Polyant vs Now Assist.
Polyant and ServiceNow Now Assist are both solutions to bring AI agents into the enterprise. Now Assist is the natural choice for those who already have ServiceNow as their reference platform for ITSM, customer service, or HR service delivery. Polyant stands out for those who want agent fleets outside the ServiceNow perimeter, with declared contractual EU data residency, stack freedom, and a single-interlocutor bundle covering software, professional services, and managed services.
Two different operational perimeters, two adoption strategies.
Polyant and ServiceNow Now Assist are mature products for bringing AI agents into enterprise operations, with comparable baseline capabilities for intent classification, escalation, and operational actions within service processes. Both are used in production at mid-to-large European companies.
Polyant stands out on three axes relevant to the EU company that does not have ServiceNow as a primary platform or that wants AI agents independent from the suite. The first axis is data sovereignty: the instance runs on the infrastructure the customer chooses in an EU region — inside their own cloud account or on the Exelab infrastructure in Europe — with data residency declared in the contract. The second axis is stack freedom: full LLM provider choice, observability with LangSmith or the customer's own stack, and the ability to integrate management systems even when they are not ServiceNow. The third axis is the commercial bundle: product + professional services + managed services in a single Exelab contract, with no need to stack a Now Platform subscription on top of a Now Assist add-on.
ServiceNow Inc. · USA Now Assist is the AI suite integrated in the ServiceNow Now Platform, with agents designed for ITSM, customer service, HR service delivery, and security operations. Its strong point is native integration inside the Now Platform: the agents operate on ServiceNow tickets, within ITSM/CSM/HRSD workflows, with access to the CMDB and service catalogs. The commercial model combines the ServiceNow Now Platform subscription and Now Assist add-ons for specific AI capabilities; the agents run on the vendor-managed ServiceNow infrastructure.
Eight purchase dimensions compared.
| Polyant | Now Assist | |
|---|---|---|
| Data sovereignty and residency | Deploy in the customer's cloud account, Exelab infrastructure in EU, or on-premise. Data residency declared in the contract | Vendor-managed ServiceNow infrastructure with EU regions available; the agents' operational data stays inside the ServiceNow perimeter |
| EU enterprise vendor | Exelab, EU-headquartered. ISO 27001. HubSpot Elite Solutions Partner, Twilio Gold Partner, vendor qualification on regulated-industry companies | ServiceNow Inc., United States. EU branches present, EU contracts available |
| Purchase model | Product + Exelab professional services + three managed service profiles in a single contract. Contractual SLA, pricing defined in qualification | ServiceNow Now Platform subscription (per module: ITSM, CSM, HRSD, SecOps) + Now Assist add-on for AI capabilities; ServiceNow partner for implementation |
| Multi-instance multi-tenant | Native architecture: isolated instances with AES-256-GCM secrets per instance, centralised admin panel | Multi-tenancy on ServiceNow infrastructure with isolation per customer ServiceNow instance |
| Built-in security and control | Security controls compiled in the runtime, decision registry inspectable via standard SQL, article-by-article AI Act and GDPR mapping | Governance integrated in the Now Platform, audit in ServiceNow logs, content filter of the ServiceNow LLM model |
| Native customer-facing channels | Telegram, Slack, WhatsApp, OpenAI-compatible API | Native ServiceNow channels (ServiceNow self-service portals, ServiceNow mobile app, Teams/Slack integrations via ServiceNow) |
| AI providers and stack freedom | OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock with access to the leading models (Amazon Nova, Anthropic, Llama, Qwen, DeepSeek, Mistral) under the customer's cloud account | ServiceNow LLM model (Now LLM) as primary provider; integrations with other providers managed inside the Now Platform |
| Technical stack and adoption path | TypeScript, NestJS, Next.js, PostgreSQL. Admin panel, channels, built-in controls, memory, and dashboard already ready | Configuration via Now Studio (ServiceNow DSL) + Flow Designer; ServiceNow skills in the team or via ServiceNow partner |
Six situations where Polyant is the most direct choice.
Polyant integrates any ITSM, CRM, or management system (ServiceNow included) without requiring the presence of the Now Platform. For those who have not already invested in ServiceNow as a corporate standard, or for those who want AI agents outside the suite, Polyant avoids creating an additional strategic dependency on the ServiceNow ecosystem.
The instance runs where the customer chooses: their own cloud account in an EU region, Exelab infrastructure in EU, or on-premise. LLM models accessible via Bedrock stay in the customer's cloud account. For those with formal sovereignty constraints, or who do not want to bind the agents' operational data to a single US vendor, the difference is a meaningful one.
Polyant supports Anthropic, OpenAI, AWS Bedrock with access to Amazon Nova, Llama, Qwen, DeepSeek, and Mistral, open source models hosted internally. The CIO assessing the three-year AI stack wants to avoid being tied to a single proprietary model that belongs to the operational platform vendor.
EU-headquartered vendor with its registered office in Rome, ISO 27001 certified, active vendor qualification on banking and insurance procurement, HubSpot Elite Solutions Partner, and Twilio Gold Partner. For formal EU requirements (DORA, NIS2, sovereignty cloud), the vendor's registered seat is a formal assessment dimension.
