Technology companies are chasing AI everywhere except where the deal gets made

Ask technology leaders where AI should pay off first across the customer lifecycle, and scoping, pricing and proposals land last. Just 8% name it among their top three opportunities, out of eight lifecycle stages tested in the 2026 Global Service Dynamics Report. That is the number that should stop every technology services executive mid-scroll.

Certinia commissioned Sapio Research to survey 1,000 professional services and IT/technology leaders this year, and the new Technology Services special edition of the report drills into the 613 respondents from software vendors, hardware and non-software technology providers, and IT service providers. What it finds is a services organization confident in its own value and racing to apply AI everywhere except the moment that sets the terms for everything downstream.

The blind spot before the deal

Three-quarters of technology leaders (74%) already view professional services as a profit center, a view that holds steady from the executive suite down to the practitioners running delivery day to day. That confidence comes with real ambition: 86% expect to grow revenue over the next year without a matching increase in billable headcount, counting on AI to close the gap.

The pricing model on the proposal decides what services has to prove later, and technology companies know their commercial model is shifting fast. Subscription, outcome-based and usage-based pricing are each already in use at a third or more of technology companies (59%, 42% and 34% respectively), and every one of them tops the list of models leaders expect to use more over the next 12 months, led by subscription at 78%. Forty percent of leaders cite the need for new pricing models as a market pressure this year, and 31% already point to inaccurate scoping and estimation as an operational drag.

Despite that pressure, scoping, pricing and proposal development ranks dead last among the eight lifecycle stages where leaders want AI agents to help. Only 32% can even measure whether their AI deployments are improving win rates, the one AI outcome in the survey that shows up before the deal closes at all.

Survey respondents reported that AI and automation initiatives absorb more damage from data, visibility and handoff gaps than any other function.

Where the handoff breaks

Once the contract is signed, what Sales sold has to become something Delivery can staff and Finance can forecast. Technology companies feel this handoff more acutely than professional services firms do: 36% name sales-to-delivery handoffs as a place where gaps in data and visibility hurt operations most, compared with 27% among independent PS firms.

The area that absorbs the most damage from a broken handoff is AI itself. Forty-nine percent of technology leaders say AI and automation initiatives feel handoff gaps hardest, more than forecasting, staffing or project execution. A disconnected handoff slows the deal down and carries forward into the systems meant to speed everything else up.

There is a brighter signal underneath this. 62% of technology companies describe their sales, delivery, finance and customer success functions as mostly aligned or fully integrated, and workflow orchestration across those functions is the single AI investment leaders want most, with 54% ranking it their top choice.

AI works in delivery, proof still lags

Inside delivery, technology companies have moved well past experimentation. Across six AI use cases tracked in the survey, between 59% and 69% report deployment in limited workflows or broadly in production, and 70% of those with AI deployments report moderate or significant success.

The gap sits in measurement, not results. Just 29% can point to a measurable return on that AI investment, even as 46% report productivity gains and 45% report accuracy gains. Compliance (41%) and a shortage of internal AI skills (38%) top the list of obstacles, and 87% of technology leaders now rate AI and data specialists a high or very high hiring priority.

Renewal is where the math gets hard

Every earlier stage shows up in the renewal number. Technology companies report an estimated average net revenue retention of 74.7%, with a wide spread underneath it: 7% sit above 100% NRR, while 39% land at 70% or below.

Services and Delivery teams are the function least likely to carry a defined NRR goal, at just 46%, trailing executive leadership (66%), finance (62%), sales (58%) and customer success (56%). That is a structural problem. The team closest to the customer relationship is the one least often held accountable for whether it renews and grows.

Services and Delivery works closest with the customer and holds the most influence over renewal, yet it’s the least likely of five functions to carry a defined NRR goal.

Technology leaders still credit cross-functional collaboration with real gains: 62% report improved customer satisfaction and 54% report improved retention when teams work from shared data. Renewal and expansion also ranks second among all eight lifecycle stages for AI investment priority, at 45%.

The gap between the boardroom and the floor

Across all four stages, one pattern repeats. Executives and the PS/CS leaders running delivery see the same business through different eyes. Executives feel the pull toward new pricing more sharply (41% versus 30%), trust their forecasting data more (79% versus 55%), and report stronger AI results (69% versus 53%) and stronger retention (35% versus 24% reporting NRR above 81%).

Every one of those gaps belongs in the next planning meeting. Where does AI touch the customer before the signature? What data travels with the deal from Sales into Delivery and Finance? Could delivery teams demonstrate the AI return leadership believes it is seeing? And does Services carry a retention goal at all?

This Technology Services edition draws on 613 of the 1,000 IT and technology leaders surveyed for the 2026 Global Service Dynamics Report. Download the full report to see how pricing, delivery and renewal connect across the entire services lifecycle, and how the highest-performing technology companies are closing the gaps this data reveals.

If you are attending Technology & Services World in Las Vegas (October 19–21), schedule time with the Certinia team to walk through what this data means for your lifecycle!