The success of every company depends on customer satisfaction. To ensure this, the right IT Service Management (ITSM) tool is essential. The market leaders in ITSM solutions are Jira Service Management and ServiceNow. According to the latest Apps Run The World report, they together make up 58% of the ITSM market.
Both Jira Service Management and ServiceNow offer a variety of features, including incident, request, problem, change, SLA, and configuration management.
In this article, we compare the key aspects of both tools to help you make an informed decision when choosing the best ITSM software for your organization.
Jira Service Management (JSM) is a service management solution for any high-velocity team looking to streamline their processes to resolve issues faster. JSM is built on the established Jira platform and integrates seamlessly with Jira Software. Although now known as a flexible ITSM solution, JSM can also be applied beyond IT teams in Enterprise Service Management (ESM).
Through its ITIL-compliant focus and integration of fundamental IT service management best practices, Jira Service Management enables organizations to improve the efficiency and quality of their IT services. JSM’s service management functionalities, including self-service portals, service-level agreements (SLAs) and queues, support the seamless implementation of the ITIL framework.
ServiceNow also provides a powerful solution for IT departments looking to accurately handle requests, issues, and changes. With Operations Management (ITOM), ITSM and IT Business Management (ITBM), ServiceNow helps organizations efficiently manage their teams, projects, and customer interactions. Although ServiceNow’s cloud-native SaaS platform is known for its comprehensive ITSM/ITIL capabilities, it can also be applied to ESM solutions.
From workflow automation to incident and problem management to configuration and knowledge management, ServiceNow covers a wide range of business needs.
Both service management solutions are suitable for similar requirements. But it’s worth taking a closer look to find out which tool can best optimize your processes.
Features | Jira Service Management | ServiceNow |
mplementation |
Simple configuration without required support |
Configuration is complex and hard to do without developer help |
Implementation time |
Average 1.57 months |
Average 5.19 months |
Pricing |
Transparent and easy to understand pricing, cheaper than ServiceNow
|
Confusing pricing with different packages, more expensive than Jira Service Management
|
Availability |
On-premise and cloud |
Cloud |
User interface |
Interactive, users find their way around easily |
Users have a sharper learning curve |
Scalability |
Great scalability due to continuous development as well as more than 600 available Atlassian Marketplace Apps |
Lack of scalability due to inflexible architecture |
Encourage collaboration |
Seamless collaboration between development and IT through strong integrations of Jira Software and Jira Service Management |
Lack of visibility and integration capabilities as service desk operations and DevOps teams are separate entities |
API for applications |
Well-documented APIs for creating plug-ins |
Well-documented APIs for creating plug-ins |
Updates |
Regular updates |
Two releases a year and patches in March and September |
Knowledge base |
Available with Confluence |
|
Coding development |
No visual environment for users, code must be developed in IDE |
Visual environment in low code |
Incident/problem management |
Customize incidents, resolve problems faster |
Powerful incident and problem management modules |
Configuration management |
Flexible data structure for registration of important services |
Logically structured asset and service representations through CMDB |
Reporting functions |
Predefined solutions for generating reports and integrating powerful reporting tools |
Reporting function with limitations, performance analytics are chargeable |
Mobile deployment |
||
DevOps integration |
Available with marketplace apps |
Integration possible with additional effort |
ITIL compliant |
||
SLA management |
||
Chats |
For a detailed analysis and listing of all features, as well as customer reviews, see the Gartner comparison: Jira Service Management vs. ServiceNow.
Although ServiceNow has strong features as a ticketing tool and 24/7 support is available, the user interface can occasionally be perceived as rigid and cause delays. For organizations with a high volume of ticket requests, the need for specific tags to identify tickets and their occasional failure to update could make them difficult to keep track of.
Jira Service Management is comparatively more user-friendly and integrates ideally with other Atlassian products, enabling seamless collaboration and breaking down silos in organizations. In contrast to other ITSM platforms, JSM users save 80% on costs and benefit from a transparent pricing model with no hidden fees or expiring discounts. The uncomplicated adaptation to (growing) business requirements is also one of the advantages of Jira Service Management.
ServiceNow may be suitable for you if you focus mainly on complex ITIL processes and use many features of the software – otherwise, the performance is inadequate in terms of high costs as well as configuration efforts.
Choose Jira Service Management if you are looking for a flexible solution that leads the way in collaboration, workflow automations as well as integrations, according to surveys. JSM is beneficial for all types of businesses, especially if you already use other Atlassian products like Confluence and desire seamless collaboration within your organization.
Andreas Springer _Actonic_
Head of Marketing
Actonic GmbH
Germany
2 accepted answers
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