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AI-Powered Contact Center Landscape

AI-Powered Contact Center Landscape

Navigating the AI-Powered Contact Center Landscape: A Roadmap for Success With thousands of solutions in the contact center ecosystem, each claiming to offer “AI-powered, next-generation technology,” it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Many of these claims are valid, as AI and machine learning are transforming contact centers and improving customer experiences. But with so many options and combinations of AI-powered solutions, how can you be sure you’re making the right decision? The answer is that it’s almost impossible without help. Trying to research and evaluate every solution on your own could take months or even years—by which time, the technology will have evolved. Plus, if you rely solely on information from manufacturers or software providers, you may only get a one-sided perspective that leads to “CCaaS FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out). A More Objective Approach to the Contact Center Journey While we can’t claim to be 100% unbiased, we take a unique approach. We start with your business, understanding your specific needs, culture, and processes before introducing solutions that fit. Not every top-rated solution is right for your business, and the roadmap below outlines how we help you navigate this complex landscape. 1. Involving Key Stakeholders The first step is ensuring you have the right people involved—those with a vested interest in the contact center‘s success. It’s helpful to break these roles into three categories: Having clear roles and expectations helps streamline the process and ensures everyone is on the same page. 2. Conducting a Contact Center Assessment This discovery phase is crucial for identifying the key drivers behind your business needs. Each contact center is different, even within the same industry. That’s why a one-size-fits-all scorecard won’t work. It’s beneficial to bring in a third-party consultant with broad industry knowledge to conduct an assessment, offering valuable insights that help create a clear vision. 3. Creating a Unique Scorecard Once you’ve completed your assessment, stakeholders can work together to establish a customized scorecard that reflects your business objectives. Whether customer service is your primary focus or you’re more telemarketing-heavy, this scorecard ensures that your solution is tailored to your specific needs. It’s also important to involve contributors and advocates in the process to gain widespread buy-in. 4. Scheduling Solution Demonstrations With a solid scorecard in hand, it’s time to identify and evaluate vendors. A contact center consultant can help streamline this process. Scoring each solution based on how well it aligns with your goals keeps the focus on substance over flash, ensuring the right solution for your business. 5. Analyzing Scorecard Data When reviewing the scorecard data, stakeholders should ask key questions: This analysis ensures that decisions are data-driven and aligned with business goals. 6. Finalizing Vendor Selection-AI-Powered Contact Center Landscape Once the data is compiled and a consensus is reached, it’s time to move forward with a contract proposal. Beyond the solution itself, discuss critical details like implementation timelines, ongoing support, and maintenance to set clear expectations and ensure accountability. Financial Modeling: Justifying the Investment Looking at your goals through a financial lens helps quantify the benefits of your contact center investment. For example, reducing average handling time by just 12 seconds across the company might result in cost-neutral savings. Similarly, reducing call abandonment by even half a percentage point can have a significant impact. These financial considerations help justify ROI and set expectations. Partnering with Tectonic: Expertise You Can Trust At Tectonic, we live and breathe contact centers. Our team of experts comes directly from this world, so we understand the challenges and opportunities. We’re here to help you navigate the complexities of the contact center ecosystem and bring clarity to your CCaaS journey. Contact us today to get started! For more resources, visit our blog or explore our AI solutions to elevate your customer experience. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Agentforce Advances Copilot and Prompt Builder

