Service Portfolio in the Agentic World

[Sujit Agrawal]

A traditional Service Portfolio per ITIL includes all services managed by an organization: those currently live, those in development, and those retired. In the agentic context, however, the portfolio evolves in several ways:

1. Increased Composition and Automation

Services are more modular (assembled and reassembled) by agents as needed. New services can rapidly emerge when agents detect unmet needs.

2. Dynamic Service Catalogs

The catalog isn’t static. It reflects real-time adaptability powered by AI/ML agents. Recommendations for new or updated services come from agents analyzing usage, issues, and trends.

3. Agent-Centric Service Entries

Each service may include a mix of human, digital, and hybrid fulfillment paths, clearly described in the portfolio. Service attributes may include level of autonomy (e.g., fully automated, supervised) and Intelligence type (rule-based, generative, predictive)

4. Lifecycle Management

Agents manage not just delivery, but the monitoring, optimization, and evolution of the service. Automatic retirement or enhancement based on usage data, agent recommendations, and customer feedback. CI/CD pipelines integrated with ServiceNow enable rapid service iteration.

5. Expanded Risk & Compliance Metadata

Services include metadata on AI/agent compliance (ethics, explainability, auditability). Automated risk scoring for new services as proposed by agents or detected through machine learning. ServiceNow GRC (Governance, Risk, Compliance) modules track compliance for both human and digital agents.

6. Seamless Experience Design

Service Portal/Workspaces are agent-aware: Users see services personalized to their context and roles, with explanations whether an agent or human fulfills a request.

As organizations transform, service portfolios need to be living inventories, actively managed not just by humans but by smart digital agents. ServiceNow offers the orchestration backbone and emerging AI capabilities to support this evolution delivering speed, resilience, and a more intuitive user experience.