Imagine a workforce of AI Agents tirelessly working behind the scenes—executing approvals, resolving tickets, looking up external databases, executing exemptions and escalation processes, conducting financial audits, reviewing corporate policy and managing compliance checks. These AI agents function like digital employees, each with a defined role, ensuring round-the-clock efficiency and precision.
The future of service delivery is being shaped by Agentic AI, where intelligent agents autonomously orchestrate workflows, make decisions, and optimise business operations. ServiceNow is at the forefront of this transformation, embedding AI-driven automation across your entire organisation to drive efficiency, reduce friction, and enhance service experiences.
Key aspects of ServiceNow’s vision for agentic AI include:
- Autonomous Digital Agents: AI-powered workflows that proactively manage requests, incidents, and processes without human intervention.
- AI-Enhanced Decision Making: AI models that analyse vast datasets to provide actionable insights, optimising business outcomes.
- Dynamic Workflow Adaptation: Self-learning workflows that evolve based on user behaviour and operational data.
- Seamless Human-AI Collaboration: AI working alongside employees to enhance productivity while allowing human oversight where necessary.
By integrating Agentic AI into service delivery, ServiceNow ensures that enterprises remain agile, efficient, and prepared for the next wave of digital transformation.
What are AI Agents? | ServiceNow
Government Use Case: Security Clearance Application with Multiple Approvals
Let's explore a government security clearance process using AI agents to automate and streamline the approval and background check process for individuals applying for high-level security clearances.
In a typical security clearance process, several departments and checks are involved:
- Background checks (criminal, financial, etc.)
- Interviews with references
- Review of personal information
- Assessment of loyalty and trustworthiness
- Compliance with security protocols
The process is often slow due to the number of steps involved, especially when it comes to verifying information, gathering data, and confirming eligibility.
Summary of the Process using ServiceNow for security clearances can deploy AI agents:
- Application Submission: The applicant submits a request via ServiceNow Portal.
- AI agents Work in Parallel: Various specialised AI agents handle background checks, financial reviews, reference checks, and psychological assessments.
- Ongoing Monitoring: Continuous monitoring for any changes in the applicant’s status after clearance.
- Final Review: Once all checks are completed, human officers make the final decision.
- Notification and Tracking: All stakeholders are updated in real-time, and every action is tracked for transparency.
In this use case, AI agents help streamline a traditionally slow, manual process and ensure that high-security clearance decisions are made faster, with greater accuracy, while reducing the administrative burden on government employees.
Say hello to real AI Agents | ServiceNow AI Agents launch event
ServiceNow Data Fabric: The Data Foundation for Agentic AI
ServiceNow’s Data Fabric provides a next-generation approach to managing data, workflows, and AI. Two key innovations—Raptor DB and Zero Copy Integration—offer unprecedented advantages for AI-driven automation and decision-making.
Raptor DB: High-Performance Data Processing
- Raptor DB is ServiceNow’s purpose-built high-speed database that enables real-time analytics and ultra-fast query processing.
- It allows AI agents to access and process vast amounts of data instantly, eliminating delays in decision-making.
- Designed to scale effortlessly, Raptor DB ensures that AI-driven workflows can handle increasing complexity and data volume without performance bottlenecks.
Zero Copy Integration: Unlocking Seamless Data Access
- Traditional data integrations require data duplication, leading to inefficiencies and security risks.
- Zero Copy eliminates the need for data replication, allowing AI agents to access real-time data directly from sources of truth.
- This approach ensures data integrity, reduces latency, and enhances security by keeping sensitive data within its original system.
Our biggest AI release yet | ServiceNow Xanadu release
Scoped Applications: The Secure Modular Foundation for Agentic AI
ServiceNow Scoped Applications provide a structured environment where organisations can deploy and manage AI-driven automation securely. Each AI agent operatesmicrotasks independently within the ServiceNow Scoped Application framework, ensuring that every action is logged, secure, and compliant while accelerating what traditionally took weeks into hours.
ServiceNow's scoped applications with App Engine enhance Agentic AI by improving security, modularity, and scalability in the following ways:
- Security
- Scoped applications encapsulate data, processes, and scripts, preventing unauthorised access to sensitive AI operations.
- Role-based access control (RBAC) ensures AI components interact only with authorised users and services.
- Isolation between applications minimises risks of data leaks or unauthorised modifications.
- Modularity
- AI capabilities are developed as independent, reusable components within scoped applications.
- Low-code/no-code development enables rapid deployment of AI-driven workflows without altering core platform functionality.
- Plug-and-play architecture allows AI features to be updated or replaced without disrupting the entire system.
- Scalability
- Cloud-native architecture ensures AI workloads can scale dynamically based on demand.
- Scoped applications enable distributed processing, reducing system bottlenecks.
- ServiceNow's integration capabilities allow AI models to evolve while maintaining seamless interaction with existing workflows.
By leveraging ServiceNow App Engine, Agentic AI can operate securely within controlled environments, adapt flexibly to new AI features, and scale efficiently to support enterprise needs.
Data → Workflow → AI: The ServiceNow Advantage
With Raptor DB and Zero Copy, ServiceNow enables a seamless flow from data to workflow to AI-driven automation:
- Data is accessed in real-time from authoritative sources without duplication.
- Workflows trigger automation based on live data insights.
- AI agents leverage contextual intelligence to execute tasks efficiently.
This end-to-end Data → Workflow → AI pipeline is unmatched by any other platform, positioning ServiceNow as the leader in secure, scalable AI-driven enterprise automation.
Sovereign AI: ServiceNow’s Onshore Data Centers & AI Processing
ServiceNow’s sovereign AI offering provides a secure, compliant, and onshore environment for organisations handling sensitive or regulated data. Unlike public AI models that process data in foreign data centers, ServiceNow ensures that:
- All AI processing occurs within secure onshore data centers.
- Data sovereignty laws and compliance frameworks are strictly adhered to.
- Onshore support teams provide localised expertise and rapid response times.
Extending Existing Architecture: AI Without Disruption
Unlike standalone AI tools that require external integrations, deploying AI in ServiceNow is not about plugging in a new tool—it’s about extending existing architecture. Organisations using ServiceNow already have:
- Role-based access controls ensuring secure AI interactions.
- Predefined workflows that AI can seamlessly enhance.
- Familiar user interfaces within ServiceNow portals, reducing adoption friction.
By embedding AI directly into ServiceNow workflows, organisations can harness AI-driven automation without disrupting existing processes, minimising risks and maximising return on investment.
Conclusion
In today’s digital landscape, enterprises and government organisations are seeking secure, scalable, and contextually intelligent AI solutions. ServiceNow’s Scoped Applications, combined with its Australian Protected sovereign AI infrastructure and unparalleled data connectivity, provide a unique opportunity to unlock productivity gains with Agentic AI—a system of specialised AI agents that operate 24/7 to automate tasks, streamline workflows, and enhance decision-making.
Unlike standalone AI tools, ServiceNow enables organisations to extend their existing workflows, leveraging their current architecture, data, and user interactions within the platform. This ensures seamless integration, minimal disruption, and maximum efficiency.
Scoped applications in ServiceNow provide the ideal foundation for Agentic AI, enabling organisations to deploy secure, scalable, and context-aware AI agents that operate autonomously. By leveraging AI agents within a structured ServiceNow environment, organisations can achieve unparalleled efficiency—securely, at scale, and with full compliance.
