ServiceNow Expects $500 Million in Savings From Its Own AI This Year

By Grace Kim

ServiceNow expects $500 million in savings this year, largely from using its own products — and its CFO says the biggest AI spenders won't necessarily be the winners. The figure anchored a Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit panel in Santa Barbara on Tuesday, where the finance chiefs of Chevron, ServiceNow and Nasdaq laid out how they decide which AI bets earn a place in the budget.

The common thread: AI gets no special treatment.

How does Chevron decide which AI projects get funded?

Eimear Bonner, CFO of Chevron, drew a hard line. "It doesn't get a free pass just because it's got AI on the front of the opportunity," she said during the panel. "It's got to compete for capital."

Her test has three parts:

• A clear path to value
• A transformative target
• Results that show up on the bottom line

"It can't be a science experiment," Bonner said.

At Chevron, AI is already doing concrete work: helping the company find oil and gas faster, recover more from reservoirs and anticipate maintenance needs, Bonner said. She becomes president of Chevron's oil, products and gas business on Jan. 1, and discipline, for her, also means regular check-ins with project teams to remove barriers and confirm progress.

Chevron sits on the supply side of the AI boom too. It plans to power a Microsoft data center in West Texas through a 2.67-gigawatt natural gas project.

The takeaway: at Chevron, AI projects face the same capital filters as everything else — and get funded only when they move the bottom line.

What changed about how CFOs calculate ROI?

Gina Mastantuono, president and CFO of ServiceNow, agreed with Bonner's stance and said ROI math has moved beyond potential gains in revenue and profitability. Finance chiefs must now also weigh the cost of inaction — falling behind competitors that adopt AI, with long-term competitiveness at stake, she said.

ServiceNow funds projects that meet three conditions, according to Mastantuono:

• They strengthen competitive differentiation
• They solve a customer problem
• They deliver measurable value on a clear timeline

"I don't think the winners in AI are going to be the ones that spend the most," she said.

Her yardstick is outcomes, not activity — "not how many AI pilots you have," but whether AI lifts revenue, efficiency and speed. The $500 million in expected savings this year backs that approach.

In plain words: ServiceNow measures what AI changes, not how much of it exists.

How does Nasdaq structure its AI investments?

Sarah Youngwood, EVP and CFO of Nasdaq, described a layered system. The company categorizes investments into "horizon zero" — foundational needs like cybersecurity — followed by short-term return initiatives, medium-term bets and longer-term R&D.

That structure rests on a decade of prior spending. Nasdaq's investments in cloud and algorithmic AI, made over the past ten years, position it to serve clients today, Youngwood said.

"It's all about the gold standard data that we have," she said, pointing to data across 3,500 institutions representing $12 trillion in assets.

Youngwood personally oversees Nasdaq's AI KPIs. She tracks inputs such as training and platform engagement alongside outputs including coding speed, client retention and token costs.

The takeaway: Nasdaq built its AI position on ten years of infrastructure spending, and now runs it with the same metrics discipline as any other business line.

What's the so-what for corporate budgets?

Three CFOs, three industries, one message: AI must earn its share of the budget like any other capital request. As budget season rolls forward, expect more finance teams to adopt ServiceNow-style outcome metrics — and fewer science experiments getting funded.