ServiceNow Inc. on Thursday announced the launch of Flow by ServiceNow, a standalone conversational artificial intelligence (AI) service desk aimed at expanding the company’s reach beyond its core enterprise audience to businesses of all sizes — from agile startups to the Fortune 500,000.
Designed to go live in less than a day without heavy infrastructure, implementation projects, or mandatory employee training, Flow functions as an instant, conversational entry point for IT Service Management (ITSM).
The service operates natively within the communication platforms employees already use daily, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, eliminating the need to log into separate web portals or traditional ticketing systems.
“Flow is for companies that want to work in a completely new way. It’s automation built for speed and simplicity,” said Jeff Hausman, executive vice president and general manager of technology workflow products at ServiceNow. “We are meeting companies where their employees work every day… and investing where we see AI-native market opportunities.”
The launch reflects an evolution in how organizations approach artificial intelligence. According to Sean Regan, general manager of Flow by ServiceNow, the market has moved past the initial phase of unconstrained “YOLO AI” experimentation and the subsequent shock over unmanaged token costs. Flow addresses this shift by serving as a control tower that balances developer-driven speed with enterprise-level governance.
“Anyone can vibe code now, but the reality is the power is backstage,” Regan said in an interview, emphasizing the need to put tools into customers’ hands faster while maintaining oversight.
Beyond delivering automated answers to routine inquiries, Flow features a single-click automation tool. When an issue like a password reset or access request is resolved, teams can convert that action into an automated workflow on the spot — eliminating repetitive tasks without drafting knowledge base articles.
Flow acts as an entry vector for organizations without prior ServiceNow deployments, allowing new customers to purchase and activate the service directly.
However, it also serves established ServiceNow clients seeking rapid deployment for specialized departments, remote teams, or newly acquired units. Existing customers on AI-native SKUs can access Flow immediately through consumption-based pricing models.
Industry analysts highlight the operational efficiency gained by consolidating AI-driven support directly inside everyday chat platforms.
“Technology leaders today want simplicity,” said Stephen Elliot, group vice president of software development and IT operations at IDC. “By combining conversational experiences with accessible automation, organizations can shorten time-to-value, reduce manual effort, and deliver more consistent service outcomes.”
Early adopters across both the public and private sectors report immediate time savings. Jeffery Compoc, Deputy N6 at the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC), noted that Flow enables teams to convert recurring needs into transparent, repeatable processes within Microsoft Teams, offering smaller or siloed organizations enterprise-grade value without requiring extensive administrative overhead.
Commercial leaders, including executives at Serenity EHS and VividCharts, similarly cited the tool’s ability to act as a centralized organizational memory within Slack.
Building Automation Systems (BAS), the critical networks managing corporate HVAC, lighting, and physical access controls, face severe cybersecurity exposure, according to new research published by ServiceNow.
The study reveals that 73% of surveyed organizations operate BAS equipment containing at least one Known Exploited Vulnerability. A matching 73% rely on technologies linked to past ransomware campaigns, while 91% of these automated systems communicate over unencrypted, insecure protocols.
Historically isolated from corporate IT through air-gapping, traditional building control protocols were engineered without modern security standards. However, as enterprises integrate physical facilities into primary corporate networks to optimize operations, they are expanding a highly vulnerable attack surface. Industry experts warn that unpatched environmental controls and access points could grant threat actors an easy entry point to compromise enterprise-wide digital assets.
