ServiceNow Introduces Workflow Data Fabric, Further Spurring AI-fueled productivity for the enterprise
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Key Takeaways
⇨ ServiceNow's Workflow Data Fabric enhances enterprise productivity by providing a unified, real-time data layer that integrates business and technology data across the organization, fueling AI-driven workflows and actions.
⇨ The introduction of Zero Copy connectors greatly improves integration capabilities, allowing businesses to securely access and act on data from multiple sources without duplicating it, thereby enhancing operational efficiency.
⇨ A strategic partnership with Cognizant marks the official launch of Workflow Data Fabric, highlighting the increasing importance of data management and automation in driving business transformation and improving process efficiency.
ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), SAP partner and AI platform for business transformation, recently introduced Workflow Data Fabric, targeting new levels of AI‑fueled productivity for the enterprise. Workflow Data Fabric is an enhanced integrated data layer that unifies business and technology data across the enterprise, powering all workflows and AI agents with real‑time, secure access to data from any source. ServiceNow also announced Zero Copy connectors to optimize the company’s integration capabilities so customers can turn data into instant, AI‑powered action. Additionally, ServiceNow announced a strategic partnership with systems integrator Cognizant as the first partner to bring Workflow Data Fabric to market for customers. Workflow Data Fabric is available today in controlled go‑to‑market.
SAP and ServiceNow are increasingly used together by businesses aiming to streamline workflows, automate processes, and improve data transparency. The combined functionality is especially beneficial for operations like asset management, procurement, and IT service management. Many organizations using SAP have adopted ServiceNow for its modern interface and workflow automation, enabling real-time data exchanges that are often challenging to achieve due to SAP’s legacy structures.
For most organizations, enterprise data sits in hundreds of different systems. Employees have to swivel between these applications to get work done. To get value from AI, organizations need a single, scalable platform to manage and act on data across teams and departments, which is why many businesses are investing in data enhancements today.
“AI is only as powerful as the platform it’s built into and the data it has access to,” said Jon Sigler, senior vice president of Platform and AI at ServiceNow. “With Workflow Data Fabric, we’re making it easier for customers to connect, understand, and act on business data from any source so they can maximize efficiency and solve bigger, industry‑specific problems. ServiceNow is the AI platform for business transformation, delivering the winning combination of AI, data, and workflow orchestration and automation.”
Recent SAPinsider research shows that companies are placing greater importance on process automation. The research report Process Productivity and Efficiency Through Process Automation and Intelligence 2024 uncovered that the perception of process automation as “Extremely Important” has notably increased, jumping from 40% in 2023 to 54% in 2024. This is in keeping with related research that shows companies striving for greater productivity, better expense control, fewer manual touchpoints, and improved profitability in an increasingly global marketplace.
Workflow Data Fabric expands customers’ ability to connect, understand, and act on any structured, unstructured, semi‑structured, and streaming data from across the enterprise—both inside and outside of ServiceNow—for maximum scalability and efficiency. Extending the capabilities of Automation Engine and newly introduced database RaptorDB Pro, Workflow Data Fabric can access and update data from any system, allowing ServiceNow to not only read from these data repositories, but also take action. For example, retailers can use Workflow Data Fabric to access data from various systems—including their Customer Data Platform, core ERP, order management systems, POS systems, merchant trade rebates in Excel, and marketing receipts for co‑op and trade spend—for a single, integrated view of their business that allows them to take action on customer inquiries, orders, and returns.
Workflow Data Fabric is powered by ServiceNow’s Automation Engine, which includes pre‑built integrations and automation tools, real‑time data streaming, RPA, and process mining capabilities, to put data to work and unlock value with orchestration and automation at ultra‑speed and scale. This speed and scale is made possible with ServiceNow’s high‑performance database, RaptorDB Pro, with early use cases demonstrating up to 53% improvement in overall transactions times, 27X faster pulling of reports, analytics, and list views, and 3X more transactional throughput.
