ServiceNow is for good reason one of the most popular IT service management platforms, but according to many customer reviews it's integration functionality could be improved.

Let's go through how the ServiceNow Integration Hub works and why you might need to consider an alternative.

What is the ServiceNow Integration Hub

ServiceNow Integration Hub is a key feature within ServiceNow that simplifies and extends integrations with external systems, APIs, and services.

ServiceNow itself is a cloud-based platform used by over 80% of Fortune 500 companies designed to help organizations manage digital workflows for enterprise operations. The Integration Hub takes this a step further by enabling users to easily connect ServiceNow instances with other third-party applications and data sources, enhancing the platform's capability to automate complex processes across different software environments.

Role of Spokes in the Integration Hub

Integration Hub offers a wide range of pre-built connectors, known as Spokes, for popular applications and platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Salesforce, and many others. These Spokes allow for the seamless exchange of data and the automation of tasks between ServiceNow and these external systems without the need for extensive coding. For example, an incident created in ServiceNow can automatically trigger an alert in Slack to the relevant team, or customer information from Salesforce can be pulled into ServiceNow for service management.

Why you might need a ServiceNow Integration Hub alternative

Integration Hub allows you to easily combine other systems into your workflow automations and easily send one-way updates. As your needs grow, you might realize it just isn't enough.

Here are six common areas where ServiceNow customers describe that the Integration Hub falls short:

1. You will need a lot of steps and actions

To complete an entire process end-to-end you need to piece together several actions and steps in ServiceNow Integration Hub. Even for the most basic operations and information requires a lot of adjustments.

2. Setting up a bi-directional integration takes a lot of work

You are relying on the capabilities of the other system to send the right information back to ServiceNow. You also need configure the other end, which you might not always have access to. You will also need to map and translate those messages over to the correct attributes in ServiceNow.

3. Only supports very basic operations towards other systems

Quantity often doesn’t beat quality. Though there are many spokes available, many of them only support a handful of actions. You may find yourself in a situation where you will need to build your own spoke as customization of existing actions is not straightforward. Low code could end up being a lot of code.

4. Additional licenses required if you want to do more than eBonding

IntegrationHub’s pricing is based on transactions. If you are fetching information from various endpoints, a single process step can consume a lot of transaction volume. Spokes are also split between the various packages, so you may need to upgrade to use a specific spoke.

5. Attachment handling? Caller ID lookups & updates? Syncing comments? Handling downtime?

You will need to build the logic for all these and account for downtime of the other systems you are connecting to. It’s not out of the box functionality and quite a complex feat to handle reliably.

6. Keeping tabs and maintaining your integrations isn’t straightforward

You’re always a step behind if you need to dig through logs to find out why something isn’t working. To set up logging you’ll also need additional log steps in your flows. That’s yet another thing you need to build yourself.

What makes ONEiO a good alternative to ServiceNow Integration Hub

We get a lot of questions especially from ServiceNow users asking what's the difference between ServiceNow Integration Hub and ONEiO integration automation platform? Here's how they are different.

The simple answer is that the ServiceNow integration hub is a pretty good API management tool. It works well with simple internal use cases and systems you have full control such as Active Directory, Dropbox, Slack etc. You can even manage your integration needs through a ServiceNow certified ONEiO Spoke.

But, since many service management workflows involve multiple parties with pre-defined interfaces, processes and tools you need a lot of adaption which means that trying to manage all that only on the "one-side" of the integration makes it really, really complex and expensive to build and manage and if you build it, you will have to manage and maintain it.

This is where ONEiO integration automation platform makes the difference. ONEiO is not competing with ServiceNow Integration Hub as they are entirely separate concepts. ONEiO enables SNC users to get more value and that's why we have many happy ServiceNow users as customers.

3 Key differences between ONEiO and ServiceNow integration hub 

1. High integration availability, end-to-end

ServiceNow is not a zero downtime product. In case they have maintenance break, your integrations are down. Of course you can build a queue on the ServiceNow side, but the other endpoint cannot typically handle such downtime.

Your integration flows will break, you will lose tickets and will most likely mess up your SLA calculations and customer experience.

ONEiO integrations are not point-to-point and all endpoints are isolated. ONEiO is provided as a continuous delivery model with zero downtime.

Case study:
‍AHEAD solves ServiceNow and LogicMonitor challenges with ONEiO

2. Not all eggs in one basket

If you decide to say goodbye to ServiceNow, you will have to say goodbye to your integrations as well.

The ONEiO is technology agnostic and a vendor neutral solution. Centralized and global integration logic will work with any endpoint. This also means, no application specific skills are required.

Read more:
‍Learn how to connect ServiceNow and JIRA in a few easy steps with ONEiO

3. Predictable pricing

ServiceNow integration hub pricing is transaction based. Pricing works well and is in your control with integrations where push functionality is possible and you have full control over both endpoints. Unfortunately many systems do not support push functionality well if at all. In practice this means a lot of transactions and increasing costs.

ONEiO provides flat-rate pricing without any process or transaction limitations. With ONEiO you'll need less budget for costly applications or platform licences. For you and your customers / partners.

Your alternative solution for integration needs?

ONEiO is more than just an integration automation platform. ONEiO is a cloud-native integration service provider connecting people, processes, and tools – enabling seamless collaboration without traditional integration hassle. Provided as a turn-key solution, as self-service, or something in between. You choose.

If you want to learn more about ONEiO, discuss your integration needs with our experts.
‍Book a 15-minute assessment call and assess your integration needs with a ONEiO integration expert.

Further reading: The Ultimate Guide to Integration as a Service

For an in-depth look into integration as a service, check out our latest guide:
The ultimate guide to integration as a service. Learn about the most significant challenges faced when integrating services, current integration solutions, and the integration as a service model as a new way forward. 

Download it here.