There are many flavors of ServiceNow events, but the SNUGs are the ones I like the most: from users to the users and focused on the real life experiences and challenges encountered by the different organisations, regardless of industry and business areas.

Having attended a dozen SNUGs (this was my first one in the UK and first wearing the partner “hat” with RapDev) I can easily say that the way the ServiceNow User Group events are structured brings lots of value to all the attendees. From customers seeking to share knowledge to partners ready to hear about the specific challenges and the direction the industry is taking.

The day opened with the Next customer story: A Journey into the World of Open Telemetry, ServiceNow & AI where we heard real life examples of how one of the UK’s largest clothing retailers has overcome the different challenges in their AIOps journey. The scale of their operations and their stepped approach to success is a clear example of how mastering the PPT in Digital Transformation is key to success. People, Process and Technology, all different disciplines but deeply interconnected where the transformation can have exponential outcomes when they are properly balanced.

It’s always inspiring to see how a customer we’ve partnered with has achieved important milestones in their journey. At RapDev, we supported them in optimizing and monitoring their telemetry pipelines, ensuring high availability and enhancing observability across key applications. Our collaboration is a testament to how the right expertise and partnership can accelerate digital transformation and deliver measurable business value.

During the day, we also heard stories from Lloyds Banking Group, where they delved into the deepness of what does testing look like in ServiceNow and how important is to do it in a modular and dynamic way, and the story from AXA where they shared their journey around SPM and the value they were able to get from their organization-wide initiative.

I always like to say that while ServiceNow has lots to offer, the real user stories are the ones that depict how using the technology can have a huge impact and accelerate transformation journeys. And these 3 sessions by the customers really hit the nail on sharing knowledge and lessons learned with all the attendees.

After the morning sessions, we had a nice lunch and networking, where we could hear from the attendees that dropped by our booth. Lots of insightful conversations about Technology, AIOps and of course GenAI, which truly proves organizations clearly have an interest in the value this technology brings and the new transformational boundaries it can widen. 

During the afternoon, different technology roundtable discussions were held, from CMDB and data foundation, through AIOps, Asset Management (where RapDev was the facilitator), up to wider platform topics such as GenAI or Platform Architecture. All the tables had discussions by SMEs that could bring their own view and really felt like a “melting pot” of knowledge and experience. I wonder if at some point ServiceNow will decide to record these round tables, since the insights could be very beneficial for the wider community who could not make it to the event.

And of course, after a full day of activities, we had the chance to distress with some networking drinks!

I personally find that there were 3 key takeaways from from the knowledge shared during the SNUG:

• ServiceNow is at the core and each organization is adopting it in their most suitable way. Whether they focus on horizontal disciplines (such as CSDM or CMDB) or they have their own industry specific requirements (like Telco or Manufacturing), all the organizations seem to be focusing on leveraging the agility of ServiceNow. While not everybody is on the same step when it comes to maturity, all seek to focus on tailoring down the platform to make it extremely powerful for their business imperatives. While not everything steers around GenAI, some organizations do have a clear focus on materializing the value of their current workflow investments, I would say, as a way to define a strong foundation where I presume GenAI will elevate experiences and automations to new levels in the future.

• Verticalized/Specialized industry solutions keep getting traction. Each organization is unique, but there are industry specific requirements that have influenced ServiceNow’s product offerings. Telco specific, Operational Technology andFinance offerings all seem to allow organizations to cover a wider spectrum of requirements with OOTB capabilities. While a partner always helps organizations adapt the workflows to their unique needs, industry solutions keep gaining further market attention and bringing more possibilities for organizations to cover their needs, but also materialize value much faster. DORA, NIS2, Cyber Resilience Act are topics we have touched upon with many customers at RapDev and these seem to be tightly related with the need from organizations to automate more core workflows without having to customize too deeply.

• GenAI is not stopping; it actually seems like organizations are doubling down on their investments. A couple of years ago there was a massive market swift towards GenAI technologies, all seem to be interested in exploring and conducting POCs. Somehow, the GenAI “hype” has not stopped, and instead the new possibilities of this technology and the business outcomes this can enable seem to be on top of many executive’s minds. That is also why at RapDev we have made huge investments to bring new Now Assists to market, but also focused on helping customers with the new wave of Agentic AI (say hi to Arlo!) and establishing future-proof frameworks for its adoption. 

I personally cannot wait to see how Agentic AI will transform organizations, from small to big ones, regardless of industry specific needs and requirements.

I would like to use the chance also to give a huge thanks to all the SNUG Committee members who organized this event and all the attendees that dropped by to talk with us. 

Looking forward to the next SNUG!

Anything we chatted about that you want to follow up on? Reach out to us!