AI Agents Archives - gettectonic.com

10Oct

Build Launch and Track Campaigns

Revolutionizing Campaigns: How Marketing Agents Empower Your Marketing Team Marketing agents are transforming how businesses create, launch, and track campaigns—delivering better results while boosting internal team productivity and cohesion. With the power of AI and data, these agents act as collaborative partners, enhancing marketing efficiency and creativity in unprecedented ways. A Smarter Approach to Campaign Challenges Marketers have long faced the challenge of creating quality content at scale. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 54% of B2B marketers struggle to meet this demand, while B2C marketers often lack the resources to make their efforts scalable and consistent. On top of this, they must ensure campaigns are efficient, customer-centric, and stand out in a competitive landscape. Enter marketing agents—AI-powered tools that help teams manage and optimize campaigns, from strategy to execution. At Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce unveiled Agentforce, a suite of intelligent agents integrated across the Customer 360 platform, including Agentforce Campaigns. With 71% of marketers planning to adopt generative and predictive AI within the next 18 months, as per Salesforce’s State of Marketing report, tools like Agentforce are poised to redefine how campaigns are built and delivered. How Humans and AI Agents Work Together Marketing agents are AI-powered virtual assistants that collaborate with humans to analyze data, generate insights, and execute marketing plans. Unlike traditional tools, they understand the context behind your needs and suggest actionable solutions—whether that’s creating content, optimizing campaigns, or analyzing results. By automating time-consuming tasks, marketing agents free teams to focus on high-value activities like strategy and personalization. But the key to maximizing their potential lies in shifting your mindset: instead of simply seeking efficiency, aim to transform how you deliver exceptional customer experiences. 8 Ways Agentforce Campaigns Elevates Your Marketing 1. Intelligent Recommendations Agentforce Campaigns turns insights into actions. For example, Marketing Cloud’s Einstein not only tracks your goals but also suggests adjustments or new campaigns tailored to your objectives, helping you stay ahead. 2. Instant Campaign Briefs Building a campaign starts with a solid brief. With Agentforce, you can create one in seconds using natural language prompts. The AI-generated brief incorporates your goals and guidelines, making collaboration and approvals seamless. 3. Contextual Content Creation Agentforce generates emails, landing pages, and calls to action directly aligned with your brand’s tone and campaign goals. Marketers can refine outputs with natural language prompts, ensuring a perfect fit for their strategy. 4. Effortless Audience Segmentation No SQL skills? No problem. Describe your ideal audience in natural language, and Agentforce will translate that into actionable segments—helping you target precisely the right customers. 5. Automated Journey Activation Agentforce simplifies multi-channel journey creation by drafting personalized campaign flows. You can refine, approve, and activate these journeys with ease, saving time while enhancing impact. 6. Unlimited Content Variations AI eliminates content constraints, allowing you to generate multiple variations for personalized campaigns. Target high-value customers, newcomers, or loyal fans with tailored messages—all at scale. 7. Explore Nuanced Segments Agentforce enables marketers to create segments without relying on overburdened data science teams. Dive into deeper audience insights, such as churn rates based on location, age, or past behavior, with just a prompt. 8. Embed Continuous Testing Testing is often deprioritized due to time limitations. Agentforce automates testing workflows, making it easier to incorporate A/B testing and iterative learning into every campaign. Getting Started with Agentforce Campaigns Agentforce Campaigns is available in Marketing Cloud Growth and Advanced Editions, designed to empower businesses of all sizes. By integrating AI-driven tools into your workflow, you can elevate your marketing to new heights—enhancing creativity, efficiency, and customer engagement. Ready to revolutionize your campaigns? Explore how Agentforce can help you win customers and foster a more productive, cohesive marketing team. Salesforce Disclaimer: Unreleased features mentioned here are subject to change and may not become available as described. Make purchasing decisions based on currently available features. 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

October 10, 2024in Agentforce Platform, Artificial Intelligence, Data, Google, Salesforce, Salesforce Personalization

