IT Service Management

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated April 22, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of IT Service Management

    IT Service Management (ITSM) on the ServiceNow AI Platform enables organizations to efficiently manage IT service requests, incidents, problems, and changes using automated workflows. It improves agent productivity, accelerates issue resolution, and enhances user satisfaction through AI-driven recommendations and self-service capabilities. ITSM supports both mobile and web access, providing flexibility for users and IT staff.

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    Key Features

    • AI and Automation: Leverages native AI and machine learning to automate routine tasks, categorize and assign incidents, and offer virtual agent support with natural language understanding for human-like interactions.
    • Consolidation: Enables rapid consolidation of multiple IT tools into a single cloud-based system, streamlining resource management and performance tracking.
    • Self-Service: Reduces support tickets by empowering employees to find answers and fulfill requests via a unified self-service portal integrated with Knowledge Management.
    • Visibility and Analytics: Provides real-time dashboards and Performance Analytics to monitor service quality, anticipate trends, and identify automation opportunities for continuous improvement.
    • Mobile Connectivity: Offers a dedicated ITSM mobile agent app for iOS and Android, allowing users to manage tasks, receive notifications, and approve requests on the go.
    • Data Security: Supports edge encryption for ITSM Virtual Agent, ensuring data security with encryption and key management on the customer’s intranet, requiring careful planning and setup.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Increase IT operational efficiency by reducing manual intervention and accelerating incident resolution.
    • Improve end-user experience with consistent, responsive service and 24/7 virtual agent support.
    • Gain comprehensive visibility into IT processes and service performance to make data-driven decisions.
    • Consolidate disparate IT service tools to improve resource management and reduce complexity.
    • Enable mobile access for IT teams to respond flexibly and promptly to service needs.
    • Enhance data security through edge encryption options for sensitive communications.

    Getting Started and Support

    ServiceNow customers can begin by setting up Incident Management and exploring ITSM features through available courses and community resources. Support is available via the ITSM community and NOW Support for licensed customers.

    Use IT Service Management (ITSM) to manage and resolve IT service requests, incidents, problems, and changes through automated workflows on the ServiceNow AI Platform.

    The ITSM solution can help increase your agents' productivity, resolve issues quickly, and improve user satisfaction. Also, powered by platform native AI, you can quickly accelerate technology changes and view recommended actions for incoming tickets or requests and drive self-service and automation through enterprise chatbot technology. The ServiceNow AI Platform® also provides users access to ITSM via mobile or web-portal interfaces.

    Figure 1. ITSM is the foundation of digital transformation
    ITSM is the foundation of digital transformation

    Transform the impact, speed, and delivery of IT services

    The ServiceNow AI Platform was built for the cloud and has its own shared data model, AI, and workflow automation that are leveraged by many IT applications. The combination of the ServiceNow platform and applications helps you increase productivity by automatically identifying and resolving issues, which reduces the negative business impacts of unplanned, non-strategic work.

    View and download the full infocard for a highlight of ITSM features.

    Automate IT service Enhance the service experience

    Automate support for common requests with virtual agents powered by natural language understanding (NLU). Engage users with natural, human conversation to provide consistent good customer service experiences.

    Consolidate IT service Consolidate IT services

    Rapidly consolidate existing tools to a single system of action in the cloud.

    Improve IT productivity with ML solutions Improve IT productivity

    Use machine learning algorithms and virtual agents to automate routine tasks and increase the productivity of agents.

    Dashboards and analytics solutions Gain visibility into processes and services

    Get full visibility into any process or service with built-in dashboards and analytics providing real-time, actionable information to improve service quality.

    Mobile connectivity Provide mobile connectivity

    Enable employees to find answers and get work done from a modern mobile application.

    Enhance the service experience

    Employee Center home page

    Automate routine agent interactions and increase the speed of resolution from the Employee Center portal. With supervised machine learning, you can automate incident categorization and assignment and eliminate bottlenecks created by manual incident triaging. Meet increasing demands without further adding staff and empower existing IT staff to focus on more meaningful work. For more information on the Employee Center portal and the features, see Employee Center for IT Service Management.

    Consolidate IT services

    Reduce the number of separate tools your company uses to provide a consistent service experience regardless of the issue or the request. Consolidating IT services enables you to better manage and allocate resources and track performance. You can have a single reliable source of information where performance is monitored in real time and data is easy to capture and report.

    Enable self-service

    Reduce the ticket volume by enabling employees to find answers without contacting the service desk. ITSM integrates with Knowledge Management in Service Operations Workspace and the Employee Center dashboard to provide searchable knowledge articles and automated request fulfillment through a single self-service portal.

    Improve IT productivity

    Accelerate resolution with built-in machine learning. Chatbots provide immediate resolution to common questions. With ITSM Virtual Agent in action, you can have employees with 24*7 support service. Service desk agents can take advantage of machine-learning automation to resolve incidents and recommend resolutions for agents based on similar incidents solved in the past.

    Gain visibility into processes and services

    Figure 2. Gain visibility into processes and services
    Gain visibility into processes and services

    Make smarter decisions with real-time analytics across the entire IT value chain. Get new insights into service performance using data trends and forecasts. With Performance Analytics, you can anticipate trends based on current conditions and past performance and identify areas where automation can increase efficiency.

    Provide mobile connectivity

    Stay connected and access information in real time using the ITSM mobile agent. You can access work assigned to you or your group, receive push notifications, and approve or reject change requests and requested items. The ITSM mobile agent is available on the iOS platform from the Apple App Store or on the Android platform from the Google Play Store.

    Edge Encryption for ITSM Virtual Agent within ITSM

    Edge encryption provides you with direct control over your data security. Encryption and key management are performed on your intranet between your browser and your ServiceNow instance.

    See Understanding Edge Encryption.

    Because edge encryption is enabled on a proxy server on your side of the network, there is significant planning, network administration and management, and setup required.

    See Planning for Edge Encryption.

    To install edge encryption, see Edge Encryption installation.

    To configure edge encryption, see Edge Encryption configuration.
    Note:
    There are limitations when using edge encryption. See Edge Encryption limitations.

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