The number of apps businesses rely on is growing at an incredible pace. While this opens the door to new solutions, it also creates significant challenges for IT teams. Managing these apps has become nearly impossible, with IT departments only aware of about a third of the apps being used due to decentralized ownership and sourcing.
This lack of oversight leads to several issues—from skyrocketing software costs to inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities. But there’s good news: integrations can help tackle these challenges by streamlining license management and addressing problems like SaaS sprawl and shadow IT.
In today’s article, we’re discussing one such solution: the Zendesk integration with ServiceNow.
What Is Zendesk?
Zendesk is a cloud-based customer service platform that provides businesses with tools for managing support tickets, live chats, and customer inquiries. It offers features like multi-channel support, automation, and analytics to enhance customer engagement and improve response efficiency.
However, companies usually use Zendesk to streamline customer service operations by integrating with other apps and building self-service portals. In summary, this platform is widely used across many industries to improve customer satisfaction, and both optimize and support workflows.
In What Consists of Zendesk Integration with ServiceNow?
The Zendesk-ServiceNow integration allows organizations to track Zendesk software subscriptions, monitor user activity, and optimize license usage through ServiceNow’s Software Asset Management (SAM). Similarly to the GitHub integration, it consists in automating license reclamation for unused subscriptions, ensuring cost efficiency and compliance.
What are the capabilities of the Zendesk-ServiceNow integration?
The Zendesk integration with ServiceNow is very useful for managing software licenses, and avoiding SaaS sprawl and other problems related to app overstock. However, it has other capabilities. These are:
- License Tracking and Reclamation.
- User Activity Monitoring
- Simplified Workflow Automation
- Centralized Management
- Integration Profile Setup
In the next sections, we’ll break down each aspect of the integration. Keep in mind, though, that setting it up does require some technical expertise. It’s also essential to evaluate your business needs and goals to ensure Zendesk and ServiceNow align with your objectives.
No need to stress—we’re here to help. At Inclusion Cloud, we specialize in creating integration solutions tailored to your organization’s unique needs. Let’s connect and explore how we can make it work for you.
1. License Tracking and Reclamation
One of the main features of the Zendesk integration with ServiceNow is that it provides robust license tracking and reclamation capabilities. These enable IT teams to monitor subscription usage across the organization, easily identifying under or unused licenses through automated workflows. Then, administrators can reclaim them and reassign or terminate those resources as needed.
This capability reduces operational costs by ensuring that organizations only pay for actively used licenses. Additionally, it helps IT teams maintain visibility over software usage, enforce compliance, and allocate resources efficiently, supporting proactive license management and preventing unnecessary expenses.
2. Centralized Management
On the other hand, Zendesk integration with ServiceNow offers a centralized management approach that is crucial for businesses to avoid common issues like SaaS sprawl and shadow IT. By managing all integrations from a single platform, businesses gain visibility into which applications are being used and by whom.
This is particularly important in companies where departments might independently adopt new SaaS tools without proper oversight. Centralized management not only helps in tracking licenses but also enforces policies that control app usage, reducing the risk of non-compliance, inefficiencies, and unauthorized tool adoption.
3. Simplified Workflow Automation
The Zendesk integration with ServiceNow simplifies IT workflows by automating repetitive tasks, such as syncing user subscription data and license statuses. This is achieved through secure OAuth connections that ensure seamless data sharing between the platforms. In short terms, this simplified workflow automation eliminates manual errors, saves time, and ensures up-to-date information across systems.
But, for IT teams in particular, this streamlines license management, accelerates onboarding processes for new employees and ensures compliance by automatically applying reclamation rules. All this allows your IT staff to focus on strategic tasks rather than administrative duties, enhancing productivity and operational efficiency.
4. Integration Profile Setup
Zendesk integration with ServiceNow also allows businesses to configure tailored integration profiles, ensuring that SaaS license management is aligned with organizational needs. For example, enterprises can create profiles to manage Zendesk licenses across multiple regions and departments, customizing workflows to track subscription data specific to each unit.
In summary, integration profiles allow companies to reduce the risk of unmonitored applications being adopted and ensure that licenses are being used optimally across the organization. Additionally, with clear configuration and management, businesses can avoid app overprovisioning, thus preventing unnecessary expenses and ensuring compliance.
What are the benefits of the Zendesk-ServiceNow integration?
- Enhanced Governance: Automatically tracks and reclaims unused licenses, reducing waste and ensuring compliance.
- Centralized Management: Simplifies monitoring of subscriptions through dashboards and daily updates, enabling better oversight.
- Operational Efficiency: Automates tasks such as creating software models and reclamation rules, reducing manual efforts.
- Improved Workflow Integration: Bridges IT and customer service workflows, fostering collaboration and reducing operational silos.
- Cost Optimization: Aligns license usage with real-time needs, minimizing excess costs while maintaining efficiency.
- Data-Driven Insights: Provides actionable subscription data for informed decision-making by IT and asset management teams.
What Makes This Zendesk Integration Different from the GitHub-ServiceNow Integration?
As we saw, GitHub integration with ServiceNow is also useful to manage software licenses. So, what set these two integrations apart? To save you some time, we summarized their differences in the following table:
| Feature | Zendesk Integration | GitHub Integration |
| Primary Use Cases | License reclamation. | Repository activity monitoring. |
| Monitoring user activity for efficiency. | Optimizing team and organization-level licenses. | |
| Aligning customer service and ITSM workflows. | Managing external collaborators. | |
| Key Workflows | Automates subscription updates. | Analyzes repository and user activity. |
| Monitors Zendesk user data daily. | Automates subscription reclamation. | |
| Implements reclamation rules for unused licenses. | Updates on GitHub’s team changes. | |
| Automation Capabilities | Automates syncing Zendesk subscription data and reclaiming licenses, aligning with ITSM operations. | Focuses on GitHub activity tracking and managing external collaborations with set activity thresholds. |
| Complexity | Involves OAuth client creation and Flow Designer configurations, suitable for Zendesk-admin level users. | Requires technical setup, including OAuth tokens and optional MID Server configuration for Enterprise Server. |
| Scalability | Focused on Zendesk SaaS license management, scalable across various subscription tiers. | Supports both GitHub Enterprise Cloud and Server for large teams with multiple repositories. |
| Limitations | Requires precise license tracking to avoid over-reclamation. | Dependent on API limits for repository data. |
| Depends on user activity for accurate reporting. | Requires accurate setup for external collaborator tracking. | |
| Ideal Users | IT asset managers aligning customer service operations with internal IT workflows for cost optimization. | IT teams and developers needing control over GitHub assets, collaboration, and licensing at an organizational scale. |
AI Solutions: A Major Trend and a Potential Challenge
As we’ve seen, the Zendesk integration with ServiceNow offers an effective solution to a growing issue facing many organizations: app overcrowding. This challenge is only becoming more urgent, with 72% of CIOs expressing concern over app sprawl—and the surge of AI tools on the market is making it even worse.
The sheer volume of AI tools doesn’t just overwhelm IT teams trying to decide what to use—it also requires a robust technological infrastructure to function properly. In simple terms, these tools rely heavily on data, which means an integrated digital ecosystem is essential for seamless access to vital information. Without it, you’re left with the same inefficiencies and rising software costs.
That’s where we come in. At Inclusion Cloud, our team of experts can help you navigate these challenges and find the right integrated solutions to meet your business needs. Let’s connect and start the digital transformation your organization needs to stay competitive!
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