Beyond the AI pilot in customer service
Freshworks’ latest CX benchmark report analyzes more than 33,000 teams—and 1.2 billion tickets—to show how businesses use AI to cut friction from their operations
Editor’s note: The following foreword from Freshworks CMO Kady Srinivasan ran with the latest annual CX benchmark report from Freshworks. Access the full report for free here.
Not long ago, CX leaders debated adopting AI, but the more important question now is: How deeply is AI embedded into your service? What value is it creating?
A new divide is taking shape between organizations experimenting at the edges and those embedding AI into the way customer service is done.
And depth does not mean more. The measure of a great customer service platform is not whether it offers 100+ AI features—it is if the capabilities create meaningful value. Does AI resolve more customer needs? Make agents more effective? Remove friction? The organizations pulling ahead are focused less on the capabilities they deploy and more on the outcomes they deliver.
Leading organizations are moving beyond isolated use cases and extending AI across workflows and channels, giving it greater autonomy, connecting it to the right context, and continuously improving how people and AI work together.
That is what this report sets out to understand. We benchmarked customer service organizations across key dimensions to identify what best-in-class performance looks like today. The findings reveal where leaders are creating meaningful value with AI, where performance gaps are widening, and which practices are making the greatest difference. More importantly, they give every organization a way to understand where it stands and where the greatest opportunities lie.
Every business serves different customers and starts from a different place. But these benchmarks provide a valuable perspective on what is possible when AI moves from a collection of features to a fundamental part of how CX operates.
The opportunity ahead is enormous. The businesses that lead this next chapter will not be those with the longest list of AI capabilities. They will be the ones who turn AI into better experiences for customers, greater impact for their people, and measurable value for the business.
AI adoption was the starting point. What matters now is what you make possible with it.
Download the complimentary report: Beyond the AI Pilot: The 2026 CX Benchmark Report
