In today’s digital workplace, employees expect fast, intelligent support that’s embedded directly into their daily tools. That’s exactly what the integration of Microsoft Copilot and ServiceNow’s Now Assist within Microsoft Teams delivers. This article explains what the integration is, why it matters, and how you can set it up with minimal effort.
What Are Microsoft 365 Copilot and Now Assist?
Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI assistant built into Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, Outlook, and Word. It helps users automate tasks, summarise conversations, draft emails, and more—using context from Microsoft Graph and your organisation’s data.
Now Assist, developed by ServiceNow, is a domain-specific AI assistant that understands enterprise workflows across HR, IT, Finance, and other departments. It can answer policy questions, trigger automated workflows, and guide users through service requests.
When integrated, these two assistants work together to provide a seamless experience. For example, if an employee asks about the company’s laptop return policy in Teams, Copilot understands the intent and passes the request to Now Assist. Now Assist then accesses the relevant policy from ServiceNow and returns the answer—along with options to take action, such as initiating a return request.
Why This Integration Matters
This integration is not just a technical upgrade—it’s a productivity booster. Here’s how it benefits your employees:
- Unified Experience: Employees interact with both assistants directly in MS Teams, without switching apps.
- Smarter Responses: Copilot understands user intent and passes context to Now Assist, which fetches enterprise-specific answers or triggers workflows.
- No Data Migration Required: Each assistant accesses its own data securely. They only share the request context, not the underlying data.
- Faster Resolution: Employees can search knowledge articles, order items from the service catalogue, escalate issues to live agents, and more—all within MS Teams.
Real-World Use Cases
- Search KB - Search the ServiceNow knowledge base for company policies and procedures.
- Conversational catalog ordering - Request IT or HR services through guided conversations
- Live Agent - Escalate unresolved issues to live agents.
- Create content - Leverage ServiceNow data to create with Microsoft 365 apps
Search KB - Search the ServiceNow knowledge base for company policies and procedures.
Finding answers to common workplace questions is now quicker and more intuitive. With the integration of Microsoft Copilot and ServiceNow’s Now Assist in Microsoft Teams, users can search the ServiceNow Knowledge Base (KB) directly from their chat interface—whether they’re interacting with Copilot or Now Assist.
This means employees no longer need to switch platforms or dig through portals. Instead, they can ask questions in natural language and receive accurate, context-aware responses right where they work. This saves time and improves productivity by reducing friction in everyday tasks.
Examples of queries users can ask include:
- “What is my company’s meal-expense policy?”
- “Show me laptop replacement policies.”
- “How can I move positions internally?”
- And more..
Whether it’s a quick policy lookup or guidance on internal mobility, the integration ensures that users get the information they need without delay.
Conversational catalog ordering - Request IT or HR services through guided conversations
Enable users to take control of their own requests with ease. Through the integration of Microsoft Copilot and ServiceNow’s Now Assist in Microsoft Teams, employees can directly act on ServiceNow catalogue items without needing to switch between tools or interfaces.
This streamlined experience allows users to complete common tasks quickly and independently. For example, they can:
- Request access to resources such as a new pipeline dashboard.
- Submit travel approval requests.
- Initiate a new requisition and begin onboarding a new employee.
- And more..
By reducing friction and empowering self-service, this integration helps teams move faster, stay focused, and reduce dependency on manual support channels.
Live Agent - Escalate unresolved issues to live agents.
For topics that are complex, sensitive, or require human judgement—such as personal grievances, policy exceptions, or nuanced service requests—the integration between Microsoft Copilot and ServiceNow’s Now Assist offers a seamless escalation path.
Either your employee can manually give a prompt for Live Agent Chat or you can configure this as a fall back option, when VA is not able to help, it can initiate a Live Agent chat flow by itself.
Create content - Leverage ServiceNow data to create with Microsoft 365 apps
The integration between Microsoft Copilot and ServiceNow’s Now Assist empowers users to generate content in Microsoft 365 applications—such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint—using real-time data from ServiceNow.
By invoking Now Assist in the chat interface in Service Operations Workspace, users can request content creation that draws directly from ServiceNow dashboards, records, or workflows. This means employees can build presentations, reports, or summaries without manually exporting or formatting data.
For example, a user might say:
- “I want to create a PowerPoint presentation using my dashboard data.”
- “Generate a report based on recent service requests.”
This integration streamlines the process of turning operational insights into polished content, helping teams communicate more effectively and act faster on data-driven decisions.
How to Configure the Integration
Setting up the integration is straightforward, especially with the Zurich release. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure the following:
- You have a Microsoft 365 + Copilot license.
- Your ServiceNow instance is running the Xanadu(for minimum support) or Zurich release(for latest capabilities).
