Open iT x ServiceNow: Una visión de 360° de sus productos digitales

[0:11] David: Good morning everybody and welcome along to our discussion and webinar about Open iT and ServiceNow. I’m really excited to be joined by Volker from ServiceNow. My name is David Boyle, I’m from Open iT, and today we’re going to be just chatting a little bit about the relationship and partnership between our two companies.

[0:29] Volker: Yes, good morning for me as well. My name is Volker. I’m a solution consultant with ServiceNow, been with ServiceNow around six years now, and happy to be on this webinar today.

[0:43] David: Thanks Volker. I have long experience as well in software Asset Management, predominantly in the oil and gas industry, but I was very pleased to join Open iT last year and consider myself maybe not an expert but certainly a very experienced person when it comes to managing software and digital products in a large corporation.

[1:00] So first of all let’s have a quick chat about what our respective companies bring to the table. Volker, do you want to just say what ServiceNow is and what it can bring, for those of people who maybe don’t know what that is?

[1:16] Volker: Sure, happy to do that. Well many of you might already know ServiceNow as an IT service management solution, but we are a lot more than that. What we are doing is we’re consolidating all your existing systems. So we don’t want to replace your systems like SAP, like Open iT as one of them as well, that collect very useful and valuable data on a regular basis. We want to consolidate those systems and then enrich those systems by adding workflow capabilities around the whole life cycle, for example of a software, in order to have an end-to-end process. So people will know that they have one specific place they can go to to get access to all that data from start to end.

[2:06] David: Thanks Volker. When I think about ServiceNow I find it hard to imagine how a modern company or corporation could operate without that. The simplest thing is to think about all your assets are in there, all your hardware, all your software, and all the interdependencies are all recorded there. But as well as that you manage your change control, you’re looking at how your support is done, you’re looking at ticketing, you looking at knowledge retention, so many things that you need to run your business. It’s so much more than a database of stuff, it’s in fact intrinsic to how you want to run your business really, and as I say it’s kind of the bedrock of how a modern corporation or company would work.

[2:52] What does Open iT do? Simply put, Open iT tells you all you need to know about the usage of your applications or your digital products. On the simplest level it’s telling you who is using your applications, when it’s looking at your license servers and giving you metrics about when it’s being used, both historically and in real time. It can show quite specifically what each person is doing, it also can show you idle time, inactivity, when applications are being properly utilized and when they’re not being properly utilized. And if the business case merits it you can use Open iT technology to bring licensing back into a licensed pool, thereby freeing up your users to do other stuff and allowing a pool of licenses to be utilized by the rest of your business. So it’s both freeing for the users and gives you great efficiencies. It’s also agnostic of any licensing technology and the platform it runs on, so it kind of doesn’t care whether you’re running on the cloud, you’re running on-premises, and whichever licensing technology you’re using it will give you those diagnostics and give you that technology irrespective.

[4:03] So I guess, why would you want to see that Open iT data within the ServiceNow platform? I guess it’s completing a jigsaw, isn’t it really. You can see all your assets and what your support is through ServiceNow, it’s all there, but with Open iT usage information you can see when it’s being used, who is using it and for what, which parts of the business are using what and when. So it gives you a full picture of dependencies and how you’re using your resources now and in the past, and how they could be used in the future, to give you a full view of your overhead and to let you make really good decisions about what it is you want to do going forward and where you’re spending your money essentially.

[5:00] So that’s a very succinct history of what that is. Volker, where do you see the ability to see that usage data from Open iT within the ServiceNow platform?

[5:09] Volker: Well, as mentioned, our aim is to cover the whole software asset life cycle from start to end, so from the beginning when people are in need of something until software gets harvested or retired. We want to manage this life cycle by having all the data that is relevant for this life cycle. So it’s not only licensing but also cost data, it’s usage data, but we also depend on systems like Open iT that can bring additional technical data in order to enrich that data that we from a ServiceNow perspective are not necessarily able to collect. So we rely on usage data, we rely for example on data when we talk about engineering applications. So in order to get the complete picture in the context of the life cycle we will use the data that Open iT provides.

