Bill McDermott (ServiceNow): 'AI can double the productivity of every company'

Bill McDermott, one of the best-known executives in the tech world, is convinced that generative AI is the best thing that has ever happened to businesses and consumers.

McDermott counts among the most recognisable figures in the global technology scene. At seventeen he took over a small grocery store; he worked his way up at printer maker Xerox from salesman to the youngest board member in the company’s history, and then became CEO at SAP. Today the American leads ServiceNow, a technology company specialising in automating and connecting business processes.

In conversation with Stephan Scheuer, Handelsblatt’s Silicon Valley correspondent, McDermott explains how ServiceNow is revolutionising the way companies pursue digital transformation. By integrating generative AI into its platform, ServiceNow has the potential to double the productivity of every company, he argues. “The greatest risk a leader can take right now is to be a fast follower when it comes to generative AI,” he warns.

McDermott aims to make ServiceNow the defining enterprise software of the 21st century. In the podcast he explains what the next steps will be, how he learned to build customer relationships as a teenager, and why he believes “trust is the ultimate human currency.”