AI in action: 4 lessons from World Forum London
AI has ushered in a new mandate: tangible, lasting business transformation. Yet many companies are struggling to know where to start. With such complex considerations, examples of AI in action are key.
At ServiceNow World Forum in London, business and technology leaders gathered to discuss and learn about the realities of AI in business.
As ServiceNow Global Executive Committee Member Nick Tzitzon said during his keynote, “Something magical happens when people get together face-to-face, shoulder-to-shoulder. It's one of the things I love most about our wonderful community, the togetherness and the passion.”
Here are some lessons about AI that our speakers and attendees gleaned at World Forum.
1. Start with fundamentals when adopting AI
Digital transformation promised to revolutionise customer experience and deliver exponential employee productivity. However, in many cases it led to huge complexity, with a mess of applications, siloed teams, and lacklustre experiences.
“We’ve created this hornet’s nest of different elements. If you introduce AI into that without care, it could smash open the hornet’s nest of complexity and create chaos,” Tzitzon said.
Starting with the fundamentals is crucial to deploying AI successfully. That means integrating work across the organisation.
The ServiceNow platform, with one data model and one architecture, can connect teams across the organisation—from HR to supply chain to legal teams.
What’s more, employees can enjoy a single, multimodal experience across desktops, mobile devices, and messaging apps. This sets the right conditions for AI to do its best work.
As Tzitzon explained, “AI for people can't be sprawling. It must be simple, and it must all come in the flow of work, where people actually spend their time day to day.”
2. It’s important to see AI in action
AI can make work better for people, particularly with the advent of AI agents. These intelligent programmes can gather data, make decisions, and perform tasks—always with people in the loop.
It can be difficult to understand the full potential of AI agents without seeing them in action. Live demos are particularly insightful.
Workflows are already possible that incorporate:
- A customer service agent reviewing a customer request for a replacement modem based on the company’s discounts policy and customer relationship priority
- An HR agent enabling an employee to schedule their remaining parental leave and update their life insurance policy with details of their new child
Complex or sensitive interactions must always be escalated to humans. But by taking on repetitive tasks, AI can help transform employee and customer experiences across the organisation.
3. AI is transforming industries
Organisations across sectors are putting AI to work. At Formula One team Aston Martin Aramco, performance is everything—and performance is driven by productivity.
The Now Platform is enabling the company to gain immediate visibility into any issue that impacts productivity and take action to improve efficiency and keep Aston Martin within stringent industry cost caps.
4. AI is catalysing better employee experiences
AI—particularly generative AI—is revolutionising the way work gets done. Employee experience has often been a secondary consideration in digital transformation, but organisations are refocusing on these crucial interactions.
For example, AI can help an employee find a colleague with specific experience to support a project, or access curated and personalised information on company programmes, such as charitable donation matching or training opportunities.
People will continue to manage employee relations. But when used selectively, AI can add convenience and ease to the employee experience.
Find out how ServiceNow helps organisations put AI to work for people.