Author

Adam Spearing

Published

5 March 2026

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Adam Spearing, VP of AI GTM EMEA at ServiceNow, on why those that invest in AI foundations now will shape their operating models on their own terms

Much of the debate around AI still centres on pilots: which tools to test, which use cases to prioritise, which risks to manage. Executive teams commission proofs of concept, establish governance forums and assess compliance exposure. Far less scrutiny is applied to the consequences of waiting.

Traditional technical debt is familiar territory for CIOs. It stems from shortcuts, ageing platforms and deferred upgrades. It builds over time and is eventually addressed through structured modernisation programmes. Visible in legacy code, brittle integrations and manual workarounds. It appears on risk registers and capital plans. Leaders know how to describe it and, in principle, how to resolve it.

Forward-looking technical debt is different. It arises when organisations postpone the foundational changes needed for new ways of working. It is not created by past expediency, but by present hesitation. And it accumulates faster.

AI Adoption

In the context of AI, the effects are already emerging. Each quarter spent debating readiness instead of building it increases the distance between legacy operating models and AI-enabled competitors. As models improve and user expectations shift, that distance widens, reshaping competitive baselines. What begins as a modest capability gap can harden into structural disadvantage.

While companies debate whether to adopt AI, the margin for strategic choice narrows. Many organisations frame AI adoption as a binary decision: adopt now or wait until the technology matures further. In practice, the room for discretion is smaller than it appears. Time spent stalled in pilots or governance loops increases the gap between internal capability and market expectation.

More than 75% of organisations are expected to face moderate to severe AI-related technical debt in 2026, predicts Forrester. The issue will not simply be missed efficiency gains. It will be structural misalignment between how their systems operate and how work is increasingly done.

This misalignment often appears gradually. Teams rely on manual data preparation because underlying systems cannot support automation. AI tools are layered onto fragmented architectures and deliver inconsistent outputs. Employees experiment with external tools because internal platforms cannot provide the functionality they need. Each workaround creates further fragmentation.

Over time, these patterns compound. Integration backlogs expand. Security and risk teams struggle to enforce consistent controls across proliferating tools. Data governance becomes reactive rather than designed. What began as caution begins to constrain strategic options.

The AI Paradox

Here’s the paradox: organisations are either rushing into unsuccessful AI pilots that create immediate technical debt, or they’re avoiding AI entirely and creating forward-looking debt through inaction. Both paths lead to the same place – systems that can’t support the future of work.

AI isn’t just another technology layer to bolt onto existing infrastructure. It’s fundamentally changing how people interact with systems and how work gets done. Increasingly, AI becomes an interface through which employees access information, execute tasks and navigate processes. When AI becomes the interface – not just for customers but for employees navigating their daily tasks – organisations without AI-ready foundations will find themselves unable to compete on speed, efficiency, or experience.

The companies that hesitate aren’t just missing out on automation benefits today. They’re building a deficit that grows exponentially as AI capabilities advance. Each new model release, each competitor’s successful implementation, each customer expectation shift adds to the debt. Each significant model improvement raises the performance benchmark across the market. Unlike legacy systems that degrade slowly, this gap accelerates.

From Avoidance to Advantage

Breaking free from forward-looking technical debt requires a fundamental mindset shift. This isn’t about buying more technology or launching more AI pilots. It’s about creating the conditions for sustainable AI adoption that builds capability rather than complexity.

The organisations succeeding with AI aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the most aggressive rollouts. They’re the ones that took a deliberate, phased approach to ensuring their data, systems, and culture could support AI at scale. They treated readiness as an operational discipline rather than an innovation side project. They understood that AI adoption isn’t a destination, it’s a continuous capability that requires solid foundations.

This starts with honest visibility into current technology estates. Leaders must understand what systems can realistically support AI workloads, where data quality creates barriers, and which processes are ready for automation. Only then can organisations introduce AI incrementally, modernising systems where necessary rather than forcing new capabilities onto brittle foundations. Without that clarity, AI risks being layered onto structural weaknesses.

Modernisation therefore becomes targeted. Consolidating fragmented workflows, standardising data models and reducing unnecessary integration points increase the feasibility of scaling AI across multiple use cases. Early deployments focused on well-defined processes with clear data lineage can build internal confidence while strengthening governance practices.

Clear Debt to Stay Competitive

Forward-looking technical debt does not appear on a balance sheet. It shows up in slower product cycles, manual workarounds, integration backlogs and frustrated employees. It surfaces when competitors deliver AI-assisted services as standard and customers begin to expect the same everywhere. By the time these symptoms are visible, the underlying gap has already widened.

Timing therefore becomes a strategic variable. AI capability builds cumulatively: early investment in clean data, modern workflows and interoperable systems creates a base for continuous improvement. Each iteration becomes easier, faster and more reliable. Those that delay face the opposite trajectory: increasing complexity, rising retrofit costs and shrinking room for strategic choice.

