All enterprise software companies are working to bring more workflow automation and artificial intelligence to the platform. ServiceNow has been on this journey for some time and, given the type of data it collects through interactions on its platform, it is building more refined models.
Some of the shift toward ai is coming internally through construction, some is coming through acquisitions, and some is due to broad partnerships, says vice president of corporate business development Philip Kirk. But whatever the source, it's all in service of building a stronger platform, he says.
“Right now it's a kind of three-dimensional chess to decide whether to build, buy or partner. I think the most important thing we try to prioritize is how we can make decisions that are long-term, that are better for our customers, and that differentiate us from what we know we are world class at, which is business automation on our platform. “Kirk told TechCrunch.
Lara Greden, an IDC analyst who covers ServiceNow, says going beyond construction is a big part of every company's strategy when it comes to ai. “Strategic acquisitions and partnerships are an essential element of corporate strategy in the age of ai,” Greden told TechCrunch.
“Like other big waves of technological innovation, breakthrough capabilities in generative ai are coming through entities that have focused on the technology itself, in other words: startups. “ServiceNow’s acquisition strategy has been in line with our expectations to be a leader in accelerating the value of generative ai.”
ServiceNow has built on that in its latest releases, called Washington DC. The company has embraced generative ai in a way that makes sense in the context of the information the platform monitors and collects, says Jeremy Burns, vice president of ai products at ServiceNow, who came to the company when it acquired its predecessor, Element ai. , in late 2020. That means providing the kind of features for customers looking to leverage generative ai in a customer service context without having to build it themselves.
“And if you look at what's coming in the Washington version, we provide all kinds of features that companies wouldn't really have built, or that people who want to build ai projects wouldn't have been able to gather evidence for.” concept, and for us to build it on the platform for them makes a lot of sense,” she said.
Keith Kirkpatrick, an analyst at Futurum Group, says ServiceNow is making it easier for people who have some domain knowledge to create things like intelligent workflows without turning to a developer or workflow expert.
“ServiceNow's focus has been on integrating generative ai to improve entire workflows, not just individual processes or tasks. “This is a critical point of differentiation for them as it enables intelligent automation of multi-step processes that previously required a significant amount of effort and switching between applications to complete,” Kirkpatrick said.
Virtual agents or ai agents are also taking center stage in this release, which would make sense given ServiceNow's capabilities to help answer customer questions and complete tasks. And just as ServiceNow is developing ai capabilities for its customers, it is working with partners where it makes sense and is outside their areas of expertise, Greden said.
“The company's focus on Virtual Agent's conversational capabilities is important because getting conversational generative ai right offers significant return on investment (ROI) potential for end customers. However, doing it well is not easy,” he stated. “That's one of the reasons why platform providers are strategic partners of choice for organizations in the age of ai, because they can take on the data science work to make the technology work and work well. They also play an important role in guiding clients with best practices in data governance and control.”
The Washington version is available starting Wednesday for all ServiceNow customers.