ServiceNow Grows with IT Workflow Innovation and AI Promise

ServiceNow for years has been steadily iterating on its IT operations platform, but with the advent of generative AI, it is more optimistic about the future than ever before.

ServiceNow reported its third-quarter fiscal 2023 financial results on Oct. 25, announcing revenue of $2.29 billion, a 25% year-over-year gain. Its flagship Now Platform provides a wide array of IT operations and IT service management (ITSM) capabilities. Vancouver — the last major release of the Now Platform — deeply integrates artificial intelligence capabilities. According to ServiceNow, there has been strong demand and interest in the Vancouver update since its rollout last month, driven by the promise of AI.

"In the last year, ServiceNow has doubled down on our AI investments," Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow, said during his company's earnings call. "Others issued press releases; we released products. At ServiceNow, our strategy isn't about exuberance — it's about execution."

ServiceNow Now Assist Brings AI to Workflows

A key feature of the Vancouver release of the Now Platform is Now Assist, which embeds generative AI across ServiceNow's core workflows, including IT, employee, and customer service management.

McDermott-ServiceNow-CEO

ServiceNow is particularly bullish about the potential of generative AI, viewing it as a significant growth tailwind. The company has more than 300 customers in its pipeline from every industry, with every buying center, in every stage of testing, according to McDermott.

Related:Generative AI in ITOps: Its Potential and Limitations

"We launched Vancouver on Sept. 29. That left us one day in Q3 to sign deals, and we signed four large deals," he said. "A U.S. government agency selected our premium offerings to be an early adopter of GenAI, and real estate leader CBRE is harnessing generative AI with ServiceNow to deliver superior service to customers and employees while reducing costs."

ServiceNow President CJ Desai added that organizations are no longer asking about the potential of generative AI and how it can be used in the context of the ServiceNow platform. Rather, the conversations now are all about how fast can they implement the technology, he noted.

"This is not something where now large language models need to be fine-tuned for one customer at a time," Desai explained. "The way our engineering team has implemented this solution, I can tell you, generative AI is probably one of the best, if not the best, complement I've seen to the ServiceNow platform."

Partnerships Paving the Way Forward for ServiceNow

ServiceNow also highlighted the importance of strategic partnerships to the company's growth and innovation during its earnings call.

Related:ServiceNow Expands Digital Transformation Efforts at Knowledge 2023

One such alliance is with Deloitte, a global leader in consulting and financial advisory services. McDermott announced that ServiceNow has a new expanded alliance with Deloitte to help integrate generative AI capabilities around the world.

There is also a partnership with Microsoft that is yielding strong results. McDermott noted that the Microsoft partnership helps organizations migrate to the Azure cloud platform but also opens up new opportunities for ServiceNow across a broader customer base.

"We really are confident that the partnership and the synergy with Microsoft does enable us to bring value to more customers and do so at an unprecedented speed," he said.