AI investment is outpacing ROI – just one in ten CX leaders report significant impact from AI to date but 62% expect AI investment to increase over next year
New findings from the AI in CX report from CCW Europe show:
– 57% of CX leaders say there has been limited or no impact from AI within CX operations over the last year with only 11% reporting significant or enterprise level impact
– Despite this, 62% expect to increase AI investment over the next 12 months, with 17% anticipating budget growth over 25%
A new report highlights the gap between AI investment and its impact on customer experience. It found that while the majority of CX leaders (62%) plan to increase AI spending, there is a gulf between deployment and commercial impact. Almost one in five (18%) organisations have seen no impact from AI in CX. No organisations say they have seen enterprise level impact from AI within CX, with only 11% reporting widespread impact already.
The AI in CX report was published ahead of the CCW Europe Summit in October, Europe’s leading event for the customer experience sector, and draws on insights from over 100 senior customer experience professionals from the CCW Europe community.
There is a gap between intention and execution for use of AI in CX. 66% of CX leaders say AI is a high strategic imperative but only 22% say they have fully adopted AI across their operations, with the rest of organisations racing to catch up.
42% of organisations say the reason for the AI investment to value gap is lack of capacity when moving from pilots to scaled operations. While pilots demonstrate a technology can theoretically work, it’s only when this is rolled out to the real world of business as usual that organisations really understand how it will play out for them.
Other organisations cite lack of clear ways to measure the value of AI as the cause for this gap. 21% struggle to convert efficient gains into tangible financial outcomes and 18% point to difficulties demonstrating ROI beyond a single use case.
While the majority (89%) of organisations are increasing or maintaining AI spending, one in ten say investment decisions are on hold until they have clearer ROI.
Simon Hall, Industry Analyst at CCW Europe, says:
“There is a clear contradiction between aspirations for AI and what it is currently delivering. Despite more investment in AI, many organisations can’t demonstrate measurable change or quantify the results. It’s challenging to put a financial value on time saved or reduced human input required to complete a process, and even more challenging to clearly articulate how AI is impacting the metrics that matter like satisfaction, retention and revenue growth.”
“As we leave the AI honeymoon phase, organisations are under more pressure to move from making decisions based on FOMO or vague promises of intangible time saving to concrete ways of demonstrating ROI and value. A key part of this is setting realistic and achievable parameters around AI including what you are trying to achieve and how you will measure success. Because the potential of AI is so huge, specificity, goals and clear expectations are key.
“This requires senior level involvement and buy-in – something which only 13% of organisations are currently prioritising – and systemic change to operating systems, governance frameworks, and organisational culture. AI has always had potential, the challenge for organisations now is redesigning how they work to enable it to be realised.”
CCW Europe Summit is Europe’s leading event for senior customer experience, digital and service leaders. Bringing together in-house decision-makers, it explores enterprise-wide CX transformation, practical AI adoption and unified operating models through real-world case studies, peer insight and strategic discussion. It is part of CCW Europe, the continent’s premier analyst-led content platform and event series, connecting an elite community of over 80,000 customer experience (CX), digital experience, and contact centre professionals.
For additional information on CCW Europe visit their Website
About the study: The study was conducted with over 100 seniors from the CCW Europe community, spanning customer care, support services, customer operations, customer insights and product management. Respondents include C-suite and head of job titles, covering major industries including financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, hospitality and travel, retail, automotive, telecommunications, energy, and government and NGO.
