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IBM, ServiceNow Partnership: AI for IT Service Management

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Robin Hernandez, VP, hybrid cloud management & AIOps, IBM
Robin Hernandez, VP, hybrid cloud management & Watson AIOps, IBM

IBM and ServiceNow are expanding their relationship to integrate AI (artificial intellience) with IT service management (ITSM).

Bringing together IBM Watson AIOps with ServiceNow’s IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Operations Management (ITOM) could better automate IT help desks and deliver automated services to improve reliability of IT infrastructure and applications, said Robin Hernandez VP, hybrid cloud management & Watson AIOps, IBM, in a blog post about the partnership.

The integrated solution applies IBM Watson’s AI capabilities to the workflows and data captured in ServiceNow's Now Platform, according to the statement.

Watson AIOps uses data from incidents reported in ServiceNow’s platform to generate insights and prescriptive recommendations for administrators that they otherwise would have to resolve manually.

This integration allow partners and customers to leverage automation to decrease time spent on IT maintenance and incident resolution and will ultimately be able to reduce the overall number of incidents that occur, according to the companies.

AIOps Elite Team to Assist with Adoption

This integrated solution allows IT teams to adopt AI in familiar ServiceNow IT process models, significantly reducing time spent on operations while improving outcomes, according to the companies. IBM Services will help clients adopt Watson AIOps and ServiceNow, through a new AIOps Elite team, a team of data scientists working to apply AI inside IT organizations, according to the companies.

The AIOps Elite team will work with IT organizations to leverage AI incrementally, working to accelerate IT to modern digital operations management, according to IBM. These essential skills, combined with the AI capabilities in Watson AIOps, represent a highly effective solution designed to deliver the agility, risk reduction and cost savings promised by adopting AIOps, according to Hernandez.

AI and IT Service Management for Small Business MSPs

Admittedly, the IBM-ServiceNow relationship focuses mostly on enterprise customers. ServiceNow doesn't necessarily target midmarket and SMB partners.  But several hundred MSPs have "pulled" ServiceNow down into many midmarket and some small business settings, according to ChannelE2E's ongoing readership research. We'll be watching to see if those MSPs tap into the emerging ServiceNow AI capabilities, care of IBM.

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri. 

Sharon Florentine

Sharon manages day-to-day content on ChannelE2E and serves as senior managing editor for CyberRisk Alliance’s Channel Brands. She also covers enterprise-class technology companies, strategic alliances and channel partner strategies. Sharon is a veteran tech journalist and editor with more than 25 years experience in the industry, and has previously held key editorial, content and leadership positions at Techstrong Group, CIO.com, Ziff Davis Enterprise and CRN.