Agentforce Advances Copilot and Prompt Builder

Agentforce was the highlight of the week in San Francisco during Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference—and for good reason! Agentforce Advances Copilot and Prompt Builder and that is truly exciting. Agentforce represents a groundbreaking solution that promises to transform how individuals and organizations interact with their CRM. However, as with any major product announcement, it raises many questions. This was evident during Dreamforce, where admins and developers, eager to dive into Agentforce, had numerous queries. Here’s an in-depth look at what Agentforce is, how it operates, and how organizations can leverage it to automate processes and drive value today. Agentforce Advances Copilot and Prompt Builder Many Dreamforce attendees who anticipated hearing more about Einstein Copilot were surprised by the introduction of Agents just before the event. However, understanding the distinctions between the legacy Einstein Copilot and the new Agentforce is crucial. Agentforce Advances Copilot and Prompt Builder. Agentforce Agents are essentially a rebranding of Copilot Agents but with an essential enhancement: they expand the functionality of Copilot to create autonomous agents capable of tasks such as summarizing or generating content and taking specific actions. Here are some key changes in terminology: Just like Einstein Copilot, Agents use user input—an “utterance”—entered into the Agentforce chat interface. The agent translates this utterance into a series of actions based on configurable instructions, and then executes the plan, providing a response. Understanding Agents: Topics A key difference between Einstein Copilot and Agentforce is the addition of “Topics.” Topics allow for greater flexibility and support a broader range of actions. They organize tasks by business function, helping Agents first determine the appropriate topic and then identify the necessary actions. This topic layer reduces confusion and ensures the correct action is taken. With this structure, Agentforce can support many more custom actions compared to Copilot’s 15-20, significantly expanding capabilities. Understanding Agents: Actions Actions in Agentforce function similarly to those in Einstein Copilot. These are the tasks an agent executes once it has identified the right plan. Out-of-the-box actions are available right away, providing a quick win for organizations looking to implement standard actions like opportunity summarization or sales emails. For more customized use cases, organizations can create bespoke actions using Apex, Flows, Prompts, or Service Catalog items (currently in beta). Understanding Agents: Prompts Whenever an LLM is used, prompts are necessary to provide the right input. Thoughtfully engineered prompts are essential for getting accurate, useful responses from LLMs. This is a key part of leveraging Agent Actions effectively, ensuring better results, reducing errors, and driving productive agent behavior. Prompt Builder plays a crucial role, allowing users to build, test, and refine prompts for Agent Actions, creating a seamless experience between generative AI and Salesforce workflows. How Generative AI and Agentforce Enhance CRM GenAI tools like Agentforce offer exciting enhancements to Salesforce organizations in several ways: However, these benefits are realized only when CRM users adopt and adapt to AI-assisted workflows. Organizations must prioritize change management and training, as most users will need to adjust to this new AI-powered way of working. If your company has already embraced AI, then you are halfway there. If AI hasn’t been introduced to the workforce you need to get started yesterday. Getting Started with Agentforce With all the buzz around Dreamforce, it’s no surprise that many organizations are eager to start using Agentforce. Fortunately, there are immediate opportunities to leverage these tools. The recommended approach is to begin with standard Agent actions, testing out-of-the-box features like opportunity summarization or creating close plans. From there, organizations can make incremental tweaks to customize actions for their specific needs. We have all come to expect that just as quickly as we include agentic ai into our processes and flows, Salesforce will add additional features and capabilities. As teams become more familiar with developing and deploying Agent actions, more complex use cases will become manageable, transforming the traditional point-and-click Salesforce experience into a more intelligent, agent-driven platform. Already I find myself asking, “is this an agent person or an ai-agent”? The day is coming, no doubt, when the question will be reversed. Tectonic’s AI Experts Can Help Interested in learning more about Agentforce or need guidance on getting started? Tectonic specializes in AI and analytics solutions within CRM, helping organizations unlock significant productivity gains through AI-based tools that optimize business processes. We are excited to enable you to enable Agentforce to Advance Copilot and Prompt Builder By Tectonic’s Solutions Architect, Shannan Hearne Like1 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce Channel Order App

