ServiceNow CFO: Trillions are being spent on AI initiatives. Are companies asking these 3 key questions?

The CFO of ServiceNow has highlighted that trillions of dollars are being spent globally on AI initiatives, but raises three crucial questions that every major investment decision should answer. The first question is whether the investment deepens the company's competitive moat, meaning it strengthens what is hardest to copy about the business.

With AI advancing rapidly, a business must ensure its investment not only keeps pace but also provides a unique advantage that competitors cannot easily replicate. ServiceNow, for instance, is focusing on its 20+ years of expertise in helping customers execute over 100 billion workflows, which gives it deep domain knowledge and a large user base.

They are also building proprietary AI capabilities that leverage their extensive data and systems. The second question is whether the investment addresses a real customer need. Investing without customer insight can lead to costly mistakes, as investment decisions should directly stem from understanding customer pain points and challenges.

A good example is ServiceNow's AI Control Tower initiative, which was developed after customer feedback about the need for a central hub to manage AI across enterprises. Lastly, the CFO emphasizes the importance of verifying that customers are adopting the built product and deriving measurable business value from it. Investment should not just stop at the point of sale; rather, it must continue to ensure that the solution is embedded in the customer's operations and delivers tangible benefits.

ServiceNow's Enterprise AI Maturity Index reveals that while 59% of organizations use agentic AI, only 9% have achieved significant progress in creating autonomous, multistep AI workflows. Thus, companies need to invest in innovations that create a competitive edge, rather than funding projects that generate no value. Ultimately, while bold investments are necessary, they must be balanced with discipline to ensure they deliver the intended competitive advantage and return on investment.