In a pandemic, it’s critical for government agencies and healthcare providers to mobilize quickly. Washington State is ground zero in the United States for COVID-19 where the first US deaths were reported in February 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Since then the disease has spread to nearly every state in the country, and is now a global pandemic. Health officials have been working around the clock to contain the virus.

Today ServiceNow announced a customer care plan to support our public and private sector customers in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this effort, we’re announcing four new community apps to help our customers, including government agencies and enterprises, manage complex emergency response workflows. These apps are now available at servicenow.com/crisisresponse for customers to access free of charge through September 30, 2020.

Five things to consider for reinvigorating your optimization efforts. Remember that one amazing toy you simply HAD to have as a kid? It’s all you could think about. Every day without it actually felt painful. But when you finally managed to save up enough money to buy that wonderous thing…what you ended up with was a huge disappointment. It didn’t do what was promised. It broke easily. It was cheaply made. And it quickly was added to your heap of discarded playthings.

A service desk is the nerve center for all activities related to IT service delivery. It’s at the forefront of all interactions an organization has with its requesters. Implementing a service desk involves processes, workflows, and domain knowledge. That’s why most people stick to a framework when setting up a service desk. Learn more about the most popular ITSM framework. A service desk comes with numerous challenges that can be overcome if you are aware of the best practices.

Routine manual tasks consume IT and service desk resources and limit your team members’ ability to move ahead with higher-impact strategic projects. Every minute saved is 60 seconds freed to reassign people to innovation, strategic projects, and critical business challenges. Automation streamlines the management of complex hybrid environments by automating infrastructure, cloud, and workspace- automation processes required to support the business.

Earlier this year, I predicted that Artificial intelligence (AI) would move from innovation labs to mainstream workflow projects this year. In IT organizations, I believe service management teams will lead this trend. Here’s why.

Here at ServiceNow we think people should be able to work the way they want to, not according to the rigid dictates of legacy software. Thanks to the Now Platform, help is on the way. The Now Platform Orlando release features new AI and analytics capabilities designed to make work, work better for people. We call this group of capabilities Now Intelligence. Now Intelligence enhances IT, employee, and customer workflows, so every department in your company can work smarter and faster.

I’ve always been a huge fan of mystery novels and true crime stories. It seems true crime is having an especially big moment right now, from serial killer documentaries to podcasts. Like so many people, I find myself drawn in as I read, watch, or listen to the criminal investigation. It’s fascinating how detectives work, diving into the smallest of details to solve massive crimes.

A friend of mine recently shared an experience with me that he had while working as a manager for a software manufacturer. The experience was about an employee he had to terminate. He told me that after meeting with the employee and HR, he completed the paperwork that was required and sent it back to the HR department. Six months later, he received an email from finance giving him an overview of the expenses for his department.

Last week, ServiceNow hosted its annual Federal Forum, where federal leaders and industry partners convened for one day in Washington, D.C. to discuss how they are digitizing services for federal employees and citizens. Having joined the ServiceNow team less than a year ago and having previously worked in the federal government, I was fortunate to hear our federal customers share their dynamic stories and learn more about the steps they are taking to accelerate their modernization journey.