ServiceNow Says It’s in CRM Now — What Does That Really Mean?

In January 2025, during their Partner Kickoff event, ServiceNow made it official “We are in CRM.” Yup, the same ServiceNow we’ve known for IT workflows is now stepping into the CRM world. If you’ve been paying attention, this move isn’t totally out of the blue. Over the past few years, their Customer Service Management (CSM) product started adding features that sound a lot like CRM things like case tracking, live chat, knowledge base, self-service, AI tools, and even a full customer view. ServiceNow Says It’s in CRM Now, what does that really mean for Salesforce?

What is ServiceNow?

ServiceNow is an intelligent, cloud-based platform for automating and improving business processes. It helps to make workflows efficient. It also drives the move to digital ways of working. The Now Platform is like a ‘System of Action’. It brings together various systems and data. This makes work easier, connects tasks, and automates many steps throughout the company. And now, they’ve just said it out loud: they’re doing CRM.

Are They Competing With Salesforce?

Not exactly. ServiceNow isn’t building a simple plug-and-play CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot. Their focus is different: It’s for large companies with complex systems running in the background.

Instead of just tracking sales or support tickets, they want to tie everything together: orders, inventory, finance, and customer service — all powered by AI. Think less “quick setup” and more “deep enterprise integration.”

Learn about ServiceNow vs Salesforce: Key Differences Explained.

So What’s the Catch?

Well, ServiceNow isn’t the easiest thing to roll out. It takes planning, technical experts, and time. That’s fine for big enterprises but not every company wants that level of complexity. And even though IT plays a bigger role in CRM these days (especially with AI), it’s still customer service leaders who make the final call. ServiceNow will need to speak their language more.

Also, handing over AI tools without support can backfire and they seem to know that. That’s why they’re hiring 3,000+ people to help with this CRM push.

Who Should Look at This?

If your company already uses ServiceNow for other things like IT or HR and you want to bring customer service into that same system, this could be a great fit.

You get one platform, smart AI tools, and deep integration with backend data. They’ve even started teaming up with big contact center tools like Genesys, Zoom, and Five9. So it’s not just a half-step — they’re going for it.

Final Take

ServiceNow isn’t trying to replace Salesforce for everyone. But this is a serious option for big companies looking for a powerful, all-in-one service platform. It’s early days but the move is bold. ServiceNow Says It’s in CRM Now, what does that really mean for Salesforce? And we’ll be watching how it plays out.