McKinsey’s 2025 State of AI survey has one message support leaders can’t ignore: AI only creates value when workflows change. More than three-quarters of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, and genAI adoption has surged to 71%. Yet over 80% say they haven’t seen tangible enterprise-level EBIT gains. Why? Because tools alone don’t transform support - work design does.
Why Support Leaders Struggle to See ROI
- Governance gaps → McKinsey shows companies with CEO-level AI governance see higher bottom-line impact. In support, this translates to clear ownership of data access, escalation policies, and risk controls.
- Old workflows + new tools = friction → Only 21% of orgs using genAI have actually redesigned workflows. Most teams just bolt copilots onto legacy triage and escalation steps. The result? More clicks, not fewer.
- Value is local, not enterprise-wide (yet) → Within support functions, AI already drives measurable ROI - faster handle times, fewer escalations, higher agent throughput. But those results don’t hit the CFO’s dashboard until they scale across the org.
A Practical 4-Sprint Plan for Support Teams
Sprint 1 - Baseline reality (2 weeks)
Map the true path of a support ticket across tools (Zendesk, Jira, Gmail, Slack). Measure time-to-first-useful-answer and escalation rates.
Sprint 2 - Put AI in the flow (2–4 weeks)
Drop copilots directly in the sidebar where agents work. Provide contextual answers with citations, quick action buttons (update Jira, send Slack), and human-in-the-loop controls.
Sprint 3 - Redesign workflows (4 weeks)
Eliminate one handoff. Automate environment collection. Draft replies and wrap-ups. Shift focus from “ticket deflection” to resolution quality and escalation reduction.
Sprint 4 - Productize governance (ongoing)
Assign an exec owner. Set data access rules, monitoring, and rollback plans. Measure against three core KPIs: AHT, first-touch resolution, and escalation avoidance.
Key Stats to Ground the Conversation
- 71% of orgs now use generative AI (up from 65% earlier in 2024).
- 21% have fundamentally redesigned workflows.
- >80% have yet to see enterprise-level EBIT impact.
- GenAI impact is strongest in service ops and software engineering - the very adjacencies of technical support.
The Support Leader’s Takeaway
The message for support leaders is clear: don’t just add AI, rewire support around it. Governance and workflow redesign are the levers that turn AI pilots into measurable outcomes. Start local - service ops is already where McKinsey sees impact - and scale out from there.
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