- You have a Now Assist license (Note: Creator SKU is not supported).
- The Virtual Agent plugin is installed.
- The Conversational Integration with Microsoft Teams plugin (version 10.0.0 or higher) is installed.
- The Integration Hub license would be required for all the transaction in Now Assist VA bot when Co-pilot hands off to the VA bot, for example during Live Agent chat.
Setup Bot Configuration
- Use the default Now Virtual Agent bot or create a Self-configured bot via the Azure Developer Portal.
- In ServiceNow, navigate to Conversational Interfaces Home > Settings > General > Channels, and integrate a self-configured bot/Now Virtual Agent for Microsoft Teams.
- Once Now Virtual Agent is integrated and copilot integration is enabled (steps mentioned below)
- For a Self-configured bot:
- Manage Bot>Edit Configuration> Give a one word name to the bot and remember to enable the “message extension” check box> Save
- Before you Upload the manifest file in Teams to register the bot, enable copilot integration (steps mentioned below)
- Once, Copilot is enabled - Go back to Conversational Interfaces Home > Settings > General > Channels and integrations>Self-configured>Manage Bot> Edit Configuration> you will see a new check box “Copilot” enable that and give Sample prompts> Save
- Download the manifest and Upload the manifest file in MS Teams to access Self-configured bot in Co-pilot
Enable Copilot Integration in ServiceNow
- Navigate to: Assistants > Display Experience > Channels
- Enable Now Assist in the Virtual Agent setup.
For more detailed steps follow the product documentation on Integrating Now Assist in Virtual Agent with Microsoft Copilot
Additional Resources
- Integration Documentation
- ServiceNow Blog on the Integration
- Microsoft Copilot integration with Now Assist FAQ - Zurich release
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q1: How does Copilot enhance our virtual agent chatbot experience?
A: Copilot offers another entry point for users. Upcoming Microsoft features like Agent Recommendation and M365 surface integration will enhance the experience with Custom Engine Agents.
Q2: Is a Pro Plus licence required for Now Assist VA in Co-pilot?
A: Yes, Now Assist VA in Co-pilot integration in Teams requires a Pro Plus licence.
Q3: Can users access the same functionality as VA bot from ServiceNow, or only through Teams or Copilot?
A: Now Assist is available in Employee Center, Now Mobile, and Microsoft Teams.
Q4: Can the bot search both ServiceNow and Microsoft environments simultaneously for a more comprehensive response?
A: No, when the ServiceNow Copilot agent is selected, it only searches within ServiceNow.
Q5: Our organisation is deploying Copilot and wants access to the Knowledge Base on ESC, without Now Assist. What are the pros and cons of this approach?
A: You must have Now Assist enabled to use the current Copilot and ServiceNow integration. While there are unsupported methods to bring KBs into Copilot, they lack native access controls and features like conversational catalog ordering.
Q6: Can policies be searched in both the KB and SharePoint document stores?
A: This integration searches KB only, unless SharePoint is connected to the ServiceNow Knowledge Graph.
Q7: Do we need a self-configured bot within Copilot for this integration?
A: With our latest release both self-configured and production Virtual Agent are enabled with CEA/Copilot capabilities. Now Assist must be enabled for it to function within the Copilot ecosystem.
Q8: What’s the difference between a Virtual Agent chatbot in Teams and the Self-configured Bot in Copilot? Should we maintain both?
A: You don’t need to maintain them separately. Both are supported within the same manifest file. Microsoft is investing heavily in Copilot, making it omnipresent across M365. Self-configured Bot also supports multiple conversations and represents a gradual shift from traditional Teams bots.
Now Virtual Agent is ServiceNow chatbot that provides an enterprise conversational experience for both employees and customers to resolve common requests and in this context it can be integrated to your Microsoft Tenant and can be accessed from MS Teams.
You can integrate Virtual Agent with Microsoft Teams by configuring your own bots. The self-configured method provides another way for customers to enable the integration without installing the default Now Virtual Agent app that is published on the Microsoft Store
Self-configured bot
Q9: Can the bot be configured to search both environments?
A: Yes, it’s possible. The search will be conducted by Now Assist, not Copilot’s Orchestrator.
Q10: If Copilot licences are assigned to most but not all users, can we still leverage this? What happens to unlicensed users?
A: The free Copilot tier is compatible with the integration. However, users without full licences won’t have access to features like Copilot within M365 products.
Q11: Is Employee Center Pro required?
A: No, EC Pro is not required for Now Assist functionality in Microsoft Copilot.
Q12: Can we restrict KB access based on user criteria, similar to “Can Read” permissions?
A: Yes, access to KBs can be restricted using user-specific criteria, similar to “Can Read” permissions.
*Safe Harbor applies for forward looking statements.
