Companies are deploying AI in customer experience faster than they can make it work

A new Talkdesk report reveals the orchestration gap preventing companies from turning AI investments into business outcomes

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Talkdesk®, Inc., a leader in Customer Experience Automation (CXA), today released “The State of Agentic Automation in CX” report, revealing that AI adoption has outpaced organizations’ ability to turn AI investments into business results. While 98% of organizations have deployed AI in their customer journey, only 15% combine agentic AI with cross-departmental orchestration to resolve customer needs end-to-end. This execution gap creates a dual cost for businesses — paying for isolated AI tools while also absorbing the operational expenses of unresolved customer requests.

Talkdesk commissioned NewtonX to conduct a global survey of more than 250 customer experience (CX), information technology (IT), operations, and AI strategy leaders at mid-market and enterprise organizations — to understand how businesses are adapting for a human-AI hybrid workforce. The research focused on leaders accountable for both customer outcomes and the systems and operating models behind them.

While AI deployment is nearly universal, the survey found that 85% of organizations lack the orchestration needed to connect AI agents, human teams, data, and workflows across enterprise systems to turn a customer's request into a fully executed resolution, and only 5% can quantify AI's impact on business outcomes.

“The findings expose a widening divide between AI activity and the operating capabilities required to deliver business impact,” said Tiago Paiva, chief executive officer and founder of Talkdesk. “This disconnect creates a false sense of progress. Widespread AI deployment masks the reality that so few organizations can quantify AI's impact on business outcomes. As organizations shift from deploying AI tools to managing AI as part of their workforce, orchestration has become the defining capability separating experimentation from measurable business impact.”

Fragmented AI has hidden costs

While companies rush to deploy AI, a lack of organizational readiness leaves workflows unfinished, turning promised efficiency into financial risk.

• While 64% of organizations use specialized AI agents, only 35% retain customer context from one system to the next. This missing context makes end-to-end resolution impossible, leaving tasks unfinished and driving up operational expenses.
• Disconnected systems and legacy infrastructure create technical roadblocks for 45% and 44% of organizations, respectively. These backend barriers leave nearly 80% of companies limited to 10 or fewer AI automations.
• When AI can’t complete workflows, the workload falls on human agents, who lose an average of 28% of their time switching systems, re-entering data, and searching for customer context.
  
  

AI agents are crossing the line from software tools to digital labor

Organizations recognize the value of a hybrid workforce, but lack the operating models and governance to effectively manage it.

• Nearly one in five organizations already view AI agents more as labor than technology, and 99% believe a hybrid workforce of AI and people delivers beneficial value.
• Organizations with the highest CXA maturity are more than 10x as likely to run AI and people as a unified operation, demonstrating that although AI is becoming part of the workforce, the operating models to manage it are still taking shape.
• Leaders remain hesitant to hand over control, with 52% citing trust in AI decisions as a primary concern. Despite this, an overwhelming 94% of organizations operate without AI-assisted knowledge management, missing the foundation needed to fuel accurate and effective AI agents.
  
  

Multi-agent orchestration drives measurable advantage

The report defines a maturity curve based on true agentic AI capabilities and cross-departmental orchestration. The data proves this maturity translates directly into measurable business outcomes.

• Organizations combining agentic AI and cross-departmental orchestration are four times more likely to report major customer satisfaction (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS) gains.
• Companies with higher CXA maturity are nearly twice as likely to automate revenue-driving use cases like churn prediction and personalized recommendations.
• Among leading organizations, 38% autonomously resolve more than 40% of customer issues. No organizations in the lowest maturity tier reach that level.
  
  

“Talkdesk’s benchmark data is a wake-up call: deploying AI is easy, but operationalizing it is where most enterprises stall,” said Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst, ZK Research. “Moving from AI experimentation to real execution requires an operating model where AI, people, data, and workflows operate as a unified workforce. That’s where true business value will be created.”

“AI agents are becoming part of the customer experience workforce. But organizations need more than another AI tool — they need a way to manage how AI and people work together,” said Munil Shah, chief product, technology, and customer officer at Talkdesk. “We built Talkdesk Customer Experience Automation on the belief that AI creates value when it can coordinate work across systems, departments, and people. The research findings show why that orchestration matters: the companies seeing the greatest business impact aren’t just adding more AI — they're orchestrating work across a hybrid workforce that delivers on the outcomes customers and businesses expect.”

Market pressure continues to build, as 83% of organizations expect autonomous issue resolution rates to increase over the next two years. The full report provides a framework for leaders to benchmark their current AI capabilities against this growing demand.

Methodology: NewtonX conducted an online quantitative survey of 252 director-level-and-above decision-makers and significant influencers responsible for CX, IT, operations, or AI strategy at mid-market and enterprise organizations. Fielded in April 2026, the survey included respondents across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC, with representation from healthcare, financial services, retail, and several other industries.

About Talkdesk

Talkdesk^® automates the world’s most complex customer journeys. By resolving customer requests from start to finish, AI agents enable a hybrid workforce where human expertise is reserved for the moments that matter most. Backed by deep industry expertise and trusted by global leaders like Canon, United Rentals, Sysco, and Kimberly-Clark, Talkdesk sets the standard for Customer Experience Automation (CXA).

About Talkdesk CXA

Talkdesk Customer Experience Automation (CXA) automates the entire customer lifecycle — from the initial conversation to the back-end resolution. The platform leverages customer data across enterprise systems to provide AI agents with the context needed to resolve complex requests with human-like precision. Talkdesk CXA is a self-improving system that uncovers new ways to automate as it works, ensuring the AI workforce becomes more accurate and effective with each customer moment.

^{Talkdesk is a registered trademark of Talkdesk, Inc. All product and company names are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.}

About NewtonX

NewtonX is the only B2B research intelligence platform that delivers AI-speed insights with data you can trace. We help businesses make faster, more defensible decisions, built on verified data across 140+ industries, AI-native automation, and end-to-end research expertise. Trusted by Google, TikTok, Salesforce, Stripe, Microsoft, and Coinbase. Research cited by Gartner, Fortune, Forbes, Adweek, and The Wall Street Journal. Visit newtonx.com.

Media contact

Talkdesk Public Relations
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