ServiceNow Discovery Reviews

We're running Discovery on several IP ranges to discover objects in the network. We can run Discovery on-prem through APIs or use it with cloud environments like AWS and GCP and Azure. 

Discovery enables us to get an accurate inventory that's updated daily. It eliminates human error and the need for people to update configuration changes manually. We have not implemented them yet but plan to set up alerts on CIs that are being audited to see if there are any changes. 

We would like more flexibility with the licensing. Discovery is bundled with ServiceNow's ITOM license. It was more affordable when it was sold separately, but we bought a package license to get more functionality out of the CMDB. We'd prefer to buy only the pieces we need instead of taking things we don't want or solutions that aren't yet mature enough to use. 

I rate ServiceNow Discovery nine out of 10. I've been in other situations where we didn't use Discovery because we leveraged SECAM more. I don't think ServiceNow Discovery is necessary, but it's native, so it does some extra things we couldn't do without it.

To get the most out of Discovery, it's crucial to emphasize the planning phase of deployment and understand the network topologies so that you're looking at the right IP ranges and finding what you expect. People are often spinning their wheels because they don't know what they're doing and haven't put in the work before they roll it out. You'll run into problems, and it will be painful for the users.

Our company has historically used the solution for IT infrastructure. We started deploying the solution in 2017 and have moved through nine versions since then. We are partners with ServiceNow and have a very good relationship with them.

Recently, we established a complete platform that will allow us to do IT infrastructure software and OT assets for manufacturing. We have planned a very long journey with ITSM and Discovery. 

We are working on a new deployment in Asia that includes the new Discovery version on Orchestration and the Automation Engine in Tokyo. We will soon be onboarding HRSD, Legal Service Delivery, OT for manufacturing, and ESG. We have a developed a very complete roadmap.

Our company deploys for enterprise businesses ranging from 10,000 to 1.5 million employees. 

The most valuable asset is relationship building because the solution discovers and builds auto relationships in a way that makes cleanup very easy. Normally, when you discover data you get a lot of junk so only 30% of data might be useful. 

With the solution, it is easy to establish a relationship and discard the 70% of data that you don't want to use. 

The solution should improve the classes of discovery assets to disregard more junk data. The most painful task is eliminating the 70% of junk data. 

Currently, you can define classes of configuration items to discover, but the process is very limited so it still picks up a lot of junk data. 

I have been using the solution since 2009. 

The CTO of ServiceNow was a manager at my previous organization where my team was responsible for innovating ServiceNow manufacturing. 

I have presented white papers on ServiceNow knowledge in Europe and Vegas. 

The solution is quite stable. The only thing you have to be careful of is following best practices while maintaining it. 

The scalability is very good and very easy. You can keep adding mid-servers, expanding your database, or adding servers. When you scale up, you just have to go through the solution's entire cycle.

Scalability is rated a nine out of ten. 

Paid support is very good. Normal support is pretty bad because you can keep logging tickets but nobody responds. 

The training materials are really good so you can train your team without depending on support to solve issues. 

Support is rated a five out of ten. 

Neutral

The initial setup is not super easy but is much more convenient to use when compared to BMC Discovery. We use the solution to discover assets on-premises as well as in the cloud via an Azure data connector to the Azure platform. 

Setup is rated a seven out of ten.

We implement the solution for customers along with implementation partners. We have multiple partners because each one has their own unique set of skills. We work directly with ServiceNow to choose partners through the co-development team. Right now, we are working with HCL and DXC. 

The solution's deployment time depends on the environment you want to discover. 

At my prior employer, a team of five people discovered 67,000 servers across the US for HCSC. It took four to five months to set up. Discovery, cleanup, and completion of the CSDM layer took an additional four months. The entire project with deployment of the complete CSDM layer was done in nine months.

Our current project targets 1,700 servers so it should take us about two weeks. 