[6:14] David: Really thank you Volker. So in the real world, let’s have a little think about what examples of business challenges that this integration might solve. So really one of the key things is that if you have a group of users in a corporation and you want to understand what it is they’re doing and what their dependencies are, you might have reason to understand what the costs are, but you also might want to predict what that group of users is going to be doing in the future. So as an example, if you are embarking on a merger, you can use the Open iT technology to tell you exactly what that company is using at any given time, and then be able to understand what investments you might need to make, what service changes you might need to implement, because you then fully understand what that group of users is doing, and looking across the whole asset base to then make plans about how you can integrate and take that group forward.

[7:03] Similarly, if you’re looking at a divestment, whether that’s a divestment by user group or by a geographical area, you can use combinations of Open iT, ServiceNow, and of course your core data which may be an active directory, to tell you who is using what and where. That allows you to make a really reasoned and solid decision about what that group of users is using, so then you can calculate the cost of the divestment and what the future divested company would look like and what resources it might need, and you can do that extremely quickly because that data is available in real time and can be viewed on many different platforms as well as the ServiceNow integration which shows you the Open iT data natively.

[7:47] So you might also want to be understanding what a group of users is doing if you have a group of users that is on a specialist project. An example in the oil and gas industry would be if you’re working towards a renewables project which might have a different fiscal regime and might have a different combination of companies that want to work together on a project. You can use their usage information to bring that together as a single view of the assets they might require to then work up a project and how much that will cost you, because you’re seeing the full picture of all their dependencies within ServiceNow and then what they’re actually using from Open iT.

[8:35] Of course one of the most common examples that you would use this data for is simple budgeting, to understand what your run rate of software is, what your run rate of digital products is, that you can work that up along with all your hardware and software dependencies to plan for the next year, but also to see what you’re using this year and how that will transform to the end of the year so you can make proper plans. Do you have any other examples Volker?

[9:04] Volker: Well thank you David. As you already described, it’s really the enriched data that you will need on a daily basis, either when it comes to reporting against financial data or it comes to reporting against technical data. So you can even think about software vulnerabilities that you can identify using that data being provided by Open iT. But it really only makes sense if you have this full end-to-end process and you do not just take a look at the data from an isolated perspective. So that’s really the key area where ServiceNow comes into the game and really gives you that meaningful day-to-day processes where people will exactly know where to go to in order to find exactly the data they are looking for.

[9:52] Yeah, so different persona, different stakeholders taking a look at the same type of data but from different perspectives, as just mentioned, from a financial perspective, from a technical perspective, from a risk or vulnerability perspective.

[10:00] David: Brilliant, thanks Volker. I guess what you’re talking about is elimination of tech debt, which is a phrase that we hear a lot, but it’s key. And without these resources from both our companies that is actually a huge task to work through all your assets to identify vulnerability or to eliminate a tech debt. So actually it’s a huge efficiency and saving to have this stuff at your fingertips. You might have an emergency, as you say, vulnerabilities is very common in the modern world and you need to eliminate them very quickly. This would be a huge task if you didn’t have this data available.

[10:45] Thank you. So thinking about these examples, this is great. As we move forward with our partnership, what do you think the future developments might be with this integration?

[11:01] Volker: Well, we from ServiceNow are working very very hard on bringing more and more AI capabilities and so-called agentic AI, so really automated workflows based on AI capabilities into this end-to-end workflow and into this end-to-end process. And this is of course an area where collaboration can be very helpful because we can develop things together looking into the future and taking advantage of those AI capabilities and AI agents that can really save you time and money by delivering automated solutions for any type of issue or any type of questions that you have, either you need something or you have an issue with something. That’s really where further value addition is possible from our perspective.

[11:59] David: Thanks Volker. That’s really interesting. Another development that Open iT is working on, and this may resonate with some of you watching that maybe have some frustration around seeing licensed feature names rather than the names of the products that you know or the names of the products that you have purchased. So what Open iT is working on is a set of translation tables that will go between the licensed feature name and the real world product name that you understand. And I think if you’re viewing through ServiceNow, where you have a wide view of all your assets, you don’t want to know the names and the detail of licensed modules that are either supporting modules or you simply don’t understand their name. So we’re working on a conversion which means that when you see the information around the application in ServiceNow it makes plain sense, it shows you the module that you might have bought, the module that your users are telling you you’re using, or the ones that you know you’ve paid for, and keep it simple without the complication.

