On the Fence About Upgrading to Tokyo? These 10 Features May Change That

ServiceNow made the Now Platform Tokyo release generally available on September 21, 2022. This latest platform release includes features that empower you to do your best work, create seamless experiences, and accelerate innovation at scale. With multiple new features, enhancements, and bug fixes for each platform application, the Tokyo release offers much to consider when it comes to upgrading. Our team of Certified Master Architects identified the top ten standout features that will deliver the most value when it comes to transforming the way you work.

Want a deeper dive? Check out our full-blown Tokyo Release Guide, containing our full analysis of all the notable changes with Tokyo.

1) Next Gen Change Risk

The Tokyo release includes a Success Probability module. The data from Change Success and Model Success can be used to provide a more data-driven approach to calculating the risk of a change.

2) Teams Integration

Agents no longer have to swivel chair between ServiceNow and Teams while collaborating on a task. A chat can be created from a task, or an existing chat can be associated to the task. This minimises the agents from having to flip between ServiceNow and Teams while working on a task.

3) Cloud Migration Assessment

As IT teams move more and more applications to the cloud, this will allow teams to plan and track migration of on-premise applications to a cloud environment. Includes dashboards to view information from various categories.

4) ITOM Health

Improvements to Service Operations Workspace have been made to reduce the number of interfaces that need to be utilised to maintain the health of IT infrastructure and understand impact of CI outages and degradations of service. The UI has been improved as well to help improve visualisation of alert impact on offerings as well as technical and business services.

5) Licence and Cloud Cost Simulator 

Many organisations and departments are looking at moving resources to the cloud. Licence and cloud cost simulator can help build a business case for a particular cloud provider by estimating the cost differences between different providers (i.e. AWS vs. Azure).

6) HR Manager Hub

As more teams continue working in a hybrid environment, managers need updated tools and resources to effectively lead their teams. Manager Hub enables better visibility into the team’s journeys, learnings, and important dates like birthdays, anniversaries, or start dates. Managers can receive notifications and take actions on time-sensitive tasks and requests for their employees. Manager Hub also provides a consistent place to deliver curated, personalised content for managers, such as announcements, leadership tools, knowledge, and catalogue items.

7) Workplace Indoor Mapping

3D mapping capabilities previously required use of a 3rd-party service to provide maps and integrate with ServiceNow. With this release, ServiceNow has re-platformed acquired technology to provide native indoor mapping capabilities without additional cost.

8) Evidence Request Enhancements - Reuse Evidence 

ServiceNow has made the existing evidence request process smarter. Now, when requesting evidence, if evidence already exists for the record you need evidence about (control, risk, issue, etc.) the system will inform the requestor. This can help save time, and reduce duplication of work for those providing the evidence.

This new feature greatly improves the quality of life for users submitting evidence. The platform offers existing evidence as a reusable option, saving valuable time and effort during compliance or audit checks.

9) Vendor Risk Portal UI Change

ServiceNow has introduced a new version of the Vendor Risk Management application (15.0.7). In addition to the new functionality around 4th party Risk, the latest version of VRM brings about a new-look Vendor Portal. This portal will more closely align to the new Employee Centre, and new system UI. However, for existing customers, keep in mind that updating to this version of Vendor Risk Management will alter the display of your vendor risk portal and re-branding may be required.

10) Operational Resilience - Perform Scenario Analysis

ServiceNow has introduced functionality allowing for users of the Operational Resilience module to analyse how different scenarios would affect business services at the organisation. Scenario analysis is a new table, equipped with a workflow, fields, and related lists which all facilitate the ability to define a scenario and determine impact to services of your choosing by selecting those services, participants, and scenario events.

Upgrade with Confidence 

Interested in more details? Concerned about the potential ramifications to your current environment? Feel prepared and confident before your next upgrade. Check out our complete Tokyo Release Guide or talk to one of our certified ServiceNow experts.