The upcoming Zurich release of the ServiceNow workflow-automation platform delivers functionality for rapid development of AI apps, security features focused on protecting data and systems amid extensive API integrations, and task mining to pinpoint user workflows that are ripe for AI-powered automation.
The new features were outlined by ServiceNow in a briefing detailing what’s new in the upcoming release of the company’s ServiceNow AI Platform.
The enhancements further ServiceNow’s strategy to make its platform a “system of action” for customers as the company continues to extend its automation capabilities to unstructured data and a wide range of external systems so customers can realize the full benefits of AI.
“We are breaking the silos for our customers. With 400-plus integrations, with the flexibility in the platform, customers can use all these innovations across any type of scale on our own cloud, and they can bring their own elements, or pick our own elements or external elements,” said Kush Panchbhai, senior vice president, AI platform at ServiceNow.
Agentic Development
A new Build Agent is designed to automate and accelerate the application lifecycle – from idea to production — for building fully functional applications. Build Agent obtains requirements, generates code, runs diagnostics to find errors, and deploys the application. The company said Build Agent is intended to help companies be able to produce agents and code at a rate to match the speed of idea production.
A new Developer Sandbox provides dedicated virtual environments that are isolated from production environments so developers can build new portions of an application without creating conflicts. The goal: accelerate and modernize the development process while removing risks so developers can pursue innovative new features and functions.
Securing Integrations, Data
As noted above, ServiceNow has 400 integrations with its workflow automation system. That’s a lot of potential complexity to manage or rein in. And it highlights why new security features in the Zurich release place strong focus on protecting data when systems are integrated via API.
The new Machine Identity Console gives customers a view into all the integrations they have in operation — including high-risk integrations — monitors those integrations in real time, and provides features to improve security posture. Using the console, an administrator can, for example, remove those integrations where access is no longer needed. It could also be used to identify integrations currently using basic authentication that could be upgraded to more robust authentication.
Meanwhile, the new Vault Console provides an understanding of where all sensitive data is stored by leveraging AI-based data discovery. It also lets admins perform data classification. They can assign their own data classifications, or they can accept the system’s recommendations. “Really the goal is to ensure a higher level of security over data and the ServiceNow AI platform. This way, customers can reduce risk,” said Amanda Grady, Vice President and General Manager of AI Platform Security.
The new security features are designed to meet expectations of CIOs, who are asking themselves, “How do I make sure I have the right governance and security and the controls in place so that I do know, as an IT team, or the CTO organization, or the app dev team is very aware of who’s building, what data is integrated, what APIs, what LLMs are actually pulling the data from everything in the enterprise universe as such,” said Jithin Bhasker, Group Vice President and General Manager of Creator Workflows and App Engine.
Finding, Addressing Process Flaws
The final pair of new Zurich features to address: one that enables businesses to identify flaws in processes managed by individual users, so they can be streamlined with AI, and playbooks that can be leveraged to introduce AI into existing flows or applications.
Task Mining complements widely used process mining software offered by ServiceNow as well as point solution vendors. While process mining analyzes enterprise processes, task mining provides visibility into what an individual is doing, with analytics into clicks and actions. “These inefficiencies are discovered automatically…these inefficiencies are then food for our AI agents because they can automate those inefficiencies and make those scenarios super proactive,” said Panchbhai.
The company also introduced Agentic Playbooks, which can be used to infuse AI into existing applications or processes to automate manual functions and improve efficiency. They can be used to empower AI agents to turn data into action by leveraging autonomous workflows. Playbooks adhere to the practice of keeping humans in the loop for verification, approval, or required manual steps.
The Zurich upgrade is expected to become generally available in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.
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