ServiceNow – What’s hot right now?

As the summer period is well behind us now and people are recovering from their holiday blues, we’ve seen a slight ignition in the ServiceNow market and companies looking to onboard new talent to projects. It’s been a very useful exercise speaking to decision makers and candidates alike about what is becoming more popular on the market right now and what we should expect moving into 2027.

So, what is hot right now?

Agentic AI / Autonomous AI — by far the biggest theme

At Knowledge 2026, ServiceNow launched its Autonomous Workforce, including AI specialists covering IT, CRM, employee service, and security/risk. ServiceNow says AI deployments have increased substantially, with AI now exceeding $1bn in annual contract value in Q2 2026. ServiceNow has moved beyond simply adding GenAI features to ITSM. The focus is now on AI agents and autonomous workers that actually execute work.

CMDB + ITOM is becoming even more important

ServiceNow’s own Q2 results specifically highlighted strong demand for ITOM and CMDB, with CMDB positioned as a governance/data foundation for AI. Why? AI agents need accurate enterprise data before they’re trusted to take action. So CMDB isn’t going away because of AI — it’s arguably becoming more important.

ServiceNow + AI governance

Enterprises are increasingly asking:

“How do we allow AI agents to operate across our business without losing control?” ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower is aimed at discovery, governance, security and measurement of AI systems and agents. ServiceNow is also introducing governance around machine identities and AI-agent security.

ServiceNow MCP

ServiceNow announced generally available MCP Servers on September 10, 2026, allowing AI clients such as Claude, Copilot and Gemini to interact with ServiceNow through governed tools.

The initial MCP servers cover:

• ITSM
• ITOM
• CMDB
• Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM)

This potentially creates a new ecosystem around: ServiceNow + Claude / Copilot / Gemini + enterprise workflows

ServiceNow CRM / Customer Service

ServiceNow is pushing much harder into CRM and customer workflows, rather than being viewed purely as an ITSM platform. Its Autonomous CRM offering covers things such as:

• sales qualification
• quoting
• order fulfilment
• invoice disputes
• customer service
• renewals

Employee / HR workflows

Employee workflows remain an important expansion area. The broader direction is essentially: IT service desk → HR → customer service → security → enterprise-wide workflows ServiceNow’s Autonomous Workforce strategy now spans multiple business functions.

Relevant recruitment titles include:

• ServiceNow HRSD Consultant
• HRSD Architect
• Employee Service Centre Consultant
• ServiceNow Employee Workflows Lead
• HR Transformation Lead

Security Operations + ServiceNow

ServiceNow is combining its Security & Risk capabilities with its AI strategy, including autonomous security/risk capabilities and integrations with security technologies.

Hot areas include:

• SecOps
• Vulnerability Response
• Security Incident Response
• GRC / IRM
• Risk
• Security AI
• SecOps architecture

SPM / Strategic Portfolio Management

ServiceNow is pushing further into enterprise planning, portfolios, projects and investment management, and its new MCP capabilities explicitly include SPM.

I’d keep an eye on:

• SPM Consultants
• SPM Architects
• PPM
• Demand Management
• Resource Management
• Enterprise Portfolio Management

If you’re a ServiceNow Professional, whether it be contract/freelance or permanent focused, then please feel free to reach out to som3 ServiceNow as we’d love to speak with you about your next role.

Equally, for any client out there who is in need of their next superstar, please contact som3 ServiceNow as we’d love to hear more about your needs and how we can help.