[12:53] Okay I think that’s perhaps enough for today. Volker, what do you think?

[12:57] Volker: I think we’ve mentioned a lot of things about the ServiceNow and Open iT integration and I look forward to any questions that we might get based on this webinar.

[13:10] David: Yeah, thank you David. As a conclusion I just wanted to highlight again why we’re doing this. What is an asset, what is a software asset? It’s still a piece of value of your company, of your organization where you invest your money. So it’s still relevant, it’s nothing that’s getting handled automatically. So you really need to be careful of how to manage that cost and that spend and getting more efficiency there.

[13:35] Nix: Hello everyone, I’m Nix from Open iT, here to host this webinar’s Q&A session. David, Volker, thank you so much for being here and thank you so much for the insightful conversation. How about we just jump right in and look at some questions that we have here.

[13:53] Thanks. So we have here a question from Jean Louie: what can Open iT do that ServiceNow SAM Pro cannot?

[14:08] David: An excellent question. I guess it’s the real detail, particularly with engineering apps. So my background is in oil and gas where you’ve got really specific expensive applications, so you’re really concerned about the detail of who’s using it. So it’s that granularity, not only from the main application, but if you’ve got a lot of modules which you’re paying subscriptions for or you’re paying on a pay-per-use or some difficult licensing mechanism, Open iT will give you that level of granularity. You know, over and above compliance, and compliance is extremely important obviously, but often with compliance you’re looking at what’s your ownership position as versus your installation base, and obviously that has its own challenges. But it perhaps doesn’t have the level of detail that engineering applications have.

[15:11] And Open iT will also show you something like idle time. You know, users might have applications logged out but are they genuinely using them? That can be extremely valuable to know when you’re looking all across your asset base, and having that combined with all your other assets in ServiceNow is really valuable. So I guess in summary, Open iT over and above SAM Pro is a much greater level of detail: who’s using it, when are they using it, for how long, and are they really using it. That I guess is in summary.

[15:44] Anything to add to that Volker? Do you think that’s broadly correct?

[15:49] Volker: No, I think that’s really spot on David. And ServiceNow really puts, as already described in the webinar, the workflows on top of this and automates the work around this detailed data that Open iT provides.

[16:08] David: Yeah, thanks. And just, well, while I’m on it, something we often kind of ponder is, when you’re looking at the usage data within ServiceNow, which is an all-encompassing platform in terms of your assets, to what level of detail to show within that interface. Is it just a summary, is it the real high level detail that you maybe would see in another source like the Open iT client itself? I’m actually really interested to know from a customer perspective what granularity you want to see through the ServiceNow console when you’re looking at all your other assets. Do you want to see a summary, do you want to see a lot of detail, or do you want to have both, a summary first and then drill down? So I’m always interested in what our customers think about that too.

[16:57] Nix: All right, thank you so much David, Volker. Another question, also from Jean Louie: to what extent is Open iT integrated or interfaced with ServiceNow SAM Pro?

[17:14] Volker: We have a standard connector to Open iT, or Open iT has built this connector to integrate with ServiceNow. ServiceNow’s SAM Pro module that manages all your licenses, all your cost of those licenses, ingests that data from a usage perspective, from a user perspective. So all the technical details are put into the same context where you see all your other software assets. And so it’s one complete picture, one complete full picture that we provide you with ServiceNow SAM Pro. Because if you do it only in Open iT you have only that view of the engineering applications, where we see that it makes sense to see this in the broader context because it’s cost-related data, it’s very often data that can be optimized in some way.

[18:03] Nix: Thank you so much Volker. Another question we have here: if we use Open iT, this is from Anonymous, is the integration available to us? Where can they find the integration itself?

[18:21] David: Good question. So for the integration itself you do need the right version of ServiceNow I believe, and you need the right version of Open iT. If I’m correct you need the fantastically titled Xanadu from ServiceNow and you need Open iT version 10. If you already have both systems you need both those versions. Is that right? Does that answer the question, Nix? Do you think?

