Artificial intelligence and field professions: what our 2026 studies reveal

Artificial intelligence is gradually establishing itself in field sales professions, but at very different speeds and according to very different logics from one sector to another. Area managers in large retail distribution, pharmaceutical representatives, and Horeca & Foodservice sales representatives: these three professions, although very distinct in their regulatory environment and operating methods, nevertheless share striking commonalities in their relationship with artificial intelligence.

In the first half of 2026, Sidely surveyed more than 300 field professionals across these three professions, as part of three separate studies on their profiles, compensation, tools, and data usage. This article crosses the results obtained solely on the artificial intelligence dimension to draw cross-functional insights and Sidely's own conclusions on what these figures herald for the coming years.

Three findings structure this analysis: highly heterogeneous adoption rates depending on the profession, usage progressing almost everywhere without a framework defined by the company, and a decisive role for training in the perception of the benefits of these tools.

→ To download the study on area managers

→ To download the study on pharmaceutical representatives

→ To download the study on Horeca & Foodservice sales representatives

A Highly Heterogeneous AI Adoption Rate by Profession

Area Managers: Adoption Strongly Depends on Team Size

Among area managers in large retail, the use of artificial intelligence varies significantly depending on the size of the sales team, with a marked gap between small and large organizations. Notably, the so-called "pivot" generation, those with three to six years of experience, paradoxically turns out to be the least equipped with artificial intelligence, even though they are the most eager for data to guide their daily activities. This paradox identifies a priority segment for any future training policy.

Discover how agentic AI is changing the daily lives of area managers.

Pharmaceutical Representatives: Only 19.8% Users, but 73.5% Convinced

The profession of pharmaceutical representative shows one of the lowest adoption rates among the three studies, with only 19.8% regular users of artificial intelligence. This figure is partly explained by the weight of the regulatory framework specific to pharmacy, which naturally encourages caution. Yet, 73.5% of the surveyed representatives believe in the potential of these tools to improve their field efficiency—a gap of more than 50 points between conviction and actual usage.

Horeca & Foodservice Sales Reps: The Earliest Adoption for a Historically Relationship-Driven Profession

Conversely, Horeca and Foodservice sales reps show the highest adoption rate of the three studied professions, with 30.6% already active users. This result is particularly noteworthy as it concerns a profession historically built around human relationships, where one might have anticipated a later adoption of digital tools. This figure suggests that artificial intelligence is not perceived as a threat to the relational dimension of the profession, but rather as a support to it, notably through negotiation assistance.

Discover 5 concrete ways to use AI to boost your sales in the Horeca sector.

This contrast between the three professions shows that the adoption of artificial intelligence in the field does not depend solely on a sector's pre-existing degree of digitalization, but also on the nature of the pain point it helps to solve first, as we will see below.

A Common Point: AI is Advancing Without a Framework

Mostly Individual Use, Outside of Company Policy

In the three studied professions, the use of artificial intelligence is expanding largely outside of any framework defined by the company.

Among Horeca and Foodservice sales reps, 54.6% of users utilize it strictly on a personal initiative, and only 18.2% operate within a truly structured environment.

Among pharmaceutical representatives, 57% of users act without a precise framework or in a completely individual manner.

This finding cuts across the three studies without exception: artificial intelligence is finding its way into sales practices through individual initiative, long before any organized rollout by companies.

The Regulated Sector Is No Exception to the Rule

This observation takes on a particular dimension in the case of pharmaceutical representatives, where the strict regulatory framework governing the promotion of healthcare products might have suggested a more cautious and better-structured adoption. This is not the case: representatives are experimenting with artificial intelligence at the same individual pace as other field professions, carrying a real compliance risk that companies in the sector can no longer ignore.

Our Sidely Analysis: this widespread gap between individual usage and the absence of a corporate framework reflects less a lack of vigilance among field professionals and more a structural delay in organizations integrating artificial intelligence into their common tools, starting with the field CRM.

As long as AI remains a personal tool installed on everyone's smartphone, it evades all governance, any sharing of best practices, and all compliance controls. The challenge for sales management is therefore no longer to know whether their teams are already using artificial intelligence, but to decide where and how to officially integrate it into their daily work tools.

Why Training Changes Everything

Massive Gaps in Endorsement Between the Trained and Non-Trained

The three studies converge on one point: training radically transforms the perception of artificial intelligence's benefits.

Among area managers, trained professionals show fourteen percentage points more favorable opinions compared to those who received no training.

Among Horeca and Foodservice sales reps, this figure reaches its maximum: 100% of sales representatives who received training perceive concrete benefits in using artificial intelligence, compared to a much more partial endorsement among the non-trained.

That is why it is important to frame the use of AI within your sales team.

A Blind Spot on the Senior Side for Horeca/Foodservice

This finding makes the very low level of training observed in the three professions even more problematic.

Among Horeca and Foodservice sales reps, 86.1% of respondents have received no training in artificial intelligence, and the most senior profiles, often the ones most inclined to request advanced data analysis, are almost completely excluded from it.

Among pharmaceutical representatives, this rate reaches 85.8% untrained, despite 73.5% being convinced of the potential of these tools. In all three professions, conviction is widely present, but company support remains severely lagging.

Usages Converge Towards the Same Field Pain Points

Reducing Administrative Burden

Among both pharmaceutical representatives and area managers, the primary use of artificial intelligence consists of reducing the administrative burden and automating report writing. This is no coincidence: in both studies, administrative burden ranks among the main pain points spontaneously cited by field professionals. Notably, among pharmaceutical representatives who already use artificial intelligence, this pain point has purely and simply vanished from the list of their main difficulties.

Preparing and Structuring Sales Visits

Among Horeca and Foodservice sales reps, the primary use of artificial intelligence lies elsewhere: helping with negotiations and preparing sales arguments, consistent with the deeply relational dimension of this profession.

Artificial intelligence does not replace human relationships there; it equips and strengthens them, which partly explains the higher adoption rate observed in this sector.

Analyzing Data for Better Decision-Making

In all three professions, data analysis and synthesis systematically figure among the most cited uses of artificial intelligence, regardless of the initial entry point. This convergence confirms that artificial intelligence primarily responds to a need to transform raw data into actionable information, a challenge that traditional field CRMs have not always been able to solve on their own.

Our Sidely Analysis: far from replacing field sales reps, artificial intelligence primarily targets low-value-added tasks that consume their available time, whether it is writing, preparation, or analysis. The time thus freed up directly benefits client relationships, which remains, in all three studies, the dimension most valued by the field professionals themselves. Artificial intelligence, therefore, does not compete with the core of the field sales profession; on the contrary, it reinforces its fundamentals, provided it is integrated into the tools already used daily rather than deployed as a separate technological block.

The three studies conducted by Sidely in 2026 outline a common underlying movement in field sales professions, despite their obvious sectoral differences. Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant hypothesis, but an already established practice, driven by the individual initiative of professionals far more than by an organized strategy from companies. This gap constitutes both a risk, particularly in regulated sectors like pharmacy, and an opportunity for organizations that can quickly structure this usage rather than discovering it after the fact.

In all three studies, training appears to be the most decisive lever to transform conviction into actual adoption and measurable benefits. Conversely, the absence of a framework and training leaves each professional to experiment alone, at the risk of losing consistency, compliance, and the sharing of best practices.

In the coming years, the competitive advantage will likely go to organizations that choose to integrate artificial intelligence directly into their business tools, rather than to those that ignore it or settle for banning it due to a lack of a structured solution to offer.

→ To download the study on area managers

→ To download the study on pharmaceutical representatives

→ To download the study on Horeca & Foodservice sales representatives