ServiceNow to roll out Now platform on Azure

ServiceNow will be making its platform available on Microsoft’s Azure cloud in Singapore from 2021 in a bid to meet the needs of organisations in regulated industries that have strict data sovereignty and security requirements.

In an interview with Computer Weekly, Chia Wee Luen, ServiceNow’s managing director and area vice-president for Asia, said organisations that sign up for the offering will have their data processed by ServiceNow and stored on the Azure cloud, with Microsoft serving as the sub-processor of the data.

“Through that, we’re able to achieve the level of data residency required of our customers in regulated industries,” he said, adding that enterprises in non-regulated industries that have similar requirements could also sign up for the service.

These enterprises, Chia said, could be operating in one of the 11 sectors deemed by the Cyber Security Agency as part of Singapore’s critical information infrastructure. The sectors include media, maritime and aviation.

Chia said the offering has been in the works for a while, and that ServiceNow has started commercial and architecture-related discussions with some customers which are expected to come on board as soon as the offering is ready.

In a media release on the new offering, ServiceNow said several Singapore government agencies, including the Government Technology Agency, already use ServiceNow’s Now platform. It is uncertain if those agencies will eventually sign up for the new service.

ServiceNow is not introducing new capabilities with the service, which Chia said was more about meeting the needs of organisations with security and data residency requirements. Still, he encouraged customers to upgrade to the latest version of the Now platform to take advantage of the latest capabilities, such as those in the Paris release.

Asked if there are plans to roll out similar offerings with other public cloud suppliers, Chia said ServiceNow remains cloud-agnostic and will ensure that its platform works across major cloud services.

NCS, a Singapore-based IT service provider that counts the Singapore government as one of its major clients, is one of ServiceNow’s implementation partners for the new offering. However, Chia said customers could also engage other ServiceNow partners they work with.

In addition to Singapore, ServiceNow will launch the same offering in France in January 2021, followed by Azure regions for the Australian federal market and Azure Government for the US federal market later that year.

Chia said the markets were chosen based on several factors, including but not limited to Azure’s datacentre footprint, the level of digital adoption and market readiness for the new offering in various countries.