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Highlights

  • Survey of nearly 8,000 global decision-makers shows majority expect agentic AI to handle over half of tech vendor interactions within a year.
  • Agentic AI’s autonomous capabilities predicted to improve efficiency and security in IT environments.
  • Vendors slow to adopt agentic AI may face customer churn and reputational risks.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is a global technology firm specializing in networking and cybersecurity, leveraging AI to drive digital transformation and resilience across industries for over 40 years. The company has released findings from its recent global research report, "The Race to an Agentic Future: How Agentic AI Will Transform Customer Experience," examining the anticipated impact of agentic AI on interactions between technology vendors and their customers. The study surveyed 7,950 business and technical decision-makers across 30 countries, revealing broad expectations that agentic AI will play an increasingly significant role in customer experience over the next few years.

According to the survey, 88% of respondents expressed confidence that agentic AI-led customer experiences provided by technology vendors will contribute to achieving their organizations’ objectives. These include improving IT operational efficiency, resilience, and security, advancing key strategic IT projects, and maximizing returns on technology investments.

Participants also foresee a rapid acceleration in the adoption of agentic AI within customer interactions. They predict that 68% of their customer experience engagements with technology partners will involve agentic AI within three years. Notably, more than half (56%) expect agentic AI to handle these interactions as soon as within the next 12 months. This suggests a faster transition than industry experts had previously anticipated, presenting pressure for technology vendors who have yet to fully explore or implement agentic AI solutions.

Agentic AI differs from traditional AI by incorporating AI agents that operate with agency meaning these agents possess memory, task awareness, and the ability to independently select and execute actions based on their environment. This capability allows agentic AI systems to perform with limited human oversight, automating complex processes in customer service, technical support, and professional services. By reducing routine manual intervention, agentic AI enables customer experience teams to concentrate on more complex problem-solving and on maintaining trusted customer relationships through human-in-the-loop feedback where necessary.

Cisco’s research underlines the need for technology vendors to accelerate their strategies around agentic AI adoption. Survey respondents indicated that vendors failing to deploy agentic AI effectively, securely, and ethically could face negative consequences such as damaged customer relationships, harm to reputation, and increased customer attrition.