ROI for CS-Related AI Deployments Remains Elusive

While companies rush to implement the latest artificial intelligence capabilities, return on investment for AI-based solutions for customer service is still elusive, research firm Gartner found.

In fact, 42 percent of customer service AI use cases have unclear ROI, while only 24 percent are producing positive returns and an equal amount (24 percent) are producing negative returns.

"Financial returns remain variable at best, uncertain at worst," the research firm says. "The original mandate to reduce costs through workforce reduction has not materialized. Instead, organizations are increasing operating costs, adding complexity, and introducing new roles to deploy and manage AI."

At least as concerning as those figures is the lack of performance metrics for customer service-driven AI implementations, according to Gartner. Leaders simply didn't know the returns for their AI implementations, the firm says.

"Even where success exists, leaders often lack the visibility to clearly identify it, making it difficult to build on those wins," the Gartner report says.

Companies that are already seeing returns or that can expect to see early returns have centralized knowledge sources and a defined workforce strategy, according to Daniel O'Sullivan, senior director analyst in Gartne's Customer Service and Support Practice.

Companies that want a positive ROI from their customer-service-related AI deployments need to re-focus on the business customer rather than starting with AI deployment as the goal, O'Sullivan says. "They need to create a cohesive strategy that aligns AI use cases to clear organizational outcomes while measuring performance to understand what drives impact."

Early AI deployments in customer service focused on a "make-it-work" strategy, prioritizing rapid experimentation, automation, and headcount reduction to drive cost savings, according to Gartner.

"It's more than just deploying the technology," O'Sullivan adds. "Unless you have plans to convert all of that into financial returns, you run into trouble very quickly.

"Customer service and support leaders need to be able to articulate a clear service and support strategy that links back to business objectives," O'Sullivan adds. "You need to be able to discuss in a crystal-clear way how [AI investments] are going to impact real financial returns, whether through some cost lever like a strategy to downsize the workforce or through capabilities that will support cross-sell and upsell opportunities."

While the ability to articulate the cost savings or revenue benefits from the technology might seem obvious, it isn't a given, O'Sullivan adds. "A lot of leaders struggle to do that in a way that makes sense. You'll hear organizations talk a lot about targeting productivity or efficiency gains or CX with AI to lay the groundwork for success."

The Gartner report adds the following advice to turn customer service-related AI activity into positive returns:

• Go beyond intuition: The impact of AI can't be assessed based on a gut feeling or optimism. Leaders need to track costs and returns at the use-case and workflow levels, aligned to organizational goals and objectives.
• Manage AI investments as a portfolio: Shift away from pilots to a coordinated set of investments with clear priorities and trade-offs.
• Connect to the system: Ensure that AI use cases work together to deliver end-to-end impact, not simply efficiency gains.
• Reset expectations: Align with executives for what AI can realistically deliver and over what time frame. According to O'Sullivan, companies that have laid the groundwork can expect near immediate returns, while those that have a lot of preliminary work (organizing internal knowledge sources, etc.) could be looking at a three-to-five-year horizon for a positive ROI.
• Pursue revenue deliberately: Explore top-line opportunities, but only with clear attribution and financial proof.

Gartner also found that 56 percent of CX leaders expect their incentives to be tied to AI outcomes this year, more than double the 23 percent reported in 2025. At the same time, spending on AI-based customer service solutions will continue rising throughout the remainder of this year, the research firm predicts.