ServiceNow is acquiring Intellibot, a robotic process automation (RPA) software company. The acquisition has major implications for MSPs that leverage ServiceNow for co-managed services in mid-market and enterprise settings. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is technology M&A deal number 186 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2021. See all technology M&A deals for 2021 and 2020 listed here.
Intellibot, founded in 2015, has fewer than 50 employees listed on LinkedIn. Still, the acquisition could have big implications for ServiceNow's partner ecosystem -- including global systems integrators, IT consulting firms, MSPs and ISVs (independent software vendors).
RPA Software Market Forecast, Growth and Rivalries
RPA software allows businesses to write code and bots that rapidly automate manual tasks across multiple departments — from IT service desks to HR, finance, customer support and more. Demand for RPA software is accelerating. Indeed, global RPA software revenue is projected to reach $1.89 billion in 2021, up 19.5% from 2020, according to Gartner.
Amid that market growth, multiple companies are acquiring RPA software providers and associated RPA consulting skills. Key RPA software companies include Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate.
Now, ServiceNow is jumping into the RPA action. Intellibot extends ServiceNow’s core workflow capabilities by helping customers automate repetitive tasks for intelligent, end-to-end automation, the buyer says. ServiceNow intends to build Intellibot's capabilities natively into the Now Platform to "enable customers to more easily integrate with both modern and legacy systems to drive productivity and strengthen existing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) efforts," the buyer adds.
ServiceNow Acquires Intellibot: Executive Perspectives on RPA Software
In a prepared statement about the deal, Josh Kahn, SVP of creator workflow products at ServiceNow, said:
“ServiceNow is the platform of platforms for the workflow revolution, offering powerful end-to-end automation capabilities that allow customers to streamline business decisions and unlock new levels of productivity. Our customers represent nearly 80 percent of the Fortune 500, and the vast majority are trying to drive automation across a mix of legacy and modern applications. With Intellibot, we will extend ServiceNow’s ability to help customers connect systems so they can easily automate workflows and drive productivity.”
Added Srikanth Vemulapalli, CTO and co-founder of Intellibot:
“We are proud to join forces with ServiceNow as it continues to invest in powerful end-to-end automation capabilities to make the world of work, work better for people. Our RPA combined with ServiceNow workflows will help businesses better connect disparate systems to accelerate innovation and thrive in a new world of work.”
Vemulapalli co-founded Intellibot with CEO Raghu “Alekh” Barli and COO Kushang Moorthy in 2015. ServiceNow expects to complete the acquisition in Q2 2021.
RPA Software for MSPs that Support Midmarket and SMB Customers
Much of the RPA software industry focuses on enterprise customers. Still, RPA may even eventually catch on in the SMB market as MSPs seek to further automate internal and customer operations.
Microsoft, in particular, may spark RPA's popularity in SMB settings. Indeed, the Microsoft Power Automate software now has a free version for Windows 10 users.
Meanwhile, the ServiceNow-Intellibot deal has potential implications for MSPs that leverage ServiceNow to deliver co-managed services. Indeed, Intellibot has a multi-tenant design, which suggests the RPA platform may be ideal for service providers that want to manage RPA software across multiple customer settings. Moveover, MSPs could leverage Intellibot to further automate their own business processes.
Even before the Intellibot deal, ServiceNow's software has been catching on as an ITSM (IT service management) co-managed bridge between MSPs and corporate IT departments that already run ServiceNow.
