In this interview, host Joshua Gandy and Salesforce Product Marketing Director Megan Myers preview the 2026 State of Service report, which surveyed over 3,000 service professionals across 13 countries. The report shifts focus from future AI speculation to current AI deployment, delivering an actionable playbook for organizations. Key findings include a rise in AI adoption (organizations deploying AI grew from 39% to 66%), rapid time‑to‑value (70% of respondents saw material business impact within 60 days), and a notable increase in customer satisfaction (CSAT). The discussion highlights three primary challenges to AI rollout: data readiness (a blocker for 50% of respondents), trust in AI outputs, and the need to upskill staff to train and monitor AI agents. Salesforce’s response is embodied in Agentforce Service, which embeds AI and native trust across all service channels (digital, email, voice). The interview concludes with a call‑to‑action to access the special edition of the report via a QR code.
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It's no secret the service industry has gone agentic. In our latest State of Service report, we surveyed over 3,000 service professionals across 13 countries to find out what the latest industry trends and insights and what actions to take from it. Here's what you need to know. I'm Joshua Gandy, joined by Megan Myers, Product Marketing Director at Salesforce. Let's dive right in. Megan, thank you for being here with us today.
Thank you for having me. Absolutely.
Absolutely. So I want to start on this State of Service report. What is unique and what has been the focus of this edition?
Yeah, so that's a great question, Josh. So the State of Service is our annual pulse on the industry. It's where we can actually connect with customers and the people that are on the ground engaging directly with their customers. It is how we learn trends, challenges, and really get a good understanding of where the industry is going. So that we can feel confident in the products and solutions that we're building and ensure that they're relevant for the industry as it is today and where it's going. But this year was a little different and we approached it that way by design. Last year we asked our, our respondents more questions around the future and the potential of AI in service. And this year we kind of wanted to flip the script and focus more so on the here and the now. So we wanted to understand how they're deploying AI, what are the use cases, what are the surprises and lessons and even the gotchas or the wins in their deployment. And the reason that we did this change is because we wanted to give the readers a real tangible playbook that's actionable so that they could go back and deploy AI successfully in their organization.
There's a lot of amazing things that came out of that. I'm kind of curious, as you looked at that analysis and you saw a lot of the things coming out of that, what were some of the trends that you could hit on?
Yeah, so there were a lot. I'll be honest, you should read it. But there were 3 that really stood out to me and they focused on deployment, on time to value, and then the KPIs. So year over year, we saw a significant increase in customers that had actually deployed AI in their organization. I mean, I'm talking from 39% to 66% of organizations reporting that they've now deployed AI. And what this tells me is that customers are shifting from the wait-and-see stage of AI to the I got to act now or I'm going to be left behind stage. And that's really awesome. The second around time to value was also really fascinating to me. 70% of customers or respondents reported being able to see material benefit and impact to their business within 60 days of deploying. And that time to value is huge. But the one that really caught my attention was the KPI that we saw the biggest increase in, and that was customer satisfaction or CSAT. We saw a significant spike in customer satisfaction across all of the respondents. And what that tells me is that AI is not just about speed, but it's also about creating excellent customer experiences across every single touchpoint. And when you think about those three things as a whole, It's telling us that AI is going to fundamentally change the way that we deliver and receive service.
Yeah, no, you highlighted quite a few very important things, but we know AI is changing the way service teams are working day in and day out. So I'm wondering if you could speak on a couple of the highlights as a lot of these service teams are moving into this agentic age.
Yeah, so there's a couple of things to consider. One of them is data readiness, another is trust, and the third is people. So unsurprising, 50% of respondents reported that data readiness is a significant blocker to them actually moving forward with deploying AI. And honestly, I get that. The phrase garbage in, garbage out comes to mind. But when you think about it, AI is really only as good as the data that you're feeding into it. So it is critical for organizations and sales or service leaders to get that foundational piece right and get it right first before they move forward. The other one is trust. And this is honestly at the core of everything that Salesforce does, but it goes a layer deeper here. And leaders need to be thinking about deploying trust across the entire end-to-end experience at the foundational level so that customers, service reps, leaders, and AI agents can all feel confident that what they're being fed and the information that they're receiving is both accurate and relevant. And the final one is people. And this one is pretty cool to think about as someone on the other end who's really trying to upskill myself. So the technology is obviously moving at a breakneck speed, but the people need to keep up. They need to upskill themselves or have the skills to be able to train the AI and monitor it so that when there is an escalation or the case becomes too complex, they can actually intervene at that right moment without disrupting the experience. So organizations and leaders that are investing in upskilling their employees today are the ones that are going to see that successful scale of AI tomorrow.
You— there's a ton of innovation happening right now, and you talked a lot about how we are trying to scale and you even mentioned having to upskill. A lot of us are having to upskill right now. But I'm wondering from a Salesforce standpoint, how are we innovating in the service space with all the changes that AI is bringing to the industry?
Yeah, that's a great question. And honestly, I've spent my career in the AI and data space. So like landing at Salesforce, however many years ago, was a real opportunity for me. And that's because Salesforce has been investing in AI for a very long time. So when you think about the entire State of Service report as a whole, it really validates that commitment that we made so many years ago. But Agentforce Service is actually uniquely positioned right now to meet this moment by embedding AI across every single channel from digital channels to email to voice. Also by embedding trust natively at the foundational level, like Salesforce has been investing in ensuring that organizations and businesses are able to transform, but do so with speed, speed, reliability, and trust.
Absolutely. Well, Megan, I know we touched on a ton of things fairly quickly, but I want to say thank you for joining us here today, and we really appreciate the time. For the folks at home, to sign up and receive the special edition of the State of Service Report and how AI agents and humans can work better together, scan the QR code on your screen.
