ServiceNow Teams With Nvidia To ‘Fast-Track’ Enterprise Generative AI

‘This is the leader in AI computing power in Nvidia and the leader in workflows across the enterprise in ServiceNow coming together to connect the dots with the most powerful technology to come our way in decades to what is happening day to day on the ground in the enterprise,’ says ServiceNow Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships Erica Volini.

ServiceNow Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships Erica Volini

ServiceNow is teaming up with AI behemoth Nvidia as part of an “AI Lighthouse” program to “fast-track” the development and adoption of large language model generative AI solutions in the enterprise.

The expanded Nvidia partnership and AI Lighthouse program is aimed at driving breakthrough ServiceNow AI enterprise workflows through the implementation of generative AI large language models.

“This is the leader in AI computing power in Nvidia and the leader in workflows across the enterprise in ServiceNow coming together to connect the dots with the most powerful technology to come our way in decades to what is happening day to day on the ground in the enterprise,” said ServiceNow Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships Erica Volini in an interview with CRN. “This is about making generative AI real. Customers don’t need to worry about that. We are developing the large language models and we are embedding them into our workflows. All our customers need to tell us is how do they want to use them and what are they trying to do with their digital transformation. We are literally hitting the easy button on this incredibly transformative technology that is going to change the technology landscape for decades.”

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The AI Lighthouse program is a watershed moment for partners to bring the power of AI solutions to enterprise customers directly through the ServiceNow platform, the market leader in enterprise IT automation, said Volini.

“This tees up the next wave of digital transformation for our partners,” said Volini. “This is going to allow our partners to continue to help their customers transform with enterprise AI workflows. That is what they are in business to do. This gives partners the ability to have the next digital transformation conversation, getting ahead by using technology that is already in place. This is taking what partners already have and hypercharging it through generative AI. This is about dreaming big about the AI transformation going forward. It is the dream conversation partners want to have with customers. We’ve got the technology taken care of. Partners can focus on the transformation.”

The first partner in the Lighthouse program is $61 billion AI systems integrator powerhouse Accenture, said Volini. “Accenture is and has been one of our most strategic partners,” she said. “The reason we selected them is they have a demonstrated track record of innovation with deep industry and functional expertise across the enterprise. We think they are going to surface the most innovative use cases for the large language models that really help set the course for where we take the ServiceNow product moving forward.”

Accenture has a full team working hand in hand with ServiceNow to understand what are the “biggest transformation opportunities that exist that we need to point these large language models to,” said Volini.

The new AI Lighthouse program is part of ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott’s mantra of dreaming big, said Volini. “This will be one of the most exciting things we will be able to bring to the partner community,” she said. “This is what the partners are all about – driving digital transformation and customer value. There will not be a single conversation we have with partners moving forward that does not talk about generative AI. It will be in every single conversation, offering and customer interaction moving forward.”

C.R. Howdyshell, CEO of Advizex, a Fulcrum IT Partners company, said he sees the AI Lighthouse program as a sign of increased channel commitment by ServiceNow and Nvidia to drive as a service solutions. “This is a big commitment by ServiceNow and Nvidia to allow the channel to deliver AI software and services,” he said.

Advizex is already providing ServiceNow services and working with Nvidia Nvidia Global OEM Channel Go To Market leader Walter Leverett to build out an AI-as-a-service offering.

“We are seeing a significant sales pipeline for Nvidia AI as a service opportunities,” he said. “Our goal is to give customers the opportunity to consume AI as a service. Obviously a lot of work needs to be done to make that happen. We are already talking with Nvidia, Dell and HPE on how to get there.”

Providing AI-as-a-service is critical given that many AI startups are focused on spending their cash on AI software development and are looking for help from partners to provide as a service based infrastructure and services, said Howdyshell. “Most of these deals are in the $30 million-plus range,” he said.

Howdyshell praised ServiceNow and Nvidia for stepping up to assist partners making the investments necessary to be successful in the fast-growing AI market. “This is opening the door for partners to provide AI infrastructure, software and services,” he said. “These investments show that ServiceNow and Nvidia want to be AI market leaders. We want to be right there in lockstep with them to deliver AI as a service to customers.”

The ServiceNow AI offensive comes with the company set to unleash a robust AI enterprise workflow platform with its ServiceNow Vancouver release set for September. That includes new premium offerings for generative AI for IT Service Management, Customer Service Management and Human Resources Service Delivery.

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott said in a prepared statement that the expanded partnership with Nvidia and Accenture will provide a “market leading blueprint for AI-first enterprise innovation.”

McDermott said he expects the AI Lighthouse program to “inspire breakthrough ideas” with massive ROI: return on intelligence).”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a prepared statement that the partnership will help customers “lead their industries by deploying generative AI tools that harness their own invaluable knowledge to transform the applications” they use.

The AI Lighthouse program comes with industries “racing” to add generative AI tools to their operations at a “faster pace” than any previous technology shift, said Huang.

Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, which plans to invest $3 billion in AI over the next three years, said in a prepared statement that the expanded partnership will help clients “more quickly” realize the value of AI technology with “powerful, relevant and responsible generative AI use case studies.”