Enterprises are moving past the early experimentation phase of artificial intelligence (AI) and are now asking for measurable outcomes, with ServiceNow vice-chairman Nick Tzitzon saying customers are “tired of experimenting” after a year of AI proofs-of-concept.
“Throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks is how the first wave of AI adoption played out across organisations, but boardrooms are now shifting to meaningful ROI (return on investment) from solutions that we trust,” Tzitzon told Moneycontrol at Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2026.
His comments assume significance as they come at a time when an MIT study found that 95 percent of enterprise Gen AI pilots fail to deliver measurable business impact or RoI.
The WEF, which will be held from January 19 to 23, will bring together nearly 3,000 leaders, including 400 top political leaders and 850 CEOs, from more than 130 countries.
The company is pitching its platform as an “AI control tower” that can drive workflows and business outcomes across enterprises, especially as AI agents multiply inside large organisations.
Tzitzon said mentioned industry research firm IDC projections that there will be more than a billion AI agents moving around the global economy by 2029, raising questions around how enterprises will regulate them and ensure visibility and access control.
“How are we going to make sure that we know which agents are allowed to have access to which data, which agents are running through which systems?” he said, adding ServiceNow’s position as the AI control tower places it “in the center of the governance and security conversation.”
Tzitzon said enterprises are also increasingly leaning towards a platform strategy rather than experimenting with multiple disconnected tools.
“We don’t want a thousand different AI solutions running crazy in our organization,” he said, adding that customers want it delivered in a way that they know how to use it, and in a way where they can prove meaningful RoI.
He added that ServiceNow is also seeing a productivity case begin to take shape, including within its own operations.
Tzitzon further said tasks that earlier required people on both sides are now happening completely autonomously, with AI agents coordinating and remediating issues.
He said this translates into people gaining “10-20-30% of productivity back,” allowing employees to focus on new ideas and growth.
Looking ahead to 2026, he flagged growth, reinvestment, and upskilling for people as key themes, aligned with the company’s stated goal of putting AI to work for people.
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