With AI, Customer Service Is Now a Revenue Center

The New Normal: Saying “I Use AI” Is No Longer Enough

The report’s most striking finding is a massive, widening “maturity gap” among companies.

Last year, 82% of leaders invested in AI for customer service. In other words, almost everyone has the technology. But the picture changes when you look at the “depth” of that use. Only 10% of respondents see themselves at the “mature deployment” stage.

So while most companies use AI only at a “surface” level to answer simple questions, that elite 10% have integrated AI into the heart of their operations.

The ROI Equation Is Changing: From Savings to Revenue

If you’re confused about the return on investment (ROI) of AI spending, you’re not alone. But the data shows that teams that have integrated the technology are pulling ahead.

• Among mature teams, 87% report improvements in their metrics, compared with 62% overall.

• More interesting still, AI is no longer just a “cost-cutting” tool. Among mature teams, 56% say they devote the time AI frees up to revenue-generating activities.

In other words, support teams are evolving from a “cost center” into the company’s growth engine.

The Target Is “Quality,” Not “Speed”

In 2025, we were used to seeing “speed” and “efficiency” on priority lists. But the tide is turning for 2026: 58% of teams say their number one priority for 2026 is “Improving Customer Experience.” Last year, that figure was just 28%.

The bar has now risen from “Is the AI working?” to “Is the AI actually delivering a good experience?”

New Roles Are Emerging: Are You Ready to Become a “Conversation Analyst”?

Set aside the fear behind the question “Will AI take our jobs?” — AI is changing our job descriptions. The report points to the rise of support-team roles we’ve never heard of before:

• Conversation Analyst: 32%

• Knowledge Manager: 30%

• AI Operations Lead: 28%

As AI shoulders the manual work, people are focusing on strategy, optimization and complex problems that call for emotional intelligence.

Support Teams Have Become the Company’s AI Lab

Perhaps this is the finding we can be proudest of: customer service departments are drawing up an “AI plan” for the rest of the company. In fact, 52% of organizations plan to take AI beyond support (into sales, marketing, etc.) in 2026. And it is we CX professionals, the first to get hands-on with AI, who are carrying the torch for this transformation.

2026 is shaping up to be the year customer service sheds its “back office” image and becomes the company’s innovation lab. As the report also points out, drawing up the AI roadmap for the rest of the organization and leading this transformation now falls to us CX professionals. This process isn’t about replacing people with technology; it’s a great opportunity to use technology to free human intelligence for more strategic work. Whichever side of the gap we’re on, this transformation brings a new learning curve for all of us — and immense potential to explore.