ServiceNow Acquires Data.World to Enhance AI-Ready Data Infrastructure

ServiceNow's Strategic Acquisition of Data.World

ServiceNow, the enterprise workflow management platform, has announced its acquisition of Data.World, a cloud-native data catalog and governance platform 1

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. This move comes just months after ServiceNow's $2.85 billion acquisition of Moveworks, signaling the company's aggressive push into the AI space 1

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Enhancing AI-Ready Data Infrastructure

The acquisition of Data.World, now called Declan, is aimed at helping ServiceNow customers deploy AI at scale by making their data "AI-ready" 1

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. Gaurav Rewari, SVP and GM of data analytics at ServiceNow, emphasized the importance of this move, stating, "This path to agentic 'AI heaven' goes through some form of data hell, and that's the grim reality" 1

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Strengthening the ServiceNow AI Platform

Data.World's technology is expected to strengthen the ServiceNow AI Platform and expand the capabilities of Workflow Data Fabric 2

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. The acquisition will enable ServiceNow to better manage enterprise data assets as agentic AI becomes more prevalent, breaking down data into strategic and more manageable components 2

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Three-Pronged Approach to AI-Ready Data

Rewari outlined ServiceNow's three-pronged approach to making data AI-ready 3

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1. RaptorDB: A next-generation AI-ready database to support increased analytical and operational processing.
2. Workflow Data Fabric: Provides access to data beyond ServiceNow, including enterprise-wide and external data sources.
3. Data Governance and Catalog: Data.World's acquisition fills this gap, ensuring data quality, trust, and proper governance.

Workflow Data Network and New Capabilities

ServiceNow also introduced the Workflow Data Network, an ecosystem of data platforms, applications, and enterprise tools that enhance the Workflow Data Fabric 2

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. This network aims to connect, understand, and take action from any data source via the ServiceNow AI Platform, enabling more informed decisions and faster actions 2

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Industry Impact and Future Outlook

With only 4% of technology leaders feeling their data is AI-ready and 60% of AI projects expected to fail by 2026 due to data not being AI-ready, ServiceNow's strategic moves position the company to address critical industry challenges 3

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. As companies race to embrace agentic AI, ServiceNow's acquisitions and technological advancements may provide a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.