[18:51] Nix: I believe so. We have here the link. Sorry, go ahead Volker.

[18:57] Volker: Just wanted to add that as any type of integration or as any type of certified integration it’s available on the ServiceNow Store. So if you just open the ServiceNow Store and type in Open iT you will find that integration and you can request it from there without additional cost. So the integration itself is really free of charge.

[19:23] Nix: We’ve also linked the ServiceNow Store, the actual link to the application, in the Q&A. So feel free to click on the link for easier access.

[19:37] Right. So you’ve already answered some of the questions that we’ve lined up: is it free of charge, how do I get the integration. Another question we have here is from Himim: how can this integration help different stakeholders, example IT, Finance, Management, achieve better visibility into software usage or reduce costs?

[19:53] David: Excellent, thanks Nix. So I’ll randomly pick one of those, so Finance for example. In a big company it will really help them because in my experience a finance group don’t really have a lot of context about the applications, they don’t really know which set of users are using them, you know, why would they be using them, you know, why they might incur a particular cost that they wouldn’t really understand. What an Open iT is, because it’s detailed, they may be, but they probably live and breathe in ServiceNow because that’s where they can see where all the money is going. So I think if you’re in finance you’re seeing contextual information: oh, this application is used by that set of users, oh, this application is used in that particular part of the world, oh, and it costs this much money and we pay it to that vendor, and we have this level of utilization. Somebody in finance might struggle to find that information in the time that they need it. People in their organization will know that, but in my experience in big organizations, Finance is a service provided to the rest of the company and they simply may not know who the right people are to ask some of those questions about budgeting or run rate, and they can see that through the ServiceNow console which is ubiquitous, without needing to break out and speak to other specialists. I don’t know what your view on that is as well.

[21:44] Volker: I’d like to add that in ServiceNow we take regular snapshots of the usage of that data, because that usage is also cost related. So from a financial management perspective you’re able to maybe charge back that cost to these specific users, but also see trends and appropriately adapt your budget for the upcoming renewal for example, because based on the usage also the cost can go down in the near future when it comes to contract renewal.

[22:24] Nix: Thank you so much Volker, David. I guess we only have room for one more question. All the other questions will be forwarded to our experts and our speakers. Another question here is from Jonathan Smith: do you have any examples of what data is integrated from Open iT to ServiceNow and what this looks like in ServiceNow SAM Pro?

[22:57] David: An excellent question. So in terms of what data in practice, any data that is in Open iT would be available in ServiceNow, but again, just because you can, it may not be appropriate to see that level of detail. So really you could see down to the level of a particular user was logged in for a particular amount of time, that full profile over a year, a heat map of when and where they used an application or a module. But it’s probably not appropriate, and there may be a performance issue there as well. So I think it’s more likely that you would see a summary or a rollup of what a user might be using. Top five users as an example is a very powerful view, here’s, you know, I want to know who the experts of this application are, I want to phone them up and ask them about a strategy, and you get bang bang bang there’s five users with their total usage time, maybe some utilization time, and that’s a very quick and easy summary. So I guess that’s an example of something that would be valuable in ServiceNow, as a rollup of what users might use, but not necessarily the granularity because that may not be appropriate. And again, people contributing to this, thank you for the question, your view of how that should look is really good for guiding how we would develop the product.

[24:22] Nix: Thank you David. Now we’re almost at the end of our session. Thank you everyone for tuning in. Just some FYI before we close this session: Volker here will be at the SAM Stack next week, if you’re also attending feel free to catch up with him there. Open iT will also be at ServiceNow Knowledge 2025 at Las Vegas, Nevada, this coming May 6 to 8, if you’re also attending we’re excited to meet you there. David here will be in upcoming events mostly in North America, feel free to check our events landing page on the Open iT website. And again, for further questions and the other questions here in the Q&A, we’ll pass it along to our speakers and experts. If you have further questions please feel free to reach out to webinars at open.com and we’ll get back to you the soonest. So once again, this is Nix your host, David and Volker, thank you so much for your time and your thoughts. Everyone, thank you so much for attending this webinar. Have a great day and goodbye.

[25:27] David: Thank you.

[25:28] Volker: Thank you.