Automated Integration Solutions for ServiceNow

Automated integration solutions for ServiceNow negate the need for time consuming maintenance and monitoring. In particular, organizations that work with large data volumes benefit greatly from this.

But what is an automated integration solution and how do they compare to standalone integrations?

What is a Standalone Integration?

A standalone integration is a custom-built solution for linking two disparate technologies to exchange data between them.

Standalone integrations for ServiceNow typically leverage custom-code and API calls to facilitate data replication from source to target. They require manual maintenance and upgrades to remain compatible with new versions of ServiceNow.

What Is an Automated Integration Solution?

An automated integration solution connects two technologies, without the need for custom-built code. Automated integration solutions connect source to target via a native application, with no additional tools required.

ServiceNow supports a native automated integration solution meaning users do not need to maintain the integration themselves or on-board a new tool. This means organizations have more certainty over the integration project’s total cost of ownership, as they aren’t burdened by hidden costs incurred to maintain the integration.

Limitations of Standalone Integrations

While standalone integrations can connect disparate technologies, they have limitations. For ServiceNow, the most obvious limitation is the negative impact to performance.

Further, standalone integrations require manual maintenance, and lack …

Alignment with current technology and processes
Scalability as data volumes (and the demand for data) grow
Future-proofing against software updates
Native dashboards for monitoring integration status

Ignoring these limitations leads to short lived, spaghetti integrations, requiring constant maintenance and manual intervention just to keep it alive.

Automated Integration Solutions: The Alternative to Standalone Integrations

Organizations that experience the limitations of standalone integrations often turn to automated integration solutions.

With an automated integration solution for ServiceNow, organizations benefit from:

Better alignment with the business

“Build it and they will come” is not an idiom that applies to implementing successful integrations. The goal of the integration is to provide a better employee and customer experience.

If your ServiceNow integration requires manual maintenance and impacts ServiceNow’s performance, is this really better?

Rather than thinking about how to connect technology or capability “A” to “B”, organizations should think about how to automate the business goal they need to accomplish.

Automated integration solutions facilitate this by addressing the goal of improving employee and customer experience.

They work natively within the source technology, so employees don’t have to get up to speed with unfamiliar tech. Additionally, employees aren’t burdened with maintaining the integration. Ultimately, the customer is better served by readily and consistently available data.

Hassle-Free Integrations

If you don’t need to build, implement and maintain an integration, why would you?

Consider the early days of manufacturing. Many factories would generate their own power with power stations and water mills. Now, they just connect to the grid.

The same logic applies to integrations. Whether you have people coding web services integrations, leveraging APIs, or even using iPaaS tools – which are really just DIY integrations in kit form – you are making things unnecessarily difficult.

For the same reasons you wouldn’t build a power station to facilitate your manufacturing business, you no longer have to create and maintain your own standalone integrations to power your data-driven organization.

Automation vs. Standalone Integration for ServiceNow

While both automated and standalone integrations facilitate data transfers, there is more to consider. And as a critical capability for supporting customers and employees, ServiceNow integrations need to consider the full picture.

To understand the benefits of automated integration solutions vs. standalone integrations for ServiceNow, let’s evaluate what automation can offer that standalone integrations cannot:

Native Application

Automated integration solutions: Available as a native ServiceNow application that avoids the performance issues with web-based, standalone integrations

Standalone integration solutions: Configuration via code or proprietary tools that impact ServiceNow instance performance

Secure Transformations

Automated integration solutions: Transform data securely before it leaves ServiceNow

Standalone integration solutions: Only transform data once it’s actually in flight

Schema Creation

Automated integration solutions: Automatically create and modify schema from your ServiceNow fields

Standalone integration solutions: Database schemas require manual creation

Advanced Encryption

Automated integration solutions: Support for encryption both at rest and in-transit

Standalone integration solutions: At-rest and in-transit encryption may not be supported

Real-time data insight and availability

Automated integration solutions: Highly available, auditable, real-time data movements

Standalone integration solutions: Outages and data losses may not even be detected

Secured Credentials

Automated integration solutions: “Push” model for ServiceNow means no credential exchange

Standalone integration solutions: Web services require exchange of login credentials

Enable Engineering

Automated integration solutions: Allows a true engineering approach to data design

Standalone integration solutions: Limited to the “grab and go” model often used by traditional ETL tools

Integration Vs Automation