Ongoing platform maintenance requires a very minimal workforce. The solution alone isn't maintained, but the complete ITOM platform is maintained. One person maintains the ITOM that includes the solution. Another person maintains the data. 

The solution itself will not give you much ROI and will be a very expensive investment. 

You have to club the solution with a gamut of services. You need to use the complete CSDM layer for data servicing, data modeling, monetization of services, capacity management, configuration management, and future predictability. Only then will you achieve an ROI. 

The solution is not inexpensive so pricing is rated a three out of ten. 

The solution is much more convenient to setup and use than BMC Discovery. 

Proof of concept for the solution doesn't make much sense. It totally depends on the capability of your partner. Choose the partner very carefully while you plan to use the solution. If you get a very competent and capable partner, then life will be easy. If you have a partner who only does technical implementations, then that won't help you. You need to have CMDB and CSDM experts on the team because the solution is for CMDB and CSDM. If you don't design your data model really well, then the solution will not give you much result. 

The solution is not fully automated so you still need to make some effort. You have to go through the complete remodeling cycle for non-useful data elimination whenever you add a new LAN segment or new mid-server on a new data center or service. It is a little bit of effort, but it is worth the effort. 

Based on the necessary but important effort, the solution is rated a seven out of ten. 

I primarily use this solution for IT Operations Management (ITOM) and IT Asset Management (ITAM) within a cloud-based SaaS environment. We implement it for IT asset management and SAP S/4HANA integration, utilizing the Discovery feature to populate asset management systems and maintain an accurate Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

The solution has significantly improved our organization's IT service management by providing accurate and reliable data, crucial for maintaining an up-to-date CMDB. It has also enhanced our ability to assess the impact of IT changes and failures, leading to better incident management and service continuity. The user-friendly setup and robust support further contribute to operational efficiency.

The product's discovery feature is valuable due to its accuracy, reliability, and the high prestige associated with the information it provides. The dependency mapping feature is also critical for understanding the relationships between IT configurations, infrastructure, and applications, essential for effective impact analysis and change management.

The continuous improvement in the quality and customization of the product features would be beneficial, particularly as more customers rely heavily on its capabilities.

I have had experience working with ServiceNow Discovery for about six years.

The platform is very stable, undergoes rigorous testing, and is regularly updated with new features, making it a reliable tool.

The solution scales effectively to meet organizational needs, and I have not encountered any issues with its scalability.

The support team is responsive and offers multiple channels, including web chat and community forums, which effectively resolve issues.

Positive

I previously used HP's IT asset management tool. We switched to this platform due to its superior capabilities and the broader range of features it offers, which were not available with the HP solution.

The initial setup was straightforward and user-friendly. The deployment process is quick, especially once the customer provides the necessary information.

The deployment was managed in-house, and the process was smooth due to the solution's easy setup.

The ROI from using the solution is substantial. It has helped save costs on licenses and improved operational efficiency, with savings of around 20%, although this varies depending on the customer.

The product pricing is fair and reasonable for the value it provides. However, it is important to factor in the ongoing maintenance costs, as the system requires professional upkeep to ensure optimal performance.

I rate ServiceNow Discovery a ten out of ten. 

ServiceNow Discovery provides features for discovering information about infrastructure, such as software details and CI (Configuration Item) data, quickly and efficiently.

I believe one of the great functionalities or improvements in ServiceNow Discovery is its ability to gather information about any Configuration Items (CIs). In the future, enhancing the model or software related to CIs would be beneficial.

I think ServiceNow Discovery's configuration management capabilities are effective in enhancing our IT operations. While there may be areas for improvement, overall, it's a good application.

I believe there is room for improvement in ServiceNow Discovery, particularly in providing more detailed information about network usage and communication between ServiceNow and the infrastructure. This improvement would enhance the overall effectiveness of the tool.

I have been using ServiceNow Discovery for the past three years. 

The solution is stable and reliable.

