AI reshapes customer service strategy as leaders rethink staffing, skills and service models – Gartner – January 15, 2025.
Customer service and support leaders are moving beyond isolated artificial intelligence pilots and toward deeper operational integration as they plan for 2026, according to new research from Gartner. The shift reflects mounting executive pressure to use AI not only to reduce costs, but also to improve customer satisfaction and deliver measurable business value.
In a survey of 321 customer service and support leaders conducted between September and October 2025, Gartner found that 91% are being pushed by senior leadership to deploy AI as a strategic lever for customer experience. The emphasis, analysts say, is increasingly on resolving issues at first contact, reducing customer effort, and embedding AI into everyday workflows rather than treating it as a back-office efficiency tool.
“AI is no longer just about automation in the background,” said Brad Fager, chief of research in Gartner’s Customer Service & Support Practice. “It has become central to how organizations think about value-driven service.”
Brad Fager at Gartner
The research suggests the transformation will have significant implications for contact center staffing. More than 80% of surveyed organizations expect to reduce agent headcount over the next 18 months through attrition, hiring pauses or layoffs. At the same time, nearly 80% plan to transition agents into new roles, while 84% expect to expand agent skill profiles to support more complex and emotionally nuanced customer interactions.
Rather than eliminating the human element, Gartner’s findings point to a redefinition of it. As AI handles routine inquiries, agents are increasingly expected to manage high-value, judgment-intensive and empathetic engagements that technology alone cannot address.
AI is also reshaping customer engagement and self-service strategies. Organizations are investing in AI-enabled assistants for customers and agents, intelligent routing systems and tools designed to deliver proactive value. However, Gartner notes that many leaders are constrained by persistent knowledge management challenges, including backlogs of outdated articles and inconsistent content review processes.
To address those gaps, 58% of customer service leaders surveyed plan to upskill agents as knowledge management specialists, tasking them with reviewing and curating AI-generated content. Investments in AI-powered knowledge systems are intended to accelerate content creation and dissemination, enabling faster and more accurate responses across digital and assisted channels.
Gartner advises leaders to balance customer-facing and agent-facing AI initiatives, with a particular focus on first-contact resolution and seamless customer journeys. That balance, analysts say, will require sustained investment in knowledge management and deliberate efforts to prepare employees to work alongside AI tools.
“The organizations that succeed will be those that combine personalized AI assistants and AI-driven knowledge systems with the unique strengths of human agents,” Fager said. “Technology and people need to evolve together if customer service leaders want to hit ambitious experience and efficiency goals in the years ahead.”
To learn more, visit: www.gartner.com