If you're a ServiceNow Express customer, then you probably already know that ServiceNow is forcing everyone on the Express edition of the "Now platform" to upgrade to the Enterprise edition. While you might think that after an upgrade, you'll have a typical ServiceNow Enterprise instance, that is not the case.

The Enterprise edition of ServiceNow is far more powerful than Express, but there are some significant differences between the two platform editions, and much of the added functionality of the Enterprise edition is not enabled by default after an upgrade. You'll also find that some things in your post-upgrade instance have retained the names of their "Express" counterparts in the Application Navigator, for example; which can make it difficult to navigate around, or use the platform documentation.

In this article, I'll briefly explore some of the differences you can expect, some of the features you can expect to be missing, and how you can enable that functionality post-upgrade.

One of the first things that anyone who's upgrading from Express to Enterprise needs to be aware of, is that you're going to need a developer to handle most new customizations. While in Express, you could get away with having just an 'admin' to handle any customizations (due to the limited subset of customizations that were possible), to make use of much of the functionality in the Enterprise edition of ServiceNow, we strongly recommend having a ServiceNow developer either on-staff, or at least available, post-upgrade.

If you want some help working through the upgrade, or with customizing your instance or enabling Enterprise features and functionality, but you aren't ready to shell out for a full-time developer and/or architect, working "as-needed" with a professional services company can be a great way to keep costs down while also unlocking the Enterprise functionality that will undoubtedly justify the cost of the Enterprise edition of ServiceNow, after your Express-pricing expires.

The ServiceNow Guys have worked extensively with both Express and Enterprise, and we've helped clients both during and after the upgrade process from Express to Enterprise. If you'd like to discuss how we can help you, you can schedule some time to chat with us here.

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