The tech world is rife with stories of incumbents launching internal challengers to combat agile startups. The latest one being ServiceNow launching its AI native solution Flow to take on new age rivals.
This reminds me of Siebel story - the largest CRM business of its time, totally unbeatable and lost to a startup (called Salesforce).
What happened? Instead of solidifying their position, Siebel created chaos. They launched a new product to compete with Salesforce’ cloud CRM.
With two teams competing for the same customers, confusion reigned. One team could win, but everyone lost in clarity. Sales strategies became muddled; customers faced mixed messages, and even positioning suffered.
As companies like ServiceNow look to roll out their own AI-native solutions (Flow), this history (might) repeat itself. Two teams fighting over the same client just leads to chaos: a lesson worth heeding.
Instead of launching internal competitors, incumbents might consider a hard pivot or even acquisition. Just look at what Adobe did and what Salesforce is doing now.
Tl;dr: Don’t let internal rivalry cloud your strategy. Embrace clarity instead of chaos.
What's your take on ServiceNow's launch of Flow?
