The Foundation: AI Agent Fabric & Collaboration

The most significant leap in Zurich is the AI Agent Fabric. This is the connectivity layer that allows multiple AI agents to work together using the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol.In the past, a Virtual Agent was an isolated chatbot. Now, these agents act as a coordinated squad. For instance, a "Triage Agent" can detect an incoming incident, autonomously consult a "Documentation Agent" for relevant knowledge, and then task a "Resolution Agent" to execute a script—all without human intervention. This collaboration is powered by the Workflow Data Fabric, which allows agents to pull real-time data from external sources like Snowflake or AWS without the "hassle" of manual data duplication or complex ETL processes.

Governance at Scale: AI Control Tower

With great autonomy comes the need for rigorous oversight. ServiceNow introduces the AI Control Tower to solve the "black box" problem of AI.This command centre provides a centralised view of every AI asset in your organisation. It ensures that your digital agents are following ethical guidelines, such as the EU AI Act and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. It does't just monitor performance; it manages Machine Identities. This means every action taken by an AI agent is authenticated and logged, providing a clear audit trail that replaces the manual documentation traditionally required for compliance.

Now Assist: From Sidekick to Autonomous Strategist

Now Assist for ITSM has evolved significantly in the Zurich release, moving beyond simple ticket summarisation into the realm of Intelligent Change Management.

Conversational Change: AI agents now guide users through the entire change request lifecycle. They automatically assess risks, identify scheduling conflicts, and even explain the "why" behind a risk score.
Now Assist Voice: This feature brings GenAI to phone interactions. Employees can now call the service desk and speak naturally to an AI that can troubleshoot issues, reset passwords, or update ticket statuses in real-time, drastically reducing the volume of routine calls.
Digital End-User Experience (DEX): Zurich integrates AI-driven "self-healing." If the system detects a widespread issue—like a failing VPN client—it can trigger bulk remediation across 1,000+ devices simultaneously before the users even realise there’s a problem.

Operational Transformation and Proven ROI

The primary goal of the Zurich release is to slash Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) and boost First-Contact Resolution (FCR) by removing human bottlenecks.Early implementations, such as those by Kanton Zürich, demonstrate the power of this unified platform. By managing 40,000 annual incidents through these intelligent workflows, they achieved transparent resource allocation and a significant reduction in manual overhead. Organisations are seeing a 30-day "Time-to-Value" for Now Assist rollouts, as the AI immediately begins deflecting tickets and automating the creation of knowledge articles from resolved incidents.

The Agentic Future

The Zurich release confirms that by 2026, the most resilient IT organisations will be those that treat AI as a teammate rather than a tool. By fusing human oversight with agentic autonomy, ServiceNow has moved ITSM into a "self-driving" era—less hassle for the agents, and faster results for the business.