The real issue is not adoption in principle. It is whether leadership teams are prepared to treat readiness as urgent rather than optional.

Reducing forward-looking technical debt requires acting before competitive pressure dictates terms, aligning technology modernisation with operating model reform, and accepting that disciplined progress now is less risky than accelerated catch-up later.

AI adoption will continue irrespective of individual organisational hesitation. Vendors will continue to refine their offerings. Regulators will clarify expectations. Customers and employees will adjust their behaviours. Those that invest in foundations now will shape their operating models on their own terms. Those that delay risk reacting to a competitive gap that is already commercially significant.

Learn more at servicenow.com

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Data & AI
  • Digital Strategy

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

6 January 2026

Estimated Read time

3Mins

CoreX, a high-growth Elite Consulting and Implementation Partner of ServiceNow and NewSpring Holdings platform company, has announced the successful completion…

CoreX, a high-growth Elite Consulting and Implementation Partner of ServiceNow and NewSpring Holdings platform company, has announced the successful completion of its acquisition of InSource’s ServiceNow business unit. InSource is a fellow Elite Partner recognised for deep delivery expertise and an unwavering commitment to client success. The transaction officially closed in late December 2025.

This agreement unites two high-performing ServiceNow partners in the ecosystem. Together, CoreX and InSource now operate as a single, purpose-built organisation designed to scale with intent, elevate enterprise transformation outcomes, and meet the accelerating demand for AI-enabled, end-to-end ServiceNow solutions worldwide.

InSource integration into CoreX delivering value for ServiceNoe customers

With InSource’s 1,500+ successful implementations and a 4.76 CSAT rating, the combined organisation, more than doubling its US-based employee headcount, now operates at a level of scale and technical depth that firmly positions CoreX among the top-tier Consulting and Implementation Partners in the global ServiceNow ecosystem. The acquisition doubles the firm’s ServiceNow certifications and brings together advanced platform specialisation and a people-first culture grounded in long-term client success.

“This is not growth for growth’s sake, but rather a strategic, deliberate move of scale,” said Rick Wright, Head of CoreX. “By fully integrating InSource into CoreX, we have created a focused consultancy built for scale, execution, and long-term value for ServiceNow customers.”

Reflecting on the integration, Mark Lafond, former President & CEO of InSource, added, “InSource was built on delivery strength, trust, and long-term client relationships. Joining forces with CoreX allows us to take everything we do best and amplify it on a much larger stage. This is the right home for our people, the right platform for our customers, and the right partner to accelerate the next chapter of growth.”

By unifying CoreX’s innovation roadmap and AI readiness with InSource’s long-standing operational delivery excellence, the combined organisation now offers a truly integrated model for enterprise transformation across industries. This integration enables clients to move faster from strategy to execution while maintaining the governance, resilience, and scalability required for modern enterprises.

Just as importantly, the acquisition strengthens CoreX’s geographic footprint and delivery capacity across key global delivery hubs, including North America and Latin America, enabling the firm to serve enterprise clients with greater speed, continuity, and depth.

“Our acquisition of InSource fundamentally changes the scale of impact we can deliver for customers,” Wright added. “CoreX is now purpose-built to lead the next era of ServiceNow-powered transformation.”

A Unified Approach to Enterprise Transformation

The acquisition significantly enhances CoreX’s capabilities across Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), IT Asset Management (ITAM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), Integrated Risk Management, Operational Technology integration, and AI-ready enterprise architecture. The combined strengths allow CoreX to solve more complex, mission-critical challenges across industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and the public sector.

With this transaction, CoreX is now among the top global ServiceNow Elite Partners, distinguished not just by certifications or scale, but by consistent delivery of measurable, enterprise-level outcomes on the ServiceNow AI Platform.

About CoreX

Founded in 2023, CoreX is a global ServiceNow consultancy specialising in business-focused transformation that unlocks hidden value from the Now Platform. Backed by unmatched industry leadership, extensive functional experience, and the most seasoned ServiceNow team in the ecosystem, CoreX delivers strategic guidance and AI-enabled innovation to power sustained success. Learn more at corexcorp.com

About NewSpring Holdings

NewSpring Holdings, NewSpring’s majority investment strategy, focused on control buyouts and sector-specific platform builds, brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and resources to take profitable, growing companies to the next level through acquisitions and proven organic methodologies. Founded in 1999, NewSpring partners with the innovators, makers, and operators of high-performing companies in dynamic industries to catalyze new growth and seize compelling opportunities. Having completed over 250 investments, the Firm manages approximately $3.5 billion across five distinct strategies covering the spectrum from growth equity and control buyouts to mezzanine debt. Partnering with management teams to help develop their businesses into market leaders, NewSpring identifies opportunities and builds relationships using its network of industry leaders and influencers across a wide array of operational areas and industries.

