The talk over whether or not synthetic intelligence belongs within the company boardroom seems to be over — at the very least for the folks answerable for producing income.
Seven in ten enterprise income leaders now belief AI to usually inform their enterprise selections, in response to a sweeping new examine launched Thursday by Gong, the income intelligence firm. The discovering marks a dramatic shift from simply two years in the past, when most organizations handled AI as an experimental know-how relegated to pilot packages and particular person productiveness hacks.
The analysis, based mostly on an evaluation of seven.1 million gross sales alternatives throughout greater than 3,600 corporations and a survey of over 3,000 international income leaders spanning the US, United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany, paints an image of an trade in fast transformation. Organizations which have embedded AI into their core go-to-market methods are 65 p.c extra more likely to improve their win charges than opponents nonetheless treating the know-how as non-obligatory.
"I don't think people delegate decisions to AI, but they do rely on AI in the process of making decisions," Amit Bendov, Gong's co-founder and chief govt, stated in an unique interview with VentureBeat. "Humans are making the decision, but they're largely assisted."
The excellence issues. Quite than changing human judgment, AI has change into what Bendov describes as a "second opinion" — a data-driven test on the instinct and guesswork that has historically ruled gross sales forecasting and technique.
Slowing development is forcing gross sales groups to squeeze extra from each rep
The timing of AI's ascendance in income organizations is not any coincidence. The examine reveals a sobering actuality: after rebounding in 2024, common annual income development amongst surveyed corporations decelerated to 16 p.c in 2025, marking a three-percentage-point decline yr over yr. Gross sales rep quota attainment fell from 52 p.c to 46 p.c over the identical interval.
The perpetrator, in response to Gong's evaluation, isn't that salespeople are performing worse on particular person offers. Win charges and deal length remained constant. The issue is that representatives are working fewer alternatives—a discovering that implies operational inefficiencies are consuming into promoting time.
This helps clarify why productiveness has rocketed to the highest of govt priorities. For the primary time within the examine's historical past, growing the productiveness of present groups ranked because the number-one development technique for 2026, leaping from fourth place the earlier yr.
"The focus is on increasing sales productivity," Bendov stated. "How much dollar-output per dollar-input."
The numbers again up the urgency. Groups the place sellers usually use AI instruments generate 77 p.c extra income per consultant than those who don't — a spot Gong characterizes as a six-figure distinction per salesperson yearly.
Corporations are transferring past fundamental AI automation towards strategic decision-making
The character of AI adoption in gross sales has developed significantly over the previous yr. In 2024, most income groups used AI for fundamental automation: transcribing calls, drafting emails, updating CRM information. These use instances proceed to develop, however 2025 marked what the report calls a shift "from automation to intelligence."
The variety of U.S. corporations utilizing AI for forecasting and measuring strategic initiatives jumped 50 p.c yr over yr. These extra subtle purposes — predicting deal outcomes, figuring out at-risk accounts, measuring which worth propositions resonate with completely different purchaser personas — correlate with dramatically higher outcomes.
Organizations within the ninety fifth percentile of economic impression from AI had been two to 4 occasions extra more likely to have deployed these strategic use instances, in response to the examine.
Bendov supplied a concrete instance of how this performs out in apply. "Companies have thousands of deals that they roll up into their forecast," he stated. "It used to be based solely on human sentiment—believe it or not. That's why a lot of companies miss their numbers: because people say, 'Oh, he told me he'll buy,' or 'I think I can probably get this one.'"
AI adjustments that calculus by analyzing proof slightly than optimism. "Companies now get a second opinion from AI on their forecasting, and that improves forecasting accuracy dramatically — 10 [or] 15 percent better accuracy just because it's evidence-based, not just based on human sentiment," Bendov stated.
Income-specific AI instruments are dramatically outperforming general-purpose options
One of many examine's extra provocative findings considerations the kind of AI that delivers outcomes. Groups utilizing revenue-specific AI options — instruments constructed explicitly for gross sales workflows slightly than general-purpose platforms like ChatGPT — reported 13 p.c increased income development and 85 p.c larger industrial impression than these counting on generic instruments.
These specialised programs had been additionally twice as more likely to be deployed for forecasting and predictive modeling, the report discovered.
The discovering carries apparent implications for Gong, which sells exactly such a domain-specific platform. However the knowledge suggests an actual distinction in outcomes. Basic-purpose AI, whereas extra prevalent, typically creates what the report describes as a "blind spot" for organizations — notably when staff undertake client AI instruments with out firm oversight.
Analysis from MIT means that whereas solely 59 p.c of survey respondents stated their groups use private AI instruments like ChatGPT at work, the precise determine is probably going nearer to 90 p.c. This shadow AI utilization poses safety dangers and creates fragmented know-how stacks that undermine the potential for organization-wide intelligence.
