Disintegrating the Org Chart: ServiceNow’s Jacqui Canney

2026-04-07 · Source: MIT Sloan Management Review · Field: Business & Management — Corporate Strategy & Leadership, Human Resources & Workforce Development, Operations & Process Management · Depth: Intermediate, extended

Summary

ServiceNow's Chief People and AI Enablement Officer, Jackie Canney, discusses the company's extensive use of AI, which powers 80 billion workflows aimed at business transformation and improving employee experience. ServiceNow, a 22-year-old company, has integrated AI into its core platform, evolving from analog to digital, cloud to mobile, and now to AI-driven operations. Canney highlights an AI-powered onboarding process that automates tasks like ordering equipment and scheduling training, making the experience personalized and efficient for new hires and managers. The company emphasizes the importance of governance and user-centric design in implementing AI, ensuring processes are effective and adaptable. ServiceNow has also invested significantly in AI training for all employees, customizing learning paths based on role-specific skill assessments to foster confidence and adaptability in the workforce.

Key takeaway

For HR leaders and CIOs navigating AI integration, prioritize workforce redesign and continuous learning over immediate cost-cutting. Your focus should be on designing the future of work by identifying skill gaps and creating personalized learning paths, rather than waiting for a "perfect plan." This approach will enable your organization to adapt, foster new roles, and maximize AI's capacity for innovation and growth, ensuring human capital remains central to business transformation.

Key insights

AI integration across business functions drives efficiency, enhances employee experience, and necessitates continuous workforce adaptation.

Principles

• AI implementation requires strong governance and user-centric design.
• Continuous learning and skill adaptation are crucial for an AI-driven workforce.
• Focus on business strategy, not just the AI tool itself.

Method

ServiceNow assesses AI skills across the company, then builds personalized learning journeys with partners like Pearson to close skill gaps and prepare the workforce for evolving roles, including prompt engineering and forward-deployed engineers.

In practice

• Implement AI for automated workflows like employee onboarding.
• Provide company-wide AI training and skill assessments.
• Design new roles that bridge technical and business needs.

Topics

• ServiceNow Platform
• AI Workflows
• Employee Onboarding
• AI Governance
• Workforce Transformation

Best for: Director of AI/ML, HR Professional, Executive

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by MIT Sloan Management Review.