What Happened:
ServiceNow has grown its active partner ecosystem to 2,800 partners today, with projections to exceed 10,000 partners within the next two years as the company targets $30 billion in revenue.
The company is implementing shared infrastructure including standardized MDF programs, co-selling frameworks, and AI-powered tools rather than one-to-one partner support models to manage the rapid expansion across hyperscalers, large SIs, resellers, and ISV build partners.
ServiceNow's partner marketing organization is emphasizing AI adoption through "AI curiosity" initiatives, including monthly office hours where employees share use cases and experimentation across both internal operations and go-to-market activities.
These insights were discussed during a conversation on the Partnerships Unraveled podcast by Channext.
Our Take:
ServiceNow's partner expansion represents one of the most aggressive ecosystem growth strategies in enterprise software today.
Moore's emphasis on "strategic no" discipline is interesting. Her framework of asking whether initiatives tie to primary growth drivers and whether they can scale provides a practical filter for organizations drowning in partner demands.
The shift from supporting 10 partners with white-glove service to architecting systems for 10,000 partners demands what Moore calls "leapfrogging" traditional channel development. Rather than gradually building capabilities, ServiceNow is betting on AI-powered automation and self-service infrastructure to compress what would normally be a decade-long evolution into a two-year sprint.
Particularly notable is ServiceNow's three-pronged partner motion: sell-with (accelerating direct sales), sell-through (partners as primary sellers), and sell-to (partners as customers who become reference accounts). This last category creates a compelling flywheel where partners implement ServiceNow internally, experience the value firsthand, then evangelize to their own customer bases with authentic use cases.
For partnership leaders navigating similar growth trajectories, ServiceNow's experience offers a blueprint: establish foundational infrastructure quickly, maintain laser focus on core metrics, embrace strategic trade-offs, and create psychological safety for teams managing intense pressure. As Moore notes, the privilege of participating in rocket-ship growth requires acknowledging both the opportunity and the overwhelming nature of the work.
Listen to the full interview here.