ServiceNow's latest Now Platform focuses on AI, automation

ServiceNow has rolled out the latest version of its Now Platform, containing several new AI-based functions focusing on automation and streamlining a range of internal business processes.

Code-named Utah, the new release features improved business process optimization, including field service management that identifies hidden inefficiencies using the company's AI-powered process mining capabilities. The new capabilities not only improve process speed and performance but also offer users specific actionable insights on how to fix problem areas.

The new offering also features expanded workforce optimization features that better support IT service management and customer service management, including the ability to give human resources departments a single place where they optimize their employee bases. It also better allows managers to maximize the quality of the work their employees, teams and departments are engaged with and keep costs down, ServiceNow said.

"What this version is all about is automating processes and streamlining digital transformation projects," said Jon Sigler, ServiceNow's vice president of platforms. "Process automation is just the starting point for us. We'll continue investing in this area to the point where it will be more about automating processes in the background of the workflows to spot bottlenecks and telling you how to fix them."

One analyst noted that taking a platform approach to AI and automation lowers the barrier to adoption across the breadth of an enterprise, giving an offering like the Now Platform a greater chance at success.

"A platform approach enables consistency by design," said Lara Greden, a research director at IDC. "Enterprise initiatives to digitize workflows require consistency to reduce risk, beginning with consistency in data sources and in how developers approach workflow use cases."

We have a full-on AI team in place and are working with large language models. Given the rapid advancement of ChatGPT, we are laying the groundwork in Utah to be able to work with it.

The company also introduced Impact Accelerators, designed to deliver a faster return on digital transformation investments as well as reduce the time it takes to get dashboards up. The accelerators are designed to give C-suite executives more visibility into ongoing digital transformation projects and a faster time to realize value, Sigler said.

Another AI investment made in Utah centers around improved search capabilities. The improvements are intended primarily to increase productivity by offering more accurate links.

"We have a full-on AI team in place, and we are working with large language models, as is evidenced in the NLU (Natural Language Understanding) offerings we have out there," Sigler said. "Given the rapid advancement of ChatGPT, with about 100 million users, we are laying the groundwork in Utah to be able to work with it. You will see us make inroads there in the next release."

Stephen Elliot, a group vice president at IDC, said he believes the AI capabilities in Utah are well timed given how organizations are shifting to cloud-based technologies and want to achieve ROI quickly from those investments.

Stephen Elliot

"This ongoing migration can help users get faster outcomes and an accelerated time to value via improved automation and increased agility," he said.

ServiceNow has also made improvements in Utah designed to minimize both operational and security risks. One new capability, called Health and Safety Incident Management, helps managers create a culture of wellness and productivity with a collection of tools to report and resolve safety incidents as well as carry out corrective and preventative actions.

Another capability, Workplace Lease Administration, is intended to let facility managers better track contracts and make informed decisions about available office space. This capability allows managers more flexibility to adjust to the evolving role of the physical office as trends in the world of hybrid work change, ServiceNow said.

Lastly, the company has upgraded the Next Experience portion of the Now Platform with a new workspace named Security Incident Response. The enhancement gives security analysts a central location to quickly analyze the data that occurs with a variety of different security events. It also lets users analyze reports within a workspace and leverage the company's Process Automation Designer to manages multiple workflows with no-code playbooks, according to the company.

As Editor At Large with TechTarget's News Group, Ed Scannell is responsible for writing and reporting breaking news, news analysis and features focused on technology issues and trends affecting corporate IT professionals.