  • Data & AI
  • Digital Strategy

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

16 December 2025

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Interface issue 68 is live featuring Microsoft, Virgin Media O2, CIBC Caribbean, Telkom, Zoom, ServiceNow, Snowflake and more

Welcome to the latest issue of Interface magazine!

Click here to read the latest edition!

Driving Business Transformation Through Cloud & AI

Microsoft’s Shruti Harish, Head of Solution Engineering for Cloud and AI Platforms across the tech giant’s Manufacturing and Mobility vertical, talks to Interface about how to achieve successful AI implementations augmented by Cloud. Our future focused fireside chat covered everything from driving value through cloud modernisation to responsible AI.

“Leaders should align AI initiatives with clear business outcomes and foster a culture that embraces change. The focus is shifting toward AI-operated, human-led models where intelligent agents handle tasks and humans guide strategy.”

Virgin Media O2: Democratising Data as a Cultural Movement

Mauro Flores, EVP for Data Democratisation at Virgin Media O2, talks to Interface about the leading telco’s data journey and how it is supporting colleagues to innovate faster, make smarter decisions and deliver brilliant customer experiences.

“Data-driven insights are essential. They’re helping power our decisions like optimising our network performance, anticipating outages before they happen, identifying and preventing fraud, personalising offers and pricing to build customer loyalty, and forecasting demand so we invest in the right things.”

CIBC Caribbean: Shaping the future of Banking in the Caribbean

Deputy CIO Trevor Wood explains how CIBC Caribbean is blending technology, culture, and customer-centricity to deliver seamless digital experiences across the region with a ‘Future Faster’ strategy.

“We want to lead in every market we operate, build maturity across our practices and be architects of a smarter financial future for all.”

And read on for deep AI insights from ANS’s CIO on why AI isn’t just for big business, Emergn’s CTO on how your business can get AI-ready and Kore.ai’s Chief Strategy Officer on taming AI-sprawl with governance-first platforms.

We also hear from Celonis, Snowflake, ServiceNow, Make and Zoom with their tech predictions for 2026 and chart the key dates for your diary with global networking opportunities at the latest tech events and conferences across the globe.

Click here to read the latest edition!

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Data & AI
  • Digital Payments
  • Digital Strategy
  • People & Culture

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

15 December 2025

Estimated Read time

11Mins

ServiceNow, Celonis, Snowflake, Zoom and Make deliver their 2026 tech predictions for emerging technologies, including agentic AI, the role of the CIO, data governance, autonomous operations and more…

Louise Newbury-Smith, Head of UK&I at Zoom

AI elevates both manager effectiveness and employee autonomy

“Moving forward, AI will simultaneously strengthen managerial capabilities and empower employees to work more autonomously. Managers will gain real-time insights into workload distribution and collaboration patterns, allowing them to support wellbeing, performance and development, without relying on manual check-ins. At the same time, intelligent workflows will give employees greater control over how they work enabling them to personalise tasks, streamline processes and focus on higher-value activities. This dual uplift will reduce friction, improve team culture, and create a more balanced workplace environment.”

AI fluency becomes the new foundational skillset

“The next phase of upskilling will blend technical and human capabilities. Employees will be expected to understand how to collaborate with AI, interpret its recommendations, and challenge outputs when necessary. Training and change management will be essential to realising the full value of these emerging tools. For IT teams, this means not only deploying the technology but also leading adoption across the workforce.”

Darin Patterson, Vice President of Market Strategy at Make

2026 will be the year businesses of all sizes finally turn AI’s promise into measurable value

“Companies will shift from experimentation to dependable automation that powers productivity, decision-making, and customer experience behind the scenes. AI will be judged less by novelty and more by real outcomes, whether orchestrating marketing campaigns, managing workflows in professional services, or enabling personalised, frictionless customer interactions. With maturing standards like Model Content Protocol and Agent2Agent moving into widespread use, organisations will gain the stability and coordination needed for scalable multi-agent systems that quietly keep operations running.

As these technologies advance, AI’s complexity will fade into the background. Concepts like embeddings and prompt engineering will be built into everyday tools, allowing smaller businesses and non-technical teams to deploy automation quickly and confidently. In 2026, the winners will be the companies using AI for practical, connected automation that drives results, while standalone chatbots and overly complex approaches fall away. The future belongs to businesses that stop chasing hype and start running on AI.”

Cathy Mauzaize, President, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at ServiceNow

The governance vs. speed tension will define leadership in 2026 

“As AI becomes core to how organisations operate, leaders will face a growing challenge: how to maintain trust without slowing down innovation. Across EMEA, this balance between governance and speed is becoming the defining measure of AI maturity. The EU AI Act marks a turning point that moves regulation from theory to practice. But rules alone won’t create responsible AI. The real test will be how organisations translate compliance into everyday practice, embedding accountability and transparency into workflows, data, and decisions.  

