In the Zurich release, customers can integrate with Microsoft Copilot 365 to provide users with Now Assist-powered self-service in Microsoft Teams. With the Copilot integration, you get instant self-service for employees, fully supported by ServiceNow.
Updated: September 10th, 2025
Prerequisites
- Yokohama Patch 6/Zurich Patch 1 for the latest features (Xanadu Patch 1+ for minimum support)
- Now Assist license (Creator not supported)
- Conversational integration with Microsoft Teams plugin, v10.0.0+
- Virtual Agent plugin
- Microsoft 365 + Teams license
New features in the Yokohama Patch 6/Zurich release:
- New "Custom Engine Agent" implementation means that your conversational catalog and LLM topic interactions remain in Copilot; no more transferring to Teams. *Requires custom bot implementation as of September 10th. Store production bot still uses declarative agent.
- Access the Copilot integration within Microsoft Outlook (other 365 apps planned*).
- New choice list and feedback UX enhancements
High level installation steps
- In your ServiceNow Zurich instance, install/update the Virtual Agent plugin and Conversational integration with Microsoft Teams integration store app, version 10.0.0+.
- Install the Teams integration store app and then enable the Copilot integration in the Now Assist in Virtual Agent Setup page: Assistants > Display Experience > Channels. To create a custom bot, follow steps 3-5 below.
- In your Azure developer portal, create a custom bot.
- In ServiceNow, navigate to Conversational Interfaces Home > Settings > General > Channels, and create a self-configured bot for Microsoft Teams. Generate the manifest file with the custom bot details from Step 3 and with Message Extensions enabled.
- In Microsoft Teams, create an app by uploading the manifest file.
- Users can now access the Now Assist in Virtual Agent integration in Copilot via the 'plugins' icon in the chat bar (search for the bot name).
See documentation here: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/zurich-conversational-interfaces/page/administer/virtual-agen...
Use cases supported natively in Copilot
- Conversational catalog ordering
- Search Knowledge Base
- Now Assist in Virtual Agent LLM topics
Use cases supported in Copilot and routed to Teams
- Live Agent
- Notifications
How to access the bot in Copilot in the Zurich release:
Troubleshooting/FAQ
See the Microsoft Teams integration FAQ for related information and troubleshooting.
When trying to create a custom bot, my manifest file generation fails.
- If generation fails the first time, try the process again.
In the Azure developer portal, I encounter an error creating a custom bot.
- Search the Microsoft support site for details, but it may be because you do not have the right admin privileges.
I can't find my ServiceNow bot in Copilot in the plugins menu
- Verify that you enabled Message Extensions when generating the manifest file. Verify your bot name is one word.
I can't click on the source pills at the bottom of the Copilot response.
- The pills on the bottom are intentionally not clickable. Hover or click on the in-line citation numbers instead to navigate to a source or Virtual Agent topic.
I'm not able to get good query responses.
- Type your bot name in the beginning of your query to improve results quality. Or try again with a more specific query. Use the AI Search preview tool in your instance to determine if there's a content quality or user criteria issue.
My integration response is taking too long/timing out. How do I address this?
- In your instance, turn on 'Streaming' in the Assistants > Conversational Experience setup page for your assistant with Copilot. This is recommended to reduce response times and avoid the Copilot timeout limit. Note: This toggle in the setup page will affect Copilot streaming in the future October 16th release. Until then, customers will need to submit a service request to enable streaming for Copilot.
Is the Copilot integration supported for GCC?
- Yes, so long as the GCC instance can also make an external connection to the Microsoft server..
What is the difference between this integration and one that Microsoft provides as a connector to ServiceNow?
- Microsoft's connector to ServiceNow only retrieves knowledge articles and catalog items as links, as of today. ServiceNow's integration, in collaboration with Microsoft, provides more native, in-line experience for knowledge responses and conversational catalog ordering without leaving the Teams interface. It also provides a Virtual Agent integration and live agent chat. Microsoft may not cover all security controls and user criteria in their connector service. ServiceNow or Microsoft may make changes that impacts the connector's compatibility which requires the customer to resolve on their own.
Is the Copilot integration available for NLU Virtual Agent?
- No.
Does the Copilot integration consume IHub transactions or Assists?
- Conversations in Copilot-only consume Assists. If Copilot hands off to the Teams bot, IHub transactions will be counted.
*Safe Harbor applies for forward looking statements.
Hi, we are seeing our VA Chat in most places where Copilot is accessible to us including Teams and https://m365.cloud.microsoft/chat?auth=2. It's presented as Copilot Agent and it works for us. It seems to be returning results from the Search Sources we've configured in AI Search to work with VA Chat. However, we do NOT own Now Assist licenses.
Is this a fluke that will be corrected at some point (meaning we'll lose it)? Or can we expect it will continue to work for us?