10Oct

Fivetrans Hybrid Deployment

Fivetran’s Hybrid Deployment: A Breakthrough in Data Engineering In the data engineering world, balancing efficiency with security has long been a challenge. Fivetran aims to shift this dynamic with its Hybrid Deployment solution, designed to seamlessly move data across any environment while maintaining control and flexibility. Fivetrans Hybrid Deployment. The Hybrid Advantage: Flexibility Meets Control Fivetran’s Hybrid Deployment offers a new approach for enterprises, particularly those handling sensitive data or operating in regulated sectors. Often, these businesses struggle to adopt data-driven practices due to security concerns. Hybrid Deployment changes this by enabling the secure movement of data across cloud and on-premises environments, giving businesses full control over their data while maintaining the agility of the cloud. As George Fraser, Fivetran’s CEO, notes, “Businesses no longer have to choose between managed automation and data control. They can now securely move data from all their critical sources—like Salesforce, Workday, Oracle, SAP—into a data warehouse or data lake, while keeping that data under their own control.” How it Works: A Secure, Streamlined Approach Fivetran’s Hybrid Deployment relies on a lightweight local agent to move data securely within a customer’s environment, while the Fivetran platform handles the management and monitoring. This separation of control and data planes ensures that sensitive information stays within the customer’s secure perimeter. Vinay Kumar Katta, a managing delivery architect at Capgemini, highlights the flexibility this provides, enabling businesses to design pipelines without sacrificing security. Beyond Security: Additional Benefits Hybrid Deployment’s benefits go beyond just security. It also offers: Early adopters are already seeing its value. Troy Fokken, chief architect at phData, praises how it “streamlines data pipeline processes,” especially for customers in regulated industries. AI Agent Architectures: Defining the Future of Autonomous Systems In the rapidly evolving world of AI, a new framework is emerging—AI agents designed to act autonomously, adapt dynamically, and explore digital environments. These AI agents are built on core architectural principles, bringing the next generation of autonomy to AI-driven tasks. What Are AI Agents? AI agents are systems designed to autonomously or semi-autonomously perform tasks, leveraging tools to achieve objectives. For instance, these agents may use APIs, perform web searches, or interact with digital environments. At their core, AI agents use Large Language Models (LLMs) and Foundation Models (FMs) to break down complex tasks, similar to human reasoning. Large Action Models (LAMs) Just as LLMs transformed natural language processing, Large Action Models (LAMs) are revolutionizing how AI agents interact with environments. These models excel at function calling—turning natural language into structured, executable actions, enabling AI agents to perform real-world tasks like scheduling or triggering API calls. Salesforce AI Research, for instance, has open-sourced several LAMs designed to facilitate meaningful actions. LAMs bridge the gap between unstructured inputs and structured outputs, making AI agents more effective in complex environments. Model Orchestration and Small Language Models (SLMs) Model orchestration complements LAMs by utilizing smaller, specialized models (SLMs) for niche tasks. Instead of relying on resource-heavy models, AI agents can call upon these smaller models for specific functions—such as summarizing data or executing commands—creating a more efficient system. SLMs, combined with techniques like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), allow smaller models to perform comparably to their larger counterparts, enhancing their ability to handle knowledge-intensive tasks. Vision-Enabled Language Models for Digital Exploration AI agents are becoming even more capable with vision-enabled language models, allowing them to interact with digital environments. Projects like Apple’s Ferret-UI and WebVoyager exemplify this, where agents can navigate user interfaces, recognize elements via OCR, and explore websites autonomously. Function Calling: Structured, Actionable Outputs A fundamental shift is happening with function calling in AI agents, moving from unstructured text to structured, actionable outputs. This allows AI agents to interact with systems more efficiently, triggering specific actions like booking meetings or executing API calls. The Role of Tools and Human-in-the-Loop AI agents rely on tools—algorithms, scripts, or even humans-in-the-loop—to perform tasks and guide actions. This approach is particularly valuable in high-stakes industries like healthcare and finance, where precision is crucial. The Future of AI Agents With the advent of Large Action Models, model orchestration, and function calling, AI agents are becoming powerful problem solvers. These agents are evolving to explore, learn, and act within digital ecosystems, bringing us closer to a future where AI mimics human problem-solving processes. As AI agents become more sophisticated, they will redefine how we approach digital tasks and interactions. 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