The University of Oxford’s Annual AI Governance Report 2025 found that leading organisations are embedding governance directly into workflows, not treating it as a compliance exercise. In doing so, they’re maintaining innovation speed while reducing AI-related risk. 

The leaders who succeed will treat governance not as a brake, but as an engine of trust and resilience. They’ll build cultures where transparency, explainability, and ethical use are built in, not bolted on. They’ll use clarity to move faster, not slower. Doing this will require a central, single-platform lens of LLMs, AI agents and workflows.  

This is what will separate compliance from competitiveness. AI must remain fast enough to drive innovation yet be governed tightly enough to earn trust. The leaders who get this balance right will define the next phase of growth, proving that responsible AI and rapid progress can coexist.”

CIOs must lead the enablement of agentic AI with a view to future risk 

“2026 will mark the rise of Agentic Platforms – networks of intelligence that blend human and machine work to drive speed, accuracy, and innovation. These agents will increasingly operate alongside people, managing workflows and simplifying complexity – not to replace human judgment, but to strengthen it.  

Yet, as this new layer of work evolves, so does a new layer of risk. The challenge will no longer be shadow IT, but ‘shadow AI’ – models and agents developed outside governance frameworks. This creates vulnerabilities for compliance, privacy, and security. Although regulations are evolving across regions, innovation is already moving faster than policy. CIOs and boards will need to anticipate, not react, staying one step ahead of regulatory change to avoid future disruptions. Agility will be the differentiator. 

The leaders who succeed will do so by adopting flexible, adaptive platform architectures, able to connect data, governance, and decision logic by design. These platforms will allow organisations to monitor, verify, and coordinate AI activity across every functions, ensuring that trust, compliance, and performance advance together.”  

Peter Budweiser, General Manager Supply Chain at Celonis

The race to autonomous operations will be won by orchestration

“Enterprises have spent a decade automating tasks. But in the agentic future, the differentiator won’t be how many tasks you automate, it will be how well you orchestrate outcomes. In 2026, leaders will shift from fragmented automation to coordinating AI, people and systems across the entire workflow. This is the only way to transform business processes into truly autonomous operations.

Supply chains will become the proving ground for orchestration. AI will dynamically reroute shipments, rebalance inventory, surface capacity constraints, and coordinate suppliers and planners in the same loop – turning fragile networks into intelligent, adaptive ecosystems that are able to respond instantly to tariffs, disruptions and volatility.

The strategic driver behind supply chain transformation is no longer just cost – its competitiveness. Orchestration lets companies coordinate AI agents, humans, and systems in real time, so their supply chains become more agile, more efficient, and better able to support new business opportunities.”

Dan Brown, Chief Product Officer at Celonis

The AI revolution will run on context

“After years of experimentation, companies will realise that AI can’t improve what it doesn’t understand. In 2026, competitive advantage will shift to organisations that give AI the operational context it needs – a living digital twin that shows how the business actually runs. This is how AI learns to sense, reason, act, and improve responsibly.

Context-aware AI will reshape supply chain decision-making. Instead of optimising isolated steps, AI will understand the full flow – predicting bottlenecks before they occur, identifying exceptions that matter, and orchestrating recovery plans grounded in financial and service-level impact. This closes the gap between planning and execution.

AI can’t drive business value without understanding how your business flows. When you give it that context – the real-time visibility into how work gets done – the trust comes naturally. You see why it made a decision and how to make it better. That’s when AI becomes enterprise-ready.”

Baris Gultekin, Vice President of AI, Snowflake

Data becomes a more powerful moat for Enterprise AI

“The pace of innovation in frontier AI models has provided the enterprise with an incredibly powerful and mature foundation. Give or take a few benchmarks, model capabilities are reaching a high floor, offering similar, state-of-the-art performance. Similarly, as building AI-powered apps becomes faster and easier to build for people of all technical backgrounds, the features that distinguish one product from another will also begin to fade. 

By 2026, we’ll see this commoditisation accelerate across the entire AI stack. In this new landscape, an organisations’ sustainable competitive advantage won’t be the model or application itself, but the unique, proprietary data an organisation holds and its ability to reason over it. The companies that master the ‘data flywheel’ – using their unique data to create better AI, which in turn generates more unique data – will establish meaningful differentiation for years to come, and continue to benefit from improvements to the AI tools themselves.”

