The ServiceNow Vancouver release is just around the corner, introducing a fresh batch of new capabilities and improvements that bring additional power and flexibility to the platform. It comes on the heels of Utah, which was released earlier this year.

With its general availability being expected in September 2023, in this article, we delve into the core functionalities and transformative capabilities that the latest ServiceNow release brings to the forefront. From advanced automation and artificial intelligence integrations to seamless cross-departmental collaboration, this latest platform release offers much to consider when it comes to upgrading.

Emiliya Kamenova, Platform Developer at Do IT Wise, has identified some of the top standout features and updates that are expected to improve the platform’s performance and business operations. Discover the how and why in the following paragraphs.

Hello, Vancouver!

This release exemplifies ServiceNow’s unwavering commitment to catalyzing digital transformation, equipping enterprises with the tools poised to revolutionize the way they approach efficiency, collaboration, and customer-centricity.

The ServiceNow journey this time takes us up north to the captivating Vancouver. As the city is famous as a huge tech and diverse cultural hub, we can easily translate its qualities to the values of ServiceNow to provide top-notch new technology and provide solutions for all businesses and industries.

Now let’s explore what are the new thrilling features we are excited to see.

Now Assist for Virtual Agent

As the AI wave gains momentum across the software sector, ServiceNow stands to be a major beneficiary. An example of that is Now Assist for Virtual Agent, which is an enhanced version of an existing ServiceNow capability called Virtual Agent. Now Assist for Virtual Agent uses generative AI to deliver more direct, relevant, and natural responses to questions and queries and helps users immediately get the information they need. What distinguishes the new feature from its predecessor is its ability to access information not just from a company’s internal knowledge base but also from external sources.

Some of the benefits that Now Assist for Virtual Agent offers are:

• Simple configuration through Virtual Agent Designer in a low-code, drag-and-drop interface. Additionally, users can create and deploy conversational self-service with the tool’s diagram drag-and-drop designer, which incorporates natural language understanding (NLU).

• It is powered by the recently announced ServiceNow Generative AI Controller, which serves as the foundation for all generative AI functionality on the Now Platform. It embeds direct access to general-purpose large language models (LLMs), such as Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service LLM or OpenAI API, allowing end users to safely supplement general answers as needed without having to scour through multiple knowledge base articles to find the right information.
• Receive direct responses to user questions in real-time conversations, with information formatted to best suit the answer (i.e., text, links, images, videos, relevant portions of knowledge base articles).
• Achieve a more personalized, relevant, and contextual self-service experience from Virtual Agent.

Data Separation

Among all the latest features, the spotlight is unquestionably shining on this spanking new service, ‘Data Separation’, designed to resolve the challenge of segregating records in instances.

In the past, the concept of “Domain Separation” theoretically offered the possibility to split data tables up as if we were running entirely isolated instances on the same platform. However, the complexity and impact on code and data were still significant.

The data separation model is less invasive. There’s no need to split the data up into separate tables nor to duplicate common architecture within the platform. You can configure the separation rules in the way that works for your environment, then pick the tables you want to secure, as well as the groups of users who should be able to see each set of records. Upon activation, whenever a user accesses a secured table, their visibility is limited to the data that aligns with their group memberships and conforms to the rules we have established.

Data Separation helps us restrict data in ServiceNow® Strategic Portfolio Management based on a lens hierarchy and its leaf node. The leaf node is the bottom-level entity in a lens hierarchy. For example, if the Organization lens is used for data separation, the leaf node would be Department for the base system lens. You can also modify the lens hierarchy as needed.

Task Intelligence for ITSM

Machine learning is also a key element of a new ITSM feature in the Vancouver release. ServiceNow is rolling out Task Intelligence for ITSM, which allows users to “set up, deploy, and track solution-based models” using machine learning. Task Intelligence’s incident prediction model helps companies categorize incidents and predict the fields for new IT service incidents. You have the ability to specify what data the model utilizes to make predictions, what you want to predict, and when.

By harnessing these predictive models, organizations can markedly enhance agent focus on incident resolution, alleviating the undue time and effort traditionally invested in field information completion. As a result, these models can help lower the meantime to resolve the tasks. You can also track and monitor how the solution models are performing and modify the parameters of the model accordingly.

The Admin Console for Task Intelligence for ITSM provides the admin with a no-code experience for deploying Task Intelligence solution models. Using machine-learning models, the application enables you to automate and optimize incident prediction and incident categorizations. The models use statistics to predict future data by training with your past data.

Access Analyzer

The new application, called ServiceNow® Access Analyzer, that comes with the Vancouver Release, certainly generated a lot of excitement among developers and administrators. It enables them to analyze and view permissions of the user, group, and role across various elements such as a table, Client callable Script Include, UI page, and REST endpoint. In this way, it provides instance access visibility that improves security posture, identity governance, and risk management.

Additionally, Access Analyzer includes reporting features that enable the IT teams to effectively communicate the results of their analyses.

Conclusion

Certainly, Vancouver has a wealth of valuable resources and options to enrich work experience. For more detailed insights into the new features, you can explore further information in the Release Notes.

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