Both marketing (44%) and contact centre (42%) leaders name the lack of skilled employees as the greatest barrier to successfully leveraging AI.

 

This is according to research by Sprinklr, the unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform for modern enterprises, which unveiled the results of new research on the 2025 AI priorities for enterprise marketing and contact centre leaders. 

 

Research findings are compiled in the new sponsored IDC Report: AI Everywhere Drives Intelligent Experiences for the Contact Centre and Marketing Functions and illustrate an interesting reversal of traditional narratives. 

 

Looking for efficiencies

Marketing leaders are looking for efficiencies – aligned with challenging predictions for marketing budgets in 2025. Meanwhile, contact centre leaders are most focused on digitising and modernising the customer service tech stack, aligned with the evolution of the contact centre as an integrated part of the customer and brand experience. 

 

"At Sprinklr, we recognise that AI and generative AI are not just technological advancements—they are strategic imperatives we believe will define the future of customer experience. AI-native customer service platforms, such as Sprinklr's CCaaS, will have a significant edge over other solutions in these times,” said Sprinklr CTO, Amitabh Misra. "Our research with IDC underscores the necessity for enterprises to embrace AI to create intelligent, empathetic experiences and operational efficiencies that will help drive customer satisfaction and business growth."

 

The report surveyed more than 500 enterprise customer service and 500 enterprise marketing leaders on their future goals and priorities and how they plan to address these priorities through AI-led CX transformation in 2025.

 

Key findings 

•73% of contact centre executives believe that autonomous 24/7 customer service and support will be the most impactful business outcome from AI-powered advanced/predictive analytics in 2025.

•67% of contact centre executives believe that contextualised customer engagement during service interactions will be the most impactful business outcome from generative AI in 2025. 

•42% of respondents say that lack of skilled employees is the biggest barrier to leveraging AI for customer service in their organisations. 

 

Key findings from Marketing Respondents

•76% of marketing executives believe that dynamic and personalised content and image creation will deliver the most impactful business outcome from advanced/predictive analytics in 2025.

•72% of executives emphasise the need for a unified and integrated Voice of Customer programme to capture richer more expansive customer insights, thereby improving marketing effectiveness and customer journey outcomes.

•44% of respondents say that lack of skilled employees is the biggest barrier to leveraging AI for marketing.

 

“AI and generative AI are revolutionising the value exchange between customers and brands and have the potential to have a truly transformative impact on future customer experiences,” said Sudhir Rajagopal, Research Director at IDC. "However, many enterprises are only scratching the surface, focusing on efficiency rather than top-line value. To move from AI experimentation to AI adoption at scale, contact centre and marketing leaders must address foundational challenges related to AI-specific employee skills, implementation costs, and risks to customer trust by shoring up data quality and establishing strong AI governance before AI can deliver meaningful value to customers.”

 

Actionable guidance

The whitepaper provides actionable guidance for enterprises to prepare for the era of AI Everywhere, including:

*Get Customer and Operational Data AI-Ready: Enhance data infrastructure for trusted data sharing and establish disciplined data governance processes tailored for AI and GenAI capabilities.

*Develop a Unified Customer Insights Fabric: Integrate customer data across functions to build a comprehensive portfolio of customer intelligence that informs contextualised journey outcomes.

*Establish CX-Specific AI Governance: Implement AI governance to help ensure ethical practices, eliminate biases, and maintain customer trust in AI-driven interactions.

*Focus on Cost-Effective Intelligent Experience Delivery: Prioritise AI investments that deliver tangible customer and business outcomes, and partner with technology providers that offer flexible pricing models and robust support services.

*Address foundational challenges related to employee skills and training to effectively leverage AI investments.--TradeArabia News Service