ServiceNow acquires SaaS management startup VendorHawk to help its customers optimize their SaaS spending and app utilization

ServiceNow has acquired the Seattle‑based SaaS management startup VendorHawk to help its customers optimize their SaaS spending and app utilization. The all‑cash deal is expected to close this month. VendorHawk helps SaaS customer stay on top of all their SaaS spending, vendors, and app utilization. The startup emerged from the Techstars Seattle program in April of 2017. It has raised $1.3 million in total funding, according to PitchBook.

Millions of dollars are spent on underutilized software, and CIOs spend time worrying about minimizing risk from software compliance audits. The ability to manage on‑premises and SaaS assets as companies modernize their software infrastructure is a critical element of successful digital transformation. With the growing momentum of cloud software, SaaS subscriptions can rapidly inundate an organization, often bypassing a company’s IT organization.

“With acquisition of VendorHawk, ServiceNow will now be able to rapidly expanding its capabilities in software asset management to help customers drive digital transformation by providing transparency into software license utilization and costs,” the company said in a press release. VendorHawk has the capability to recognize over 36,000 SaaS apps to discover spend and map redundant apps. VendorHawk is able to recognize app that customers are not aware of.

Founded in 2015 by Ben Stephens, Brian Geihsler and Patrick Lowndes, VendorHawk develops a cloud-based application that centralizes cost implications and enables users to make smarter decisions about SaaS and software vendors.  Its cloud solution helps customers discover, rationalize and optimize SaaS subscriptions across their organization. VendorHawk has broad support for over 36,000 SaaS applications to discover spend and map redundant applications. VendorHawk also analyzes utilization and optimizes SaaS subscriptions for top applications such as Salesforce, Box and Google G‑Suite.

The addition of VendorHawk’s deep expertise in managing SaaS usage and redundancy enhances the current ServiceNow Software Asset Management offering and brings new capabilities in SaaS spend and vendor management. VendorHawk will be added to the Now Platform and offered as part of a ServiceNow Software Asset Management release in 2019.

“Adding VendorHawk’s capabilities to our Software Asset Management service strengthens ServiceNow’s unique value, bringing together essential capabilities into a single, comprehensive platform that greatly improves efficiency while still supporting the employee experience,” said Farrell Hough, general manager, ServiceNow. “Having a real‑time view of all software assets is critical for our customers to consciously rationalize and optimize software spend as they digitally transform.”

“We have focused on providing customers with the ability to discover and manage thousands of instances of SaaS assets across an organization,” said Patrick Lowndes, CEO, VendorHawk. “By adding this capability to their comprehensive platform ServiceNow continues to drive tremendous value to their customers, providing visibility about SaaS that leads to action.”

ServiceNow makes work better across the enterprise. Getting simple stuff done at work can be easy, and getting complex multi‑step tasks completed can be painless. Our applications automate, predict, digitize and optimize business processes and tasks, across IT, customer service, security operations and HR service delivery, creating a better experience for your employees and customers while transforming your enterprise. ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) is how work gets done. For more information, visit www.servicenow.com.