Customer self-service using the Business Portal

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Customer self-service using the Business Portal

    The Business Portal empowers business-to-business (B2B) customers to independently manage their product and service interactions. Customers can browse catalogs, create and manage orders, request quotes, and handle invoices and disputes all within a unified self-service environment. Integration with the ServiceNow Otto Virtual Agent enhances the experience by enabling conversational interactions through chat and voice channels.

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    Key Features

    • Order Management: Customers can browse the product catalog, configure products, build orders, and submit them for fulfillment. They can also create and view order cases, request updates, and make changes to unfulfilled orders via the Business Portal or ServiceNow Otto Virtual Agent.
    • Request for Quotes (RFQs): Customers can submit RFQs specifying budget and pricing preferences without needing to engage sales agents. The portal streamlines the entire RFQ lifecycle from submission through internal review and quote acceptance, improving transparency and turnaround times.
    • Invoice and Dispute Management: Customers can view detailed invoices and raise disputes for discrepancies such as quantity mismatches or incorrect billing details. The self-service playbook guides users through disputing single or multiple invoice line items. The ServiceNow Otto Virtual Agent can validate eligible disputes and resolve them automatically by issuing credit notes or replacement orders, or escalate as needed.
    • Conversational Support: The Otto Virtual Agent enables customers to request order changes and dispute invoices using chat and voice commands. This conversational interface facilitates quick resolutions and seamless escalation to billing specialists when necessary.
    • Agentic Workflow for Billing Specialists: Billing specialists benefit from an agentic workflow integrated with ServiceNow Otto, designed to streamline invoice dispute resolution by providing case validation, similar case insights, and guided resolution steps to improve consistency and efficiency.
    • Email Notifications: Customers receive notifications when invoice cases are created or closed, specifically for cases initiated through the Otto Virtual Agent, keeping them informed about credit notes or replacement orders.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Enables B2B customers to self-manage orders, quotes, and invoices, reducing dependency on support staff and accelerating transaction cycles.
    • Improves customer satisfaction through transparent, streamlined processes and real-time conversational support.
    • Reduces manual effort and errors in billing dispute resolution with automated validations and agentic workflows.
    • Supports multichannel interactions (portal, chat, voice) offering flexibility and convenience to customers.
    • Ensures customers stay informed via targeted email notifications about the status of their invoice cases.

    Business-to-business (B2B) customers can use the Business Portal to browse product catalogs, create product orders, create and view order cases, manage invoice and invoice cases, and request for quotes.

    Creating orders using the Business Portal

    The Business Portal uses the product catalog to let customers browse and configure products. Customers can also build orders and submit them for fulfillment.

    Creating and viewing order cases

    Customers can create and view order cases for orders or order line items using the Business Portal.

    Customers can request changes to their unfulfilled orders from the ServiceNow Otto Virtual Agent in the Business Portal using chat and voice channels.

    Creating requests for quotes (RFQs)

    Customers can request for quotes for products or services they're interested in via the Business Portal. They can specify budget and pricing preferences, and submit quote requests without engaging a sales agent. Simplify the RFQ life cycle from submission and internal review to quote generation and customer acceptance, ensuring faster turnaround times and improved transparency.

    Managing invoices and invoice cases

    From the Business Portal, customers can view their invoices and invoice line details, including quantities, billing and shipping locations, and product information. If they notice a discrepancy such as a quantity mismatch, incorrect part number, or wrong billing or shipping location, they can submit a dispute using the self-service playbook, which guides them through the process step by step. They can dispute multiple line items on a single invoice, or raise issues across multiple invoices at once. For more information, see:
    Customers can also chat with an AI assistant or use voice commands to report discrepancies conversationally. For eligible quantity disputes, the AI assistant can validate their claim and resolve it on the spot by issuing a credit note or replacement order. If an issue needs further review, customers are seamlessly connected to a billing specialist with full context already in hand. For more information, see: .

    Managing order cases using ServiceNow Otto

    Business-to-business (B2B) customers can request changes to their unfulfilled orders from the ServiceNow Otto Virtual Agent in the Business Portal using chat and voice channels.

    Managing invoice cases using ServiceNow Otto

    B2B customers can dispute invoice cases from the ServiceNow Otto Virtual Agent in the Business Portal using chat and voice channels.

    ServiceNow Otto for Order Management includes the invoice dispute assist agentic workflow. Billing specialists can invoke the invoice dispute assist agentic workflow from the ServiceNow Otto panel to review the invoice case, validate the dispute, view similar cases, and complete resolution actions using a guided experience. Using an agentic workflow helps reduce manual investigation, improves consistency, and helps agents resolve invoice disputes efficiently while keeping customers informed throughout the process. For more information, see Resolve invoice disputes using agentic workflow.

    Email notifications are sent to the customer when an invoice case is created or closed, but only for cases initiated through the ServiceNow Otto Virtual Agent in the Business Portal. Notifications are triggered for the following closure outcomes: Credit note issued or replacement order placed. Case closure can be performed either by the customer using the ServiceNow Otto Virtual Agent in the Business Portal, or by a billing specialist from the ServiceNow Otto in the CSM/FSM Configurable Workspace.