Agent Interoperability will unlock the next wave of AI productivity

“Today, most AI agents operate in walled gardens, unable to communicate or collaborate with agents from other platforms. This is about to change. By 2026, the next major frontier in enterprise AI will be interoperability – the development of open standards and protocols that allow disparate AI agents to speak to one another. Just as the API economy connected different software services, an ‘agent economy’ will quickly emerge, where agents from different platforms can autonomously discover, negotiate, and exchange services with one another. Solving this challenge will unlock compound efficiencies and automate complex, multi-platform workflows that are impossible today to usher in the next massive wave of AI-driven productivity.”

Dwarak Rajagopal, Vice President of AI Engineering and Research, Snowflake

The future of AI agents is in self-verification, not human intervention

“In 2026, the biggest obstacle to scaling AI agents – the build-up of errors in multi-step workflows – will be solved by self-verification. Instead of relying on human oversight for every step, AI will be equipped with internal feedback loops, allowing them to autonomously verify the accuracy of their own work and correct mistakes. This shift to self-aware, ‘auto-judging’ agents will enable the development of complex, multi-hop workflows that are both reliable and scalable, moving them from a promising concept to a viable enterprise solution.” 

Mike Blandina, Chief Information Officer, Snowflake

AI will redefine the role of the CIO from IT Operations to Enterprise Innovation

“In the next year, the role of the CIO will shift from ‘IT’ to ‘ET’ – from information technology to enterprise technology leadership. Traditional metrics like ticket counts will still matter, but forward-looking CIOs will adopt a solution mindset. The modern CIO must leverage AI not just to source tools, but to engineer outcomes. Instead of recommending SaaS vendors, CIOs will assemble multiple LLMs to build solutions to solve today’s problems while anticipating what’s next. The IT function will no longer be just about infrastructure – it will be about delivering corporate intelligence with AI-driven solutions and providing leverage across every critical business platform. AI will redefine the CIO as a business innovator, not just a technology operator.”

CIOs will become an organisation’s number one sustainability steward

“In 2026, CIOs will be expected to own the responsibility for tech-driven sustainability. As enterprises face mounting pressure from regulators, investors, and customers to meet climate goals, CIOs will be expected to deliver the data, platforms, and AI-driven insights that make sustainability measurable and actionable. From optimising cloud workloads for lower energy use to applying advanced analytics that cut supply chain emissions, CIOs will increasingly be at the centre of corporate sustainability strategies. This isn’t just about compliance reporting, it’s about leveraging technology to transform sustainability into a source of efficiency, growth, and differentiation for the enterprise.”

  • Data & AI
  • Digital Strategy

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

15 September 2025

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Enterprise-wide AI platform security protects sensitive data and governs integrations to help organisations scale Agentic AI with confidence

ServiceNow the AI platform for business transformation, has unveiled its new Zurich platform release. It delivers breakthrough innovations with faster multi-agentic AI development, enterprise-wide AI platform security capabilities, and reimagined workflows. New intelligent developer tools enable secure vibe coding with natural language. This helps turn employees into high-velocity builders and creators and lower the barrier to app creation. Built-in security capabilities, including ServiceNow Vault Console and Machine Identity Console, natively secure sensitive data across workflows. This governs integrations to help organisations scale Agentic AI and innovations with confidence. The introduction of autonomous workflows turns data into action through agentic playbooks. Uniquely offering the flexibility to apply AI and human input in workflows where and when it’s needed for greater control and efficiency. 

AI Transformation with ServiceNow

Enterprise leaders are racing to move beyond table-stakes AI implementations to unlock transformative, tangible results.  According to Gartner, “By 2029, over 60% of enterprises will adopt AI agent development platforms to automate complex workflows previously requiring human coordination.” The ServiceNow AI Platform delivers this transformational promise across the enterprise. It underpins a new era of highly efficient human-AI collaboration. 

“Zurich marks a turning point for enterprise AI. ServiceNow is delivering multi-agentic AI systems in production that are not just powerful, but governable, secure, and built for scale,” said Amit Zavery, president, COO, and chief product officer at ServiceNow. “We are transforming the enterprise tech stack to be AI-native. From autonomous workflows that act on data with precision, to developer tools that democratise high-velocity innovation. With built-in controls for security, risk, and compliance, we’re helping organisations move beyond experimentation. And into a new era of intelligent execution.” 

Vibe Coding Meets Enterprise Scale 

According to Gartner, “Agentic AI features will be near ubiquitous, embedded in software, platforms and applications, transforming user experiences and workflows.” The introduction of ServiceNow Build Agent and Developer Sandbox provides resources for employees to work with AI more efficiently. They can now do this conversationally, and at scale, to solve real problems in every corner of the business. 

