Gartner: 85% of service desks expand human roles instead of cutting staff

A Gartner survey of 321 customer service and support leaders found 80% feel pressure to change workforce plans due to AI, but only 31% have made or plan frontline layoffs through Q1 2027, while 85% are expanding human agents' responsibilities. Gartner expects agentic AI to autonomously resolve 80% of common service issues by 2029, and over 40% of agentic AI projects to be cancelled by end-2027.

• 80% of support leaders feel AI pressure, but only 31% plan layoffs
• 85% of service desks are expanding human agents' responsibilities
• Agentic AI expected to resolve 80% of common service issues by 2029
• Over 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by end-2027