Third-generation AI harness introduces Productivity Assistants, automated routines and ToolSmith to help employees build and deploy AI across enterprise workflows
ServiceNow has announced new capabilities for ServiceNow EmployeeWorks, enabling employees to create and customise AI agents without coding while giving developers new tools to build enterprise-grade automations. Announced on 3 November 2026, the enhancements include Productivity Assistants, Productivity Routines, ToolSmith and a Conversations API, all supported by a third-generation employee-centric AI harness.
According to ServiceNow, the harness combines employee context, decision-making controls and enterprise actions to help organisations orchestrate AI securely across business systems. The company says the approach is designed to overcome common obstacles to AI adoption, including IT backlogs, fragmented applications and limited development resources.
“AI’s real promise is to close the gap between intention and action,” said Jacqui Canney, chief people and AI enablement officer, ServiceNow.
“This era demands that business leaders redesign work around their customers’ needs. When your technology supports that goal, your employees spend less time on coordination and more time solving customer problems that require human judgement. ServiceNow EmployeeWorks makes that shift possible.”
Bhavin Shah, senior vice president, employee experience group, ServiceNow, said the platform combines agentic planning with governed and auditable workflows, underpinned by intelligent employee context. He described EmployeeWorks as an operating system for employee experience that connects workers with AI capabilities across business applications, channels and languages.
Productivity Assistants support role-specific work
Productivity Assistants are designed for complex, role-specific work, combining reasoning, memory and interoperability with enterprise tools to carry out research, extended tasks and cross-system activities. Employees can configure assistants without coding, within administrator-defined controls governing their behaviour, content, tools and access.
Initial assistants for ServiceNow HR Service Delivery include Talent Insights Assistant, which presents hiring and workforce information through integrations with Findem and Phenom; HR Business Partner Assistant, which supports approvals, case management and employee programmes; and Manager Assistant, which provides coaching, team insights and performance visibility.
EmployeeWorks also includes two foundational assistants: Research Assistant, which investigates questions across internal and external sources and produces role-appropriate responses and materials; and Calendaring Assistant, which coordinates complex scheduling requests, including meeting conflicts, room bookings and conferencing links.
Employees automate repeatable tasks
Productivity Routines let employees build agents for predictable, recurring work. Users describe an activity, choose the necessary tools and deploy a routine that can complete tasks proactively with governance built in. ServiceNow cited an example of a sales agent that reviews upcoming meetings, researches prospective customers and prepares tailored presentation materials ahead of the working day.
ToolSmith accelerates development
ToolSmith is a conversational development environment that allows developers to describe an automation in natural language. ServiceNow says the tool draws on knowledge of more than 75,000 APIs to plan and build integrations, create AI-agent tools, support testing and recommend fixes using relevant logs. It can also identify opportunities for new or improved workflows from operational logs.
A new Conversations API is intended to bring EmployeeWorks functionality into applications employees already use, including internal software, kiosks and other AI applications, without rebuilding the underlying platform.
Availability
ServiceNow said Productivity Assistants, Productivity Routines, the third-generation employee-centric AI harness, ToolSmith and Conversations API were all in controlled availability as of 3 November 2026.
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Source: Tahawul Tech