  • Build Agent is a breakthrough for enterprise app creation—bringing vibe coding to the rigor of the ServiceNow AI Platform. In seconds, employees can turn an idea into a production-ready application by asking in natural language. Say, “Create an onboarding app that assigns tasks to HR, IT, and Facilities,” and Build Agent handles the rest. Design, build, logic, integrations, testing, and industry-leading governance included. What sets it apart is enterprise discipline: every app comes with audit trails, security, and compliance built in. Developers and citizen creators alike get the speed of AI with the confidence of enterprise-grade control, in a streamlined interface. 
  • Developer Sandbox empowers developers to build better applications, faster, while maintaining the highest standards of quality. Sandboxes provide isolated environments within a single instance, so multiple teams can collaborate, build, and test new features without conflicts, and rapid scale doesn’t come at the cost of control. Teams can version, iterate, and deliver without waiting in line for developer resources. Developers can safely experiment with vibe coding, test AI-powered workflows, and resolve version control issues before changes go live. This reduces rework, shortens feedback loops, and helps teams ship higher-quality applications rapidly with lower risk. 

Security That Enables AI Strategy 

As enterprises adopt autonomous workflows powered by agentic AI, securing how these systems access data and communicate across environments is essential. Zurich introduces new built-in AI platform security capabilities to make it easier to protect sensitive information. It can also govern integrations and manage growing AI footprints. 

  • The newServiceNow Vault Console provides a guided experience to discover, classify, and protect sensitive data across workflows. For example, an admin managing customer service operations can now identify personal data across tickets, apply different types of protection policies, and track compliance activity. The console also offers recommendations for protecting newly discovered sensitive data, along with customizable dashboards to monitor key metrics. What used to require manual configuration across multiple tools can now be managed in one place, with intelligent insights and a streamlined experience. 
  • Machine Identity Console addresses the need for integration security with enterprise-grade authentication and authorization, delivering control over bots and APIs head on. As the ServiceNow AI Platform scales, every API connection, including those from AI agents, introduces another identity to manage and determine what it can access. This console gives platform teams visibility into all inbound API integrations using machine identities such as service accounts and keys, flags outdated or weak authentication methods, and provides clear steps to strengthen security. If an integration is using basic authentication or hasn’t been active in 100 days, the console spots it and helps resolve it. 

Digital Transformation

“At Kanton Zürich, digital transformation is central to how we deliver secure and efficient public services. Since 2018, ServiceNow has enabled us to centralize and standardize our processes with data security as a top priority,” said Jürg Kasper, head of business solutions, Kanton Zürich. “Zurich’s latest advancements in both security and AI will allow us to automate more complex workflows, unlocking new efficiencies that enhance how we serve our citizens—with greater speed, clarity, and assurance.”  

Without built-in security and trust, scaling AI comes with risk. These new security features in Zurich build upon ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower, announced in May 2025, which provides enterprise-wide visibility, embedded compliance, and end-to-end lifecycle governance for Agentic AI systems. By centralising oversight of every AI agent, model, and workflow, native or third-party, the AI Control Tower ensures organisations can scale AI with confidence, aligning innovation with enterprise-grade security and trust. 

Turn Data Into Outcomes With Autonomous Workflows 

As organisations rapidly scale AI, they face the added challenge of delivering solutions consistently, reliably, and responsibly. Enterprises need the right guardrails, full visibility, and strong governance to achieve service delivery. Or they risk eroding trust and slowing results. ServiceNow’s AI Platform does all this in a single platform. It sets a new standard for how organisations can create autonomous workflows to turn data into action and AI into measurable business impact. 

  • Agentic playbooks from ServiceNow bring people, automation, and AI together seamlessly, powering autonomous workflows. A traditional playbook is a structured sequence of automated steps. These are based on predefined business rules and processes—ideal for ensuring consistency, efficiency, and trust. Agentic playbooks amplify this model by embedding AI into the trusted framework. AI agents eliminate manual effort, completing tasks in seconds and accelerating execution. This frees employees to focus on higher-value work where human judgment matters most. For example, in a credit card support situation, an agentic playbook can guide an AI agent to verify someone’s identity. It can freeze a card, send a replacement and notify the customer while allowing a human agent to step in. The result: governed, efficient, and trusted work—supercharged by AI to deliver faster, smarter outcomes. 
  • The ServiceNow Zurich platform release also seamlessly combines Process and Task Mining insights within a unified platform. These new capabilities give organisations an end-to-end understanding of how work gets done. Revealing where human expertise is essential, and where AI agents can deliver the greatest impact. With process intelligence built directly into the platform, customers can move seamlessly from insight to action. Streamlining operations, applying AI where it matters most. And accelerating real business outcomes without the complexity of disconnected legacy tools. 

