How platform thinking drives AI maturity

The pace of technological change is fast and accelerating. Organizations are now relying on AI to suggest the best way to undertake business processes. Advancements in large language models (LLMs) have made it easier to search for information, while conversational AI can now handle many service requests and customer interactions. And agentic AI can autonomously execute complex processes.

What sets this moment apart is that AI is transforming the fundamental nature of enterprise decision-making. Thanks to advancements in AI, organizations have been empowered to think and innovate differently.

However, managing AI tools at scale is a massive challenge. And enterprises are having a hard time keeping up with the rapid pace of AI evolution. In many cases, AI is changing so quickly that many businesses simply can’t adapt fast enough.

ServiceNow’s second annual Enterprise AI Maturity Index clearly illustrates this trend. By surveying around 4,500 executives, we found that AI maturity is low across industries worldwide. The average company scored just 35 on a 100-point scale, down from 44 last year. Clearly, many organizations are still figuring out how to do business at the pace of AI.

Yet there is a cohort of organizations that are pulling ahead of their peers. We call them “Pacesetters,” and our research shows they share certain practices and attitudes that give them an advantage. By combining robust data strategies, comprehensive governance, and top-down change management, these businesses are translating AI’s promise into enterprisewide value.

More often than not, an important driver of their success leveraging AI platforms is a single codebase that connects to different corners of the enterprise and enables it to orchestrate AI reliably and at scale. A platform-centric approach breaks down silos, harmonizes governance, and simplifies both deployment and oversight. With centralized tools, leaders can monitor the health of AI initiatives, track progress against targets, and enable tight collaboration between humans and machines.

Here are three things that any organization, not just those that are Pacesetters, can do to manage the pace of change.