I'm a ServiceNow developer evaluating Databricks as an alternative platform for app development. My pain points with ServiceNow include:
- Limited-to-zero support for developing apps in popular modern frameworks like React, Flask, and so on.
- Buggy implementation of development on popular IDEs, such as VS Code.
- Awkward (at best) support for concurrent development using Git branching and merging.
- Zero integration with common CI/CD tools like Jenkins to facilitate automated testing and deployment.
- Awful implementation of automated UI testing
- Seat-based pricing instead of pricing based on usage
- Unpredictable performance without any ability to control horizontal scaling
- Awful CSS framework that produces unpredictable results and code duplication
I have been working on the ServiceNow platform for about 10 years now, and ServiceNow has consistently prioritized features that give me less control, less choice, and less flexibility.
What appeals to me about Databricks Apps:
- Vendor agnostic (we can host on GCP, AWS or Azure)
- Flexible web development frameworks
- Supports different IDEs
- Supports Git
- MCP integration
- Horizontal scaling
Databricks appears to give me a lot of choice while still abstracting enough of the underlying infrastructure management so that my team can develop and deploy apps efficiently.
Here are some of my apps currently running on ServiceNow:
- Management console for IT services to deploy, query, and de-provision Cloud PCs
- Input form where IT services scan physical laptop assets into the ServiceNow management database
- Scheduling interface for end users to make appointments for refreshing outdated hardware assets
- Migration wizard that walks users through the process of transferring into or out of the company as part of an acquisition or divestiture
- App store interface to facilitate end users browsing and installing from a catalog of approved software applications
My questions:
- Is Databricks Apps a good fit for these use-cases?
- Will migrating ServiceNow hosted apps onto the Databricks platform provide any cost savings?
- Will Databricks apps be more performant than ServiceNow?
In short: while I immediately see the benefits to developers of hosting on Databricks, I'm not yet sure how to make the business case for switching off ServiceNow onto Databricks.
