Omdia view
Summary
Omdia’s new 2025 market landscape report on employee support virtual agents introduces an economic model that highlights the significant cost savings and productivity gains businesses can achieve by adopting artificial intelligence (AI)-augmented support agents. The model provides a structured framework for evaluating the financial and productivity impact of adopting these solutions, giving enterprises and technology vendors offering these tools a way understand, measure, and articulate the value of these technologies.
Omdia’s economic model finds that businesses can save millions by augmenting human efforts with AI
Today’s business environments are more agile and geographically dispersed than ever. Optimizing employee experience can be difficult in environments where systems and tools are fragmented and complex, and where knowledge exists in silos. The need for effective, personalized, and responsive employee support systems and practices has never been more urgent. Omdia’s 2025 Emerging Market Landscape: Employee Support Virtual Agents report explores the transformative potential of AI-infused intelligent employee support agents, or employee support virtual agents as they are also known.
Unearthing the productivity and economic benefits
The economic model for intelligent employee support agents that can be found in this 2025 market landscape report delves into the financial and productivity impact these solutions can have on businesses of varying sizes. The report details how, by 2029, the market for these tools is expected to reach $34.5bn, with virtual agents contributing significantly to this growth. The Omdia model explores the economic impact of intelligent employee support solutions based on a methodology that considers different operational assumptions and business sizes, ranging from small businesses (750 employees) to large enterprises (30,000 employees). For example, the model estimates that annual cost savings for businesses can range between $524,000 to $7,000,000, depending on the size of the business and support operation. Additionally, productivity gains are also substantial, with the model indicating that between 20,000 and 265,000 additional tickets can be managed annually.
Unlocking growth and strategic value in this fruitful new technology category that fuses AI and productivity
The report also profiles numerous technology vendors that are offering employee-centric virtual agents that augment and assist human efforts. The vendors span numerous traditional product categories, but they all have the potential to benefit significantly from this growing market. The report shares some key reasons why vendors should prioritize the development, deployment, and optimal adoption of AI-augmented employee support agents:
- New revenue opportunities. Omdia research highlights how the virtual agent market is poised for significant growth, with revenue across predictive and generative solutions expected to reach $13.7bn by 2029. Vendors that deliver effective and integrated AI solutions, supported by a strong data platform, will be well positioned to capture a share of this market.
- C-level focus on advancing employee experience. Improving employee experience and providing effective support have become vital business objectives. Businesses are increasingly looking to their technology vendor and service provider partners to deliver AI-augmented virtual agent solutions that are tailored toward specific industries and use cases. This will ensure businesses understand the value delivered by any tool in a context that is familiar, enabling them to better frame value and potential ROI.
- Integration and unification. The most mature employee support virtual agents are those that support a federated and unified approach to employee support. Integrating AI agents with important business systems and platforms, including customer relationship management, IT service management, and human resource platforms, strengthens these solutions with a broad set of data and workflows. This improves support and operational efficiencies.
- Addressing challenges. The adoption of AI and generative AI capabilities is not without its challenges. Businesses have different cultural, cost, and security concerns that they are looking to understand and overcome with the help of their partners. In addition to great technologies, it will be important for partners to deliver the relevant support services to help businesses here.
Appendix
Further reading
2025 Emerging Market Landscape: Employee Support Virtual Agents (December 2024)
Author
Adam Holtby, Principal Analyst, Workplace Transformation
