Partners Gain Streamlined Access to Build AI-Powered Solutions as Demand Surges
The enterprise AI market has reached an inflection point. Companies are moving beyond proof-of-concept experiments to deploying AI agents that automate complex workflows at scale. Yet many organizations struggle to find specialized solutions that integrate seamlessly with their existing technology infrastructure. This gap between AI ambition and execution capability represents both a critical challenge and a significant opportunity for the technology partner ecosystem.
ServiceNow is addressing this market need head-on with sweeping enhancements to its global Partner Program, designed to accelerate the development and distribution of AI agents across its 2,700-strong partner network. Announced at the company’s Partner Kickoff event, the changes fundamentally reshape how independent software vendors, developers, and technology partners can innovate on the ServiceNow AI Platform—with simplified entry requirements, enhanced funding mechanisms, and clearer pathways to monetization.
Lowering Barriers for AI Solution Builders
The cornerstone of ServiceNow’s program evolution is its reimagined Build Program, which restructures partner tiers into four distinct levels: Registered, Select, Premier, and Elite. A newly introduced Access Tier allows aspiring partners to begin building immediately without formal enrollment, removing traditional friction points that previously delayed market entry.
This architectural change matters because it expands the pool of innovators who can create enterprise-ready AI agents, applications, and connectors. More than 1,000 existing partners—including workflow automation specialist AutomatePro and identity governance leader SailPoint—are transitioning to the updated framework by March, creating a unified pipeline of solution providers building on ServiceNow’s infrastructure.
The program places particular emphasis on the ServiceNow Store, positioning it as the primary global marketplace where customers can discover and deploy partner-built AI agents. By strengthening this distribution channel, ServiceNow creates a virtuous cycle: partners gain visibility and revenue opportunities, while customers access a curated ecosystem of specialized solutions that extend platform capabilities without requiring custom development.
Strategic Investment Replaces Complexity with Clarity
Alongside structural changes, ServiceNow introduced a unified investment portfolio designed to support partners across the entire business lifecycle—from initial demand generation through deal closure and deployment. The expanded funding strategy includes three core components: Market Development Funds offering 100% reimbursement for eligible demand-generation activities, Strategic Investment Funds targeting high-impact customer opportunities, and performance-based incentives rewarding successful deployments and technical specialization.
Critically, ServiceNow simplified its fee structure in direct response to partner feedback. All global partners now pay a single annual membership fee, replacing a more complex pricing model that previously created administrative overhead. This change reflects a pragmatic understanding that partners invest finite resources—reducing bureaucratic friction allows them to focus on solution development and customer outcomes rather than navigating program requirements.
Michael Park, senior vice president of global partnerships and channels at ServiceNow, framed the initiative as foundational infrastructure for an AI-native future. The program updates position ServiceNow to capture growing enterprise demand for AI agents and generative automation while equipping partners to lead what the company characterizes as the next wave of AI-powered transformation.
Market Implications for Enterprise AI Adoption
The timing of these enhancements aligns with broader market dynamics. As enterprises shift from AI experimentation to production deployment, they increasingly require specialized use cases, industry-specific workflow integrations, and solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes. Partner ecosystems become critical in this context—no single vendor can address every industry vertical or functional workflow at the level of depth customers demand.
SailPoint’s president Matt Mills emphasized identity governance as a foundational requirement for scaling AI deployment, noting that secure, workflow-integrated AI agents require precise access controls. AutomatePro CEO Paul Chorley highlighted the opportunity to replace manual tasks with intelligent automation. Both perspectives underscore how specialized partners address specific enterprise needs that general-purpose platforms cannot fully satisfy alone.
By opening its ecosystem and streamlining partner economics, ServiceNow is making a calculated bet that accelerating third-party innovation will compound the platform’s value proposition faster than internal development alone could achieve. For enterprises evaluating AI infrastructure investments, the depth and breadth of a vendor’s partner ecosystem increasingly serves as a proxy for long-term platform viability and flexibility.
About ServiceNow
ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is the AI control tower for business reinvention. The ServiceNow AI Platform integrates with any cloud, any model, and any data source to orchestrate how work flows across the enterprise. By unifying legacy systems, departmental tools, cloud applications, and AI agents, ServiceNow provides a single pane of glass that connects intelligence to execution across every corner of business. With more than 75 billion workflows running on the platform each year, ServiceNow helps organizations turn fragmented operations into coordinated, autonomous workflows that deliver measurable results. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at www.servicenow.com.
