New research from Winnipeg-based Laivly highlights how board-level impatience is driving organizations to prioritize optics over functionality. With 55% of leaders ranking customer experience as a top-three AI investment priority, many firms are rushing deployments despite lacking the infrastructure to scale them. Jeff Fettes, CEO of Laivly, notes that the most successful companies focus on where their goals intersect with actual customer needs rather than merely chasing headcount reductions, which often trigger higher agent turnover and revenue leakage.

The industry is currently grappling with widespread technical friction. Nearly half of surveyed companies report that AI tools are actively hindering sales, with 57% of those firms losing between 5% and 10% of their revenue. Furthermore, agents are increasingly bypassing AI tools they deem unreliable or context-blind, leading to a breakdown in service quality. The data suggests that winners in this space are moving away from fragmented stacks of six to ten tools, instead favoring deliberate, operationalized AI that emphasizes human-in-the-loop orchestration and measurable returns within the first 90 days.