Using agentic AI for Operational Technology Service Management

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated January 14, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Using agentic AI for Operational Technology Service Management

    The Operational Technology Service Management (OTSM) AI agent collection enables ServiceNow customers to automate tasks autonomously using agentic AI workflows. This functionality helps streamline incident resolution by leveraging AI agents that perform specialized tasks, such as generating knowledge base (KB) articles automatically after resolving OT incidents.

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    Key Features

    • Agentic Workflows: The primary out-of-the-box (OOB) workflow available is "Generate OT KB articles," which automatically creates contextual KB articles post-incident resolution using the OT knowledge generator AI agent.
    • Customization and Activation: By default, OTSM agentic workflows are inactive and read-only. Customers must duplicate the workflow, activate it, enable the included AI agents, and set up unique triggers to run them autonomously. Manual invocation is also supported without activating triggers.
    • Supported Large Language Models: Multiple LLM providers are supported, including Now LLM Service, Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini, and Anthropic Claude on AWS. Model preferences can be configured via the AI Control Tower and Now Assist Admin console.
    • Security and Access Controls: Execution of AI agents and workflows is governed by Access Control Lists (ACLs) and user identities to maintain security. Role masking allows restricting roles and privileges assigned to agentic workflows to ensure appropriate access. Custom security controls need to be configured when adjusting user access roles.
    • Standalone AI Agents: In addition to those embedded in workflows, standalone AI agents may be available through the Now Assist application or the AI Agent Marketplace on the ServiceNow Store.

    Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

    ServiceNow customers can leverage OTSM agentic AI workflows to automate routine operational technology service tasks, thereby reducing manual effort and improving incident handling efficiency. Activation and customization require duplicating default workflows and configuring triggers and security settings to align with organizational policies. Integration with various LLM providers offers flexibility in AI capabilities, while security implementations ensure compliance and controlled access. Customers can also explore and incorporate additional AI agents outside of predefined workflows to broaden automation possibilities.

    Use the Operational Technology Service Management (OTSM) AI agent collection to complete tasks autonomously.

    Table 1. Table 1. Available agentic workflows for OTSM AI agent collection
    Agentic workflow name Description Available AI agents
    Generate OT KB articles Upon OT Incident resolution, the AI agent automatically creates a KB article with relevant contextual information. OT knowledge generator AI agent
    Important:
    If you want to change this agentic workflow, you can duplicate it, adjust the settings to suit your specific needs, and activate the duplicated version of the agentic workflow instead.

    The minimum role needed to duplicate an agentic workflow is the sn_aia.admin role. By default, the OTSM agentic workflow is inactive. If you want to use the OOB agentic workflow, you can activate the OOB trigger. But if you want to customize the agentic workflow, you must duplicate it.

    Important:
    Some generative AI skills, AI agents, and agentic workflows are turned on by default. For more information, see Now Assist skills, agents, and agentic workflows on by default.

    Supported Large Language Models

    Note:

    You can use Now LLM Service, Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini or Anthropic Claude on AWS as the AI model provider for all generative AI skills and AI agents. Use the Configuration Controls in AI Control Tower to define which options are available, then set the skill-level preferences in the Now Assist Admin console. For more information, see Large language models on the ServiceNow AI Platform®.

    Security implementation considerations

    Enable security implementation to execute AI agents and agentic workflows through Access Control Lists (ACLs) and user identities. For more information, see Implement access control in Now Assist AI agents

    Considerations for running the autonomous AI agents

    Important:
    By default, all agent workflow and AI agent records are read-only.

    To run the AI agents autonomously, you must first duplicate the agentic workflow, and then proceed with the following steps:

    • Activate the agentic workflow.
    • Activate all agents within the agentic workflow.
    • Activate the trigger to invoke the agentic workflow automatically. The triggers for each agentic workflow must be unique. If you prefer to invoke it manually, activating the trigger isn’t necessary.

    Standalone AI agents

    Looking for an AI agent?
    • There might be AI agents installed with the Now Assist application that are not used in agentic workflows. To learn how to see all agents that are available on your instance, see Find AI agents.
    • To find agents that might not be installed on your instance, visit the AI Agent Marketplace on the ServiceNow Store.

    Role masking

    Role masking enables users to limit the roles and privileges of agentic workflows during tool execution. Agentic workflows and their AI agents that get installed with Now Assist applications are assigned pre-defined roles. If you select Users with specific roles for user access, you must configure the security controls to include these roles. Data access settings must also include these roles. For the instructions to change the security controls, see Define security controls for an agentic workflow.