平衡人工智能方面的账目：如何实现投资回报

The direct and indirect factors CX practitioners must manageto ensure their AI investment becomes a revenue driver INSIDE Contributors Contents Forewordpage 2 CX, AI and the pressure to deliver returnspage 4 Steve BloodVP of market intelligenceFive9 Mania Ginisty-Golddigital and CRM managerOrpi Mrunal Gangrade Jason Bradshaw researcher and engineering VP,Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Citibankand JP Morgan Chase & Co founderPower Of CEX consultancy Understanding the cost of AI: Managingtokens, metrics, and valuepage 8 Maximizing value by measuring the indirectcost of AI in servicepage 13 Conclusionpage 16 Victor Saldanaworkforce managerAldo Group Dawn Kristy JDAI governance advisor MQ Qureshi Ebrahim HyderVP of customer careMichael Kors digital executiveFord Motor, McDonald’s,Allstate About Five9page 18 AboutCX Networkpage 19 “AI changes how agents work, not just how much they work. Thatshift requires investment in training, change management, andin some cases, role redesign.”Steve Blood, VP of Market Intelligence, Five9 AboutCX Networkpage 19 Paul WeaverVP of designHyatt Hotels Foreword This isn’t unique to AI investments, but due to highexpectations for the technology the pressure is furtheramplified. The increased pressure to prove true value isdriving a new business culture where even the contactcenter is expected to generate revenue, with a focuson sales and customer retention, as well as serviceand support. These additional considerations meanthat traditional ROI formulas fail to explain the fullcost, value and returns that AI can deliver. As a result,practitioners must establish new ways to assess valueand measure returns in order to secure the budgetrequired to drive innovation. indirect – cost of AI investments, and the additionalfactors organizations must consider when calculatingvalue, including governance, token use, compliancewith such regulations as GDPR and the EU AI Act, andresponsibility architectures. Critically, the report offerspractitioners a path through the challenges to ensurethe AI tools are accurately costed, astutely managed,and positioned to deliver the returns intended. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the hottest investment priorityof the decade. Whether it’s AI-powered service, AIagents, agentic journey orchestration, AI-powered dataanalysis, or generative AI, all change how organizationsconnect with and manage customers, recruit and trainstaff, and manage workflows and teams. CX Network’s annual research into the state of CX hasrepeatedly confirmed such AI capabilities are both topCX trends and top investment priorities. However, thesame research also found that since 2024, the pressureon practitioners to prove ROI has posed the biggestobstacle to CX investment. The 2026 research also foundthat for 52 percent of practitioners, the pressure to proveROI is increasing. Drawing on insights from CX and AI specialists in realestate, finance, hospitality, insurance, healthcare, fashionand enterprise technology, this report explains how toproject value, how to navigate the vendor landscape,and how to win the hearts and minds of the CEO, CFOand board. Balancing the books on AIexplores the factors drivingthe pressure to prove ROI, the true – direct and “While agentic AI and personalizationtechnologies are powerful, chasing themwithout clarity of purpose leads to sterile,less differentiated experiences.”Jason Bradshaw, Founder, Power Of CEX CX, AI and the pressure to deliver returns As a business function, CX is no stranger to pressure.Whether it’s tight acquisition and retention targets,stretched budgets, or growing pressure to provea business case; in their work to secure budgets,practitioners also frequently find themselves working towin hearts and minds. journey. That scale demands accountability. When AImoves from experimental to operational, finance teamswant to see the numbers, and rightly so,” Blood adds. responses in fifth and 10th place. The trend continued,albeit on a smaller scale in 2025 and 2026. Blood says this has “sharpened scrutiny of every lineitem”. He explains: “CX has historically struggled toarticulate its value in the language of the CFO: revenueimpact, cost reduction, risk mitigation. That gap is nolonger acceptable. Leaders who can’t connect their AIspend to measurable business outcomes are finding itharder to secure, and keep, budget.” The second factor cited by Blood is economicconditions. Since 2024,CX Network’s research hasfound global and local economic conditions have hada notable, direct impact on CX spending. In 2022 and2023, when practitioners were asked about their threebiggest obstacles to CX investment global and localeconomic conditions did not make the top 10 mostselected responses. However, in 2024, global and localeconomic conditions were selected by 20 percent and28 percent of respondents respectively, ranking these However, since 2024, the convergence of newtechnologies, changing roles and muted businessconfide