Most gross sales leaders consider AI will reshape their jobs slightly than remove them
Maybe essentially the most carefully watched query in any AI examine considerations employment. The Gong analysis affords a extra nuanced image than the apocalyptic predictions that usually dominate headlines.
When requested about AI's three-year impression on income headcount, 43 p.c of respondents stated they anticipate it to rework jobs with out lowering headcount — the commonest response. Solely 28 p.c anticipate job eliminations, whereas 21 p.c really foresee AI creating new roles. Simply 8 p.c predict minimal impression.
Bendov frames the chance when it comes to reclaiming misplaced time. He cited Forrester analysis indicating that 77 p.c of a gross sales consultant's time is spent on actions that don't contain prospects — administrative work, assembly preparation, researching accounts, updating forecasts, and inside briefings.
"AI can eliminate, ideally, all 77 percent—all the drudgery work that they're doing," Bendov stated. "I don't think it necessarily eliminates jobs. People are half productive right now. Let's make them fully productive, and whatever you're paying them will translate to much higher revenue."
The transformation is already seen in position consolidation. Over the previous decade, gross sales organizations splintered into hyper-specialized capabilities: one particular person qualifies leads, one other units appointments, a 3rd closes offers, a fourth handles onboarding. The consequence was prospects interacting with 5 – 6 completely different folks throughout their shopping for journey.
"Which is not a great buyer experience, because every time I meet a new person that might not have the full context, and it's very inefficient for companies," Bendov stated. "Now with AI, you can have one person do all this, or much of this."
At Gong itself, sellers now generate 80 p.c of their very own appointments as a result of AI handles the prospecting legwork, Bendov stated.
American corporations are adopting AI 18 months quicker than their European counterparts
The examine reveals a notable divide in AI adoption between the US and Europe. Whereas 87 p.c of U.S. corporations now use AI of their income operations, with one other 9 p.c planning adoption inside a yr, the UK trails by 12 to 18 months. Simply 70 p.c of UK corporations presently use AI, with 22 p.c planning near-term adoption — figures that mirror U.S. knowledge from 2024.
Bendov stated the sample displays a broader historic tendency for enterprise know-how traits to cross the Atlantic with a delay. "It's always like that," he stated. "Even when the internet was taking off in the US, Europe was a step behind."
The hole isn't everlasting, he famous, and Europe typically leads on know-how adoption — cellular funds and messaging apps like WhatsApp gained traction there earlier than the U.S. — however for AI particularly, the American market stays forward.
Gong says a decade of AI improvement offers it an edge over Salesforce and Microsoft
The findings arrive as Gong navigates an more and more crowded market. The corporate, which not too long ago surpassed $300 million in annual recurring income, faces potential competitors from enterprise software program giants like Salesforce and Microsoft, each of that are embedding AI capabilities into their platforms.
Bendov argues that Gong's decade of AI improvement creates a considerable barrier to entry. The corporate's structure contains three layers: a "revenue graph" that aggregates buyer knowledge from CRM programs, emails, calls, movies, and internet indicators; an intelligence layer combining giant language fashions with roughly 40 proprietary small language fashions; and workflow purposes constructed on prime.
"Anybody that would want to build something like that—it's not a small feature, it's 10 years in development—would need first to build the revenue graph," Bendov stated.
Quite than viewing Salesforce and Microsoft as threats, Bendov characterised them as companions, pointing to each corporations' participation in Gong's latest consumer convention to debate agent interoperability. The rise of MCP (Mannequin Context Protocol) help and consumption-based pricing fashions means prospects can combine AI brokers from a number of distributors slightly than committing to a single platform.
The true query is whether or not AI will develop the gross sales occupation or hole it out
The report's implications prolong past gross sales departments. If AI can rework income operations — lengthy thought of a relationship-driven, human-centric operate — it raises questions on which different enterprise processes could be subsequent.
Bendov sees the potential for growth slightly than contraction. Drawing an analogy to digital pictures, he famous that whereas digicam producers suffered, the full variety of pictures taken exploded as soon as smartphones made pictures easy.
"If AI makes selling simple, I could see a world—I don't know exactly what it looks like yet—but why not?" Bendov stated. "Maybe ten times more jobs than we have now. It's expensive and inefficient today, but if it becomes as easy as taking a photo, the industry could actually grow and create opportunities for people of different abilities, from different locations."
For Bendov, who co-founded Gong in 2015 when AI was nonetheless a tough promote to non-technical enterprise customers, the present second represents one thing he waited a decade to see. Again then, mentioning AI to gross sales executives gave the impression of science fiction. The corporate struggled to lift cash as a result of the underlying know-how barely existed.
"When we started the company, we were born as an AI company, but we had to almost hide AI," Bendov recalled. "It was intimidating."
Now, seven out of ten of those self same executives say they belief AI to assist run their enterprise. The know-how that when needed to be disguised has change into the one factor no person can afford to disregard.
