Jeffrey Nicoll of Pathways Consulting Group on the ServiceNow AI Platform and AI Control Tower, AI Governance and Enterprise Automation - Spotlight Interview

Jeffrey Nicoll of Pathways Consulting Group on the ServiceNow AI Platform and AI Control Tower, AI Governance and Enterprise Automation - Spotlight Interview

In this Technology Executives Club® Spotlight Interview, Alex Jarett sits down with Jeffrey Nicoll, CRO and Co-Founder of Pathways Consulting Group, to discuss the ServiceNow AI Platform, AI Control Tower, enterprise automation, AI governance, and how organizations can get more value from the technology and capabilities they may already own.

Pathways Consulting Group has spent 15 years in the ServiceNow ecosystem. Jeffrey explains that the company has evolved along with ServiceNow itself, from IT service management into helping organizations use the platform more broadly to automate workflows, improve business processes, and manage the growing use of AI across the enterprise.

Today, Pathways works with organizations ranging from Fortune 50 enterprises to much smaller companies. While the scale may differ, Jeffrey says many of the underlying challenges are remarkably similar.

ServiceNow Has Become an Enterprise Automation Platform
Jeffrey explains that ServiceNow has evolved far beyond traditional IT service management. At its core, the platform gives organizations a way to automate forms, workflows, and processes across both IT and the business, improving how work gets done and making those processes more efficient.

With the expansion of the ServiceNow AI Platform and new AI capabilities, organizations can now bring AI into those workflows as well. Jeffrey points out, however, that companies first need to understand whether their existing processes and technology environments are ready.

AI May Expose Your Process Problems
Many organizations believe their processes are more mature than they actually are. Jeffrey says that when Pathways conducts audits and assessments, companies are sometimes surprised by what they discover.

They may want to move quickly into AI, only to find that underlying processes such as incident management, change management, or other parts of the environment need attention first. They may also have customizations or legacy configurations that make upgrades difficult or prevent them from taking full advantage of newer functionality.

Pathways helps organizations identify where they are today, what needs to improve, and where practical AI capabilities can begin producing value.

Are You Using What You Already Bought?
One of the biggest opportunities Jeffrey sees is also one of the simplest: many organizations are already paying for technology capabilities they are not fully using.

Jeffrey describes companies running several different application suites on ServiceNow while only using a portion of what those applications can actually do. Pathways helps clients identify what is being used, what is not, and which capabilities could potentially be activated relatively quickly and inexpensively.

That becomes particularly important with AI. Before buying another platform or launching another major initiative, organizations may already have AI capabilities available inside the ServiceNow environment they own today. Jeffrey describes these opportunities as the “low-hanging fruit.”

Why Pathways Became a “Rescue Partner”
Jeffrey describes Pathways as a delivery-focused organization rather than a sales-driven organization. That has resulted in the company frequently being brought into ServiceNow environments where the platform has already been in place for years, but the organization is not getting the value it expected.

There may be shelfware, capabilities that were purchased but never implemented, or parts of the platform that are simply underused. Pathways often enters those situations as what Jeffrey calls a “rescue partner,” helping clients assess the environment, improve process maturity, and get more value from the platform.

Jeffrey says the same kinds of challenges appear across financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, biopharma, and other industries.

The ServiceNow AI Control Tower and the Governance Challenge
As organizations expand their use of AI, Jeffrey believes governance is becoming one of the most important issues. Employees throughout an enterprise are already experimenting with different AI models and tools, often at very different levels of sophistication.

The problem is that organizations may not necessarily know which tools are being used, how employees are using them, or what company or client information may be involved. That is where Jeffrey sees a major role for ServiceNow AI Control Tower.

Rather than trying to compete with every AI model, AI Control Tower can give organizations a way to understand and govern the AI activity already taking place. The first step is visibility: organizations need to understand what employees are using and how they are using it before they can effectively put controls around that activity.

“Save Everyone From Themselves”
Jeffrey summarizes the challenge with a memorable phrase: AI governance can help organizations “save everyone from themselves.”

Employees are trying to become more productive, experimenting with powerful AI tools and finding new ways to use them in their jobs. That innovation can create significant value, but without visibility, governance, and guardrails, it can also create risk for the company and its customers.

The objective is not to stop employees from using AI. It is to allow people to continue experimenting while putting enough structure around that activity to help protect the organization.

AI Governance Without Becoming the Department of No
The tension between innovation and security is becoming increasingly important as AI adoption accelerates. Security leaders need to protect the organization, but they also do not want to become known as the “department of no.”

Jeffrey sees governance as a way to bridge those priorities. By combining the workflow and automation capabilities of the ServiceNow AI Platform with visibility and governance through AI Control Tower, organizations can begin creating guardrails around AI without simply preventing people from using it.

Whether the workflow involves IT, operations, sales operations, or another business function, the broader opportunity is to connect automation, AI, and governance so organizations can move forward while maintaining greater control.

Getting More Value From Enterprise Technology
The broader theme running throughout Jeffrey’s interview is not simply about adding more technology. It is about getting more value from what organizations already have.

That may mean improving process maturity, activating capabilities that were never fully deployed, automating workflows, or creating better governance around the growing use of AI. For organizations already operating on ServiceNow, Jeffrey believes there may be significant opportunities sitting inside the platform today.

➡️ Watch the full Spotlight Interview with Jeffrey Nicoll to hear how Pathways Consulting Group helps organizations get more value from ServiceNow, improve enterprise processes, identify underused capabilities, automate workflows, and create the AI governance and guardrails needed to move forward with AI.

*️⃣ Guest: Jeffrey Nicoll, CRO and Co-Founder, Pathways Consulting Group
*️⃣ Visit Jeff on LinkedIn Here
*️⃣ Host: ALEX JARETT, Founder, Technology Executives Club®