Take it away Dzmitry!

During my ServiceNow career, I’ve worked for companies and partners of varying sizes, based in different countries, and have had the privilege of implementing nearly every ServiceNow product. With this experience, one feature that often gets called to question is Domain Separation which I hope to demystify within this first article. Konversational have accumulated extensive experience in this field and I hope to share insights and benefits that will arm you with tools to utilise Domain Separation to the best of your ability.

An Overview:

Domain separation enables the segregation of application data, and processes; for example, user interfaces, and business logic, such as rules of workflows, within a single customer instance. This segregation supports specific hierarchies for all customers utilising your applications and is therefore deemed “multi-tenancy”.

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The Current State of MSPs:

With Managed Service Providers currently positioned as one of the top three growth engines in the tech industry, the market is expected to reach $311.32 billion in 2027 according to TSIA’s George Humphrey’s ‘The State of Technology Services 2023’ article. However, with the adoption of the Cloud (the Cloud stage represents a transformative period in the MSP industry marked by the widespread adoption of cloud computing technologies) and Consolidation (surge in merger and acquisition activities, indicating a maturation and legitimisation of the sector), companies are finding themselves in an identity crisis. Not able to keep up with transformative phases, businesses find themselves in a situation of failed integrations, operational disarray, and an unoptimised service portfolio. The issue of these siloed solutions poses long resolution times for internal and external processes and requires a single-serve platform to simplify and deliver – this is where Domain Separation can be implemented. Records have shown that not only have we seen an increase in the adoption of standard service catalogues, but companies that are adopting this, experience positive movement within a significant number of KPIs for Managed Services (TSIA).

Utilisation of Domain Separation for MSPs:

With the right Domain Separation structure, MSP organisations can derive significant value from their ServiceNow instance. This structure facilitates effortless onboarding of customers into predefined data structures and processes, ensuring compliance with security and data separation requirements. Simultaneously, it offers the flexibility to address customer specific needs.

Key advantages include:

• A well-defined domain structure enabling the creation of unified processes across relevant domains, enhancing transparency and ease of maintenance.
• Embedded data separation and segregation within the architecture.
• Shared service offerings and processes.
• Substantial reduction in customer onboarding time, excluding historical ticket migration complexities.
• Transparency and reporting across all provided services, offering strategic insights through ServiceNow’s Performance Analytics product.
• Integration with customer instances using ServiceNow’s Service Bridge product, enhancing CX by synergising customer and provider processes.

Considerations to Note:

While Domain Separation brings immense benefits, certain considerations are crucial to prevent it from becoming a burden:

• Ensure mindset and maturity level is aligned with delivering services in a structured manner, rather than ad-hoc client dealings.
• Understand the structure of your Knowledge base and Service Catalogue distinguishing between general offerings and those specific to customer domains.
• Recognise various configurations of customer engagement, emphasising consistency in the “front end” experiences as an MSP.

By adhering to these considerations, ServiceNow Domain Separation can truly work to your advantage, streamlining operations and enhancing service delivery.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how to further utilise Domain Separation for your business or would like to discuss other areas of the ServiceNow platform, make sure to sign up for a free value realisation session with one of our experts. We have also listed a number of resources below that will help further your understanding of this ServiceNow feature.