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National Post
28-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
New Report Reveals Opportunities to Optimize ServiceNow Operations as Platform Adoption Accelerates
Article content COVINA, Calif. — xtype, the Multi-Instance Governance Platform company, today released its inaugural 2025 State of ServiceNow Operations Report, revealing valuable insights into how organizations are governing their ServiceNow implementations. The comprehensive study examines operational practices across instance management, development processes, security, and governance – as well as Gen AI adoption – as organizations expand their ServiceNow footprints. Article content Key Findings Article content The 2025 State of ServiceNow Operations Report is based on comprehensive survey data collected from ServiceNow customers across industries in Q4 2024. The study analyzed customer behaviors, operational patterns, and technology adoption trends across organizations with varying platform maturity levels, uncovering several valuable insights: Article content Multi-Instance Management Practices: 70% of organizations report that clone-down processes impact development workflows, with 43% performing clone-downs quarterly. Early-stage users (0-2 years) typically maintain just two development instances, while 55% of mature teams manage 4+ instances, demonstrating how complexity scales with adoption. Governance and Security Landscape: The report reveals varied approaches to governance, with 30% restricting admin privileges to development instances only, while 16% provide full admin access across all environments. In terms of audit practices, 25% track audit logs in spreadsheets, and in healthcare specifically, 20% maintain no formal audit logs despite regulatory requirements. Industry-Specific Patterns: In heavily regulated sectors like healthcare and financial services, organizations are adapting their ServiceNow operations to meet demands, with 66% of financial services organizations maintaining larger teams (16+ members). Additionally, 83% of retail organizations cite governance and compliance as a top operational challenge. Article content The report identifies distinct operational patterns based on platform maturity: Article content Early-Stage Users (0-2 years): 65% manage deployments via spreadsheets and 75% maintain at least two development instances. Without proper instance management tools, these organizations struggle to scale effectively. Growth Stage (3-5 years): This largest segment (41% of respondents) shows evolving process maturity, with 67% performing clone-downs monthly or quarterly. However, 73% report extended developer downtime during these processes, translating to significant productivity losses. Many organizations in this category cited 'environment sync issues' as a persistent challenge. Mature Users (6+ years): Despite their experience, only 57% utilize commercial tools for deployment automation, with the remainder still relying on homegrown solutions or manual processes. Most concerning, even at this stage of maturity, 55% identified 'customization versus standardization' as their primary operational challenge when managing dev, test and production instances. Article content 'These findings expose critical challenges in ServiceNow instance management as organizations scale their implementations,' said Ron Gidron, CEO of xtype. 'ServiceNow isn't one system anymore—it's dozens. Customers are running production, test, dev, training, and regional environments with no visibility, fragmented changes, inconsistent policies, and risky workarounds. This is no longer a DevOps problem—it's a governance problem. And xtype is the first platform purpose-built for it.' Article content Gidron continued, 'The security findings reveal a systemic governance failure. With many allowing unrestricted admin access and operating without any cross instance audit trails. In healthcare, the fact that 1 in 5 organizations lack formal audit logs isn't just risky—it's a regulatory crisis waiting to happen. This isn't a tooling issue. It's a lack of visibility, control, and accountability across environments. Without governance, these teams are flying blind.' Article content The report reveals significant momentum in AI adoption and other advanced technologies: Article content Gen AI Implementation: While 14% have already implemented Gen AI capabilities within their ServiceNow environments, a substantial 70% plan to adopt within the next 12 months. This demonstrates strong interest in leveraging ServiceNow's latest AI innovations to automate processes and enhance service delivery. AI Adoption by Industry: Technology and telecom sectors lead in AI adoption, with 33% having already implemented Gen AI solutions – more than double the overall average. Additionally, 82% of large teams (16+ members) plan to adopt Gen AI within the next year. Creator Studio Traction: 11% of organizations are currently using ServiceNow's Creator Studio, with an additional 41% planning to adopt it. However, adoption intent varies significantly by industry, with 60% of financial services respondents indicating no current plans to implement it. Platform Expansion: Nearly 100% of respondents plan to onboard at least one new ServiceNow module in the coming year, indicating exceptional confidence in the platform's value proposition. Article content 'Our data shows that ServiceNow customers are enthusiastically embracing the platform's expanding capabilities, particularly around AI,' said Scott Willson, Head of Product Marketing at xtype. 'The strong planned adoption rates for Gen AI—70% within a year—demonstrate that organizations see tremendous potential in these new capabilities. However, maximizing AI's value requires a solid operational foundation. Organizations that proactively address instance management challenges, implement strong governance frameworks, and automate key processes will be best positioned to leverage AI and maximize the platform's transformational potential.' Article content Founded in 2020, xtype is the first and only governance platform for ServiceNow. Built for multi-instance environments, xtype gives platform teams real-time visibility, control, and automation to accelerate delivery without losing compliance. Global leaders in banking, insurance, and healthcare trust xtype to reduce risk, enforce policy, and move faster with confidence. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Risk rises for mudslides around L.A. County fire zones, prepare for worst-case scenario, officials warn