All features announced as part of the ServiceNow AI Platform Zurich release are generally available and can be found in the ServiceNow Store

  • Data & AI
  • Digital Strategy

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

19 December 2024

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Interface looks back on another year of ground-breaking tech transformations and the leaders driving them. We spoke with tech leaders…

Interface looks back on another year of ground-breaking tech transformations and the leaders driving them. We spoke with tech leaders across a broad spectrum of sectors – from banking, health and telcos to insurance, consulting and government agencies. Read on for a round up of some of the biggest stories in Interface in 2024…

EY: A data-driven company

Global Chief Data Officer, Marco Vernocchi, reflects on the transformation journey at one of the world’s largest professional services organisations.

“Data is pervasive, it’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It’s not a physical asset, but it’s a part of every business activity every day. I joined EY in 2019 as the first Global Chief Data Officer. Our vision was to recognise data as a strategic competitive asset for the organisation. Through the efforts of leadership and the Data Office team, we’ve elevated it from a commodity utility to an asset. Furthermore, our formal strategy defined with clarity the purpose, scope, goals and timeline of how we manage data across EY.  Bringing it to the centre of what we do has created a competitive asset that is transforming the way we work.”

Read the full story here

Lloyds Banking Group: A technology and business strategy

Martyn Atkinson, CIO – Consumer Relationships and Mass Affluent, on Lloyds Banking Group‘s organisational missive around helping Britain prosper, which means building trusted relationships over customer lifetimes by re-imagining what a bank provides.

“We’ve made significant strides in transforming our business for the future,” he reveals. “I’m really proud of what the team have achieved with technology but there’s loads more to go after. It’s a really exciting time as we become a modern, progressive, tech-enabled business. We’ve aimed to maintain pace and an agile mindset. We want to get products and services out to our customers and colleagues and then test and learn to see if what we’re doing is actually making a meaningful difference.”

Read the full story here

USDA: The people’s agency

Arianne Gallagher-Welcher, Executive Director for the USDA Digital Service, in the Office of the OCIO, on the USDA’s tech transformation and how it serves the American people across all 50 states.

“If you’d told me after I graduated law school that I was going to be working at the intersection of talent, HR, law, regulations, and technology and bringing in technologists, AI, and driving innovation and digital delivery, I’d say you were nuts,” she says. “However, it’s been a very interesting and fulfilling journey. I’ve really enjoyed working across a lot of different cross-government agencies. USDA is the first part of my career where I’m really looking at a very specific mission-driven organisation versus cross-agency and cross-government. But I don’t think I’d be able to do that successfully without the really great cross-government experiences I’ve had.”

Read the full story here

Virgin Media O2 Business: A telco integration supporting customers

David Cornwell, Director – SMEs, on the unfolding telco integration journey at Virgin Media O2 Business delivering for Business customers

“If you’ve got the wrong culture, you can’t develop your people or navigate change…” David Cornwell is Director of Technical Services for SMEs at Virgin Media O2 Business. He reflects on the technology journey embarked upon in 2021 when two giants of the telco space merged. A new opportunity was seized to support businesses with the secure, reliable and efficient integration of new technology.

Read the full story here

The AA: Driving growth with technology

Nick Edwards, Group CDO at The AA, on the organisation’s incredible technology transformation and how these changes directly benefit customers.

“2024 has been a milestone year for the business,” explains Edwards. “It marks the completion of the first phase of the future growth strategy we’ve been focused on since the appointment of our new CEO, Jakob Pfaudler.” Revenues have grown by over 20%, allowing The AA to drive customer growth with technology. “All of this has been delivered by our refreshed management team,” he continues. “It reflects the strength of our people across the business and the broader cultural transformation of The AA in the last three years.”

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Publicis Sapient: Global Banking Benchmark Study

Dave Murphy, Financial Services Lead, Global at Publicis Sapient, gave us the lowdown on its third annual Global Banking Benchmark Study.

The report reveals that artificial intelligence (AI) dominates banks’ digital transformation plans, signalling that their adoption of AI is on the brink of change. “AI, machine learning and GenAI are both the focus and the fuel of banks’ digital transformation efforts,” he says. “The biggest question for executives isn’t about the potential of these technologies. It’s how best to move from experimenting with use cases in pockets of the business to implementing at scale across the enterprise. The right data is key. It’s what powers the models.”

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Bupa: Connected Care

Chief Information Officer Simon Birch and Chief Customer & Transformation Officer Danielle Handley discuss Bupa’s transformation journey across APAC and the positive impact of its Connected Care strategy.

“Connected Care is our primary mission. We’ve been focusing our time, investment and energy to reimagine and connect customer experiences,” says Simon. “It’s an incredibly energising place to be. Delivering our Connected Care proposition to our customers is made possible by the complete focus of the organisation and the alignment leaders and teams have to the Bupa purpose. Curiosity is encouraged with a focus on agility, collaboration and innovation. Ultimately, we are reimagining digital and physical healthcare provision to customers across the region. Furthermore, we are providing our colleagues with amazing new tools to better serve our customers throughout all of our businesses.”

