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A new survey conducted by NewtonX for Teradata reveals that while nearly all organizations (99%) have implemented some form of AI, many executives still face significant hurdles in operationalizing it for customer experience (CX). Despite strong confidence in AI’s potential—74% of leaders believe it can improve CX—issues around data access, governance, accuracy, and security continue to slow progress. The survey highlights that only 13% of organizations currently possess the skills needed to advance AI initiatives, and governance challenges are nearly universal, especially among large enterprises.
Agentic AI is emerging as a promising solution, with 34% of organizations actively trialing it and 9% already adopting it for CX. Executives are optimistic about its impact, with three in four expressing moderate to high confidence in its potential. However, trust remains a major barrier, with concerns raised by legal, compliance, and leadership teams. While over half of organizations expect AI to deliver at least $1M in revenue or cost savings, many are taking a cautious approach—preferring validated solutions over being first movers. The findings underscore the need for robust data infrastructure and governance to unlock AI’s full value in enhancing customer experience.
Customer experience (CX) has become a core battleground for businesses that want to stay competitive, and many leaders are looking to harness AI to gain that edge. But despite the optimism, many executives struggle with operationalizing AI for CX due to the data access and governance frameworks needed to drive meaningful impact, according to a new survey from NewtonX conducted for Teradata.
The survey of more than 500 executives across a variety of industries found 74% have moderate to great confidence in AI’s ability to improve CX, even as they wrestle with the operational realities of effectively implementing AI.
While executives are ready to invest in cutting-edge AI, they still face significant practical challenges with data access, accuracy, security, and governance.
How many organizations are currently using AI?
AI is now mainstream. The survey found that 99% of organizations have already implemented some form of AI.
What return on investment (ROI) do organizations expect from AI?
Two out of three organizations expect to see results from AI within six months or less, reflecting high expectations for rapid ROI.
How many organizations are currently using agentic AI to improve customer experience?
The survey shows a particularly strong commitment to improving customer experience through AI. Over a third of respondents (34%) are actively trialing agentic AI solutions, 43% are considering adopting agentic AI, and 9% have fully adopted agentic AI for customer experience.
How confident are executives that agentic AI will improve customer experience?
Nearly three in four (74%) executives have moderate to great confidence in the potential for agentic AI to improve customer experience.
How much revenue or cost savings do executives believe AI can generate for customer experience?
More than 50% of survey respondents anticipate generating at least $1M in revenue or cost savings from AI for customer experience initiatives. More than a third of organizations (36%) expect financial benefits of over $2.5M.
What challenges do organizations face when implementing AI?
The top issues organizations face when it comes to implementing AI include governance challenges, data access, data accuracy, data security, and a widespread skills gap:
- Only 13% of respondents currently have the skills needed to advance AI initiatives
- Nearly all organizations struggle with governance, with 93% of executives reporting some level of challenge in creating governance and guardrails for AI initiatives
- Governance complexity increases substantially at the largest enterprise scale
- Organizations with $20.0B+ in annual revenue report the highest percentage of significant challenges (42%)
- Only 4% of organizations report that the right people are consistently and quickly getting the data they need; that means 96% of organizations experience some level of delay or inconsistency with data access
- Executives ranked data accuracy and data security as the top data concerns, with 34% of executives saying data inaccuracy is the most important concern, followed by 32% of executives reporting that security is the top concern.
What barriers do enterprises face when adopting AI?
One key barrier to enterprise AI adoption is stakeholder trust. Of the executives surveyed, 75% report trust concerns from legal/compliance teams, 75% report trust concerns from AI and/or data security teams, and 55% report trust concerns from leadership. Only 2.2% of executives said that no one raised trust concerns.
How do executives balance risk management with AI adoption?
Rather than rushing to be first movers, compared with the 2024 findings, companies in the 2025 survey increasingly want to see innovations validated before committing. More than a third (35%, up from 22%) now prefer to wait until solutions are proven. Over half of executives report that they are willing to get in early to begin building a competitive position.