You’ve trusted ServiceNow’s core functionality and platform for years. Now, let’s uncover 7 features to take your experience to the next level.
ServiceNow is a powerhouse workflow automation platform that drives AI initiatives, enables core business transformation, and offers more than 180 products and services to connect and unite the backbone of modern organizations. But are you making the most of every feature?
Alright, we may have tipped our hands a bit. But we’re big fans of ServiceNow, and have basically built our company on the power of NOW, so we know how important it is to make the most of this platform.
While many of you already rely on ServiceNow’s core capabilities, some of its most powerful features remain underutilized. Today, we pulled together 7 features you may have missed, which may be able to enhance workflows across the platform, boost efficiency, and help your team achieve more with less effort.
1. Performance Analytics
ServiceNow's Performance Analytics has evolved significantly since its introduction in 2013, with continuous updates and feature additions that enhance its capabilities in analytics, reporting, and insights. Initially designed to provide KPI information and insights for ITSM processes, it has grown into so much more.
Today, Performance Analytics goes beyond tracking data, empowering teams to make smarter, more data-driven decisions. This tool helps service teams to set goals, identify trends, and automate reporting to proactively address issues before they escalate.
How effective is it? We’ve seen companies show a 60% reduction in critical incident response time using Performance Analytics. Another recovered more than 320 hours per month in manual reporting. We could go on, but it’s pretty evident that if you're not leveraging this feature to the fullest, you could be missing out on major efficiency gains.
2. Integration Hub
Introduced in 2017, Integration Hub was brought into ServiceNow to streamline integration with third-party platforms -- the same purpose it has today. But, while it was once a little complicated, especially when factoring in its own integration, Flow Designer, it has evolved into something far more seamless and user-friendly.
Here are just a few of the key features:
Now? Integration Hub bridges and automates workflows across multiple platforms, without a modicum of complex coding. Whether you're syncing data with Salesforce, automating approvals in Microsoft Teams, or integrating with cloud services, Integration Hub eliminates manual work and improves efficiency.
3. Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management has been a staple within ServiceNow’s IT Service Management Module since 2011, with the Aspen release. At its inception, Knowledge Management’s main function was to house vital knowledge articles to support IT service teams. With consistent additions and improvements over the years, Knowledge Management is now even more critical to a company’s centralization of vital information, allowing operators to experience reduced resolution times and improved self-service.
Fully utilizing Knowledge Management transforms how employees and customers access critical information, reducing resolution times and improving self-service.
Thanks to the power of Agentic AI, operators can now leverage artificial intelligence to create draft reports from incidents and build knowledge articles for future improvement, eliminating more manual work. In addition to these major features, there are a few more we find helpful to know about with Knowledge Management:
This tool's major use cases are often found within IT Service Management, where it documents solutions, enables staff to resolve incidents, and enhances productivity. Many organizations benefit from Knowledge Management within their HR department, compliance and risk management, and employee training centers.
4. Predictive Intelligence
As with many of these features on our list today, AI is playing a pivotal role in advancing how these NOW features perform - Predictive Intelligence in another example of how ServiceNow has applied machine learning to automate categorization, assignment, and resolution of tasks. By analyzing historical data, AI-driven Predictive Intelligence reduces manual effort, speeds up service delivery, and automates task generation with smart content suggestions.
Need proof? Novant Health used Predictive Intelligence to recover thousands of lost productivity hours by automating incident classification and routing. With Predictive Management, they were able to:
As organizations like Novant demonstrate, the ability to leverage AI for tasks like incident classification and routing translates to significant time savings and more reliable service delivery.
5. Service Portal Customization and Optimization
The Service Portal is a ServiceNow mainstay that empowers businesses to create custom self-service experiences. From localized content to drag-and-drop design tools, these features ensure your portal is intuitive, accessible, and optimized for productivity. Many organizations use Service Portal’s core features, but some of its most powerful customization and optimization tools remain underutilized by many.
Service Portal Customization:
Service Portal Optimization:
Unlocking the full potential of Service Portal requires leveraging customization and optimization tools to create a truly seamless self-service experience. By tailoring content, enhancing accessibility, and utilizing analytics-driven insights, organizations can maximize efficiency and user satisfaction.
Whether you're refining your design with the Service Portal Designer or improving search functionality with AI, these enhancements ensure your portal is not only functional but also future-ready. Now is the time to take your Service Portal beyond the basics and transform it into a dynamic, high-performing solution.
6. Flow Designer
When Flow Designer launched way back in 2017, it was an app developers' dream. Less complex coding and more automation. Fast forward to today, ServiceNow has significantly built upon that same idea, making automation easy, with no coding required at all. Flow Designer’s visual interface now allows multiple operators within your IT teams the ability to build and manage automated workflows that unify your service center, reduce manual effort, and increase compatibility throughout the organization. It accomplishes this through:
Advancing business transformation starts with a foundation that connects your teammates to systems that aid in their ability to get the job done efficiently and effectively. Flow Designer is a vital part of that foundation.
7. Playbooks
Part of the Orlando Release in 2020, ServiceNow Playbooks provides a step-by-step framework for handling complex workflows within the platform. With the recent addition of NOW’s Workflow Studio connection to Playbooks, users can take action on important items and monitor their playbooks all in one place:
From security incidents to HR cases and IT escalations, Playbooks standardize workflows, ensuring consistency and efficiency. We recommend taking a deeper look into the following features to better establish your Playbooks presence.
These are just a few of many…
ServiceNow is more than a service management platform or, gasp, a ticketing tool. Today’s ServiceNow, with its ambition to be the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century, is a powerful ecosystem designed to streamline operations, drive business impact, and build a smarter future.
Revisiting these underutilized ServiceNow features can unlock new opportunities to enhance workflows, reduce manual effort, and improve customer experiences.