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I’ve been helping IT teams implement ServiceNow CMDBs for years.
Over time, I’ve seen most first-time CMDB implementations fail because they try to do too much, too fast. Companies assume it’s a simple matter of “loading in all the assets,” and never realize that building everything at once—without a plan—is what actually sets them up for failure. Honestly, I’ve seen seasoned teams fall into this same trap, and early in my career, I did too.
Here are some of the top reasons I’ve seen teams stumble:
Reason #1: Companies fail because they try to build everything at once.
They attempt to stand up every CI class, model every application, and hook in every discovery source—immediately. The CMDB becomes bloated, ungoverned, and impossible to validate.
Reason #2: Companies fail because they have no clear objectives or use cases.
Without a defined purpose—like improving incident response, enabling change control, or supporting audits—the CMDB becomes an IT vanity project. It looks impressive but delivers no real business value.
Reason #3: Companies fail because they underestimate data quality issues.
They assume discovery tools will automatically give them clean, reliable data. But without ownership, reconciliation rules, and validation processes, the CMDB quickly turns into a confusing mess of duplicates, stale entries, and missing relationships.
Overcoming these mistakes is key to building a CMDB that actually supports your business—not just one that checks a box.
But don’t worry—we’ve all been there. The key is to start small, stay focused, and treat your CMDB like a long-term asset, not a one-and-done project.
