Freshworks’ 2026 CX benchmark gives customer service leaders a concrete performance bar as APAC AI adoption runs 28% above the global average
Chennai, India – October 28, 2026: – Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) released insights from its 2026 Customer Service Benchmark Report, indicating that the top 20% customer service teams in India resolve customer issues 95% faster than the rest. Rather than treating good customer service as an ambition, Freshworks defines trendsetters as the top 20% of organizations in its dataset and gives teams regional and industry-specific medians against which to assess their own operations.
These findings come from the Freshworks Customer Service Benchmark Report 2026, which turns anonymized customer usage data from nearly 34,000 accounts and 1.2 billion tickets across 5 industries into a practical performance benchmark. Built on years of customer experience expertise and industry data, the report sets a benchmark that organizations across Asia Pacific can use to assess and strengthen their customer service operations.
The gap extends beyond speed. APAC trendsetters resolve 43.18% of issues on first contact, compared with a regional median of 18.63%. They meet resolution service-level agreements 99.32% of the time, versus 95.35% at the median, and assign tickets instantaneously, compared with a regional median of 1 minute 8 seconds.
Alongside the operational benchmark, Freshworks’ annual benchmark report for CX shows APAC building strong AI momentum. 56.4% of support teams in the region already use AI in customer service, compared with 44.0% globally. Among teams that have not yet adopted AI, 54.2% plan to invest over the next 12 months, versus 43.7% globally.
“The benchmark for AI in customer service is no longer whether a team has deployed it, but whether it changes the customer outcome,” said Kady Srinivasan, Chief Marketing Officer, Freshworks. “Leading CX teams are responding near instantly, resolving in under an hour and combining AI with human judgment. These figures give CX leaders a concrete bar to measure against – and a clear signal that technology investment must translate into faster, more consistent service.”
The survey findings point to growing trust in AI as a service partner. Among APAC teams already using AI, 77.4% are comfortable allowing AI to resolve customer issues, compared with 66.9% globally. The same proportion say AI has improved their ability to handle higher ticket volumes with existing resources, versus 65.3% globally.
“The best support teams won’t be the ones with the most AI. They will be the ones where AI quietly handles the routine so humans can show up fully for the moments that matter.” said Hari Ganapathy, Co-founder and CEO at PickYourTrail.
The next opportunity is to turn adoption into deeper operational maturity. Among APAC teams already using AI, 61.3% say it is embedded across core infrastructure and key workflows – in line with the global figure. Freshworks’ benchmark gives regional CX leaders a way to connect that operationalization with the outcomes customers feel: speed, consistency and resolution. The growing maturity of AI adoption is also reflected in an average AI-agent deflection rate of 83.1%, highlighting the expanding role of AI agents in handling routine customer interactions.
“APAC has clear momentum: adoption, investment intent, and confidence in AI-led resolution are all ahead of global levels,” said Janani Dwarakanath, Vice President and Head of CX Marketing at Freshworks. “But adoption is only the starting point. The benchmark report sets the gold standard for support teams and helps identify the operating practices that separate experimentation from high performance and focus their AI strategy on measurable gains for customers, agents and the business.”
Key APAC Findings from the report:
- APAC leads AI adoption: 56.4% already use AI in customer service, 28% above the global average.
- APAC shows higher growth confidence: 63.6% are much more confident in supporting business growth, 39.17% above global.
- AI investment is rising: 54.2% of APAC non-users plan to invest in AI within 12 months, 24% above global.
- Trust in AI resolution is stronger: 77.4% of APAC AI users are comfortable with AI resolving customer issues, versus 66.9% globally.
- AI is improving productivity: 77.4% of APAC AI users report better ability to handle higher ticket volumes with existing resources.
Study highlights the shift toward outcome-driven, AI-powered customer service
The study provides CX teams with a practical benchmark for evaluating performance against both regional medians and organizations in the top 20% of CX outcomes. Importantly, the study emphasizes that AI success should not be measured by the number of features deployed, but by business and operational outcomes.
The Customer Service Benchmark Report 2026 is available for download here.
Methodology:
The Freshworks CX Benchmark Report 2026 combines anonymised and aggregated usage data from Freshworks customer service products with findings from the Freshworks Annual Customer Survey 2026 and additional cohort-based research. The analysis covers 33,889 accounts, 1.2 billion tickets and 63 industries, with product-usage data gathered between June 2025 and May 2026. Trendsetters represent the top 20th percentile of organisations in the dataset, while median performance provides a practical benchmark against which teams can evaluate their operations.
