In partnership with Salesforce, Certinia has published the 2025 Global Service Dynamics Report (registration required). The report is based on a global survey of 1,003 qualified participants across IT, Technology Services, and Independent Professional Services firms. Respondents were based in the US (31%), the UK (31%), Canada (15%), ANZ (12%) and Singapore (11%).
The key finding, taken from the report according to Certinia, is that 83% of firms are either using or plan to use AI within the next 12 months. There are, however, challenges to its adoption, the top two being talent and compliance.
The report, completed by Dimensional Research, argues that those firms investing in AI are seeing the highest profitability. The basis for this is that 53% of highly profitable firms are developing their own AI models compared to 42% of PSOs overall.
David Gehringer, Principal at Dimensional Research, stated, “The velocity of AI adoption in the services sector is remarkable. However, the data also clearly indicates that a significant profitability gap is emerging between firms that have the foundational data and systems in place and those that are simply chasing the technology.”
There is not much quantitative evidence in the published data to support this statement. What is clear is that AI will become an intrinsic part of PSOs in the years to come. And those who don’t adopt it will be left behind.
What is in the report
The 42-page report is divided into four main chapters. After a foreword by DJ Paoni, CEO of Certinia, the survey methodology details and an executive summary. The first three chapters draw on the survey responses. Analysing the data and providing insights across AI in Professional Services, PSO health and the state of operations and the emergence of customer success.
The fourth chapter provides six strategic actions that service leaders should consider in light of the findings from the report.
Raju Malhotra, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Certinia, summarises the findings saying, “The 2025 Global Service Dynamics Report reveals an extraordinary appetite among services organisations to deploy advanced AI quickly. AI agents will soon reshape how services are performed, decisions are formulated, and value is delivered.
“This disruption will favor organizations built on a strong data foundation that provides a unified, real-time view to empower the emerging human-agent and agent-to-agent collaboration models. Having that seamless visibility, from initial client engagement through project execution and into ongoing success, is the new prerequisite for elite profitability and industry leadership.”
AI in Professional Services
The chapter begins by looking at the context within which PSOs operate today. The survey highlights economic change (54%) as the top external challenge, followed by keeping pace with innovation (52%). It then examines how three types of AI: Predictive, Generative and Agentic AI are perceived.
66% of firms with over 40% profitability use or plan to use predictive AI for assigning staff. The report did not highlight in detail which uses of predictive AI were influenced by profitability. Which might have made for an interesting graph.
However, PSOs are using or plan to use the following predictive AI capabilities in the next 12 months.
- Capacity and demand planning – 52%
- Improving project margin – 51%
- Services and financial forecasting – 50%
Why are these numbers not higher? It might have been interesting to understand why that is the case. However, the survey does not appear to have had a qualitative element, which might have delivered deeper insights.
While the authors claim that generative AI has “quickly gained significant traction in the services sector.” There does not appear to be any data points to support this. Instead, 55% indicated that they see Project Status Generation as a valuable use of generating AI. With customer account summarisation second (51%).
Agentic AI is exciting most PSOs, though. With 97% either using or planning to use the technology within the next two years. As Malhotra notes, “AI agents will soon reshape how services work is performed, decisions are formulated, and value is delivered.”
Organisations should consider whether their current PSA has, or intends to have, Agentic AI capabilities to remain competitive.
It also examines the different internal and external challenges. It also found that the majority of respondents are actively involved in AI strategy, demonstrating its importance to the organisation.
Health and Operational Realities
The top two priorities for PSOs are familiar: increase profitability (62%, 2024 was 64%) and increase operational efficiency (61%, 2024 was 64%).However, the third highest was a new entrant, – increase AI usage (55%). Knocking increase customer satisfaction (54%) down to fourth. These are, however, intrinsically linked, one suspects.
What is notable is that 3% more PSO leaders believe their function is seen as a profit centre. Although those perceived as a cost centre also increased by 1%. For those that seek profitability, the margins are increasing. With 23% seeing greater than 40% margins, compared to only 10% in 2024.
Software, including AI, contributes hugely to that profitability with PSA, PS finance tools, Spreadsheets and ERP solutions all used by 50% of high-performing PSOs for financial management. Of those, PSA tools and PSA finance tools are only used by 37% overall. Spreadsheets are still used by 53% of organisations.
The more automation tools used, it seems, the more likely the firm is to be profitable. The report goes on to look at the software used for different purposes within organisations. Interestingly, the report does not indicate what tools PSOs use to manage customer relationships, something perhaps to check next year?
The report also looks at resource utilisation. With 19% of PSOs reporting rates in the 26-50% range, while around 15% each fall into the 51-55% and 56-60% bands. While this is a decline from last year, the range of utilisation rates varies enormously. Again, a qualitative element might have shed insight on these figures. Do all respondents measure utilisation in the same way?
Labour is the most critical asset for every PSO. And there are concerns around rising costs (48%) and the lack of internal AI skills (35%). The latter could be a reason why AI is not being adopted as fast as it might be. There are solutions, though, with internal training and consideration for more remote workers to attract talent with the right AI skills, especially from regions where labour costs are lower.
Unifying the Service Delivery Ecosystem
With the recently launched Customer Success Cloud, it is no surprise that Certinia has also reviewed how customer success is faring in PSOs. The decision to launch CS Cloud has found a welcoming audience. With 69% having a distinct customer success team and only 11% not having a CS team at all.
The survey identified that better collaboration between customer success, professional services, and Sales would benefit: margins (61%), retention (59%), and renewal rates (56%). The chapter delves into how the professional services team operates with the CS team. And there is a wide variety of models.
Organisational change needs to be considered across many firms to embrace customer success. However, the growing importance of customer success in professional services firms is being recognised.
Kristi Faltorusso, Customer Success Advisor and Thought Leader, commented, “Customer Success can’t be the department that picks up where others leave off.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
This is a well-put-together and interesting report to read. There is considerable substance to the survey. The authors could have provided even deeper insights from the data, given time and a higher page count.
However, the length is probably right, and few people would want to read a book. Though perhaps it might be worth considering, with the industry still working out where customer success and indeed AI fit within today’s professional services organisations.
The next few years will be exciting with Agentic AI and the emergence of customer success, looking to transform the industry.
Alice Steinglass, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Salesforce Platform at Salesforce, said, “This report validates the services industry’s swift advance towards autonomous AI. ‘Business-aware’ AI agents will undertake strategic tasks with deep customer understanding, much like experienced professionals and this future is materialising quickly, making the human-AI collaborative model increasingly central.”
“The key is a unified AI-powered customer platform. When every service team draws from one connected customer view, from initial engagement to long-term value, AI can deliver its most transformative end-to-end service experiences.”
