ServiceNow Platform Power: The Knowledge13 CreateNow Hackathon

[MichaelDortch]

Knowledge13 had plenty of labs and breakout sessions devoted to the ServiceNow Service Automation Platform, the new App Creator, and the range and value of customer-created applications. But if you really wanted full immersion into the power and breadth of ServiceNow for custom apps, you had to check out the first-ever CreateNow Hackathon custom application competition and showcase.

We invited individuals and teams to show up and compete for Apple TVs and a bit of recognition. All they had to do was to come up with an idea for a custom application, and then build it within approximately 10 hours using the ServiceNow platform. And wow, did they ever. Even session speakers got into the act.
+ A three-person team from ServiceNow client NYSE Euronext built TableNOW, a restaurant reservation application that finds nearby restaurants and displays their locations, menus, and availability. And processes reservations, of course.
+ A five-member team from four different companies built CasiNOW, a blackjack gambling web site that lets users buy coins for play, interact with one another, read rules and FAQs, report issues, and submit questions.
+ Two actual application developers from ServiceNow client Pacific Life created PictionNOW, a variant on the popular party game "Pictionary" that replaces that game's manual drawing tools with an electronic tablet. The pair used HTML5 to add a "canvas element" to the ServiceNow Content Management System (CMS), and wrote driver software to link the tablet with the ServiceNow platform.
+ A seven-person "pick-up" team from multiple ServiceNow clients and partners, including some Knowledge13 speakers, produced KickITnow, a kind-of "corporate Kickstarter" for incubating projects within an enterprise. KickITnow, which leverages ServiceNow's CMS, Project Management, and Social IT features, won the hearts and minds of Hackathon voters, and the overall competition.

And not even these amazing examples tell the whole story of what's possible and practical with the ServiceNow platform. There were 13 teams competing, and they all created incredibly imaginative applications in a very short time. Perhaps most interesting, many of the applications created at the Hackathon were built by people who had never collaborated on a software development project — or even met — before.

Kudos to all of those who competed, especially the finalists and the winning team. Taken together, these people and their achievements amply demonstrate and underscore the four key strengths of the ServiceNow Service Automation Platform for ServiceNow users.
+ You have the tools now, with the Service Automation Platform and especially with App Creator and the templates included with it.
+ You have the skills now, since you and your team already know ServiceNow, and many of your colleagues already know JavaScript.
+ It's a proven solution now, because it's already improving your ITSM efforts (and was already supporting custom applications at more than 60 percent of ServiceNow client companies before App Creator).
+ It's "new school" (or maybe "now school"), because its natively cloud-based, integrated, robust, and secure. As opposed to many if not most of the tools supporting custom applications at your enterprise today. Including e-mails, spreadsheets, and sticky notes.

Click on the links above for more information about the way-cool apps created at the Hackathon. Then, if you're a ServiceNow user, fire up App Creator and see what's possible. If you're not a ServiceNow user, head for DemoNow, where you can get hands-on with ServiceNow and its application creation features anytime. Or visit the ServiceNow Wiki to learn more about creating custom applications with ServiceNow.

Your business can't grow and thrive running on packaged software alone. And your IT team just doesn't have the time or bandwidth to create the custom applications your business needs for competitive advantage as they're needed. Put the power of the ServiceNow platform to work to create and deploy those apps, rapidly, economically, and securely. Now.