Table of Contents
1. Headless & Frontend Choice
ServiceNow is moving to a headless approach just like Salesforce (CRM) announced a few weeks ago. For review, “headless” means separating backend function from frontend interaction. Why do this? Flexible access to work and data without navigating a specific frontend or user interface. Instead of logging into ServiceNow or Now Assist AI, you can use everything in there via a client’s desired model context protocol (MCP) framework and APIs. Because the backend is where lucrative data and context reside, separating from a specific user interface allows customers to realize the value NOW provides in more ways and via model context protocol (MCP) and natural language. This unleashes Anthropic, OpenAI and so many others to more easily include ServiceNow in their automated work.
- Model Context Protocols (MCPs) ensure autonomous agents can connect to other agents and apps to obtain needed information and sharpen goal-oriented work completion. This helps broaden available context to expedite root cause analysis of various issues.
NOW’s AI, informed by decades of data and experience, can now plug into 3rd-party software and agents in an interoperable and open manner. The customer utilizing a headless option gets less structure and support from the lack of standardized and uniform frontend connection. On the other hand, they unlock customization and the explosion in AI agents makes the aforementioned lack of structure a less difficult problem to overcome. This makes outcomes and tasks the new product currency instead of positioning specific applications as the products to be used manually by developers. It packages all of the insight, governance, permissions, security, structure, ubiquitous integrations and applications all into one bundle to sell incremental value, rather than seats. They call this the “Action Fabric,” and think their combination of omnipresent integrations and a mountain of data makes them an ideal partner for frequent agentic workflow inclusion.
Anthropic and Claude Cowork are the launch partners helping to morph from “tool provider to action.” ServiceNow’s control tower will govern and control every action, helping pair the probabilistic promise of AI with the deterministic certainty of good software. As I said when Salesforce made this same headless move, it’s a great decision. It’s always a good thing to make it easier for industry leaders to work with you. This is available today.
While NOW is determined to let customers use their favorite tools in its platform, they still want those selections to routinely include their 1st-party products. With this in mind, ServiceNow is bundling three AI products under a new product package called “Otto.” It features the Now AI Assist chatbot, their new platform-wide interface called AI Experience and Moveworks. As a reminder, Moveworks (now EmployeeWorks) is an AI assistant for employees that offers a consolidated dashboard for inquiries across IT, HR and all other major departments. It can actively troubleshoot and help remediate. When combining all of this product utility, NOW unifies important tasks like enterprise search across departments, driving better work through more complete context. Sticking with the theme of “offering action, not tools,” this is meant to serve as an upgraded and more compelling option for the aforementioned headless Action Fabric. If customers want to use this as their frontend interface for accessing ServiceNow’s services, they can easily do so. If they want to use a 3rd-party frontend? They can do that as well.
- ServiceNow integrated its “Build Agent” suite of developer tools with “nearly every” major AI coding tool so that customers can use these tools in their preferred environment No matter what 3P vendors are used within this initiative, NOW is the deterministic governing body ensuring everyone is behaving properly and working efficiently. That’s why they’re calling themselves the “adult in the room.”
- Interesting new partnership with Lenovo. That hardware vendor is integrating xIQ Digital Workplace with ServiceNow’s AI platform. This will feed the Action Layer with more real-time and proactive data, quickly triggering tickets and preventatively handling issues with increasing regularity. Issues with software or battery can now be detected before a user even realizes them 40% more frequently. In early testing, this is lowering IT support costs by 30% while improving the employee experience by 30%.
- CVS cut agent handoffs to customer service reps by 50% in a month with NOW.
- Honeywell reduced service desk conversations by 80% with NOW.