February 18, 2026
Customer Service Leaders Under Pressure to Deploy AI, Gartner Finds
Customer service leaders are facing mounting pressure to accelerate artificial intelligence adoption, as organisations push to modernise operations and improve customer experience.
New research by Gartner suggests that AI is no longer viewed as an optional enhancement, but as a strategic necessity affecting how service teams operate, agents work, and potentially the size and composition of workforces.
Executive Pressure Drives AI Adoption
The US research and advisory firm conducted a survey of 321 customer service and support leaders in October 2025, which found that 91 percent reported pressure from executive leadership to implement AI in 2026. The finding signals a sharp increase in urgency surrounding AI-enabled transformation across service organisations.
Leaders identified improving customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and self-service success as their top priorities for the year ahead. AI is increasingly seen as central to achieving these goals, particularly in helping organisations resolve issues at first contact, reduce customer effort, and guide individuals through more seamless service journeys.
Service Models Redesigned
The shift extends far beyond deploying new technology. Many organisations are actively restructuring how service teams operate and what agents are expected to do. Gartner found, in fact, that nearly 80 percent of organisations plan to transition at least some agents into more complex or emotionally sensitive roles more suited to human strengths, as automation takes hold of routine tasks.
Kim Hedlin, Director of Research in the Gartner Customer Service and Support practice, explained: “Leaders are not just deploying AI, they are redesigning service models to ensure that technology enhances the customer experience while humans provide context, empathy, and judgment.”
This internal restructuring also includes redefining the skills agents need. According to the survey, 84 percent of leaders plan to update agent training requirements, as well as adjust hiring profiles, to reflect the new working environments laced with AI and automation.
Furthermore, over half of service leaders are looking to upskill agents into knowledge management specialists in order to maintain accurate and up-to-date content for both AI systems and customer self-service tools. As Hedlin noted, “Service organisations are entering a period where AI and human expertise must work in tandem.”
Reshaping or Replacing the Workforce?
While many organisations frame these developments as role transformation, broader industry signals suggest a more complex reality.
Some leaders argue that AI will dramatically reduce the need for human workers across professional roles. Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has suggested that AI could automate most white-collar professional tasks within the next 12 to 18 months. Meanwhile, Salesforce has linked its recent workforce attrition directly to AI driven efficiencies, and Cisco leadership has called for AI agents to be treated as digital coworkers.
Such developments raise difficult questions about whether AI will simply reshape roles or ultimately reduce headcount. The idea of human-centric AI remains a widely used concept, but the practical reality of this beyond marketing spin is being increasingly questioned.
A Hybrid Future, For Now
For the moment, a hybrid model is in motion across the customer service sector. Organisations are investing heavily in AI, while simultaneously retraining employees, redefining roles, and redesigning service structures to work better alongside this new technological landscape. As automation continues to expand, however, the balance between augmentation and replacement may become harder to sustain. Arguably, for some companies, it has already crossed this point.
