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Research Finds 96% of Organizations Report that Agentic AI Deployments Met or Exceeded ROI Expectations in 2026
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SoundHound AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in voice and agentic AI, today released new data revealing that customer service leaders are beginning to see ROI on agentic AI as more businesses deploy AI agents to deal with consumer queries and transactions. The study, which surveyed customer contact, customer experience, and operations leaders with agentic AI projects already in production, marks a sharp departure from prior CCW Digital research. As recently as 2025, 50% of leaders reported their AI projects were progressing more slowly than expected. Today, that pessimism has been replaced by measurable results, and a fundamental rethink of what “self-service” customer engagement can do. Key Findings
“The shift we’re seeing is not incremental, it is categorical,” said Michael Zagorsek, Chief Operating Officer at SoundHound AI. “For years, self-service was something customers tolerated at best and bypassed at worst. Agentic AI is changing that equation by actually resolving issues rather than deflecting them. The organizations that have made this shift are seeing it reflected in their ROI, their customer satisfaction scores, and now their broader enterprise strategy.” From Deflection Tool to Resolution Engine
Channels Converge; Workforce Transforms The human workforce is being transformed. 94% of organizations say humans are monitoring or supporting at least some AI-driven resolutions. More than 66% of leaders have seen a noticeable shift in employee workflows and responsibilities since introducing agentic AI, with 72% reporting an increase in employee satisfaction. SoundHound’s OASYS OASYS is SoundHound's category-defining agentic platform, and the world's first self-learning AI system where AI builds AI. Unlike traditional build-and-deploy approaches that demand constant manual upkeep, OASYS autonomously creates, orchestrates, evaluates, and improves entire fleets of conversational AI agents, turning what once took months of developer effort into a matter of minutes. The platform is continuously refining itself based on real-world usage, so businesses get smarter and more efficient AI over time without the maintenance burden. OASYS offers the ability to meet customers and employees wherever they are. Agents built on the platform deploy seamlessly across phones, web chat, in-store kiosks, drive-thrus, social media, smart TVs, and in-vehicle infotainment – maintaining context across channels, devices, and languages throughout every interaction. Backed by enterprise-grade guardrails and SoundHound's patented Human Assisted Resolution (HAR) technology, OASYS handles everything from complex insurance claims and retail orders to prescription refills and outbound customer engagement, delivering fluid, conversational experiences that get better the more they're used. SoundHound will be showcasing OASYS at Customer Contact Week in Las Vegas from June 22-25 at booth #756. Additionally, join SoundHound’s interactive workshop, “From Skeptic to Scaled: What It Actually Takes to Deploy Agentic AI in Customer Contact,” on Tuesday, June 23 at 3:30 PM in Workshop D, where attendees will build live AI agents on the spot. Read the full report here: https://www.soundhound.com/resources/whitepaper/state-of-agentic-ai-in-contact-centers/ Learn more about SoundHound’s OASYS agentic AI platform here: https://www.soundhound.com/voice-ai-blog/meet-oasys/ About the Study These findings come from a survey of customer contact, customer experience, and operations leaders with active agentic AI projects already in production, not just in ideation or planning stage. The sample is uniquely positioned to describe what is actually working. For this study, “agentic AI” refers to systems that go beyond generating responses or retrieving information. Rather, they can take autonomous, multi-step action on behalf of the customer or employee, including executing transactions,accessing systems of record, and completing resolutions. Just over two thirds of respondents were at least one year into their agentic AI journeys; 12% confirmed they had been using the technology for more than two years. Upwards of 82% said their customer-facing agentic AI projects were in a production phase, with 46% confirming a large-scale rollout .The numbers for employee-facing projects were 85% and 43%, respectively. More than 31% rank as a director or vice president of customer experience, with an additional 17% identifying their role as head of contact center operations. Other leading respondent groups include chief customer officers, chief information officers, and customer experience managers. Reflecting an enterprise user base, respondents work for companies with at least 500 full-time employees and $500 million in annual revenue. More than half are part of organizations with at least 5,000 employees. The survey was open to most industries, but the majority of respondents were from retail and e-commerce, healthcare, telecommunications, or banking and finance. About CMP Research About SoundHound AI Media Contact A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/23a15a0c-6bf5-455d-91e5-d16c8a2ec95d 
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