Noesion Radarnoesion.ai
Survey2026-11-05

Customer service leaders now focus on AI cost rather than capability. Gartner surveyed over 1,400 executives, including 95 in customer service. They allocated 12.7% of budgets to AI on average. Median spending reached $6 million in 2025. One quarter of AI use cases delivered positive returns. Another quarter delivered negative returns. 11% broke even. 42% of leaders did not know their spend or ROI. 78% still plan to increase AI investment in 2026. Vendors have subsidized AI services to drive adoption. Prices may rise as subsidies end. GitHub Copilot’s pricing shift raised average bills by three to ten times. OpenAI moved ChatGPT Enterprise to usage-based pricing. Model efficiency gains do not guarantee lower costs. Leaders should not default to generative AI for every workflow. Root cause elimination should come first.

  • 12.7% of functional budgets to AI
  • median $6M in 2025
  • 42% of leaders unaware of spend or ROI
  • 78% plan to increase AI investment in 2026

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