Five9's 2026 Business Leaders Customer Experience Report, released June 24, found that 92% of organizations have already piloted or implemented AI use cases in customer service. But consumer trust still hinges on human support. The global study, from Five9 (Nasdaq: FIVN), surveyed 3,000 consumers and 600 CX and contact center decision-makers in the U.S., U.K., and Germany. While 80% of consumers are willing to use AI-powered customer service, two-thirds prefer speaking with a human agent.
The report highlights the growing role of AI for Customer Support in delivering measurable ROI. Yet long-term success depends on how well organizations integrate AI into customer journeys, employee workflows, governance, and human support experiences - not just on how many bots are deployed.
"AI has clearly crossed the threshold from promise to production in customer experience, but the next challenge is much harder than deployment," said Amit Mathradas, CEO of Five9. "Winning with AI in customer experience will come down to more than automating interactions at scale. It requires making every experience more relevant, more trusted and more human - giving customers choice, equipping agents for higher-value work, preserving context across every handoff and building AI strategies that can scale responsibly across the business."
The handoff reality check
While AI Agents & Automation handle routine queries at scale, the transition to a human agent often breaks down. Nearly all decision-makers said their organization preserves context during transfers, but 83% of consumers reported they still have to repeat themselves at least sometimes after being handed off. The gap suggests organizations are tracking handoff completion, not whether context actually follows the customer.
Infrastructure still catching up
Eighty-four percent of organizations are still moving from on-premises to cloud-based infrastructure. AI execution depends on the data, systems, and workflows underneath it, making this ongoing migration a bottleneck for companies that want to scale AI effectively.
No standard AI playbook
Decision-makers are split between end-to-end platforms, hybrid approaches, and best-of-breed tools. The fragmentation confirms there is no single right answer. Flexible strategies that align models, workflows, governance, and human oversight to each use case are essential.
Why this matters for customer support teams
The data is clear: AI is not replacing your role - it's changing it. Even with 92% adoption, two-thirds of consumers still want a human agent. They now expect clear disclosure when they're talking to AI and transfers that don't require them to re-explain their problem. Support managers should audit how context is preserved during handoffs and push for cloud migration if they're still on legacy systems. The teams that treat AI as a tool for agents, not a substitute for them, will be the ones that keep trust intact.
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