ServiceNow is on a mission to become the "ultimate AI platform" for business.
The ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric is a central component of that vision.
It tackles a critical problem enterprises face when implementing AI: "All my data is scattered across multiple enterprise systems."
Connecting these data sources and activating them for enterprise AI is - for many large organizations - a Herculean task.
Announced in October 2024, ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric aims to simplify the challenge.
What Is ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric?
Put simply, ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric aims to connect all of an organization's data, no matter where it resides, on one unified platform.
In doing so, the solution makes external data available directly within ServiceNow workflows.
Critically, ServiceNow also provides zero-copy connectors, ensuring that AI agents can pull data from key repositories without importing, storing, or replicating it.
Additionally, Workflow Data Fabric allows AI agents to not only take from data repositories but also access and update the data within them.
As such, AI agents and workflows aren't limited to only what’s inside ServiceNow. Instead, they can interact with external data in real time. The storage step has gone.
Other notable features include an integration hub, external content connectors, and a dedicated knowledge graph for harmonizing data at scale. (More on all this later!).
How Does ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric Work?
As its customers aspire to build a more autonomous enterprise, ServiceNow encourages them to leverage Workflow Data Fabric as part of a three-step process: Connect, Understand, and Act.
1. Connect: Tying Enterprise Data Together with Ease
Organizations create and consume data in countless formats. There are spreadsheets, Slack conversations, ERP tables, and even real-time feeds from IoT sensors.
Workflow Data Fabric supports all these data types using built-in and custom connectors.
The Integration Hub introduces 200+ out-of-the-box spokes to connect with external tools like SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and so on.
There’s also a "Stream Connect" solution, which helps companies handle streams of real-time event data through Apache Kafka.
Users may also link unstructured data sources through integrations with SharePoint, Box, Confluence, and more.
As noted previously, the zero-copy connectors also ensure that data is maintained in its original location, such as Databricks and Snowflake.
2. Understand: Contextualizing and Enriching That Data
Next, ServiceNow Workflow Data Fabric empowers companies to enrich and contextualize data to address different needs.
The knowledge graph translates raw data into meaningful visualizations and actionable insights.
There’s also built-in document intelligence, which can take unstructured files (like scanned files) and extract details for teams.