Salesforce Channel Order App

Salesforce’s platform powers over 4.2 million apps, and Salesforce AppExchange offers more than 4,000 solutions. These numbers highlight Salesforce’s extensive ecosystem, with the Salesforce Channel Order App (COA) playing a crucial role for businesses managing complex partner relationships and order processes. This insight looks into the Salesforce Channel Order App, exploring its purpose, when and why you should use it, core features, who benefits from it, and best practices to maximize its potential. What is the Salesforce Channel Order App? The Salesforce Channel Order App is designed to streamline and automate order management across various sales channels, whether direct, through distribution partners, or a reseller network. It simplifies what would typically be a labor-intensive process by centralizing data, automating tasks, and providing real-time visibility into orders. This results in tighter control over order workflows and enhanced partner collaboration. When to Use the Salesforce Channel Order App The Salesforce Channel Order App is most effective for businesses that manage high volumes of orders from multiple channels. It’s especially useful in industries like technology, consumer goods, and manufacturing, where multi-channel sales are integral to operations. Key Use Cases: Core Features of the Salesforce Channel Order App Who Benefits from Salesforce Channel Order App? The Salesforce Channel Order App is particularly beneficial for industries where managing orders from multiple partners is crucial. Key beneficiaries include: Best Practices for Using Salesforce Channel Order App To get the most out of Salesforce Channel Order App, consider the following best practices: Final Take The Salesforce Channel Order App is an essential tool for businesses relying on channel partners to drive sales. By automating and streamlining the order management process, COA helps businesses improve efficiency, reduce errors, and ensure orders are fulfilled accurately and on time. Whether you’re a manufacturer, technology provider, or consumer goods company, adopting COA enables better order management and strengthens relationships with partners—setting your business up for long-term success. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce and OpenAI Advances in AI

Salesforce and OpenAI Advances in AI

With investor enthusiasm for AI beginning to fade, Salesforce is shifting focus to its next AI wave, “Agentforce,” which will be showcased at the Dreamforce customer conference. This announcement comes at a time when Salesforce stock has underperformed, with revenue growth slowing and expectations building that AI-related revenue may not materialize until 2025. Salesforce and OpenAI Advances in AI. The Agentforce platform will be featured at Dreamforce, running from Sept. 17 to Sept. 19, and aims to automate routine business tasks while offering real-time insights and guidance. CEO Marc Benioff noted in a Sept. 12 briefing that Agentforce represents the third wave of AI, moving beyond conversational chatbots to more autonomous agents. Early adopters of the platform include Walt Disney, Kaiser Permanente, Fossil, Wiley, and OpenTable. Meanwhile, Salesforce faces stiff competition. Microsoft is hosting its own AI event, Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2, which focuses on business productivity features powered by generative AI. Like Salesforce, Microsoft’s AI tools have yet to demonstrate significant revenue impact, as customers are still testing the technologies. Salesforce is pushing Agentforce as an evolution of its previous Einstein copilot, which integrates conversational AI within its apps. Agentforce aims to take this further by reducing human oversight and improving efficiency in sales, marketing, and customer service roles. The product is scheduled for an October rollout, with a pricing model based on usage—potentially $2 per interaction for complex queries. Analysts have mixed opinions on Agentforce’s potential. Truist Securities sees the AI platform driving future subscription growth, while Barclays believes it could gain more traction than previous AI tools due to its fully autonomous nature. However, others, like Monness Crespi Hardt & Co., remain cautious, noting concerns about Salesforce’s slowing revenue growth in a challenging macroeconomic environment. Salesforce Agentforce PlatformIn its second-quarter earnings call, Salesforce shared promising results from an Agentforce trial, where the platform resolved 90% of patient inquiries for a large healthcare customer. Analysts like Morgan Stanley’s Keith Weiss see Agentforce as a key differentiator for Salesforce, enabling customers to leverage AI at scale with reduced complexity and cost. Despite this optimism, Salesforce still faces challenges. Competitors such as Meta’s AI Studio and ServiceNow are also advancing AI agent technologies. ServiceNow, for instance, emphasizes the need for strict human oversight of AI actions, a sentiment echoed by Salesforce’s chief ethical and humane use officer, Paula Goldman. As the tech industry races to enhance AI autonomy, concerns about the technology’s limitations—such as bias, hallucinations, and decision-making risks—remain central. Experts warn that while AI agents hold great potential, they must be carefully regulated to prevent unintended consequences. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce AI Tools for Healthcare

