ServiceNow eyeing opportunity for automation across UK public sector

ServiceNow is looking to secure more UK public sector wins as it eyes opportunities to automate across government.

The public sector already represents a major market for the US software company, accounting for roughly a third of its UK business, said ServiceNow’s group VP & general manager UK & Ireland, Damian Stirrett.

But the firm is looking to grow its footprint further, recently recruiting a new public sector leader for the business in Aaron Neil, who joined ServiceNow in June after previously running Oracle’s public sector business.

“We want to go even deeper into public sector,” said Stirrett.

The exec pointed to the prevalence of legacy IT and inefficiency across government. “Fifty percent of technology spend in public sector is just keeping legacy systems going. It’s just keeping the lights on. And we know that about 60 percent of what all civil servants do is just operational.

“Most government departments haven’t even done automation, let alone AI. So there’s a massive opportunity to drive automation, and that’s what we do.”

AI platform for government

ServiceNow last year committed £1.15 billion to the UK market, with investment focused on staff growth, new office space and AI-enabled datacentres. “We’re putting NVIDIA GPUs in there with local processing for LLMs, so we’ll be able to provide and deliver AI into public services,” said Stirrett.

One of the most pressing priorities is healthcare, he added.

“We’ve done an extensive piece of work with the NHS, and we know it needs transforming. We absolutely welcome the 10-year health plan, moving the NHS from analogue to digital, towards a digital-first, AI-enabled health system – that’s what we all want,” explained Stirrett.

Stirrett went on to outline five key areas in which he said ServiceNow can be put to work within healthcare.

“The first is harnessing AI to drive efficiencies. Most government departments haven’t even fully adopted automation, let alone AI, so there’s a massive opportunity. Our core strength is workflow automation, and on top of that, we can deploy agentic AI to enable autonomous operations and predictive healthcare – reducing GP waiting times, for example.

“The second area is staff experience. Onboarding staff in the NHS takes far too long and is extremely costly. We believe our platform could free up at least 70 percent of capacity, cutting onboarding times by 60 to 70 percent through automation and AI.

“Third, we can help join up corporate services – HR, legal, security – on a single platform and data model across trusts. Our research shows this could save the NHS around £1.6 billion annually.

“Fourth, AI can streamline the patient journey. From triaging GP systems and reducing missed appointments, to easing the morning rush for appointments, AI has real potential to improve the patient experience.

“Finally, cybersecurity is critical. Through our AI-powered digital control tower, we can monitor threats, manage assets, and automate remediation – strengthening the NHS’s resilience against cyber risks.”

For ServiceNow, the combination of a major UK investment programme, an expanding public sector leadership team, and securing contracts across some of the biggest government agencies indicates the firm’s direction of travel – aided by the current push from government for widespread adoption of AI across government.

Said Stirrett: “The role that technology can play, the role that ServiceNow can play, in transforming public sector and public services, is huge.”

Edited 10/09/25