Incumbent ITSMs Bundling AI
Serval
This pushes AI ticket automation toward the same buying motion as core ITSM, which favors incumbents that already own the system of record and contract. Once ServiceNow can pair Moveworks style chat automation with its existing workflows, approvals, and admin setup, many enterprises can add AI inside the stack they already run, instead of buying a separate layer and integrating it back into ServiceNow, Jira, or Zendesk.
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ServiceNow agreed to buy Moveworks for $2.85B in March 2025 and later closed the deal, combining Moveworks' employee facing AI assistant with ServiceNow's workflow backend. That turns a formerly adjacent product into a native feature set for one of the biggest ITSM incumbents.
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The broader pattern is not limited to ServiceNow. BMC has pushed HelixGPT into its ITSM and operations suite, and Freshworks sells Freddy AI inside Freshservice. In practice, incumbent vendors are adding copilots, ticket deflection, and agent assistance to protect their installed base.
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That changes where Serval has to win. It is not enough to be a better chat layer. The product has to either replace the incumbent system of record outright, or automate enough real work across identity, device management, HR, and ticketing systems that the savings justify a second vendor.
The next phase of the market is likely to separate bundled AI from best of breed automation. Large platforms will keep folding basic AI help desk features into existing contracts. Independent players that keep growing will be the ones that resolve more requests end to end, across more systems, with less human setup than the platforms can match.