ServiceNow in 2021: Our Experts’ Platform Predictions for the New Year [Webinar Recap]

It’s likely that you’re just getting back into the swing of work, maybe you’re even lucky to have made it back to inbox-zero after the holidays. While we can’t help sort through your emails, we’re here to help in other ways… in case you missed last month’s webinar while you were enjoying some respite, we’re sharing a recap of our leadership team’s seven predictions for 2021. In this presentation, which you can watch on-demand here, five of our top executives sat down to discuss the future of technology, ServiceNow and the “world of work” for this new year.  

Hosted by our VP of Strategic Marketing, Meghan Lockwood, this webinar brings together Ellen Daley, NTT DATA Services’ Senior VP of Acorio (formerly Acorio’s CEO); Adam Mason, VP of Innovative Solutions; John Huckle, VP of Advisory; and Pablo Pedreira, Country Manager of Spain.  

Now, with introductions out of the way, keep reading for a recap of what they had to say about what’s coming for the cloud software giant and the world-at-large in 2021… 

1. We’re never going back to work the way we used to.

In 2021, companies will be driven towards their ‘digital destiny’, meaning they will adopt cloud based solutions more quickly and shift more of our daily work towards the cloud than ever before.   

With the International Data Corporation reporting that businesses are expected to invest nearly 7 trillion dollars in digital transformation between 2020 and 2023, our experts predict we’re in the middle of a crucial transition period as we move towards a more digital world.  

As you can imagine, this year’s pandemic and spikes in remote work have only further expedited this process. IDC also notes that by the end of 2021, they expect 80% of enterprises to put a mechanism in place to shift to cloud–centered infrastructure and applications twice as fast as before the pandemic. In short, more companies will move even faster to cloud-based solution in 2021 and beyond. 

2. ServiceNow will help in the largest workflow ever attempted: vaccinating the world against COVID-19.

While it may seem out of their area of expertise, ServiceNow has been extremely responsive this year to COVID-19, particularly with their free COVID-19 response apps and their hyper focus around a safe return to work. After driving a number of releases and initiatives around these concerns, we predict ServiceNow will continue working on this priority well into 2021.  

What exactly will this look like? We expect ServiceNow to focus on things that are workflow driven, for example, the distribution and manufacturing of the vaccine. More specifically, we believe ServiceNow will expand their COVID-19 Response Apps in response to updated pandemic protocols, to track and measure vaccine distribution for employees as they start returning to work at an office. 

3. Transformation looks different after COVID-19, it’s accelerating.

Proof of that acceleration can be seen in our COVID-19 survey from earlier this year, where 40% of respondents indicated that their Digital Transformation had accelerated in some capacity. We all felt the full weight of digital in 2020, whether as an employee, consumer, or even as a parent.  

In 2020, companies planned, designed, delivered, measured, and evolved net new digital capabilities at the drop of a hat. With this, frontline heroes, health care workers and retailers have set a new pace for digital transformation, breaking the previous, marathon–long journey into what feels like a mile–long sprint. There’s no argument around the increasing importance of digital in all aspects of our lives but we predict digital transformation’s largest accelerator is this new expectation around speed and agility.  

4. New product launches and acquisitions will accelerate significantly.

Compared to 2018 and 2019, ServiceNow has significantly ramped up its partnerships and acquisitions since Bill McDermott joined the platform as CEO back in November 2019. So this year, we’re expecting McDermott to drive even more partnerships, acquisitions and new elements of the ServiceNow platform, especially around AI and industry-specific apps/product launches.  

We also predict to see a lot more partnerships from ServiceNow across the board with services partners, technology partners and customer partners like the NBA.  

With Bill and his team firing on all cylinders, we have no doubt the team will use 2021 as an opportunity to solidify ServiceNow as the go-to enterprise software company for the next decade.  

Curious about our experts’ final three predictions for the year ahead? Check out the complete webinar from last month to get access to each of the full answers for their 7 predictions for 2021.