Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has once again stirred the pot, this time with a bold pledge to expand into IT Service Management (ITSM).
During a recent appearance on the Motley Fool podcast, Benioff highlighted how Salesforce is “building new apps, like ITSM.”
The comment followed his earlier teaser during an earnings call: “At our TrailheadDX event… You might get a glimpse of the new ITSM product that’s coming if you look hard.”
While that product flew under the radar at the event, Salesforce seems set to make some significant moves in the ITSM space.
The murmurs are particularly intriguing, given the current dynamics of the ITSM and CRM markets.
ServiceNow, the dominant player in ITSM, has been making waves by venturing into CRM, a domain where Salesforce reigns supreme.
Indeed, in the CRM market, Salesforce outsells its closest competitor – Microsoft – by almost four-to-one.
Yet, ServiceNow now wants to take a big piece of that pie.
ServiceNow Is Making Its CRM Intentions Clear
Earlier this week, ServiceNow agreed to acquire Moveworks for $2.8BN.
In an interview with CNBC, Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow, highlighted how the roll-up will aid numerous front-office teams and bolster his company’s bid to be “the market leader” in CRM.
For years, many have challenged Salesforce’s CRM market dominance, competing primarily on price. So far, they’ve only managed to secure a fraction of the market.
However, ServiceNow can offer something a little different.
Unlike other market players, it doesn’t just compete on front-office functionality.
Instead, it connects its CRM application with various middle- and back-office workflows, touching order management, inventory, invoicing, and beyond.
In doing so, ServiceNow takes an end-to-end approach that enables a more data-rich CRM experience.
While Salesforce may still claim ascendancy in ease-of-implementation and core CRM feature-depth – especially as ServiceNow relies on partners to deliver a marketing CRM – ServiceNow has differentiators.
As such, it may offer a long-term threat to Salesforce, especially given its popularity amongst IT teams.
With AI coming to the fore, these IT teams are increasingly supporting customer-facing function leaders in their buying decisions.
Perhaps that’s just another reason why Salesforce is venturing further into ITSM and – perhaps – being a little cautious of ServiceNow’s bold market moves.
Salesforce ITSM Push – Strategic Countermeasure or Genuine Interest?
Benioff’s ITSM push could be seen as a strategic countermeasure, adding a layer of tit-for-tat rivalry to the competition between the two tech giants.
Over the years, Salesforce and ServiceNow have increasingly encroached on each other’s territories, leveraging their strengths to diversify their offerings.
As this overlap increases, the stage is set for a fascinating battle of innovation and market dominance.
There is significance behind the battle lines that have been drawn. After all, the rise of AI agents and data platforms leaves businesses with new depths of consideration.
Benioff Takes Aim at Microsoft… Again!
Adding another dimension to this competitive narrative, Benioff has also reignited his critique of Microsoft.
In the same podcast, the CEO first expressed his astonishment at the advancement of AI over the last two years.
However, Benioff added: “I think a lot of our customers’ have been very disappointed with a lot of the solutions that have been given to them or even shoved at them. Even Microsft has really disappointed so many of our customers.
Copilot has a dozen copilots in all its different product lines; none of them are connected together; it’s not one source of data or one piece of enterprise code.
This isn’t the first time Benioff has targeted Microsoft; his previous remarks have often highlighted his skepticism about its approach to agentic AI.
Most notably, he likened its Copilot feature to the much-maligned “Clippy” assistant of yesteryears.
Nevertheless, as the lines between enterprise technologies blur, the tech industry is witnessing a high-stakes game of strategy and innovation.
With Salesforce and ServiceNow locked in a competitive dance and Microsoft as a recurring target of Benioff’s critiques, the coming months promise to bring much more innovation – and perhaps more potshots.
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Salesforce vs. ServiceNow – Who’s invading whose turf?
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