Enterprise software vendor ServiceNow is acquiring Qlue, a company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to power virtual agents, and is investing in BuildOnMe, an early-stage company delivering AI-enabled applications.

ServiceNowplans to apply Qlue to assist in a range of service desks domains, spanning IT, HR, customer service and more. It will re-platform Qlue in its Intelligent Automation Engine on its Now Platform.

Dominic Phillips, ServiceNow’s vice president of finance and corporate development, tells Channel Partners the acquisition will ensure the vendor’s partners can “sell the most advanced intelligent automation services on the market.” The Qlue acquisition is expected to close this month and no financial details were disclosed.

“Our implementation partners will have access to this platform technology when they implement ServiceNow for customers,” Phillips said. “Virtual agents are especially attractive to complex, global organizations who have big employee or customer bases, and can get ahead by moving their value service desk personnel into higher value jobs by automating the most rote tasks.”

Also, technology partners could help verticalize the offering or have it specialize in a particular departmental function, Phillips said.

“For example, a tech partner could create a virtual agent for insurance, health care insurance, financial services or retail,” he said. “We’ve already seen one partner develop an HR chatbot — BuildOnMe.”

BuildOnMe’s AI applications allow companies to automate many mundane tasks with a chatbot. Because they are driven by AI, BuildOnMe’s offerings get smarter with every interaction.{ad}

“Companies without some form of intelligent automation are already behind,” said Thomas Moewe, BuildOnMe’s CEO. “The funding from ServiceNow Ventures will help expedite our move to bring smarter decisions and increased productivity into the workplace. The Now Platform is ideally suited for delivering work at lightspeed.”

The Qlue announcement follows ServiceNow’s DxContinuum machine-learning purchase in January. BuildOnMe is the eighth investment by ServiceNow Ventures, which targets early- to growth-stage companies that have a product built on its platform.