What's New In The ServiceNow Zurich Release: 5 Key Product Updates You Should Know
The Zurich release is a major milestone for ServiceNow, not just because it closes the alphabetical release cycle, but because it ushers in what ServiceNow calls the agentic era. In plain terms: AI isn't just assisting anymore, it's actively building, automating, and improving the way work happens.
At NexSurge, we've been digging into Zurich's capabilities, and what stands out most is how clearly the updates connect back to real business needs. From smarter automation and app development to stronger security and safer deployments, Zurich focuses on helping enterprises accelerate outcomes while reducing complexity.
Below, we highlight five product-level updates that we think matter most and why organisations should pay attention.
1. Build Agents in AI Studio & Flow Designer
ServiceNow has embedded Build Agents into AI Studio, allowing teams to generate applications directly from natural-language prompts. Want an approval workflow or a simple app? Just describe it, and the Build Agent will generate the framework, write the code, and even suggest tests. Paired with upgrades to Flow Designer, these agents can also debug issues and generate reusable components.
Why it matters: it speeds up time to value by reducing dependency on scarce developer resources, eliminates repetitive low-code build tasks, and helps organisations deliver business-critical apps faster without sacrificing quality. For teams under pressure to innovate quickly, this can mean the difference between an idea staying on the whiteboard and being live in production within days.
2. Image-to-Workflow via Now Assist
One of the most practical enhancements in Zurich is found in Now Assist: the ability to take an image, for example a process diagram from Lucidchart, a swimlane from Visio, or even a photo of a whiteboard sketch, and automatically convert it into a ServiceNow subflow or playbook.
Traditionally this has been a pain point. Business analysts spend hours capturing requirements in diagrams, only for developers to recreate them manually in ServiceNow, a process that's time-consuming and prone to misinterpretation. Zurich eliminates this “diagram-to-workflow gap” by letting Now Assist do the heavy lifting.
Why it matters: it cuts out the tedious step of manually transcribing process diagrams, ensures closer alignment between the business teams who draw and the IT teams who build, and reduces human error when moving from design to execution. A huge win for organisations that rely on collaborative workshops.
3. Security & Governance: Vault Console + Machine Identity Console
Security isn't optional, and Zurich strengthens ServiceNow's role as a governance platform. The new Vault Console centralises controls for encryption, privacy, and secrets management. Alongside it, the Machine Identity Console provides visibility into non-human actors such as APIs, bots, and service accounts, often overlooked in traditional security approaches.
Why it matters: it simplifies how sensitive data is managed across the platform, improves audit readiness with clear consolidated controls, and reduces the risk of “shadow identities” being exploited. As organisations scale their use of automation and AI, visibility into both human and machine identities is essential for maintaining trust and compliance.
4. Record Producer in CSM Configurable Workspace
Case creation is the foundation of customer service, but until now it hasn't always been smooth. Agents often found themselves duplicating intake flows across different service definitions, which slowed them down and introduced inconsistencies. With Zurich, CSM Configurable Workspace gets a boost: agents can now launch Record Producers directly from the CSM service selector.
This bridges a long-standing gap between portals and workspaces. Instead of admins rebuilding intake flows for each service channel, they can reuse existing portal record producers inside the Configurable Workspace.
Why it matters: customers and agents see the same service definitions, agents spend less time recreating intake flows, and admins don't have to maintain separate intake processes for portals and workspaces. For high-volume service organisations, the efficiency gains add up quickly.
5. Customer History Component in CSM
Personalised service depends on context, but until Zurich, agents often had to dig through multiple tabs and records to piece together a customer's history. The Zurich release changes that with the new Customer History component in CSM, a reusable, responsive component that brings all relevant customer activity into a single, searchable timeline inside the agent's workspace.
Why it matters: a unified timeline presents context clearly without forcing agents to juggle screens, every interaction is informed by the customer's full journey, and the component is reusable across teams with minimal overhead. Zurich takes personalised service from a promise to a practice.
Why Zurich Matters for Ambitious Organisations
Taken together, these updates represent more than incremental improvements. They show how ServiceNow is evolving into a platform where AI actively builds and maintains workflows, security is baked in from the ground up, developers have the tools to innovate quickly, and business and IT alignment is easier to achieve.
For ambitious organisations, Zurich is an opportunity to rethink how work gets done. Faster app delivery, stronger governance, smarter automation, these aren't just technical upgrades; they're enablers of meaningful business outcomes. At NexSurge, we're already working with clients to explore these capabilities and align them with their goals.