With more rain on the way, officials warned Sunday of an increasing risk for mudslides in Los Angeles County's burn areas, with a 10% to 20% chance of significant flash flooding and debris flows capable of damaging roads and homes in and around areas devastated by wildfires. "This is the worst-case scenario to prepare for," said Kristan Lund, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. "We do have increasing concern for the burn scars," Lund said. The charred footprint of the Eaton fire, which blackened more than 14,000 acres, is the most worrisome. "These flash floods and these debris flows could happen in and near or below these burn scars." A flood watch took effect at 10 a.m. Sunday and will continue through 4 p.m. Monday for the burned areas of the Eaton fire in the Altadena and Pasadena areas; the Palisades and Franklin fires in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu areas; the Hughes fire around Lake Castaic; and the Bridge fire in San Gabriel Mountains west and southwest of Wrightwood. The flood watch started six hours earlier than originally anticipated. 'The highest risk for debris flows would be after 4 p.m. Sunday,' the weather service said. If you're not sure you're near enough to the burn scar, "assume that you are," Lund said. However, a city like Montebello — roughly 10 miles away from the burned area of the Eaton fire — is not considered close. "If you're close to the fire, you want to be on the prepared side," Lund said. Steps people can take are to avoid being in or around the area from Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon; using sandbags to protect property; and, for people who do decide to stay, stocking up on supplies in case road access is blocked. A 'landslide' is an all-encompassing term that can describe any movement of rock, dirt or debris downhill. A "debris flow" can happen when water rapidly flows downhill and, besides mud, picks up rocks, branches and sometimes massive boulders. This is also considered a type of shallow landslide, which can occur with potentially deadly force. Landslides are a risk after wildfires because the heat of the fire makes the soil repellent to water. When rainfall intensities are high — falling at more than one-half an inch per hour — water can start flowing on the surface downhill, instead of percolating below ground, and can begin to pick up rocks and debris. "It really has to do with the track of the storm," Lund said. "They're the greatest potential for significant debris flows. They're the most recent burn scars; they're close to communities or vulnerable infrastructure." The orientation of the terrain is also vulnerable in this particular storm. The burn scars are over mountain slopes that face the south, and the moisture from the storm is being pulled in from the south, forecasters say. Those factors could cause "some more heavier rainfall in those areas," Lund said. Forecasted rainfall totals for the three-day storm continue to tick upward. Through Monday, Covina could get 1.32 inches of rain; downtown L.A., 1.14 inches; Long Beach, 1.12 inches; Canoga Park, 1.05 inches; Santa Clarita, 1.04 inches; Fillmore, 1.02 inches; Redondo Beach, 0.95 of an inch; and Thousand Oaks, 0.87 of an inch. Besides the risk for debris flow, there is a potential for waterspouts over the ocean, as well as damaging winds, and strong thunderstorms, Lund said. And heavier rain can still happen even if you don't see lightning or hear thunder. But if you do hear or see a thunderstorm, "you'll likely have higher rainfall rates," Lund said. There's a 15% to 25% chance of thunderstorms developing across a swath of Southern California that includes the recently burned areas, said Carol Smith, a meteorologist with the weather service. Thunderstorms could bring a chance of rainfall rates of half an inch per hour to three-quarters of an inch per hour in isolated areas. Rainfall rates that exceed one-half an inch per hour can trigger debris flow in burned areas. Smith said the Palisades fire burn area could see more than an inch of rainthe Eaton fire burn; could get up to 2 inches. Light rain began falling across the region Saturday night. Read more: Floods, landslides are risks as fire-scarred Los Angeles girds for rain The storm will bring the first significant rain of the year. Much of Southern California is in "severe drought" with some areas in the southern most part of the state in "extreme drought," according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Read more: With rain possible for the weekend, Bass works to shore up burn areas Officials advised residents in burn zones to use sandbags to direct runoff and protect property, clear drainage paths, heed evacuation orders and stay off roads covered with debris. They also said residents should keep trash cans and vehicles off the street to allow stormwater to travel freely and avoid contact with polluted runoff. "If emergency officials say to avoid a certain area, please do that," Smith said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
