ServiceNow: Embracing Generative AI to Fuel Business Transformation
The world of business is being reshaped by generative AI, a powerful technology with the potential to revolutionize workflows and drive unprecedented efficiency. While many companies are still grappling with the implications of this technology, SaaS vendors, with their inherent access to valuable data, are poised to lead the charge. ServiceNow, a leading SaaS provider, has positioned itself at the forefront, leveraging its extensive data pool to build powerful generative AI models that are transforming how its customers work.
Chris Bedi, CIO of ServiceNow, emphasizes the crucial role of integrating AI into practical, work-centric experiences. "I’m a firm believer that a model is only as good as the platform. If it’s part of a great model, but it’s not attached to an experience, not attached to a workflow, what’s the point?" This philosophy underpins ServiceNow’s approach, aiming to deliver meaningful AI solutions that directly address real-world business challenges.
Brent Leary, founder and principal analyst at CRM Essentials, echoes this sentiment: "I think ServiceNow’s focus on building their own full-stack generative AI platform gives them the ability to aim their efforts on workflow creation, optimization and integration." By creating AI models deeply integrated with its own platform, ServiceNow is able to streamline processes and enhance efficiency in ways that traditional AI solutions cannot.
ServiceNow’s generative AI strategy encompasses three key areas:
- Empowering Requesters: This focuses on streamlining interactions with individuals seeking information or services, be they customers, suppliers, or employees. The goal is to make it easier for them to find answers and complete tasks quickly and seamlessly.
- Augmenting Agents: ServiceNow leverages AI to empower agents across various departments, including HR, IT, and customer service, by automating repetitive tasks and freeing them to focus on more complex and strategic initiatives.
- Driving Innovation: This ambitious aspect of ServiceNow’s strategy seeks to push the boundaries of AI-driven automation, exploring areas like text-to-code, text-to-workflow, and multimodal interactions. This could ultimately enable users to capture ideas from diagrams or brainstorming sessions and instantly translate them into actionable workflows.
Holger Mueller, an analyst at Constellation Research, applauds ServiceNow’s multifaceted approach: "ServiceNow is implementing a unique AI strategy that is a mix of building, buying and partnering." This approach acknowledges the diverse needs of ServiceNow’s customer base. Some customers are already deeply engaged with AI, while others are still exploring its possibilities. By offering a range of solutions, whether developed internally, acquired, or integrated with partner technologies, ServiceNow ensures that it can accommodate the varied levels of AI readiness across its clientele.
This "build, buy, and partner" strategy includes collaborations with companies like Nvidia and Microsoft, complementing ServiceNow’s own development efforts. This hybrid strategy allows ServiceNow to leverage external expertise while still maintaining control over its vision and direction.
Jeremy Barnes, VP of AI product at ServiceNow, acknowledges the diverse AI landscape within the business world. He emphasizes that while some companies are well-equipped to implement AI solutions, others require greater support: "I’d say the biggest and fastest growing companies have, for the most part, nailed the organizational changes needed to implement digital transformation." To address this gap, ServiceNow works closely with independent software vendors (ISVs) and managed service providers (MSPs) to ensure that even less experienced companies can access the benefits of generative AI.
The market seems receptive to ServiceNow’s AI initiatives. Arjun Bhatia, a financial analyst at William Blair, observes strong demand for ServiceNow’s new Pro-Plus SKUs, which are designed to leverage generative AI: "While it is still early, ServiceNow highlighted strong demand trends for its new Pro-Plus SKUs as enterprises look for ways to invest in gen AI." The lack of pushback on pricing suggests that customers perceive genuine value in these new capabilities.
Stephen Elliot, an analyst at IDC, confirms that ServiceNow’s investment in AI has yielded tangible results for its customers: "Customers I have spoken with that are using Now Assist say early results look very positive with business returns around ticket deflection, knowledge base summarization and improved customer experiences with virtual agents. Cost and team productivity are the core business value realization themes." These early victories demonstrate the real-world benefits of ServiceNow’s generative AI approach.
Bedi distinguishes between two key modes of AI deployment:
- Mode One: Focuses on using AI to improve existing workflows and processes, offering incremental but impactful enhancements to existing methods.
- Mode Two: Envisions a future where AI can completely redefine how work gets done. This mode involves radically exploring new AI-driven processes, potentially leading to entirely new ways of organizing and executing tasks.
ServiceNow has also embraced AI internally, developing the AI Control Tower platform to empower its own engineers. This platform provides a unified experience for developers working with AI models, allowing them to choose and manage different AI solutions without encountering compatibility issues.
Bedi highlights the importance of managing AI models as IT assets: "So a model in production is an asset, and an asset has to have a cyber posture to it, operational resilience to it; we have to know that it’s running when it needs to run. And we’re measuring the efficacy of the models and the adoption of the models." This commitment to rigorous management ensures that ServiceNow’s AI models are reliable, secure, and continuously optimized for performance.
Barnes underscores the company’s long-term vision for AI: "We’re really going from the core use cases for generative AI to reimagining every part of how work gets done." ServiceNow is not merely adding AI to its existing offerings but fundamentally rethinking how its platform can be used to harness the full potential of generative AI to empower users and transform business processes.
ServiceNow’s commitment to developing and integrating generative AI into its platform puts it at the cutting edge of a technological revolution. By understanding the diverse needs of its customer base, fostering strategic partnerships, and prioritizing a rigorous approach to AI management, ServiceNow is poised to become a driving force in shaping the future of work. As more companies embrace the possibilities of generative AI, ServiceNow’s approach serves as a compelling model for leveraging this technology to drive efficiency, innovation, and enduring business transformation.