Newell rethinks IT service management with agentic AI

After seven years operating within the same IT service management environment, Newell Brands faced an important strategic choice. The traditional path would have been to renew the existing platform or replace it with another SaaS-based ITSM solution. Instead, Newell chose to step back and rethink what service management should look like in an AI-enabled enterprise.

Rather than starting with technology, Newell started with the outcomes it wanted to achieve: a simpler, more intuitive support experience for employees, less administrative work for IT teams, better information flowing through service operations, greater automation and more time for technical specialists to focus on higher-value work. The company also wanted to fundamentally improve the economics of service management.

Generative and Agentic AI created an opportunity to approach these goals differently. Instead of adding AI to an existing operating model, Newell began exploring how the model itself could be redesigned around what AI now makes possible — from how employees engage with IT, to how requests are understood and resolved, to how work moves across support teams and continuously improves over time.

This vision strongly aligned with NTT DATA’s AI delivery approach. Both organizations shared the belief that the greatest value from AI comes not from automating existing processes, but from challenging established ways of working and redesigning them around business outcomes. That shared philosophy — start with the workflow, rethink it around AI, and use technology as the enabler — became the foundation for the program.

Newell Brands and NTT DATA developed a phased transformation approach to prove the new service model quickly while building the foundations for scale. Rather than starting with a pre-determined technology solution, the teams started with the employee experience and the workflows behind it — how support should be requested, what information AI could understand automatically, where work could be resolved or routed by AI, and where human expertise remained essential.

Newell brought deep knowledge of its employees, IT environment and business priorities, along with a willingness to challenge established ways of working. NTT DATA brought its AI delivery approach, Agentic AI Studio capabilities, enterprise architecture, engineering expertise and transformation experience. The result was not a predefined solution being implemented for a client, but a model co-created by two organizations bringing complementary strengths to a shared ambition.

Phase 1 — Proving the model
The first priority was to demonstrate that AI could materially improve the service management experience. Using a low-code approach, AI agents were introduced to support request intake, capture relevant context and intelligently route work to the right teams. Within 90 days, the MVP was live, giving Newell tangible evidence that an AI-native approach could move service management beyond traditional ticket handling toward a more intelligent operating model.

Phase 2 — Expanding toward Agentic AI operations
Building on the MVP, the partnership is now extending the model across a broader range of service management activities. Multiple AI agents are being designed to support areas such as first-line resolution, intelligent escalation, knowledge creation, procurement support, predictive incident prevention and root-cause analysis. The goal is not automation for its own sake, but a better flow of work — giving employees faster, more intuitive support while allowing IT professionals to focus on the situations where human expertise and judgment add the most value.

At the center of the transformation is a simpler, more intuitive service experience. For Newell employees, this means making it easier and more natural to get IT support. For IT teams, it means reducing repetitive triage, routing and administrative work, providing better context around requests, and freeing specialists to focus on more complex, higher-value activities. The goal is simple: a better experience for employees and a more effective operating model for IT.

A different economic model for service management

Newell's goal is to eliminate low-value administrative work and enable employees to focus on activities where their expertise and judgment create greater value. This reflects a principle shared by Newell and NTT DATA throughout the program: AI transformation must deliver measurable business outcomes through better experiences, more productive operations and improved economics.

Moving from ambition to working capability in 90 days

The joint team moved from ambition to a live AI-powered MVP within 90 days, allowing Newell to test its strategy in a real enterprise environment and demonstrate value early. The MVP now provides the foundation for a broader AI-first service management model and the next phase of transformation.

Creating a foundation beyond IT

The program is also creating reusable AI capabilities that can support future initiatives beyond IT service management. NTT DATA’s Agentic AI Studio brings governance, technical controls and reusable components together with the enterprise context and business knowledge developed with Newell. Over time, this foundation can support additional AI-enabled workflows across the organization.

A frontier AI mindset

Redesigning the enterprise around what AI makes possible

Newell’s approach reflects an important shift in how enterprises can think about AI. Rather than asking how AI could be added to the existing technology environment, Newell started with a different question: how should the work itself operate in an AI-native world, and what technology is needed to enable that future?

Traditional technology transformation often starts with the platform and works outward. An AI-native approach starts with the business outcome, employee experience and workflow, then redesigns around what AI now makes possible. By challenging the default path of renewing an established platform or replacing it with another SaaS solution, Newell is showing how enterprises can move from incremental AI adoption toward broader operating-model transformation.

Partnership

A meeting of minds around AI-native transformation

The strongest aspect of the program is how closely Newell Brands and NTT DATA aligned from the outset. Newell brought the ambition, enterprise knowledge and willingness to challenge an established operating model. NTT DATA brought a similar AI Delivery philosophy — rethinking workflows around people and business outcomes, moving quickly from idea to working capability, and linking AI transformation to measurable value.

That shared mindset created the foundation for the transformation. Newell understood its people, service environment and business priorities; NTT DATA brought the AI engineering, architecture and delivery expertise to turn that vision into reality. What began as a decision not to simply renew or replace an ITSM platform is now creating a broader blueprint for how Newell can approach AI-native transformation across the enterprise.