Salesforce AI Tools for Healthcare

Salesforce to Launch Pre-Built AI Tools for Healthcare in October Salesforce is introducing a new library of out-of-the-box AI tools specifically designed for healthcare operations, available through its Health Cloud. These generative AI features aim to streamline time-consuming tasks by integrating directly into clinician workflows, enhancing both the quality and efficiency of patient care. Key Features and Benefits Part of Salesforce’s broader initiative to address operational challenges across 15 industries, these healthcare-specific AI tools are embedded in each of its industry clouds. The Einstein Copilot, for example, will allow healthcare providers to generate patient summaries in natural language, leveraging new data management capabilities. This could enable care coordinators to view comprehensive patient summaries—such as care plans, prescriptions, and prior authorizations—before appointments. According to Salesforce, these AI-driven services, powered by Einstein prompts, are integrated within Health Cloud’s member accounts, simplifying administrative tasks like sending referrals and booking appointments. Data privacy and security remain a priority, with Einstein’s data masking and zero data retention layer ensuring patient information is protected. Beyond patient care, the new AI features will support business operations, including verifying insurance coverage, determining out-of-pocket costs, and ensuring eligibility—all designed to reduce administrative burdens and improve operational efficiency. Why It Matters Healthcare organizations often lack the resources to build and train their own AI models, a process that can cost upwards of 0 million. Salesforce’s pre-built AI capabilities provide an accessible solution, allowing organizations of all sizes to adopt AI tools tailored to their specific needs. By automating administrative processes, healthcare providers can focus more on patient care, with faster approvals and fewer manual tasks. Salesforce is positioning these tools to help organizations streamline workflows, reduce inefficiencies, and ultimately improve the patient experience. The features will be generally available in October, with pricing based on specific implementations. Industry Impact and Larger Trend The release of these healthcare-specific AI tools is part of Salesforce’s broader push into industry-specific AI. In March, Salesforce launched the Einstein AI Copilot within its Einstein 1 Platform, designed to leverage healthcare organizations’ unique data within its Health Data Cloud. New capabilities, such as patient services and benefits verification, aim to reduce platform switching, enabling faster approvals and supporting clinicians in real-time patient record updates. Salesforce’s investment in industry-specific AI comes at a time when many healthcare organizations are grappling with the rising costs of technology and labor. At the HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum in Boston, leaders echoed the challenges of managing expansive technology footprints while balancing the need for AI-driven transformation. Operational workflows, particularly back-office processes, offer a low-risk area for AI deployment, as noted by Lee Schwamm, chief digital health officer at Yale New Haven Health System. On the Record “Organizations of every size and budget can now easily get started with practical AI tools that were purposefully designed to solve their unique challenges,” said Jeff Amann, executive vice president and general manager of Salesforce Industries. Salesforce’s new AI use case library, featuring more than 100 AI capabilities embedded across 15 industry clouds, underscores the company’s commitment to developing industry-specific solutions. For healthcare, these tools include automated patient matching for clinical trials, AI-generated prescriptions, and pre-visit summaries—helping organizations accelerate time to care and improve clinical outcomes. In addition, a new auto-matching tool for life sciences will assist in identifying eligible clinical trial participants, using both structured and unstructured data to reduce assessment time. These features allow healthcare CIOs to easily deploy AI capabilities designed to address their organization’s unique needs. Looking Ahead Salesforce’s latest AI tools for healthcare represent a significant step in the company’s strategy to bring industry-specific AI to market, with healthcare, life sciences, financial services, and retail among its top priorities. By offering pre-built, customizable solutions, Salesforce is making AI accessible to a broader range of organizations, enabling them to deliver value quickly while navigating the complexities of modern healthcare operations. Like1 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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What is a CRM

September Same Verse

It is definiately that time of year again. Dreamforce is underway at Salesforce and a veritable plethora of new Salesforce releases are being announced. September Same Verse for Salesforce and Dreamforce. Here is a sampling. Pendo Slack Personality Quiz Industries AI Salesforce Advanced AI Models Winter 25 Release Announcements Salesforce and Monte Carlo Salesforce Foundations Salesforce and Tenyx AI-Powered Field Service Salesforce and OWN This is just the tip of the Iceberg as Dreamforce officially starts today. Stay tuned right here to the Tectonic Salesforce Insights for more to come! Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce has launched Industries AI