The recent acquisition of Raytion also provides unified, real‑time access to business‑critical data across multiple enterprise sources, including sources that contain unstructured data, via connectors to Atlassian Confluence, Box, Google Drive, and Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive. Combined with the company’s 500+ connectors for structured data, ServiceNow is uniting all forms of enterprise data to fuel automation and innovation.
Workflow Data Fabric includes augmented workflow automation to speed real‑time data processing and reduce delays associated with legacy data management. For example, Workflow Data Fabric can integrate telco data across multiple systems, including retail, network, and customer care, providing agents with a complete view of customer experiences and streamlining support for ultra‑fast detection and resolution of network outages and events. By consolidating enriched data from alerts, it streamlines notifications and assigns incidents to the right field agents with the tools to fix the issue, enabling quick action on a single platform.
“As a major US wireless provider generating over two petabytes of data daily, being able to process and act on that data in real‑time is essential for our network operations,” said Stephen Bingemer, senior solutions architect, Dish. “Stream Connect allows us to ingest much of this data in real‑time and automate mission‑critical telecom workflows, resulting in a 97% improvement in our mean time to repair vs our legacy processes. This improvement is crucial given that telecom outages can cost around $6,000 per minute.”
Workflow Data Fabric will also include ServiceNow Knowledge Graph to connect and harmonize enterprise data at scale. Knowledge Graph transforms raw data into contextual insights—connecting a company’s people, processes, operations, and systems, so AI agents can work more effectively and autonomously across the enterprise. This helps organizations move beyond simple data access to unlocking true value from their information, delivering personalized, AI‑driven experiences at scale.
The new Workflow Data Fabric capabilities are underpinned by strategic partnerships and integrations, enabling ServiceNow to offer data solutions that support the AI‑driven transformation of enterprise workflows. Through partnerships with leading data platforms, customers can activate ServiceNow workflows directly within these ecosystems. This helps customers bridge the gap between insights and action and ensures they can harness the full potential of their data ecosystems.
“At Cognizant, we’re empowering companies across industries to use data and AI to help stay ahead of the competition and anticipate change in their businesses and industries,” said Jason Wojahn, global head of Cognizant’s ServiceNow Business Group. “We are proud to be the first partner to bring Workflow Data Fabric to market, giving our joint customers the capabilities they need to understand and act on real‑time data across the enterprise.”
Zero Copy integration capabilities with Workflow Data Fabric allow businesses to securely connect to their data sources without moving or duplicating data. This launch, alongside Zero Copy partnerships with established data leaders like Databricks and Snowflake, dramatically boost ServiceNow’s integration capabilities, so customers can act on data‑powered insights.
Whether powering AI agents for autonomous issue resolution or streamlining traditional workflows like customer operations and employee experience, Workflow Data Fabric turns data into real‑time, actionable insights. Businesses can use their data to drive transformative outcomes, no matter the complexity or type of use case.
What does this mean for SAPinsiders
Share your data management strategies. The focus on enterprise data management is intensifying with the proliferation of 5G, IoT, AI/ML and other transformative technologies. SAP customers are increasingly looking for new data management models for the storage, migration, integration, governance, protection, transformation, and processing of all kinds of data ranging from transactional to analytical. Balancing the risks, compliance needs, and costs of data management in SAP HANA on-premise and on the cloud while also providing reliable, secure data to the organization is increasingly important to the business We will be releasing the 2025 Data Management Strategies research report in February 2025. Contribute to the research by completing this survey: https://www.research.net/r/DataMgt25.
Leverage ServiceNow’s pre-built integrations. ServiceNow offers pre-built SAP connectors, such as REALTECH’s SmartChange, which allows SAP transport management directly from ServiceNow. This tool enables bidirectional synchronization, reducing manual data entry and improving process efficiency
Focus on data synchronization and workflow automation. Configure bidirectional data synchronization between SAP and ServiceNow to avoid data inconsistencies and ensure both systems are always up-to-date. This setup can be crucial for workflows like change management, where accurate data tracking and auditing are essential. ServiceNow workflows allow SAP change requests to go through automatic approval processes, reducing the time it takes to implement changes. Configuring these workflows ensures quicker turnaround times and reduces the risk of errors from manual processing.
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