Governance is the new moat in AI era, says ServiceNow’s top executive

As enterprises race to deploy hundreds of AI agents, the next battleground for software companies will not be traditional services but the ability to govern, orchestrate and secure those agents, according to Kulmeet Bawa, managing director for India and SAARC at ServiceNow.

The shift is also reshaping competition in enterprise software. As traditional software licensing and services businesses come under pressure, SaaS companies are investing heavily in AI governance and security through acquisitions to strengthen their platforms and position themselves as the control layer for enterprise AI. “The new moat is governance,” Bawa told ET in his first interview since taking over the new role this April.