Has the ServiceNow Era Finally Begun For Real?

[MichaelDortch]

"Nothing happens. Then nothing happens. Then everything happens." — Fay Weldon

The enterprise software market is as maddeningly capricious as it is predictable. Sometimes simultaneously. For example, everything takes longer than even the best planners can predict. Except for those things that happen faster than any of those same planners expected or predicted.

Way back in 2012, ServiceNow enthusiasts (myself included) spoke excitedly about how ServiceNow deployments were expanding beyond IT. ServiceNow clients demonstrated amazing applications they'd built on the ServiceNow Service Automation Platform. And rumors of an online app store gained momentum, as did ServiceNow itself.

Fast-forward to right now. The theme of Knowledge15? "Everything as a service." One of the first announcements out of the event? The launch of the ServiceNow Store for paid and free applications and integrations, with more than 80 offerings already available, some developed by long-time ServiceNow partners such as Cloud Sherpas and Fruition Partners.

Knowledge15 also includes the first-ever CreatorCon developer conference, which sold out, according to a tweet on April 15 from ServiceNow's @Know365 account. And have you seen the Innovation of the Year finalists?

Knowledge15 is barely half over, but the evidence is clear. If Fay Weldon's description of reality applies to ServiceNow's growing share of the enterprise software market, we've just passed the second "nothing happens," and are truly at the precipice of "everything happens."

Even from a remote perspective, Knowledge15 already appears to be a primary point of confluence for the growth and evolution of ServiceNow technologies, ServiceNow clients (in number and sophistication), ServiceNow partners, and ServiceNow the company. Barring alien intervention or some equally disruptive unexpected occurrence or occurrences, we should look back on Knowledge15 as an inflection point for accelerated adoption and broader deployment of ServiceNow solutions.

Of course, none of this may actually play out this way. But the signs seem more promising than not. And momentum is one of the most powerful forces in the universe.

Is it finally the real beginning of "the ServiceNow era?" Sure. Why not? If not now, when?