AI at your service

Being able to cite such financial impact is vital to customer-facing executives working to secure AI investment from their bosses, rather than just arguing that it improves customer service, according to Michael Ramsey, ServiceNow group vice president of product management, customer and industry workflows. “People see that [AI] drives better customer service, but they're not just going to do it because of a better customer experience. They're asking, ‘What's my spend?’" he says. "It has to make sense financially, not just from a customer service standpoint."

Top CCOs are already realizing value from AI investments. Here’s what they’re doing differently, based on our research:

1. Taking data governance seriously: While 43% of CCOs we surveyed believe their org has made significant progress on data governance, there is significant room for improvement. Errors related to AI can be especially harmful in a customer service setting, according to Harrington. One example she cites is a Singaporean bank whose AI-powered virtual agent offered outdated financial products to customers. “There was a customer backlash to the AI, where customers felt as if they were being recommended products that didn’t fit their needs.” The takeaway? Customer-facing execs should be heavily involved in governance because they are the closest to customers, Harrington says.

2. Breaking down silos: CCOs understand that eliminating silos across their org is vital to the success of AI deployments. More than half say their company is making significant progress acquiring resources and technologies necessary to integrate and optimize data. Forty-five percent say their company is making major progress connecting data across functions to translate insights into better business outcomes.

3. Planning for agentic AI: Although 27% of CCOs say they are very familiar with agentic AI, only about 20% say they are using it in their business. That adoption rate is set to skyrocket, with 42% of CCOs saying their company will adopt it in the next 12 months. Of the CCOs already using agentic AI, most are piloting implementations related to assessing business risks. CCOs are also using agentic AI to perform core business actions that previously were done by humans, according to the survey.

4. Upskilling employees: Only one-third of CCOs strongly agree that their organization currently has the right mix of talent and skills to execute its AI strategy. Getting the most out of AI requires organizations to train and upskill existing employees and build an AI-friendly culture. CCOs seem to understand this: Almost half of them report that their org encourages a culture of AI experimentation to determine the best use cases and define successful utilization. This is especially important, as the tech talent gap, which companies have struggled with for many years, will only expand as we move further into the AI era.