I would rate the scalability of this solution as an eight. While it offers good scalability overall, the reason for not giving it a ten is because the scalability greatly depends on having good processes and support in place. Without these, the scalability could be limited.

I would rate the technical support as medium. In cases where there is an urgent issue impacting the availability of ServiceNow, the response is very fast, but overall, it's a medium-level support.

Positive

I rate my experience with the initial setup of ServiceNow Discovery as a nine. It was quite easy to set up and integrate with our organization's systems. 

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

We just have some use cases of discovering some products from the hotels that we support. For example, basic configuration items, assets, importing them, the servers, the data centers, and all that information to be stored in our system, building the CI relationship, etcetera. So, the basic needs of any organization.

It's a single source of truth. We have everything in one place. 

There is room for improvement in the licensing model. 

In future releases, I would like to see more AI-oriented enhancements in the solution. It would automate most of the things that we have to do manually write the scripts and go on the teleservice, what to do. So if we have something in place and if we can train the module, then AI would be a good thing.  

I have been using it for two years. 

It has been stable since deployment. 

It is not recommended for smaller companies because of the price. 

Everybody is using this ServiceNow tool in my company, so more than 150,000 end users.

The support serves all of ServiceNow products equally. So, the customers service and support are good and competent. 

Positive

There were a lot of things on the table, but we preferred the one that comes with ServiceNow. 

We opted for this solution because we liked the quality of the data that we needed inside. That's the only key difference that we found.

The implementation is not easy, but it completely depends on the need.

How we want, what we want to get, and what we want to store inside the tool. So it's completely based on the need, but it's not easy. It's a bit complex.

For now, we just have a team, a full team of 25  admins who are set off.

It is worth the money. 

It's pretty good. Again, the licensing is too much, but it's good. It does the job.

I would recommend using the solution. It's worth investing some money in it and trying to get the quality data inside the system. 

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

We used the product to manage our desktop assets. We were expanding it to use the rest of the technology assets. The technology assets would be populated from Tanium. It is an incredibly valuable tool for what we need.

The service management and operations management modules are valuable.

The product could improve some of the visualization and architecture setups.

My previous organization used the solution.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

I rate the product’s scalability a ten out of ten. When I left the organization, 75 people were using the solution.

The initial setup was relatively straightforward but required the organization to have its policies and core processes defined. For building it out, ServiceNow gave us a basic set of processes that we can employ. However, these processes, like any SaaS tool, rarely work out of the box and require modification in order to work for an organization’s culture and practices. I knew that, so I designed those myself. We were ahead of the game, but it would have been much more difficult if we had just assumed and tried to enable their out-of-the-box solution. It required internal work.

The initial deployment took less than five months. We used a hybrid method to implement the solution. We used a third party, and internally my NOC manager became my architect. He was also the one that became a developer of the system.

If the solution is deployed properly, it is highly valuable. If the product is not deployed properly, it can be very expensive.

We used ITSM and portions of ITOM. ITSM is for incident, problem, change, and knowledge management. We also built asset management modules. Specifically, we built that module for all the desktop services I was responsible for. We were building it out to support all of the IT technology assets. We also built a custom security solution within the system. We're also building our compliance and integrating it with our internal HR solution.

My goal was to move the organization from a lot of individual solutions for each business unit to one enterprise-level solution that managed issues, problems, and changes across the entire enterprise. We wanted the product from an infrastructure perspective and integrated it with HR and security. We hadn't yet integrated it with the application stacks up to the point that I had left. However, we established enterprise-level dashboards from the executive level down to the front lines to manage tickets related to issues and problems. We wanted to leverage data to analyze the biggest challenges we had and the improvements that we were making.

