The News: ServiceNow announced in late July expanded generative AI tools, including Case Summarization and Text-to-Code, which are powered by proprietary ServiceNow LLMs or other third-party LLMs, and are designed to eliminate repetitive work and significantly improve productivity. In addition, ServiceNow also announced the commercialization of process mining, low-code, AI, and machine learning technologies, which have been embedded into new SKU offerings across IT Service Management (ITSM), Customer Service Management (CSM), and HR Service Delivery (HRSD). These SKUs will be available this September with the Now Platform Vancouver release.
ServiceNow Announces Expanded GenAI Tools
Analyst Take: ServiceNow previously implemented generative AI capabilities on its platform, including Generative AI Controller, which allows organizations to connect ServiceNow instances to Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and OpenAI API LLMs; Now Assist for Search, which provides natural language responses based on a customer’s own knowledge base; and Now Assist for Virtual Agent, which maximizes productivity by eliminating time spent searching for information.
ServiceNow’s addition of two generative AI tools to its platform (Case Summarization and Text-to-Code), are designed to speed up decision-making within companies by automating repetitive tasks.
The Case Summarization tool uses generative AI to automatically compile information from data from IT environments, HR data, and customer service cases, and then automatically creates summaries from this data, speeding up transfers between customer teams and accelerating case resolutions. The generative AI tool is powered by ServiceNow LLMs, which were specifically developed for the Now Platform workflows, automation use cases, and processes. Case summarization also allows customers to use third-party LLMs from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and OpenAI API LLMs.
Meanwhile, the Text-to-Code tool allows developers to transform plain-language prompts into executable code for the ServiceNow platform, speeding up and simplifying routine development tasks. The Text-to-Code Now LLM was purpose-built on a specialized version of a 15 billion-parameter StarCoder LLM, which was developed through the ServiceNow co-led open BigCode initiative, and was trained and tuned using NVIDIA accelerated computing, including NVIDIA DGX Cloud.
An initial set of Generative AI capabilities will be released in September. Additional capabilities will follow in subsequent releases, according to ServiceNow. Further, Generative AI capabilities for agents and end users will be packaged as add-ons to the Pro and Enterprise versions of ITSM, CSM, and HRSD, and will require purchase of the Pro or Enterprise base product, according to ServiceNow. Developer features will be packaged in a Developer SKU, with no base product requirements. Pricing will involve a monthly fee per license with virtually unlimited capacity.
By rolling out these tools – which are low-hanging fruit – ServiceNow is enabling its customers to realize the benefits of generative AI quickly, without a lot of heavy internal lifting.
ServiceNow Pricing Generative AI Technologies as a Premium Offering
ServiceNow is positioning its generative AI tools and functionalities as premium offerings, and is charging additional fees for their use. According to ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott’s comments during a July 23 interview with Yahoo Finance:
“We have pro pricing built into our platform for all the existing AI cases we already have. You have to have the Pro version of the ServiceNow platform, and the generative AI transformational results and solutions will be something we’re calling Pro Plus, and they will be additive to the pricing methodology for ServiceNow because, again, the benefit that the customer will get is so big and the benefit that ServiceNow will get is a fraction of the value that we add to the customer relationship.
But it is an uplift in the pricing structure of the company, and that is why the flywheel for innovation at ServiceNow is so important to us because the customer gets the big benefit, we get a fraction of it. But obviously, that helps our company continue to be the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century.”
Like some other large SaaS vendors, such as Salesforce, ServiceNow is banking on its customers wanting to leverage the benefits of generative AI tools today, even if it means shelling out more fees to do so. It will be interesting to see whether charging additional fees for generative AI functions will cause some customers to take a more measured approach to rolling them out, perhaps limiting the number of users that have access to the tech at first.
Premium SKUs Integrating New Technologies into ITSM Pro and CSM Pro Offerings
ServiceNow also announced that process mining, low‑code, AI, and machine learning technologies have been engineered into ServiceNow products for some time, leading to its record second quarter 2023 growth for the ITSM Pro and CSM Pro offerings. Based on positive results from the company’s early pilots with customers, as well as ServiceNow’s initial use of its own generative AI capabilities, ServiceNow will introduce new premium SKU offerings across ITSM, CSM, and HRSD, beginning in September with the Vancouver platform release, each of which will feature as yet-to-be-determined pricing.
This announcement underscores ServiceNow’s commitment to integrating AI deeply into its core offerings, allowing its customers to reap its efficiency and productivity benefits today. Because these products incorporate generative AI tools and other advanced technology that have been designed specifically to work with the ServiceNow platform, they should provide benefits quickly without a significant amount of customization work required.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other Insights from The Futurum Group:
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Author Information
Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
