ServiceNow prepares to grow product line where needed

ServiceNow is on the continuous look out to fill gaps in its product line, according to the company's chief technology officer Allan Leinwand.

In July 2014, ServiceNow acquired Israeli startup Neebula Systems for $100 million for its ServiceWatch product. According to Leinwand, Neebula Systems' ServiceWatch filled a gap where the company was lacking, which was being able to service the IT operations management market, mainly because it did not have a solution that was able to understand the impact a server would have on applications if it broke down.

Similarly, ServiceNow acquired Mirror42 the year before to help boost its position in the performance analytics and business reporting space.

"When we look at acquisitions, we look at gaps within our product line. We look at acquiring technology and the people," Leinwand said.

"One thing we're doing in our acquisition process is taking the acquired product and putting it on the platform. Our platform is one piece of code; it's not this Frankenstein approach of bolting things together. It's actually one piece of code that runs individually."

On the topic of whether the company plans to acquire more businesses down the track, Leinwand said that the company is open to bringing on new teams who can do a better job.

"We know we're not absolutely the smartest guys out there; we're going to find other people who are smart and brilliant folks," he said.

From Leinwand's perspective, ServiceNow has been gaining momentum over recent years due to the transformation of the enterprise, which he said has seen companies transform from being email driven to having a structured workflow.

In July the company reported that revenue in Q2 was up 48 percent to $246.72 million compared to a year ago.

Leinwand predicted the momentum to continue as the company expands its product line in multiple verticals including human resources, legal, facilities, field, and marketing, adding that the company is well positioned to serve not only the broader market, but niches too.

"The market is going to continue to grow. I think we're at the beginning of seeing enterprises get on the cloud. We need to be innovative in how we offer the cloud to the enterprise as opposed to the consumer. It's a different marketplace, and there are a lot of different ways to think of the marketplace," he said.

"There is always a lot of geography where cloud is not understood at all, such as in eastern Europe and northern Asia where there is a whole lot of greenfield.

"And we'll go where our customers ask us to go."