ServiceNow doubles down on enterprise agents

ServiceNow posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter results on April 22 and raised its 2026 outlook, but the stock dropped after the company said the Iran war delayed some Middle East deals. (businesswire.com) (cnbc.com) Subscription revenue rose 22% from a year earlier to $3.671 billion, total revenue reached $3.77 billion, and current remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted revenue due within 12 months, hit $12.64 billion. ServiceNow raised full-year subscription revenue guidance to $15.74 billion to $15.78 billion. (businesswire.com) (cnbc.com) The near-term problem was timing, not demand. ServiceNow said the Middle East conflict created a roughly 75-basis-point headwind to subscription growth by delaying several large on-premise closings, and CNBC reported the shares fell 14% after the results. (cnbc.com) ServiceNow sells software that routes office work — approvals, support tickets, security tasks, and customer service — through one system. Its new push is to make that system the place where artificial intelligence agents not only answer questions, but also complete the work. (servicenow.com 1) (servicenow.com 2) That is where EmployeeWorks comes in. ServiceNow introduced it in February as a product that combines Moveworks’ conversational AI and enterprise search with ServiceNow’s portal and autonomous workflows, turning a typed request into a governed action across business systems. (servicenow.com) (insidermonkey.com) The company has been assembling that stack for more than a year. ServiceNow agreed to buy Moveworks for $2.85 billion in March 2025 and completed the acquisition on December 15, 2025, saying the deal would add a front-end AI assistant and enterprise search to its workflow engine. (servicenow.com 1) (servicenow.com 2) Management is betting that owning both the chat box employees use and the workflow rails underneath will make ServiceNow harder to displace. On the earnings call, executives tied that strategy to a platform they describe as an “AI control tower,” with more than 130% year-over-year growth in Now Assist customers spending over $1 million in annual contract value. (businesswire.com) (insidermonkey.com) The tradeoff is cost. CNBC reported ServiceNow has been spending aggressively to expand its AI lineup, while Chief Financial Officer Gina Mastantuono said the company kept extra conservatism in guidance because of geopolitics even as its AI portfolio remained on track to top a $1 billion target in 2026. (cnbc.com) For now, the quarter showed both sides of the story at once: enterprise customers are still signing bigger contracts, with 16 net-new deals above $5 million in annual contract value, but investors want proof that ServiceNow’s AI expansion can outrun war-related delays and heavier spending. (businesswire.com) (cnbc.com)