ServiceNow is an incredible tool if managed right. The value of the tool as long as it's utilized properly is incredible. It provides a one-stop shop for a lot of things. We used all the elements of ITSM. We worked through most of the issues, like process changes and stuff like that. We deployed and modified it. The teams I worked with were incredibly responsive. People investing in the product must map their processes and understand their data flows. It's incredibly important. The more the internal policy process and data flows are defined, the better and the easier the deployment is.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

I believe the tool itself isn't solely about identifying assets, as many tools can perform IP-based and port-based discovery. That's not the most challenging aspect; it's a well-established practice. The real value lies in how it integrates into a system that everyone can utilize, and it does so rapidly. I've been using it for quite some time, and it's not just about the tools; it's about the people, organizational processes, and how they contribute to the success of these tools.

ServiceNow's Discovery feature is quite significant because it allows for service mapping and integrates with VIN management. It involves adding a business context to servers, routers, switches, and data centers. This means understanding not only what's installed on these systems and how they function together but also recognizing their significance in terms of business applications from the business's perspective and how they impact business processes and capabilities. So when we delve into these aspects and connect them to the essential components, it can help you engage in more meaningful discussions to enhance capacity management practices. In essence, it contributes to the overall IT portfolio, almost functioning as a business platform. This platform is accessible to users who leverage the data to initiate incidents, implement changes, and resolve problems. Consequently, consolidating all configuration items or assets into a unified platform makes sense, especially considering you already have Discovery in place. If the cost is reasonable, the other two components might not provide much value, except for their user-friendliness, which is often less important to leaders compared to the desired outcomes.

I find it valuable to enhance IP address management. I've been in this field since around 2011, and my experience since then has revolved around automation, deployment, distribution, and comprehensive inventory management, all crucial for deploying various components, including patches. When we talk about patch management or vulnerability management, it's more complex than just applying patches; sometimes, you need to undergo significant upgrades or phase out old components for new ones, and this can turn into a substantial project, explaining why vulnerabilities persist.

Now, the role of ServiceNow Discovery and security operations, or at one point, looking at vulnerability management in ServiceNow Discovery, is crucial. It allows you to identify vulnerabilities on assets and, with the addition of discovery, service mapping, and event management, you gain a business context for these vulnerabilities. It's not merely about knowing they exist on a server; it's about understanding which services are responsible for critical business processes or transactions, like payroll. This knowledge changes the approach and execution of vulnerability remediation.

I have been using ServiceNow Discovery since the last couple years.

Based on my recent experiences, tech support has been somewhat challenging. It often feels like I need to take the lead and put in a lot of effort to resolve a case. There's quite a bit of groundwork and hand-holding involved.

Neutral

I've had experience with SCCM and Altiris in the past, which were agent-based tools. However, I haven't evaluated or explored ServiceNow Discovery yet. In terms of setup, it seems quite similar to me. The core focus is on managing these aspects effectively. Tenable does a similar job, but it lacks the ability to retrieve information on installed applications and application dependency mapping, which ServiceNow Discovery can provide.

I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten. 

We use the solution for configuration management.

Compared to other solutions, it is easy to implement.

The solution can prioritize the discovery of IP ranges. The product automatically places all Discovery CIs into the correct class within the CMDB.

Pricing could be improved to better accommodate various customer needs and business models. It ultimately depends on the specific requirements and budget constraints of each customer.

I have been using ServiceNow Discovery for eight months.

Compared to other solutions, the support is good. It's very fast and comprehensive. We have great integrated support from our community.

Positive

The initial setup is very simple and takes eight hours max to complete. It is a subscription module.

The solution is expensive.

I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

ServiceNow Discovery enables us to efficiently implement and discover all our assets within the organization. It's agility and ability to provide comprehensive information with correct CI relations and ServiceNow Service Catalog offerings. Compared to other solutions, it's easier to comprehend the entire structure.

It retrieves accurate information from the CIs within the company, establishing correct relationships with users, owners, and other processes such as incident and change management. It also improves the relationship between the CMDB and all the infrastructure components.

There are some specific challenges, such as discovering VIPs or Citrix machines, these issues are manageable. ServiceNow offers integration with third-party products through REST APIs and predefined connectors, facilitating seamless interoperability.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.