Thrilling New Features in ServiceNow's Rome Update - Part 2

In part 2 of new features in ServiceNow's latest software release, Rome, Daniel talks about key app-specific highlights.

• ITSM Change Management: Standard Change Approvals in CAB Workbench
  I've lost count of the number of times that customers have asked if they can take proposals for standard change into CAB to be agreed there. Usually this is possible to do manually, but you can't put them as items in the CAB agenda for workbench. More often than not this is then followed by mumbling and complaining. But with the release of Rome, this is no longer an issue! Using CAB definitions, users can mix them in with changes or setup a dedicated CAB meeting for reviewing standard change proposals.

• ITSM Change Management: Dynamic CI Groups
  These are effectively just a table name and a condition filter, but they do simplify the management and selection of large numbers of CIs. They are used in CSDM and Event Mgmt already, and now can also be used when creating change requests and change schedules. This massively saves time and effort whilst ensuring that common groups of CIs are centrally defined - a nice little productivity helper from ServiceNow, the gift that just keeps on giving.

• ITBM Demand & Project Mgmt: Non-Monetary Benefit Plans
  Money makes the world go around, but there are so many more benefits that can be derived from executing a demand or completing a project: compliance scores, improvement percentages, time saved...the list goes on. A non-monetary benefit plan allows for these to be tracked and spread across financial periods in the same way as monetary benefit plans do. Even milestone and non-quantifiable benefits can be tracked! I think these have huge potential in the PPM space and will greatly expand the potential use cases of the whole product.

• CSM: Conversation autopilot
  This is a really cool new feature in my humble opinion! Now an agent can transfer control of a live chat to the virtual agent, meaning that agents are free from performing repetitive tasks via chat whilst simultaneously trying to improve the customer experience. This opens up so many options for delivering a service experience. Imagine: start off a chat with a user saying they can't access their email, and an agent then asks questions and establishes that the account is likely locked out. Now, the agent can pass their control for unlocking the account to the VA to securely complete the unlocking process, or else guide the user to pre-defined guidance.

• CSM: New multi-level business models supported
  Anyone who has worked with CSM for any length of time knows that the number of business models supported has been a little limited. If you have a situation where you deliver services to a business who then delivers them to another business or consumer, then previously a lot of account and contact relationship management has been necessary. With Rome there are new models available by default, now catering for B2B2C and B2B2C.

If you've got this far, you'll see that the Rome release is far from small - it is in fact a veritable colossus* of new and improved features showing just how serious ServiceNow continues to be about investing in their product offerings. What are you waiting for? "Carpe Diem"

* = No, sadly I couldn't quite manage to include the word colosseum again here. Doh!

If you haven't caught Part 1 of this article, I strongly suggest you go back and check it out. There are a LOT of exciting platform-wide changes which I've written about there.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how Unifii can help you upgrade to Rome, or how to extend your use of the platform, please get in touch here.