ServiceNow has become the enterprise platform of choice for IT service management, operations, and increasingly for HR and customer service workflows. Yet a significant number of implementations fail to deliver expected value - not because of the platform itself, but because of how organizations approach the rollout.
After leading dozens of ServiceNow implementations across government and enterprise clients, we have identified three architectural decisions that consistently separate successful deployments from costly failures: platform governance from day one, process optimization before configuration, and a clear integration strategy.
The first mistake organizations make is treating ServiceNow as a technology project rather than a business transformation. When teams rush to configure modules without first rationalizing and optimizing underlying processes, they end up digitizing inefficiency rather than eliminating it.
The second common failure is underestimating the integration challenge. ServiceNow rarely operates in isolation - it must connect with CMDB data sources, monitoring tools, identity providers, and often legacy ticketing systems during migration. Organizations that invest in a robust integration architecture early avoid the technical debt that cripples many deployments.