Salesforce Takes Aim at ITSM: A New Front in the Battle with ServiceNow

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has confirmed the company will officially enter the IT service management (ITSM) market at Dreamforce 2025 with a new offering called Agentic IT Service.

Speaking on The Logan Bartlett Show, Benioff said: “Come to Dreamforce, and you’ll see. We’ve never been in the ITSM market before, so we’re entering, and we’re building on Slack… ServiceNow is a great company. I think they automate, like 9000 companies – I don’t know what the number is that they have – but Slack is in a million companies.”

Keshan Chetan, EVP and GM of Service Cloud at Salesforce, told SF Ben that customers “have been clear” that they want the company to bring them ITSM, and that the company’s Agentic IT Service “does exactly that.”

Chetan says the solution provides “instant, personalized help to employees directly within platforms like Slack and Teams eliminating frustrating delays.

“For IT teams, it automates incident, problem, and change management, provides rapid issue detection and prevention, and delivers data-driven insights.”

Salesforce contends that the new service will mark a major shift in employee service and IT support, “transitioning from reactive, ticket-based models to a proactive, conversational, agent-first approach.”

A ‘Tit-for-Tat’ Move Against ServiceNow?

It’s easy to see the move into ITSM as Salesforce firing a shot across the bow at ServiceNow and its core business.

Earlier this year, ServiceNow announced it was edging into Salesforce’s established territory of CRM and customer experience. Specifically, the company unveiled its AI-powered ServiceNow CRM. Unlike its previous focus on post-sale workflows via Customer Service Management (CSM), ServiceNow CRM encompasses front-to-back office functions, integrating capabilities for sales, order processing, and customer support.

The launch marked a clear strategic shift: ServiceNow was positioning itself to compete directly in the CRM market.

ITSM is a Critical Entry Point Into The Enterprise

Putting the rivalry with ServiceNow to one side, it’s worth considering what else could be behind Salesforce’s move into ITSM, which has a much smaller total addressable market (TAM) than CRM or CSM.

In a heavy deployment of acronyms, Salesforce already dominates CSM, so moving into ITSM is less about chasing a bigger TAM and more about filling gaps in its enterprise workflow portfolio.

“ITSM may be a smaller market than CSM, but it’s a critical entry point into enterprise operations. Salesforce wants to position itself as a true end-to-end platform for digital transformation, not just customer experience,” says Jessica Davis, principal analyst covering MSPs at analyst firm, Canalys.

Slack Integration a Critical Factor

The Slack integration may prove to be a critical weapon in Salesforce’s arsenal. Salesforce contends that ITSM embedded within the messaging platform makes it a natural fit for customers already using Slack for team collaboration. Moreover, as a built-in distribution channel, it could accelerate adoption and differentiate it from ServiceNow’s standalone platform.

This is because enterprises already invested in Salesforce may see advantages in tighter integration across CRM, customer service, and IT support, potentially reducing their reliance on ServiceNow.

“Slack is how enterprises get work done – 77% of Fortune 100 companies use Slack daily. As a result, an ITSM solution that isn’t Slack-first simply won’t cut it. Employees expect seamless support right from where they work – whether that’s in Slack or an employee portal,” says Chetan.

“That’s why we’ve made it so employees can manage requests, incidents, and tasks with the help of an AI agent directly in Slack. No extra logins or app switching required – teams can get service and support right from where you work.”

New Revenue Streams for Salesforce Partners

ITSM capabilities could also extend Salesforce’s footprint deeper into enterprise workflows, offering opportunities for partners to upsell and bundle ITSM with Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Slack.  Salesforce says it is building more than 100 connectors to partners and third-party systems, ensuring customers can deliver a seamless employee experience on the Salesforce Platform.

Salesforce consultancies and ISVs may also gain new revenue streams in ITSM consulting, integrations, and managed services – but will face a steeper learning curve against ServiceNow specialists, who will also need to learn how to differentiate Salesforce’s ITSM from ServiceNow’s mature platform.

“For Salesforce pros and partners, this creates new service lines and upsell opportunities,” says Davis. “Partners that already sell into IT and HR departments can now extend their Salesforce practices beyond CRM and service into IT workflows.

“It does mean, though, that some partners will need to skill up because ITSM requires a different knowledge base than traditional Salesforce deployments.”

ITSM Market Too Big for Salesforce to Ignore

Nadiya Kreynin, CEO at FortéNext, the USA’s largest B2B Salesforce implementation and managed services partner, believes Salesforce’s decision to move into ITSM signals that the market has grown too big to ignore.

“For ServiceNow, which built its reputation around ITSM workflows, the move introduces a heavyweight competitor with deep customer reach and a strong ecosystem of partners. That alone could slow its growth trajectory, especially in accounts where Salesforce already owns the CRM or customer service stack.”

At the same time, Kreynin contends that Salesforce’s entry validates the size and importance of ITSM.

“Rather than suggesting weakness for ServiceNow, it confirms that enterprise IT workflows remain a lucrative field that warrants major investment,” she says.

“Investors will be watching the pace at which Salesforce converts its existing base into ITSM users, and whether it can deliver equal footing with ServiceNow’s specialized capabilities. The real test is whether ServiceNow can reinforce its dominance in large enterprises by innovating faster and expanding into adjacent areas such as security and AI-driven automation.”

Final Thoughts

The market’s reaction to the move will hinge on how both companies respond: Salesforce leveraging breadth and customer relationships, and ServiceNow defending depth and domain expertise, added Kreynin.

“Early adoption rates and retention figures will give the first clues as to whether this becomes a steady coexistence or a direct battle for enterprise workflow control.”

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