Telegram, Slack, WhatsApp Business, OpenAI-compatible API. All native in the runtime core. For the customer service team of a European bank, insurer, or utility that communicates with end customers on WhatsApp, channel coverage is structural; Now Assist is oriented toward ServiceNow channels (self-service portals, mobile app, and integrations inside the suite).
Polyant is TypeScript ESM, NestJS, Next.js, PostgreSQL, with admin panel and channels already ready. No proprietary DSL, no Now Studio, no ServiceNow-specific Flow Designer. The customer's technical team, where it exists, can move faster instead of training on the vendor's ecosystem. The code is open-source AGPLv3, inspectable before signature.
ServiceNow Inc. · USA Now Assist remains the most direct choice in two scenarios.
For companies already deeply invested in the ServiceNow platform for ITSM, customer service, or HR service delivery, Now Assist offers native integration with ServiceNow workflows, the CMDB, the service catalogs, and the investments in Now Studio and Flow Designer. It is the most direct choice when the enterprise strategy aims to extend the ServiceNow experience with AI capabilities integrated into the suite.
Six substantial differences in the purchase model.
What the vendor delivers to the customer.
Polyant delivers the product, the Exelab professional services that build the agents for the customer, and three managed service profiles in a single contract. ServiceNow delivers the Now Platform with Now Assist as integrated AI capabilities; the actual construction of the agents is handled by the customer's in-house team with ServiceNow skills or via separate certified ServiceNow partners.
Who the typical buyer is.
Polyant is designed to address the needs of a mix of corporate functions, building consensus across the C-level decision-maker, CTO/Tech Lead, and head of compliance. Now Assist primarily addresses companies that have already chosen ServiceNow as their primary operational platform for IT, customer service, or HR, and want to extend that investment with AI agents integrated into the suite.
Where the software runs in the managed model.
Polyant runs in the customer's cloud account in an EU region, on the Exelab infrastructure in EU, or on-premise. Now Assist runs on the vendor-managed ServiceNow infrastructure with EU regions available; the agents' operational data stays inside the ServiceNow perimeter.
How costs are measured.
Polyant has pricing defined during qualification based on the actual case, with software cost, professional services, and managed services all under contract. Now Assist combines the Now Platform subscription per module (ITSM, CSM, HRSD, SecOps) and the Now Assist add-on for AI capabilities: the CFO must account for multiple items stacking on top of the base ServiceNow investment.
How the product is managed after go-live.
Polyant offers continuous infrastructure management, software maintenance, and operational support under one of the three Exelab managed profiles. Agent management stays with the customer's team via admin panel or code, or delegated to Exelab with dedicated professional services. With Now Assist, the infrastructure is managed by ServiceNow; operational management of the agents remains with the customer's team using ServiceNow skills or via the ServiceNow partner.
What goes into the legal and procurement assessment.
Polyant is delivered by Exelab, EU-headquartered with its registered office in Rome, with service management in an EU region. Now Assist is delivered by ServiceNow Inc., headquartered in the United States; EU contracts are available through ServiceNow's EU regions. For EU enterprise procurement, vendor seat, service delivery region, and data perimeter are formal assessment dimensions.
Five recurring questions on the comparison.
Yes. Polyant can integrate ServiceNow as one of the customer's management systems — for example, to read/write tickets, consult the CMDB, and manage change requests. The difference from Now Assist is that Polyant agents operate outside the ServiceNow perimeter: the instance runs on the customer's own or Exelab infrastructure, and operational data and audit logs stay inside the jurisdiction the customer chooses. Integration specifics are defined in discovery based on the actual case.
The typical timeline for the first agent in production is 4–8 weeks: discovery, configuration, integration with the customer's systems, and hand-off to the operations team. For a coordinated squad of multiple agents, the estimate rises to 8–12 weeks. The main factor is the number of integrations with the customer's systems (including ServiceNow if present) and the depth of operational rules. The actual duration is defined in discovery based on the actual case.
Polyant has markdown skills configurable by the business team and self-registering tools, with versionable text configuration instead of a proprietary graphical DSL. For scenarios requiring a visual flow designer comparable to ServiceNow Flow Designer, the approach is different: configuration lives in markdown and code, supported by a graphical admin panel for operational management. The Exelab team assists with the initial construction as part of the professional services.
They are different commercial models. Now Assist is added on top of the base Now Platform subscription (per module) as an add-on for AI capabilities; the total cost to the customer combines multiple items. Polyant has pricing defined during qualification for professional services and the managed profile, contracted for the agreed perimeter. A total-cost-of-ownership comparison is done case by case in discovery, depending on the customer's existing ServiceNow investment and the forecasted volume of agents.
Yes. This is a typical coexistence scenario. ServiceNow remains in place as the ITSM platform for internal IT management; Polyant handles multi-channel customer service (WhatsApp, email, chat) with integration into ServiceNow for internal ticket triage. The two platforms coexist, each covering its own operational perimeter. The specific configuration is defined in discovery.
Two steps forward.
Conversation with the Exelab team to reason about the customer's specific use case, or deeper dive on the product to see if Polyant's features answer the customer's needs.