Survey findings revealed at
Northstar’26
Every revenue team has AI now.
Most still can’t act on it.
195 revenue leaders told us where AI stops working: it flags the problem, then waits for someone to act. Get the size of that gap, what it’s costing some teams (as much as 15% of revenue, by their own estimate), and what the top 23% do differently.
195 revenue leaders
VPs of Revenue Operations, CROs and VPs of Sales
200+ SaaS & AI-native companies
mid-market to enterprise
Emporia Research
independent fielding, July–August 2026
Siva Rajamani, CEO, Everstage, Northstar’26
Revealed at Northstar’26
How long did your last forecast take you, by hand?
7 in 8
build the full weekly forecast by hand. Every week.
Siva asked the room that exact question at Northstar’26, then answered it with their own numbers on the screen behind him. Half of those leaders spend at least two hours on it.
Participants from
What the report found
The gap between knowing and acting is costing revenue.
57%
Meetings catch risk first
First learn a deal is at risk in a pipeline review or from a rep. Only 17% hear it from an automated alert. A review runs on a calendar, not on a signal.
80%
Data arrives second
Make revenue decisions before all the data arrives. More than half say the information already existed somewhere in the stack. The problem is routing.
45%
Deals wait days
Take 4 or more days to respond once a risk signal appears. 47% take 3 or more days to approve a pricing exception, with the buyer ready to sign.
74%
Revenue pays the price
Put the cost of the knowing-to-doing lag at up to 15% of revenue. Every function and company size landed there independently.
Up and running in weeks.
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