While the use of AI is accelerating across industries, not all organisations are benefiting equally. Research from workflow platform provider ServiceNow and analyst Oxford Economics, drawing on a global survey of 4,470 executives at organisations where AI capabilities are already in use, reveals a striking divide.
Most businesses are stuck in the experimental stage, unsure of how to fully capitalise on AI’s potential. Only 18 per cent have moved beyond this to become what the Enterprise AI Maturity Index report calls ‘pacesetters’: organisations that are pushing ahead with AI innovation and strategy to create significant, measurable business value.
The findings paint a clear picture of where enterprise AI stands today – and where the real opportunity lies.
So what do the high performers do differently? The answer isn’t about having more advanced technology or bigger budgets. It’s about how they think about AI in relation to the rest of the business.
Whereas most organisations are automating one-off tasks or linear workflows that are easily codified, pacesetters take a broader view. Sixty-one per cent of them are embracing robust enterprise platforms with built-in generative AI capabilities that are deeply integrated into existing business processes across functions. Rather than deploying AI at the edges of the organisation, they are embedding it at the core.
This approach not only dissolves traditional silos and enhances the flow of data between systems, but also elevates employee engagement – getting people out of work that is repetitive and predictable, and helping them become more strategic. It’s a fundamentally different proposition from task automation: it is AI as an organisational capability.
Pacesetters also prioritise interoperability. Organisations that unlock the full potential of AI choose solutions with native AI capabilities that work seamlessly with other applications and platforms, allowing for smooth, end-to-end data flows across all business functions.
The result is what can be described as contextual intelligence: AI that is anchored in relevant, real-world data and connected across the enterprise in ways that genuinely enhance decision-making. Combined with the accessibility of natural language models, this is what distinguishes pacesetters from early adopters – and what allows them to achieve greater business value at scale.
For the majority of organisations still working out how to bridge this gap, the path forward requires a shift in both strategy and infrastructure. Embedding AI deep within existing technology ecosystems – unifying processes and data rather than layering AI on top of disconnected systems – is the critical move.
To help organisations make that transition, ServiceNow and Microsoft are collaborating on new generative AI use cases that redefine the boundaries of how and where work gets done. Their shared goal is to continue developing and improving the tools and systems that break down business silos, advance toward a unified data ecosystem, reduce monotonous tasks, increase opportunities for engaging strategic work and ultimately realise the efficiency gains of a fully integrated IT environment.
As a first step toward this vision, ServiceNow’s integration with Microsoft Copilot combines the generative AI features of the Now Assist generative AI-powered chatbot with Microsoft’s AI interface that has become an organising layer for work across more than 400 million Microsoft 365 users. Now Assist delivers direct, relevant and conversational responses to employee requests, connecting those exchanges to AI-powered workflows on ServiceNow’s platform, where it can execute actions on behalf of employees.
This seamless process – streamlining IT service delivery and empowering employees with self-service options – is now available within Microsoft 365 as an embedded AI agent capable of collaborating with Microsoft Copilot.
“This marks a new chapter in the way businesses will operate,” said Nenshad Bardoliwalla, group vice president, product management of AI products at Service Now. “With Microsoft as our partner, we’re enabling a smarter way to work, where generative AI assistants can cohabit and interact to unlock new levels of productivity.”
Nowhere is the practical impact of this integration more evident than in IT service management. IT support is, by nature, a broad discipline – equally responsible for deploying enterprise security software and helping employees recover lost passwords. Given this breadth, tasks accumulate rapidly, overwhelming even the most capable IT teams and diverting attention from more strategic work.
Natively embedding generative AI capabilities into existing workflows changes this equation. With Now Assist and Microsoft Copilot working together across Microsoft Teams and the ServiceNow platform, IT support personnel can offload the burden of monotonous, repetitive work. Generative AI can be applied across IT use cases: enhancing employee self-service, supercharging search capabilities and creating and assigning support issues.
The practical workflow benefits are significant. IT administrators can request data stored inside the ServiceNow platform using Now Assist in Teams and execute familiar ServiceNow workflows from the same location – without switching interfaces. In just a few prompts, they can access the required information and generate an incident report, for example, through Copilot. IT staff can then interact with Copilot to set new parameters and create detailed documents in Word or Excel, before sharing these with stakeholders via Outlook, where Copilot can assist again with drafting the communication.
The benefits also extend beyond IT teams. In today’s dynamic work environment, employees across functions are often slowed down by the need to hunt for information, resolve technical issues or manage repetitive tasks – work that consumes valuable time and detracts from the creative thinking and complex problem-solving that humans do best.
Generative AI assistants that are deeply integrated into an organisation’s knowledge base and powered by natural language processing offer a compelling solution. Now Assist and Microsoft Copilot connect seamlessly with tools like Microsoft Teams and access data stored across Microsoft 365 and the ServiceNow platform, enabling employees to engage in conversational, context-aware experiences grounded in their organisation’s real-world data, without needing to switch applications.
Critically, this capability doesn’t come at the expense of security. IT teams can ensure data remains protected throughout these exchanges by implementing strict access controls, encryption, continuous monitoring and compliance with privacy regulations.
The result is a workforce that is more productive, more engaged, and better equipped to focus on high-value work – which is, ultimately, what the AI maturity journey is about.
This report first appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of Technology Record. To get more content about enterprise solutions from Microsoft partners, subscribe to the print edition or free digital edition of Technology Record.