​​New Global Study Finds AI Success Three Times More Likely at Fully Integrated Organizations

AUSTIN, Texas — Certinia , the leading global provider of AI-powered Professional Services Automation (PSA), today released its 2026 Global Service Dynamics Report , based on an independent survey of 1,000 professional services and IT/technology leaders around the world. One of the report’s top conclusions is that the clearest predictor of performance in the sector this year isn’t how much a company has invested in AI or talent, but whether that business runs on a single, connected system across the organization.

Organizations reporting the strongest AI results, highest profit margins, and account expansion are consistently more likely to report full operational alignment across sales, delivery, finance, and customer success than those struggling on the same measures. Companies with successful AI outcomes are more than three times as likely to be fully integrated as those with mixed results (28% vs. 8%). Firms achieving peak profitability, with margins above 40%, are also three times more likely to have fully integrated operations compared with barely profitable competitors. And among organizations achieving net revenue expansion above 100%, 68% are aligned or fully integrated, well above the 22% sector-wide rate of full integration.

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“You cannot scale a modern services business on fragmented infrastructure,” said DJ Paoni, Chief Executive Officer of Certinia. “Connection is the true differentiator for the organizations pulling ahead this year. This data shows that organizations fully integrated across sales, delivery, finance, and customer success are consistently outperforming on AI adoption and profitability. Removing that fragmentation frees people to focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional value to customers.”

The report’s additional findings reveal further gaps in perception, hidden operational risk, and early shifts in how services businesses price and staff their work.

: Executives consistently rate their own organizations’ performance more favorably than the people actually delivering the work. Leaders rate their forecasting confidence 24 points higher than practitioners do, their AI success 16 points higher, and their ability to grow without adding headcount 10 points higher.

: 62% of executive leadership teams have defined net revenue retention goals, compared with just 45% of services/delivery teams, despite these teams often being closest to the customer experience that drives retention.

: Just 38% of partially aligned organizations report high confidence in their resource, demand, and revenue forecasts. This compares to 75% among fully siloed companies and 78% among fully integrated ones — evidence that half-finished tech connections carry the costs of interdependence without the benefits of a shared system.

: Just 6% of organizations globally are achieving net revenue expansion above 100%.