud platform facilitates automated, smart workflow experiences to usher organizations of all types into the digital age, allowing businesses, employees, consumers, and others to have a more streamlined, efficient work process.
What Is ServiceNow?
The goal of ServiceNow is to deliver information technology (IT), automate tasks, leverage analytics, make better predictions and calculations, and much more via a single cloud platform.
This is all toward the goal of maximizing productivity, improving innovation, and connecting people and systems. Organizations can become more agile and flexible when they use the software. They also improve their decision-making capabilities, making more informed choices about their businesses and gaining back time thanks to their automatic workflows.
The all-in-one platform incorporates tools such as:
- Chatbots
- Predictive intelligence
- Performance analytics
- AI search tools
- KPI composer
BairesDev has extensive experience helping businesses transform and optimize their workflows using ServiceNow’s powerful platform. How can you benefit from leveraging real-time analytics and insights, AI tools, visualizations, and much more? With the help of a superior software development team that employs only the Top 1% of Tech Talent, you’ll get there easily.
Configuration and Customization
ServiceNow distinguishes between configuration and customization, 2 methods of changing the platform. Configuration refers to leveraging the native capabilities within the software ecosystem to meet specific, unique business intricacies and needs. In other words, you are extending the capabilities of the software in order to best address your individual goals. You may also alter the functionality of the software.
Configuration doesn’t require altering ServiceNow’s codebase itself. For example, you might add additional forms, change layouts, leverage plugins, or configure notifications. Because these alterations are usually fairly basic, they often don’t need the support of an external software provider, although that’s not always the case.
Customization, on the other hand, involves changing the actual codebase. This is the very essence of customization in ServiceNow — the thing that differentiates it from configuration. This is the ideal route for businesses for which ServiceNow doesn’t meet their core needs.
If you lack the requisite programming skills, you are advised against attempting to customize ServiceNow’s platform yourself. Instead, you should seek out the help of a qualified software development team like BairesDev, which can, for example:
- Create and facilitate new integrations, unique to your business and needs
- Build new functionalities for the app
- Change baseline rules
- Use table extensions to create new applications
ServiceNow advises against over-configuring or over-customizing the application. The company also establishes numerous guidelines, best practices, and standards for each of these options. For example, it advises documenting and creating tests for all customizations, as well as running HealthScan to identify customizations that aren’t required for your software needs.
Should You Customize or Configure?
Configuration will suffice for some businesses. But keep in mind that even if you choose to simply configure the platform to suit your business needs, you might still want to use the support of an expert software team to offer guidance on the best options for you.
If you are unable to meet your unique needs through simple configuration, customization is the better option — that is, actually altering the code itself. This involves fully changing, rather than just extending, the functionality of ServiceNow.
If you do elect to customize, you should establish a clear methodology for governing any procedures you apply to the software.
We recommend working with an expert software development team to build an effective system for measuring the need for customizations. They can help you gauge how important the changes are for the platform and your overall business. For example, you might establish a numerical scale to assess the critical importance of each change.
Customization is, of course, a more involved, time-intensive approach to altering your ServiceNow software. Depending on how extensively you need to customize your system, you could end up changing the very nature of the app itself.
There are a number of caveats to keep in mind if you do customize ServiceNow. For example, you may end up delaying upgrades. That’s why it’s critical to rely on providers or in-house software experts with extensive experience working with ServiceNow software — unless you have strong technical expertise with the program, you could end up interfering with the software’s functionality.
ServiceNow advises users to opt for configuration over customization wherever possible, but that doesn’t mean it’s not necessary for some circumstances — those that add clear value to your business and operations.
For example, perhaps you need to customize the platform in order to remain compliant or meet industry standards.
Partnering on Customizing: Is It Right For Your Business?
A final word of caution: over-customization — or customizing without the requisite expertise — will inevitably complicate and interfere with the functionality of your ServiceNow platform. That’s why it’s absolutely essential to work with a software development team that has the necessary qualifications and specific experience in customizing ServiceNow.
Given the risk involved in customizing ServiceNow, you need an expert partner. BairesDev is that partner. We will work with you to identify the customizations that are truly essential for your ServiceNow platform and business and implement them so that they enhance and improve, rather than detract from, your operations.
We will also create a framework to help you maintain your platform and identify when new updates and customizations are necessary, as well as facilitate integrations with your other software wherever needed.
No matter the size or type of business you lead, we can support you. Contact BairesDev to learn more about our approach and what we can do for you.
