INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Enterprise cloud service management company ServiceNow announced today that it will acquire FriendlyData and integrate the startup’s
natural language search technology into apps on its Now platform
Founded in 2016, FriendlyData’s natural language query (NLQ) technology enables enterprise customers to build search tools that allow
users to ask technical questions even if they don’t know the right jargon.FriendlyData’s NLQ tech figures out what they are trying to
say and then answers with text responses or easy-to-understand data visualizations
ServiceNow said it will integrate FriendlyData’s tech into the Now Platform, which includes apps for IT, human resources, security
operations, and customer service management
It will also be available in products for developers and ServiceNow’s partners.In a statement, Pat Casey, senior vice president of
development and operations at ServiceNow, said “ServiceNow is bringing NLQ capabilities to the Now Platform, enabling companies to ask
technical questions in plain English and receive direct answers
With this technical enhancement, our goal is to allow anyone to easily make data driven decisions, increasing productivity and driving
businesses forward faster.”The acquisition of FriendlyData is the latest in ServiceNow’s initiative to reduce the friction of support
requests within organizations with AI-based tools
For example, it launched a chatbot-building tools called Virtual Agent in May, which enables companies to create custom chatbots for
services like Slack or Microsoft Teams to automatically handle routine inquiries such as equipment requests
It also announced the acquisition of Parlo, a chatbot startup, around the same time.
