past the experimental stage
Management is trying to increase the ROI from its AI investments, but the returns are unclear. According to a PwC report from Davos, 56% of CEOs said they were not seeing a financial return from their AI investments, and only 12% reported both cost savings and revenue increases.
On the other hand, agent AI in the sales field shows more promising returns. Although still in its early stages, executives are reporting impressive benefits from deploying AI agents within revenue workflows. They help sales reps automate repetitive tasks across the sales lifecycle, from identifying prospects, adjusting messaging, and account research to gathering relevant customer insights and automatically updating CRM systems.
“All these use cases and investments that we’re making are delivering ROI and key metrics from a business perspective,” says Samsara’s Franchetti. “We’ve moved beyond experimentation. It’s now about where the value is and how we apply AI to meet that value.”
And rather than completely replacing sales teams, AI agents are complementing humans and allowing them to emphasize soft skills. “The efficiency gains alone justify the investment,” says Busse. “Salespeople now spend less time on administrative tasks and more time talking to actual customers.”
However, companies have not yet reported fully completed transactions with AI agents. Rather, as Romack says, these tools empower humans, with AI agents doing the heavy lifting around context, synthesis, and next steps, and sellers delivering strategy, relationships, and results.
“The value is immediate,” she added. “In the first meeting of the day, you can jump right in and feel the results. Over time, your deal execution will improve, including less deal holdups, stronger mutual planning, and more consistent value.”
