From Development to Production: Ask ServiceNow's AI Experts Anything

[ryanyong]

Hey everyone, I'm Ryan, an engineer on ServiceNow's Forward Deployed Engineering team. We're a team of experts and builders who've gained deep AI deployment expertise at tier 1 technology companies and research labs. We're certified experts on the ServiceNow AI Platform, with direct access to Product and the ServiceNow C-suite.

What we do
We partner directly with customers facing the most complex challenges to co-innovate agentic AI use cases and ship them to production on the ServiceNow AI Platform.

Why this thread
If you're a ServiceNow customer sitting on AI entitlement you haven't fully put to work, this is your chance to ask the Forward Deployed Engineers building these solutions in the field. Bring your hardest questions about moving from unused credits to AI running in production, and getting the most value out of your existing ServiceNow investment.

Ask us anything. We are the subject matter experts, and we will get you an answer.

We'll be answering live from August 3rd to 7th. Post your question anytime between now and 8/7, upvote the ones you want answered first.

[gulatia]

Thanks.

[Boston]

For organizations just starting with agentic AI, do you recommend focusing on a few high-value workflows first, or building a broader AI strategy from the beginning? What approach has delivered the best long-term results in your experience?

[Dustin Gannon]

I actually think you need elements of both.

One thing I've seen in some of the most successful transformations is that the organization recognizes that becoming AI-first creates new roles and responsibilities.

What I've seen work less well is bringing everyone into an AI transformation program while everybody keeps exactly the same job description, responsibilities, measurements, and incentives—and then somehow they're also expected to become “AI-first.”

I like having somebody formally tasked as an AI steward.

That person's job is to look across the organization and continually ask how AI transformation should be applied through whatever lens makes sense for the business.

I've seen both top-down and bottom-up strategies work.

But one of my favorite exercises is incredibly simple and has worked for years: build a two-by-two matrix.

On the vertical axis, put hard at the bottom and easy at the top.

On the horizontal axis, put low value on the left and high value on the right.

Then give everyone on the team sticky notes and let them get every idea out of their heads. Put those ideas collectively onto the matrix.

Now you can immediately see your high-value, low-effort opportunities.

That's usually where I want to start creating wins.

And there's another piece I think organizations underestimate: once you formally give people responsibility for doing this work, I believe it should be connected to their performance, career path, and - in many cases - their compensation.

If you're asking people to reinvent work and potentially improve it by an order of magnitude, those people should have the opportunity, status, recognition, and upside that comes from leading that transformation.

This isn't fundamentally about getting rid of humans or getting rid of jobs.

It's about creating new ways for humans to work.

Give people the roles, titles, recognition, and incentives that allow them to rise to that occasion.

[richandrews]

I'm looking to transition into a Forward Deployed Engineering role, bridging my background in technical product management and systems optimization. I recently wrapped up the ServiceNow RiseUp Advanced AI Foundations cohort and have been actively building local multi-agent workflows. When you see PMs or systems directors transition into FDE, what technical or client-deployment gaps do they usually need to close first?

[Dustin Gannon]

It's an interesting transition because you're moving from strategy into execution.

Yes, you want to get your technical chops up.

But what's also really interesting about the world today is that more and more execution can be accelerated through AI-assisted engineering, vibe-coding, prompt engineering, and related techniques.

You don't necessarily have to become the world's greatest JavaScript syntax expert.

What you do need is a really strong systems-thinking brain and the ability to understand capability, architecture, and design.

I think about it as three circles in a Venn diagram:

• Know the platform.
• Know the capabilities.
• Know the business.

You want to become the person standing in the dead center of all three.

That's where a really strong FDE / FDE Architect creates value.