ServiceNow, which offers a cloud-based platform for managing digital workflows, expanded a partnership with Microsoft first formed in 2018, further integrating offerings to infuse security functionality across products and cloud capabilities.

ServiceNow vice president and general manager of the security operations group, Lou Fiorello, said that the primary goal of new security integrations between Microsoft and ServiceNow is to “handle detection and response in a coordinated way for customers.”

The announcement expands integration of the Now Platform with Microsoft products to include collaboration tools, include Azure Sentinel and Microsoft Threat & Vulnerability Management, helping security operation teams “make smarter decisions across security planning, management, and incident response.” The general availability for Azure Sentinel and Microsoft Threat & Vulnerability Management is expected to launch June 2021. For Microsoft Teams and Sharepoint integrations, limited availability will also be released June 2021 with general availability later in the year.

This latest announcement builds upon a partnership first formed in 2018, and expanded in 2019, which integrated ServiceNow functions with Microsoft 365 and Azure. ServiceNow also announced previously that the company would use Azure Cloud as part of its preferred cloud platform for certain highly regulated industries. The partnership has grown significantly under the leadership of Bill McDermott, who joined as CEO in 2019 after serving as chief executive of SAP for nearly a decade.

One of the important features of the integrations, according to Fiorello, is known as major security incident management, which can be described as “a war room” for handling major incidents and security breaches. The offering enables all teams across a company to coordinate in response during a major security incident, like the recent Colonial Pipeline attacks.

Businesses “want to have a virtual war room,” he said. “They want to be able to manage task management, workflow, automation and to kick off chats related to response through Teams,” all of which can then be archived.

Fiorello expects the expanded partnership to benefit existing customers, but also attract new ones that might already rely upon various Microsoft tools for business operations and collaboration. He also hinted at additional opportunities that could come down the road, pointing to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

“There’s a lot of opportunity,” Fiorello said.

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