ServiceNow, Nvidia to bring generative AI to enterprise workflows

The first results of the collaboration, which includes Nvidia’s NeMo foundation models, Nvidia’s DGX Cloud, and ServiceNow’s workflow platform, will see the companies offer AI generative applications for IT.

ServiceNow and Nvidia on Wednesday said that they were collaborating to build generative AI applications for different enterprise functions in an effort to optimize business processes and workflows.

ServiceNow will use data available on its workflow platform along with Nvidia’s DGX Cloud, Nvidia DGX SuperPOD, and Nvidia’s Enterprise AI software suite to develop custom large language models for enterprises, said Rama Akkiraju, vice president of AI for IT at ServiceNow.

These models will be then used to develop generative AI application use cases across enterprise IT departments, customer service teams, employees, and developers in an effort to increase productivity by enhancing workflow automation, Akkiraju added.

The first results  of the collaboration will be aimed at building generative AI application for enterprise IT departments, the companies said, adding that tasks and activities such as ticket summarization, ticket auto-routing, incident severity prediction, intent detection, semantic search, ticket auto-resolution, root cause analysis, and similar incident detection were being targeted.

Giving an example of how generative AI can help in increasing productivity, Akkiraju said that ticket summarization by AI can help save agents at least seven to eight minutes per interaction.  

The implementation of generative AI use cases will be done mostly through virtual assistants, which in turn will be able to resolve a broad range of user questions and support requests with purpose-built AI chatbots that use large language models and focus on defined IT tasks, the companies said. 

“To simplify the user experience, enterprises can customize chatbots with proprietary data to create a central generative AI resource that stays on topic while resolving many different requests,” the companies added.

These implementations can also be mirrored across customer service teams, ServiceNow and Nvidia said.

Generative AI, according to both companies, can be used by enterprises to improve employee experience by helping staffers identify growth opportunities, and recommending courses and mentors based on natural language queries and information from a staffer’s profile.

As part of the collaboration, ServiceNow is building generative AI use cases in an effort to streamline IT operations for Nvidia, Akkiraju said.

In order to develop these applications, ServiceNow is using Nvidia’s data present on its platform to customize foundation models using Nvidia’s NeMo framework on DGX Cloud and on-premises DGX SuperPOD computers.

Nvidia’s NeMo framework, which is a part of the company’s AI Enterprise software suite, includes features such as prompt tuning, supervised fine-tuning, and knowledge retrieval tools to help developers build, customize and deploy language models for enterprise use cases.

The software suite itself, according to Nvidia, accelerates the data science pipeline and streamlines development and deployment of production AI including generative AI, computer vision, and speech AI.

It contains over 50 frameworks, pretrained models and development tools, Nvidia said, adding that the suite also comes with NeMo Guardrails software that enables developers to add safety and security features for AI chatbots. In the beginning of May, ServiceNow had partnered with Hugging Face to release a free large language model (LLM) trained to generate code, in an effort to take on AI-based programming tools

ServiceNow partners with Nvidia to develop ‘super-specialized’ generative AI for enterprises

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ServiceNow, a vendor known for automating enterprise workflows, is making a move with generative AI to transform traditionally slow business processes.

At its ongoing Knowledge 23 conference, the Santa Clara, California-based company said it is partnering with Nvidia to develop custom generative AI models for various functions of the enterprise, starting with IT workflows.

“IT is the nervous system of every modern enterprise in every industry. Our collaboration to build super-specialized generative AI for enterprises will boost the capability and productivity of IT professionals worldwide using the ServiceNow platform,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said while making the announcement with ServiceNow president and COO CJ Desai.

The partnership will see ServiceNow leverage Nvidia’s software, services and accelerated infrastructure. It comes at a time when global enterprises continue to explore the potential of generative AI for driving efficiencies.

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While generative AI models like the popular GPT series, do their job pretty well, it’s well established that they learn from public-domain data to deliver results. For enterprise use cases, this may not be very effective, as the models have not been exposed to internal company data. 

For instance, if an employee asks about connecting to a company’s VPN or about an internal policy, public models may not be able to answer the question accurately.

With this partnership with Nvidia, ServiceNow is looking to address this gap by building custom generative AI models for enterprises, fine-tuned to learn from a company’s vocabulary and provide accurate, domain-specific answers.

“It will all start with the IT domain, using Nvidia’s NeMo foundational models as the starting point as well as Nvidia GPUs. Upon these, the capabilities will be built,” Rama Akkiraju, VP of AI/ML for IT at Nvidia, said in a press briefing. The custom generative AI models will be provided via ServiceNow’s Now platform, which already offers AI functions to automate enterprise workflows across departments.

With custom LLMs, Akkiraju said, ServiceNow will allow its customers to target multiple use cases within IT service management and IT operations management, including support ticket summarization and resolution, incident severity prediction, and semantic search for IT policies (and other documentation) through a central chatbot experience.

Moving ahead, the same technology could also come in handy in improving employee experiences by providing them with growth opportunities. For instance, the model could deliver customized learning and development recommendations, like courses, based on natural language queries and information from an employee’s profile.