Salesforce has launched Industries AI

Salesforce has launched Industries AI, a comprehensive suite of AI tools tailored for specific industries, including government and related public-sector fields. This initiative integrates AI use case libraries into Salesforce’s 15 industry clouds, covering sectors such as public sector, energy and utilities, healthcare, education, and communications. Kristin Ruiz, Deputy CIO of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, praised the partnership with Salesforce, noting the potential for AI to enhance passenger experiences by providing faster, more intuitive access to information. She emphasized the importance of using AI responsibly to improve security efficiency and safeguard the nation’s transportation system from emerging threats. The initial rollout of Industries AI focuses on three use cases within the public-sector cloud: These tools are scheduled for release in October. Additionally, Industries AI features tools designed to help utilities explain billing changes, streamline college recruitment, and summarize nonprofit program participant case histories. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Dashboard Layout Marketing Cloud Engagement

Dashboard Layout Marketing Cloud Engagement

Rearranging Dashboard Layout in Marketing Cloud Engagement You can customize the layout of your Social Studio dashboards by rearranging the cards in any tile order for dashboards you own. Important Update Salesforce will retire the Social Studio family of products on November 18, 2024. After this date, customers will no longer have access to Social Studio. You can continue using Social Studio until the end of your current contract or until November 18, 2024, whichever comes first. For more details, see the Social Studio Retirement information. Notes: Steps to Rearrange a Dashboard: Dashboard Layout Marketing Cloud Engagement Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Slack Personality Quiz

Slack Personality Quiz

Slack has introduced a personality quiz, inspired by BuzzFeed-style formats, to understand how modern office workers interact with AI tools. Based on a survey of 5,000 full-time desk workers across six countries, the quiz categorizes users into five distinct groups based on their engagement with generative AI. From “The Rebel” to “The Maximalist,” these personas are designed to help business leaders organize teams more effectively by understanding how employees perceive and utilize AI. According to Christina Janzer, Slack’s SVP of research and analytics, the personas reflect the diverse ways workers are engaging with AI, emphasizing that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Interestingly, Slack’s recent survey revealed that while executive leadership is pushing AI adoption, two-thirds of workers have yet to use AI tools in their daily tasks. Among AI users, there’s a split between “Maximalists” (30% of respondents), who actively use AI and advocate for its benefits, and “The Underground” (20%), who also use AI regularly but more discreetly. For non-users, the personas include “Rebels” (19%), who avoid AI and remain skeptical, “Superfans” (16%), who admire AI advancements but haven’t adopted it themselves, and “Observers” (16%), who cautiously watch from the sidelines. Janzer noted demographic differences, such as a higher proportion of women and older individuals in the Rebel category, while Maximalists and Underground users tend to be younger men. Janzer emphasized that while these personas highlight current attitudes, they aren’t permanent. Businesses should take these insights into account when rolling out AI projects, ensuring they address the varied sentiments across their workforce. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more Top Ten Reasons Why Tectonic Loves the Cloud The Cloud is Good for Everyone – Why Tectonic loves the cloud You don’t need to worry about tracking licenses. Read more

