Tech Mahindra, ServiceNow expand alliance to take enterprise AI deployments beyond pilots

Indian IT services firm Tech Mahindra and enterprise software company ServiceNow on Thursday expanded their partnership to help global enterprises move artificial intelligence projects from fragmented pilots to production-scale deployments.

Under the multi-year agreement, Tech Mahindra will combine its industry, engineering and implementation capabilities with the ServiceNow AI Platform to develop automation and AI-led solutions for manufacturing, telecommunications, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), media and technology companies.

The Pune-headquartered IT services firm will also scale its global ServiceNow practice and establish a dedicated AI and Innovation Centre of Excellence within the business. The centre will focus on accelerating deployments of ServiceNow products, including AI Control Tower and EmployeeWorks.

The companies will jointly help customers develop transformation roadmaps, improve platform adoption, establish AI governance frameworks and measure business outcomes from deployments.

A key component of the partnership is what the companies call a “Client Zero” model, under which Tech Mahindra and the broader Mahindra Group will act as validation environments for ServiceNow’s AI-led capabilities. Technologies and implementation models tested internally will subsequently be adapted for customers.

Tech Mahindra currently uses ServiceNow to manage more than 100,000 cases a month across its operations in 90 countries, according to the companies. The deployment has also helped improve digital experiences for 150,000 employees and optimise first-level IT support by around 25%, they said, without disclosing the cost savings achieved.

The partnership is aimed at addressing a persistent challenge for enterprises: converting experimental AI projects into governed and repeatable business processes. Many organisations continue to operate AI pilots separately from their core technology systems, limiting their ability to demonstrate measurable returns or manage risks consistently.

ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower is designed to give enterprises a centralised view of AI assets, workflows, performance and governance. Tech Mahindra will integrate these capabilities with industry-specific processes and existing enterprise systems.

“AI only matters when it creates value for people,” ServiceNow chairman and chief executive Bill McDermott said. “Tech Mahindra is already turning that vision into business results.”

Tech Mahindra chief executive Mohit Joshi said enterprises were entering a phase in which the priority was shifting from experimentation to trusted execution at scale.

“To unlock meaningful business value, AI must be embedded into the systems, workflows, controls and operating models where enterprise work actually happens,” Joshi said.

The expanded alliance comes as Indian IT services companies deepen partnerships with enterprise software providers to capture demand for AI implementation, governance and workflow automation.

In February, TCS expanded its partnership with ServiceNow to develop industry-specific AI solutions and convert fragmented manual processes into autonomous workflows. In June, HCLTech joined ServiceNow and Google Cloud to develop Gemini-powered agents for field services, customer experience and IT operations, governed through ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower. TCS also expanded its Google Cloud partnership in April to support AI-native operating models using more than 3,000 specialised agents.

With companies under pressure to demonstrate returns from their AI spending, service providers are increasingly positioning implementation frameworks, internal deployments and industry-specific solutions as ways to reduce the time and risk involved in taking AI systems into production.