New Vida Survey Finds Businesses Racing to Build an AI Agent Workforce, but Traditional Management Practices Still Catching Up

Reported returns contrast with uneven oversight: 85% report positive ROI, while only 41% assign a human to oversee AI agents.

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• 63% of businesses give their AI agents names, 60% assign them formal titles, and 16% already consider them part of the workforce
• 75% have defined KPIs for their AI agents, but only 40% track performance against them
• 85% of businesses report positive ROI from their AI agents and 0% report a loss, even without consistent tracking in place

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vida Global Inc. (NYSE American: VIDA), an AI agent workforce platform, today released findings from its Digital Workforce Readiness Survey, a nationwide study of U.S. business decision-makers. The findings show businesses are assigning AI agents real workforce roles complete with names and titles faster than they’re building the oversight needed to manage them.

AI agents are moving onto the org chart: 60% of businesses give them formal titles, and 16% count them as part of the workforce. Data from Vida’s 2026 Digital Workforce Readiness Survey.

“Businesses are giving AI agents names, job titles, and real responsibilities, but we're only beginning to define what it means to manage a digital workforce,” said Lyle Pratt, Founder and CEO of Vida. “The next phase isn't just about deploying more agents. It's about giving businesses the tools to manage their performance, bill for their outcomes, and scale with confidence.”

Key Findings

Employee Identity

• 63% give their AI agents a name, 60% assign a formal title, and 16% already consider them part of the workforce
• 55% of businesses include AI agents in their team structures or workflows
• 58% primarily view agents as software tools that automate specific tasks, rather than as digital employees

KPIs and Measurement

• 75% of businesses that have deployed digital employees say they have defined specific KPIs, but only 40% track performance against defined goals
• The most common metrics tracked are tasks successfully completed (76%), leads or appointments confirmed (57%), and revenue (52%)
• 72% name quality or reliability as their top concern for AI agents, but only 12% track accuracy or error rate today
• Only 41% say they assign a human to manage or oversee their AI agents

Adoption and ROI

• Over 80% of businesses already have digital employees running pilots or actively handling customer-facing or internal operations work
• Even without consistent tracking in place, 85% report positive ROI, and 0% report a loss
• Businesses with digital employees already in production report significant ROI at far higher rates than those still piloting (70% vs. 8%), and are more likely to plan significant investment increases (80% vs. 28%)
• 72% of businesses are already using, or considering using, digital employees for customer service support

A New Model: Outcome-Based Billing

• Just 3% of businesses currently prefer paying strictly for completed outcomes, yet 31% already think businesses should pay less, or only pay upon completion, when a digital employee doesn’t finish a task
• 53% still prefer a fixed monthly subscription, compared to 23% for token-based pricing and 9% for usage-based pricing, and 56% think a business should be charged the full amount even when a task isn’t completed

Looking Ahead

• 84% of businesses plan to increase spending on AI agents over the next 12-24 months, including 62% who plan to increase it significantly
• 87% report feeling prepared to deploy and manage digital employees
• Within three years, 70% of respondents estimate digital employees could handle up to a quarter of tasks currently assigned to humans

The Digital Workforce Readiness Survey was conducted online by Vida via SurveyMonkey from October 22-28, 2026, polling 215 U.S. business decision-makers at companies ranging from 51 to 10,000+ employees, spanning IT, operations, sales, finance, and executive leadership roles. The full sample has a margin of error of approximately ±6.7% at a 95% confidence level.

To learn more about Vida, visit https://vida.io.

About Vida

Vida is an AI agent workforce platform that enables businesses to build, deploy, and manage AI agents capable of running business operations and communications. The platform is model-agnostic, orchestrating across Vida's proprietary technology and leading large language models and AI systems to deliver intelligent, full-stack agents across industries. Vida serves direct enterprise customers and a global network of resellers, agencies, and partners. For more information, visit vida.io.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261112147669/en/

Media contact:
Illume PR for Vida
vida@illumepr.com

Source: Vida Global Inc.

Key Terms

kpis technical

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are specific, measurable metrics a company uses to track how well it is reaching important goals, like sales growth, profit margins, customer retention, or production speed. They matter to investors because KPIs act like a company’s dashboard gauges—showing whether management’s strategy is working, signaling trends or problems early, and helping predict future earnings and risks that affect the value of an investment.

margin of error technical

The margin of error is a measure of how much the results of a survey or estimate might differ from the true value, due to random chance. It indicates the level of uncertainty in the data, helping investors understand how much confidence to place in the results. Think of it like the wiggle room around a guess—smaller margins mean more precise estimates.