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ServiceNow: Tech disruption delivering change

Gregg Aldana, Global Area Vice President, Creator Workflows Specialist Solution Consulting at ServiceNow, on how a disruptive approach to technology can drive innovation.

While the whole world works towards automating as many processes as possible for efficiency’s sake, businesses like ServiceNow are supporting that change evolution. ServiceNow’s platform serves over 7,700 customers across the world in their quest to eliminate manual tasks and become more streamlined. We spoke to Aldana about how it does this and the ways in which technology is evolving.

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Innovation Group: Enabling the future of insurance

James Coggin, Group Chief Technology Officer on digital transformation and using InsurTech to disrupt an industry.

“What we’ve achieved at Innovation Group is truly disruptive,” reflects Group Chief Technology Officer James Coggin. “Our acquisition by one of the world’s largest insurance companies validated the strategy we pursued with our Gateway platform. We put the platform at the heart of an ecosystem of insurers, service providers and their customers. It has proved to be a powerful approach.”

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San Francisco PD: A technology transformation

Chief Information Officer William Sanson-Mosier on the development of advanced technologies to empower emergency responders and enhance public safety

“Ultimately, my motivation stems from the relationship between individual growth and organisational success. When we invest in our people, and we empower them to innovate with technology and problem-solve, they can deliver exceptional results. In turn, the organisation thrives, solidifying its position as a leader in its field. This virtuous cycle of growth and innovation is what drives me.” CIO William Sanson-Mosier is reflecting on a journey of change for the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). Ignited by the transformative power of technology to enhance public safety and improve lives.

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  • Digital Strategy

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

4 April 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Our cover story this month focuses on the work of Gregg Aldana and his team. The Global Area Vice President,…

Our cover story this month focuses on the work of Gregg Aldana and his team. The Global Area Vice President, Creator Workflows Specialist Solution Consulting at ServiceNow, reveals how a disruptive approach to technology can drive innovation. “We were inspired by our customers – they were the ones who started tapping into our underlying platform to build their own custom applications and workflows.”

Welcome to the latest issue of Interface magazine!

Welcome to a world of possibilities where technology meets business at the interface of change…

Read the latest issue here!

ServiceNow: Tech disruption delivering change

Gregg Aldana, Global Area Vice President, Creator Workflows Specialist Solution Consulting at ServiceNow, on how a disruptive approach to technology can drive innovation. “We were inspired by our customers – they were the ones who started tapping into our underlying platform to build their own custom applications and workflows.”

Harry Reid International Airport: A technology transformation journey

Chief Information Technology Officer Rishma M. Khimji on the digital transformation journey delivering seamless passenger experiences to millions of travellers at one of America’s busiest airports. “We have multiple large projects planned to build that next baseline for Harry Reid International Airport. We’re moving up our levels of service, our redundancy, our recovery and our protective services to truly be a technology focused forward-looking airport.”

CBA: A new dawn of digital adoption for business banking

At the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Michael Vacy-Lyle, Group Executive for Business, is driving the renaissance for business banking with a wave of digital development at Australia’s largest bank. “Our goal is utilising our data assets to differentiate CBA and completely change the way our business customers see their bank.”

Telia: Scaling for tomorrow

Telia‘s Cloud & IT Infrastructure leader Kai Viljanen on scaling and future-proofing a tech transformation. “IT businesses in recent years are starting to move even faster with customer demands. It’s extremely important to keep improving time-to-market. There’s increasing demand for IT organisations to offer more services with reduced costs. Telia’s top management released our new strategy and IT transformation initiative around four years ago. We’ve been working on it ever since.”

Peavey Industries: Adapting ecommerce to customer needs

Peavey Technology & Ecommerce leader Shaun Guthrie on keeping the customer at the heart of business transformation. “If you’re going to bury your head in the sand with old technology, you won’t survive the up cycles.”

CNA: A cultural revolution empowering transformation

Rizwan Jan, CIO of CNA Corporation, on prioritising the significance of fostering cultural shifts while navigating business transformation and addressing cyber risk. “We’re promoting a culture with a security-first mindset where every employee understands their role in safeguarding our data and our systems.”

Virginia ABC: IT freedom through strategic partnership

CIO Paul Williams on Virginia ABC‘s transformation, the process of becoming independent, and how businesses can avoid IT obsolescence. “We believe that if we can keep our customers happy with our service and delivery, we are more likely to be able to continue modernising the last few legacy systems.”

Also in this issue, we hear from Emergn CEO Alex Adamopulos on the need for a dual mindset approach in the adoption of advanced technology, round up the must attend tech events and speak with Sanofi‘s Landry Giardina, Global Head of Clinical Supply Chain Operations Innovation & Technology talks data-driven performance, resilience, and operational excellence.

Enjoy the issue!

Dan Brightmore, Editor

  • Digital Strategy