Salesforce is expanding its ambitions beyond customer relationship management with the launch of an agentic IT service aimed at competing directly with ServiceNow in the IT service management market. The move, announced as part of its Winter ’26 release, signals a new phase in Salesforce’s strategy to embed AI-powered automation across enterprise functions.
The company’s latest offering builds on Agentforce, its generative AI-powered agent platform unveiled earlier this year. With the new IT service solution, Salesforce is positioning itself as an alternative to ServiceNow, a market leader in IT service management (ITSM). The product promises to streamline incident resolution, automate workflows, and reduce the need for human intervention in routine IT requests.
Executives say the offering reflects strong demand from enterprises seeking to integrate IT service management into broader AI-driven business operations. By combining customer service, IT workflows, and generative AI, Salesforce aims to create a unified system where agents can manage both customer-facing and internal service tasks with speed and efficiency.
“Agentic systems are reshaping how enterprises approach IT service delivery. Instead of waiting for humans to take action, these agents can monitor, detect, and resolve routine issues autonomously,” said a Salesforce spokesperson. “This creates not only efficiency gains but also frees IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives.”
The launch intensifies competition between Salesforce and ServiceNow, which has dominated the ITSM space with its workflow automation capabilities. Analysts note that Salesforce’s advantage lies in its existing CRM dominance and the potential to cross-sell IT services into its large customer base. By offering ITSM solutions integrated with its customer-facing platforms, Salesforce is pitching a vision of end-to-end service management within a single ecosystem.
Early previews suggest that Salesforce’s new IT service capabilities include AI-powered ticket routing, knowledge base integration, and predictive resolution tools that anticipate recurring IT issues. Integration with Slack, which Salesforce acquired in 2021, is also expected to be a core component, allowing employees to resolve IT issues directly within their collaboration workflows.
The Winter ’26 release goes beyond IT services. Salesforce is adding new automation features across sales, marketing, and customer service, extending Agentforce’s reach across the enterprise. This positions Salesforce as a more holistic player in AI-driven workflow automation, a market forecast to grow rapidly as companies look to cut costs and improve efficiency in challenging economic conditions.
For ServiceNow, Salesforce’s entry represents a significant competitive threat. ServiceNow has long been considered the gold standard in ITSM, but the overlap between customer service management and IT workflows is narrowing. With both companies racing to add generative AI capabilities, the contest is becoming less about who can digitize workflows and more about who can deliver the most effective autonomous agents.
Industry experts suggest that Salesforce’s timing is deliberate, coming as enterprises increasingly seek integrated systems rather than siloed solutions. A Gartner report earlier this year highlighted that 65 percent of large organizations plan to consolidate IT and customer service workflows by 2027. This trend could favor Salesforce, given its ability to bring ITSM into its broader CRM-driven ecosystem.
However, the road ahead will not be without challenges. ServiceNow’s deep expertise in IT workflows and its reputation for reliability remain strong differentiators. Salesforce, for its part, will need to prove that its AI-driven ITSM solutions can match the depth and resilience that enterprise IT teams expect.
The growing reliance on generative AI adds another layer of complexity. Enterprises are cautious about delegating mission-critical IT tasks entirely to autonomous agents without robust human oversight. Salesforce has emphasized that its IT service agents are designed with guardrails and escalation protocols, ensuring that humans remain in control when issues fall outside the AI’s expertise.
The next year is likely to be pivotal in determining whether Salesforce can carve out significant market share in IT service management. With ServiceNow expanding its own AI offerings and Salesforce doubling down on its cross-functional strategy, enterprises will benefit from a more competitive marketplace.
As AI becomes embedded in every layer of enterprise operations, the battle between Salesforce and ServiceNow highlights a larger shift: the rise of agentic platforms as the foundation of modern IT and business services. The winner may be decided less by brand loyalty and more by who can deliver measurable ROI in automation, service quality, and business agility.