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Healthcare Cloud Computing

Healthcare Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing in Healthcare: Ensuring HIPAA Compliance Amid Growing Adoption As healthcare organizations increasingly turn to cloud computing for scalable and accessible IT services, ensuring HIPAA compliance remains a top priority. The global healthcare cloud computing market is projected to grow from $53.8 billion in 2024 to $120.6 billion by 2029, according to a MarketsandMarkets report. A 2023 Forrester report also highlighted that healthcare organizations are spending an average of .5 million annually on cloud services, with public cloud adoption on the rise. While cloud computing offers benefits like enhanced data mobility and cost efficiency, maintaining a HIPAA-compliant relationship with cloud service providers (CSPs) requires careful attention to regulations, establishing business associate agreements (BAAs), and proactively addressing cloud security risks. Understanding HIPAA’s Role in Cloud Computing The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cloud computing as a model that provides on-demand access to shared computing resources. Based on this framework, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued guidance on how HIPAA’s Security, Privacy, and Breach Notification Rules apply to cloud computing. Under the HIPAA Security Rule, CSPs classified as business associates must adhere to specific standards for safeguarding protected health information (PHI). This includes mitigating the risks of unauthorized access to administrative tools and implementing internal controls to restrict access to critical operations like storage and memory. HIPAA’s Privacy Rule further restricts the use or disclosure of PHI by CSPs, even in cases where they offer “no-view services.” CSPs cannot block a covered entity’s access to PHI, even in the event of a payment dispute. Additionally, the Breach Notification Rule requires business associates, including CSPs, to promptly report any breach of unsecured PHI. Healthcare organizations engaging with CSPs should consult legal counsel and follow standard procedures for establishing HIPAA-compliant vendor relationships. The Importance of Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) A BAA is essential for ensuring that a CSP is contractually bound to comply with HIPAA. OCR emphasizes that when a covered entity engages a CSP to create, receive, or transmit electronic PHI (ePHI), the CSP becomes a business associate under HIPAA. Even if the CSP cannot access encrypted PHI, it is still classified as a business associate due to its involvement in storing and processing PHI. In 2016, the absence of a BAA led to a $2.7 million settlement between Oregon Health & Science University and OCR after the university stored the PHI of over 3,000 individuals on a cloud server without the required agreement. BAAs play a crucial role in defining the permitted uses of PHI and ensure that both the healthcare organization and CSP understand their responsibilities under HIPAA. They also outline protocols for breach notifications and security measures, ensuring both parties are aligned on handling potential security incidents. Key Cloud Security Considerations Despite the protections of a BAA, there are inherent risks in partnering with any new vendor. Staying informed on cloud security threats is vital for mitigating potential risks proactively. In a 2024 report, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) identified misconfiguration, inadequate change control, and identity management as the top threats to cloud computing. The report also pointed to the rising sophistication of cyberattacks, supply chain risks, and the proliferation of ransomware-as-a-service as growing concerns. By understanding these risks and establishing clear security policies with CSPs, healthcare organizations can better safeguard their data. Prioritizing security, establishing robust BAAs, and ensuring HIPAA compliance will allow healthcare organizations to fully leverage the advantages of cloud computing while maintaining the privacy and security of patient information. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Winter 25 Release Announcements

Winter 25 Release Announcements

Important Information for Winter 25 Release The 5-minute release window applies only to major release upgrades to non-hyperforce orgs. System maintenance windows haven’t changed. ResourcesFor easy reference to this information, bookmark status.salesforce.com. To learn more about our new Winter ’25 features, see Winter ’25 Preview Release Notes and Release Notes Changelog. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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ChatGPT Memory Announced

ChatGPT Memory Announced

We’re testing memory with ChatGPT to make your experience more seamless by saving important details across chats, so you won’t have to repeat yourself. This feature helps make future conversations more helpful. You’re fully in control of ChatGPT’s memory. You can ask it to remember something, view what it recalls, and even delete specific memories either conversationally or through settings. Memory can also be turned off completely. This week, we’re rolling out memory to a small group of free and Plus users to gather feedback. Broader rollout plans will be shared soon. How Memory Works As you interact with ChatGPT, it can remember key details from your conversations, improving the quality of future responses. For instance: You’re In Control You can turn memory off at any time (Settings > Personalization > Memory). With memory off, ChatGPT won’t store or use any memories. To delete specific memories, simply ask ChatGPT to forget or manage them in settings. Memory works across interactions, meaning deleting a chat doesn’t erase its associated memory—you’ll need to delete the memory itself. ChatGPT may use the content you provide, including memories, to improve its models for everyone, unless you opt out through Data Controls. Note that content from Team and Enterprise accounts won’t be used to train models. Temporary Chat for No Memory If you’d prefer a conversation without memory, use temporary chat. These conversations won’t appear in history, won’t store memories, and won’t contribute to model training. Custom Instructions and Memory Custom Instructions let you guide ChatGPT on how to respond, while memory captures information shared in conversations. This combination allows ChatGPT to become more personalized and responsive over time. Privacy and Safety Standards We’re evolving our privacy and safety protocols to address memory’s impact. ChatGPT is designed to avoid remembering sensitive information, like health data, unless explicitly requested. Memory for Team and Enterprise Users For Team and Enterprise users, memory helps increase efficiency by learning individual preferences and reducing the need for repetitive instructions. For example, ChatGPT can remember your preferred tone and structure for content or your preferred coding languages for programming tasks. Memory in Team and Enterprise accounts remains secure and excluded from model training, with full control over how and when memories are used. Account owners can disable memory for the organization at any time. Memory for GPTs GPTs, too, will have distinct memories. Builders can choose to enable memory, and each GPT will store its own memories. For example, a book recommendation GPT can remember your favorite genres for tailored suggestions. To interact with memory-enabled GPTs, you’ll need memory on. Each GPT will have its own separate memory, so details shared with ChatGPT won’t carry over unless re-entered. Memory is now available to ChatGPT Free, Plus, Team, and Enterprise users. Based on user feedback, ChatGPT will notify you when a memory is updated, and you can easily review or delete those updates by accessing the “Manage memories” option in settings. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Agentforce to the Team