As a customer of ServiceNow, Nvidia also plans to share its data for initial research and development of custom models aimed at handling IT-specific use cases. The companies are starting off with ticket summarization, a process that takes about seven to eight minutes when done manually by agents but could be instantly handled by AI models.

For this task, ServiceNow is using Nvidia AI Foundations cloud services and the Nvidia AI Enterprise software platform, which includes the NeMo framework and NeMo guardrails. The custom models, Nvidia said, will be running on hybrid-cloud infrastructure consisting of Nvidia DGX Cloud and on-premises Nvidia DGX SuperPOD AI supercomputers.

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NHL announces multiyear partnership with ServiceNow

LAS VEGAS and NEW YORK - Knowledge 2023 - ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company making the world work better for everyone and the National Hockey League today announced a multiyear North American partnership. As an Official NHL Partner, ServiceNow will enhance game day operations, streamline employee productivity, and support new connected fan experiences.

"ServiceNow helps fundamentally change the way organizations operate-including one of the largest, most successful sports leagues in the world," said Bill McDermott, chairman and chief executive officer at ServiceNow. "Under Commissioner Bettman, the NHL has embraced this potential wholeheartedly. Our collaboration marks the most in-depth transformation of a sports league through ServiceNow to-date-and it's only just beginning. We're looking forward to helping the NHL take the next step toward improving workflow processes."

"As we grow our technology and innovation efforts to further enhance our game and our game experience, we're thrilled to partner with ServiceNow," said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. "This partnership will enable us to improve the NHL's digital workflow efforts so we can optimize game-day operations in every arena and continue engaging our fans in new and innovative ways. The Now Platform will, with great efficiency, streamline productivity and support new, connected fan experiences."

ServiceNow is helping to digitally transform the NHL across three focus areas:

*Transforming game day operations: The NHL will bring operations for all of its games across all 32 arenas in North America onto the Now Platform to improve efficiency and streamline the process of managing resources. Using ServiceNow's Technology Workflows solutions, most digital tasks, including personnel scheduling, status reports, infrastructure issue management, hardware management, and asset management will now be centralized onto a single platform to reduce complexity. Every NHL game will leverage the Now Platform through the use of ServiceNow's mobile application, a custom portal, and dashboards, to manage and provide visibility for game day technical setup and operations.

*Streamlining NHL employee productivity: Through ServiceNow's employee experience, IT Service Management and low-code solutions, employees can access a single, simple system of engagement to handle critical back-office tasks, including onboarding, training, requesting IT and HR resources, facility management, visitor management, and benefits. League employees will be able to create custom applications to automate day-to-day activities, and by simplifying common processes through the Now Platform, the NHL will free up time for employees to improve workflow productivity.

*Supporting a connected fan experience: ServiceNow will work with other members of the NHL's partner ecosystem to connect the League's various digital workflows onto one cohesive platform. By ensuring a more reliable and productive workflow, ServiceNow will enable the NHL and its digital partners to provide a better-connected fan experience.   

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) makes the world work better for everyone. Our cloud‑based platform and solutions help digitize and unify organizations so that they can find smarter, faster, better ways to make work flow. So employees and customers can be more connected, more innovative, and more agile. And we can all create the future we imagine. The world works with ServiceNowTM. For more information, visit: www.servicenow.com.

About the NHL

The National Hockey League (NHL®), founded in 1917, consists of 32 Member Clubs. Each team roster reflects the League's international makeup with players from more than 20 countries represented, all vying for the most cherished and historic trophy in professional sports - the Stanley Cup®. Every year, the NHL entertains more than 670 million fans in-arena and through its partners on national television and radio; more than 191 million followers - league, team and player accounts combined - across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube; and more than 100 million fans online at NHL.com. The League broadcasts games in more than 160 countries and territories through its rightsholders including ESPN, WBD Sports and NHL Network in the U.S.; Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada; Viaplay in the Nordics, Baltics, and Poland; YLE in Finland; Nova in Czech Republic and Slovakia; Sky Sports and ProSieben in Germany; MySports in Switzerland; and CCTV5+ in China; and reaches fans worldwide with games available to stream in every country. Fans are engaged across the League's digital assets on mobile devices via the free NHL® App; across nine social media platforms; on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio™; and on NHL.com, available in eight languages and featuring unprecedented access to player and team statistics as well as every regular-season and playoff game box score dating back to the League's inception, powered by SAP. NHL Original Productions and NHL Studios produce compelling original programming featuring unprecedented access to players, coaches and League and team personnel for distribution across the NHL's social and digital platforms.

The NHL is committed to building healthy and vibrant communities using the sport of hockey to celebrate fans of every race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status. The NHL's Hockey Is For Everyone™ initiative reinforces that the official policy of the sport is one of inclusion on the ice, in locker rooms, boardrooms and stands. The NHL is expanding access and opportunity for people of all backgrounds and abilities to play hockey, fostering more inclusive environments and growing the game through a greater diversity of participants. To date, the NHL has invested more than $100 million in youth hockey and grassroots programs, with a commitment to invest an additional $5 million for diversity and inclusion programs over the next year.

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