ZenDesk to ServiceNow Migration from scratch

[shri85]

Hi,
We have a plan to migrate Zendesk to ServiceNow and I have never done from scratch, so please provide some inputs like what all I need to consider while implementing.

 Currently ZenDesk using these features and need to implement the same in ServicENow

1.   Email to Incident creation.

2.  Macros - Templates/Quick Responses option

3.  Reporting & Dashboards - Performance Analytics / standard reporting.? 

4.  SLAs, assignment rules, business rules, workflows are native in ServiceNow.  

5.   Alerts/notifications possible (Slack, OpsGenie via webhooks).

6.   Knowledge Base/Help Center - Help Center with AI search   

7.   Zendesk- Jira integration for engineering tickets.   

Regards,

Shri

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @shri85 

Thanks for sharing more details. As a BPC, here are my thoughts on this:

• Whenever there's a migration to a new platform, it's not just about moving data — it's also about shifting mindsets and improving the user experience.

• First, you need to analyze the features available in Zendesk and map them to equivalent functionalities in ServiceNow. While I haven't personally worked in Zendesk, based on my experience:

  • A "ticket" in Zendesk could map to an "Incident" in ServiceNow.

  • A "request" in Zendesk would align with "Request Management" in ServiceNow.

• As a BPC, I recommend not trying to replicate every feature from Zendesk into ServiceNow. Zendesk and ServiceNow are built for different purposes by different companies, so while some features may be similar, others will differ significantly.

• In the initial phase, try to leverage ServiceNow's out-of-the-box (OOB) features as much as possible. This gives your team time to understand what can be configured further and which features might be necessary but were not present in Zendesk.

• Set up meetings with stakeholders and walk them through a transition strategy — starting with feature and data mapping. This helps align expectations and ensures nothing critical is missed.

• When it comes to data migration, don’t bring over all the transactional data. Instead, focus on importing essential information like users, groups, and key reference data. Avoid bringing outdated or unused data — think of it like a "Diwali cleaning" for your systems: only bring what's valuable and relevant.

• Also consider whether integrations need to be rebuilt from scratch or if some data can be manually loaded to begin with.

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There are many other points to consider, but this should give you a strong starting foundation. If you're looking for a ServiceNow partner to assist with the migration, feel free to let me know.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @shri85 

Are there any open issues? If not, please close the thread by accepting the answer.

[shri85]

This is the initial step and I may require some more details in future : 
the below are the action points as of now, need to implement in Servicenow

1.   Email to Incident creation. - inbound email action

2.  Macros - Templates/Quick Responses option

3.  Reporting & Dashboards - Performance Analytics / standard reporting.? 

4.  SLAs, assignment rules, business rules, workflows are native in ServiceNow.  

5.   Alerts/notifications possible (Slack, OpsGenie via webhooks).

6.   Knowledge Base/Help Center - Help Center with AI search   

7.   Zendesk- Jira integration for engineering tickets.   

[Dr Atul G- LNG · Accepted solution]

Hi @shri85 

A quick piece of advice: Don’t try to start or open all these action items at once. Take a step-by-step approach. Begin by asking your business stakeholders what their priorities are, and then focus on those first.

What you mentioned relates to internal activities that need to be aligned with foundational data — but before anything else, I strongly recommend starting with:

• Feature mapping

• Form mapping

• Data mapping

This will give you a clear understanding of how the transition should be structured.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

I think this is also a valid acceptance.