Agentforce to the Team

Salesforce has introduced the Agentforce Atlas Reasoning Engine, a platform designed to perform tasks autonomously with minimal human intervention. Agentforce to the Team changes everything about AI. Businesses can feed the engine data, assign tasks, and step away, as the system is capable of completing work independently. This launch closely follows OpenAI’s recent advancements in artificial intelligence, highlighting the ongoing collaboration between Salesforce and Sam Altman’s firm. Agentforce to the Team-makes me hear “Honey, I’m home”, coming from the front door. The Agentforce Atlas Reasoning Engine is designed to analyze data, make decisions, and execute tasks with high reliability and accuracy, echoing the features of OpenAI’s latest AI model. Salesforce positions this as part of the “Third Wave of AI,” where intelligent agents go beyond assisting humans to actively driving business outcomes without frequent oversight. According to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, these agents are deeply integrated into customer workflows, anticipating needs and improving growth by taking proactive action at every touchpoint. Benioff emphasized the revolutionary nature of Agentforce, which he claims will surpass existing AI platforms by offering highly accurate, low-hallucination results. It integrates seamlessly across Salesforce’s ecosystem, benefiting users from industries such as financial services, healthcare, and government. Early adopters, such as Wiley, report a 40% increase in case resolution, with Agentforce handling routine customer service tasks more efficiently than previous chatbots. Disney also saw improved results, noting that Atlas delivered twice the accuracy of other AI tools they had benchmarked. However, the autonomous nature of these agents raises concerns about job displacement, particularly for workers involved in repetitive, low-impact tasks. While Salesforce advocates for reskilling workers to transition into higher-value roles, many organizations struggle to effectively implement such initiatives. The time required to upskill workers may not align with the rapid adoption of AI technologies like Agentforce. Agentforce aims to address common enterprise challenges by offering out-of-the-box solutions for sales, marketing, and customer service roles. The low-code platform allows businesses to customize their AI agents without extensive technical expertise, ensuring that they can scale capacity and improve efficiency. Salesforce plans to showcase Agentforce at its upcoming Dreamforce conference, aiming to onboard 1,000 customers to the platform. The launch signifies Salesforce’s strategic push to dominate the enterprise AI landscape, leveraging its vast data and platform to deliver more value to its customers. Despite its potential, Agentforce introduces new risks, especially in areas like data privacy and ethical AI deployment. Salesforce emphasizes its commitment to addressing these issues by incorporating ethical guardrails, such as toxicity filters. Industry analysts remain cautiously optimistic, noting that while the technology holds promise, the real test will come as more organizations adopt it and integrate it into their workflows. In summary, Salesforce’s Agentforce Atlas Reasoning Engine represents a significant leap in enterprise AI, moving beyond basic AI copilots to fully autonomous agents. While it offers substantial benefits in productivity and efficiency, its impact on the workforce and the challenges of widespread AI adoption will require ongoing attention. By Tectonic’s Shannan Hearne, Solutions Architect Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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