ServiceNow continues to commit to an AI-enabled future in which many tasks traditionally handled by humans are performed autonomously. The company’s AI platform approach has also extended its reach in enterprise teams beyond ITSM and help desk into a full-breadth product offering.
We spoke with Sankha Nagchoudhury, SVP of digital business services and experiences at ServiceNow, about the platform, its partnership with Tanium, and more.
Nagchoudhury explains how ServiceNow leverages its own technology to automate service desks
ServiceNow, like many organizations offering AI to customers, leverages its platform technology internally throughout its operations.
To do that, Nagchoudhury says, the company has been deliberate about bringing internal teams the training and enablement they need to be successful.
“We have to be at the forefront of tech, and that is the culture with our people as well,” Nagchoudhury said. “We always ask for grace with our people as well, because we are moving very, very fast, and we take them on that journey with us.”
Navigating AI concerns and fears of human replacement
As AI in its many forms continues to gain prevalence across tech stacks and use cases, concerns have remained in the minds of many. Whether because ROI is not as easily attainable as thought or because some worry about a future in which humans are less necessary to businesses that employ them, there is as much concern as there is optimism about an AI-enabeld world.
To Nagchoudhury, that concern is not just understandable but in some ways unavoidable.
“If you think about it, this world of autonomous IT where AI writes the code and AI does the testing and AI even does the deployment, where is the human? That’s the angst people have,” he said.
“When I started talking about a zero service desk, meaning there’s no human on the other side of a phone, that was a culture shock,” Nagchoudhury continued. “Everyone thought our CSAT would go down and it would be awful. Instead, the opposite has happened, because people are so busy, they don’t have time to wait for someone on a phone. They like that the AI has the answer they need right on the device they are working on.”
Plus, Nagchoudhury said, as people use AI more outside of the work, the comfort level towards applying it to workflows is changing over time, too. Even still, he acknowledges AI isn’t perfect.
“Now there is always a concern with it hallucinating and whether it’s giving a right answer, and that is a very true concern. It’s getting better every day, but is it there yet? The answer is no,” he said. “In that way, the human will always be there in the loop.”
Ensuring security and governance in ServiceNow’s AI platform
ServiceNow touts its offering as the “AI platform for business transformation,” as Nagchoudhury says, because it capabilities extend beyond the scope of IT to include features that aid legal, finance, marketing, HR, and other functions.
It does so by leveraging a variety of agentic AI functions and other key features, all of which use copious amounts of data to automate workflows and provide actionable insights.
Because of this, ServiceNow needs to continuously innovate on how it maintains security and governance for its customers, many of which are in highly-regulated industries.
“Security is paramount. When we are thinking about the platform and our products, we are always thinking AI first. Then we are thinking security first. There is no second,” Nagchoudhury said. “So AI first, security first, and protecting data is very critical as well. We are in critical business, in government, in financials, so that protection becomes key.”
“Most of our customers, wehen they are evaluating technology, their first priority is security,” he continued.
Inside the ServiceNow–Tanium partnership
We spoke with Nagchoudhury onsite at Tanium Converge, where he spoke on the mainstage about the companies’ shared commitment to mutual partners and customers. He reiterated to Channel Insider that partnerships with companies like Tanium are a crucial part of how the company addresses security within the platform.
During the conference, Tanium announced the extension of the partnership to include deeper integrations between Tanium’s platform offering and the ServiceNow AI platform.
ServiceNow has also deployed Tanium’s technology to enhance real-time visibility and control across its own IT environment.
“Partnerships are very critical for us. It’s not like we can do everything,” Nagchoudhury said. “There are many companies, like Tanium, who do fantastic work in their space. We are very fortunate to have these seamless integrations in place.”