AI is rapidly reshaping how UK service teams operate, with new data suggesting that half of all service cases could be resolved by artificial intelligence by 2027.

The findings come from Salesforce’s latest State of Service report, which surveyed 6,500 service professionals worldwide — including 300 in the UK — to assess how AI is influencing customer service workloads, expectations, and employee career development.

AI Adoption Accelerates as Customer Expectations Rise

The research highlights a noticeable shift in priorities among UK service leaders, with AI jumping from eleventh to sixth place on their strategic agenda within a year, though improving the customer experience remains the primary focus.

According to Kishan Chetan, EVP and General Manager of Salesforce Service Cloud, the role of AI in delivering that experience is evolving rapidly.

“Elevating the customer experience remains the North Star for service teams, but how we deliver on it is evolving,” he said.

“AI agents go beyond predictions and automation; they can understand context, take action, make decisions, and adapt in real time. That shift gives human reps more space to focus on what they do best: solving high-stakes, complex problems and building trust with customers.”

UK service teams estimate that AI currently handles around 27% of cases. They expect that figure to rise to 50% within two years as AI agents – described in the report as a form of “digital labour” – become more commonplace.

This transition reflects what Salesforce calls the “agentic enterprise”, where AI systems reason and act autonomously to manage routine service tasks, freeing human employees to handle more complex or sensitive issues.

Beyond case resolution, teams also anticipate financial and commercial benefits. UK service professionals project that agentic AI could boost upsell revenue by 15%, while also helping reduce service costs and improve customer satisfaction.

Nearly eight in ten UK respondents (77%) say customers now expect a more personal touch, and 80% report that overall expectations have increased. Workloads are also expanding, with almost 60% of UK service professionals anticipating higher case volumes over the next year.

Despite these pressures, teams are adopting new tools to meet demand. Voice and multimodal AI are gaining traction, with one in three UK organisations now using multimodal AI capable of understanding and generating multiple content types. Two-thirds (67%) say these technologies improve accessibility, while 80% of voice AI users report seamless handovers from automated systems to human representatives.

AI Transforms Roles, Workloads, and Career Prospects for Service Reps

The report also points to a notable impact on individual service reps.

Those using AI spend 20% less time on routine tasks – freeing up roughly four hours each week. Reps with agentic AI devote even more of their schedules to high-complexity issues, spending around a quarter of their week on the most challenging cases.

“With AI agents taking on more cases, service reps have more time for other priorities – and every minute counts,” the report notes. George Pokorny, SVP of Global Customer Success at OpenTable, put this into practical terms: “Saving just two minutes on a 10-minute call lets our service reps focus on strengthening customer relationships.”

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According to Salesforce, this additional time is translating into career development. Compared with nonusers, reps with access to agentic AI are more likely to mentor colleagues, lead cross-functional projects, improve internal processes, and work with high-value customers. They are also more likely to take on leadership responsibilities.

A large majority of UK service reps using AI say the technology is opening new career pathways.

The survey found that 85% believe AI is creating growth opportunities, 84% have developed new skills, and 80% say their role has become more specialised since adopting these tools. This group also reports the highest levels of optimism about their long-term career prospects.

“We’re seeing that AI isn’t just changing how service reps work; it’s expanding what they’re capable of,” said Chetan.

“Reps using AI — especially AI agents — report building new skills and feeling more confident about their careers. That’s a powerful signal that AI, when applied thoughtfully, can unlock upward mobility.”