October 10, 2024in Data, Enterprise, Salesforce

08Oct

Revolution Customer Service with Agentforce

Agentforce stole the spotlight at Dreamforce, but it’s not just about replacing human workers. Equally significant for Service Cloud was the focus on how AI can be leveraged to make agents, dispatchers, and field service technicians more productive and proactive. Join a conversation to unpack the latest Sales Cloud innovations, with a spotlight on Agentforce for sales followed by a Q&A with Salesblazers. During the Dreamforce Service Cloud keynote, GM Kishan Chetan emphasized the dramatic shift over the past year, with AI moving from theoretical to practical applications. He challenged customer service leaders to embrace AI agents, highlighting that AI-driven solutions can transform customer service from delivering “good” benefits to achieving exponential growth. He noted that AI agents are capable of handling common customer requests like tech support, scheduling, and general inquiries, as well as more complex tasks such as de-escalation, billing inquiries, and even cross-selling and upselling. In practice, research by Valoir shows that most Service Cloud customers are still in the early stages of AI adoption, particularly with generative AI. While progress has accelerated recently, most companies are only seeing incremental gains in individual productivity rather than the exponential improvements highlighted at Dreamforce. To achieve those higher-level returns, customers must move beyond simple automation and summarization to AI-driven transformation, powered by Agentforce. Chetan and his team outlined four key steps to make this transition. “Agentforce represents the Third Wave of AI—advancing beyond copilots to a new era of highly accurate, low-hallucination intelligent agents that actively drive customer success. Unlike other platforms, Agentforce is a revolutionary and trusted solution that seamlessly integrates AI across every workflow, embedding itself deeply into the heart of the customer journey. This means anticipating needs, strengthening relationships, driving growth, and taking proactive action at every touchpoint,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce. “While others require you to DIY your AI, Agentforce offers a fully tailored, enterprise-ready platform designed for immediate impact and scalability. With advanced security features, compliance with industry standards, and unmatched flexibility. Our vision is bold: to empower one billion agents with Agentforce by the end of 2025. This is what AI is meant to be.” In contrast to now-outdated copilots and chatbots that rely on human requests and strugglewith complex or multi-step tasks, Agentforce offers a new level of sophistication by operating autonomously, retrieving the right data on demand, building action plans for any task, and executing these plans without requiring human intervention. Like a self-driving car, Agentforce uses real-time data to adapt to changing conditions and operates independently within an organizations’ customized guardrails, ensuring every customer interaction is informed, relevant, and valuable. And when desired, Agentforce seamlessly hands off to human employees with a summary of the interaction, an overview of the customer’s details, and recommendations for what to do next. Deploy AI agents across channelsAgentforce Service Agent is more than a chatbot—it’s an autonomous AI agent capable of handling both simple and complex requests, understanding text, video, and audio. Customers were invited to build their own Service Agents during Dreamforce, and many took up the challenge. Service-related agents are a natural fit, as research shows Service Cloud customers are generally more prepared for AI adoption due to the volume and quality of customer data available in their CRM systems. Turn insights into actionLaunching in October 2024, Customer Experience Intelligence provides an omnichannel supervisor Wall Board that allows supervisors to monitor conversations in real time, complete with sentiment scores and organized metrics by topics and regions. Supervisors can then instruct Service Agent to dive into root causes, suggest proactive messaging, or even offer discounts. This development represents the next stage of Service Intelligence, combining Data Cloud, Tableau, and Einstein Conversation Mining to give supervisors real-time insights. It mirrors capabilities offered by traditional contact center vendors like Verint, which also blend interaction, sentiment, and other data in real time—highlighting the convergence of contact centers and Service Cloud service operations. Empower teams to become trusted advisorsSalesforce continues to navigate the delicate balance between digital and human agents, especially within Service Cloud. The key lies in the intelligent handoff of customer data when escalating from a digital agent to a human agent. Service Planner guides agents step-by-step through issue resolution, powered by Unified Knowledge. The demo also showcased how Service Agent can merge Commerce and Service by suggesting agents offer complimentary items from a customer’s shopping cart. Enable field teams to be proactiveSalesforce also announced improvements in field service, designed to help dispatchers and field service agents operate more proactively and efficiently. Agentforce for Dispatchers enhances the ability to address urgent appointments quickly. Asset Service Prediction leverages AI to forecast asset failures and upcoming service needs, while AI-generated prework briefs provide field techs with asset health scores and critical information before they arrive on site. Setting a clear roadmap for adopting Agentforce across these four areas is an essential step toward helping customers realize more than just incremental gains in their service operations. Equally important will be helping customers develop a data strategy that harnesses the power of Data Cloud and Salesforce’s partner ecosystem, enabling a truly data-driven service experience. Investments in capabilities like My Service Journeys will also be critical in guiding customers through the process of identifying which AI features will deliver the greatest returns for their specific needs. Agentforce leverages Salesforce’s generative AI, like Einstein GPT, to automate routine tasks, provide real-time insights, and offer personalized recommendations, enhancing efficiency and enabling agents to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Agentforce is not just another traditional chatbot; it is a next-generation, AI-powered solution that understands complex queries and acts autonomously to enhance operational efficiency. Unlike conventional chatbots, Agentforce is intelligent and adaptive, capable of managing a wide range of customer issues with precision. It offers 24/7 support, responds in a natural, human-like manner, and seamlessly escalates to human agents when needed and redefining customer service by delivering faster, smarter, and more effective support experiences. Like1 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM

October 8, 2024in Data, Enterprise, Generative AI, Salesforce, Unified Knowledge

07Oct

Tableau Einstein Alliance

We’re expanding our commitment to the future of data and analytics with the launch of the Tableau Einstein Alliance, an initiative designed to foster an ecosystem of visionary and innovative partners. These partners will help integrate Agentforce across every facet of analytics, positioning our customers to harness the full potential of AI. The future of data-driven insights is here, and our partners play a vital role in this journey. —Ryan Aytay, CEO, Tableau Salesforce Introduces Tableau Einstein Alliance Salesforce recently unveiled the Tableau Einstein Alliance, a new partner community for its Tableau Einstein users. This initiative aims to empower partners to excel in the “agent era” by offering exclusive benefits to support their development and implementation of AI-driven solutions and analytics agents. Members of the Alliance will gain access to product roadmaps, in-house expertise, and dedicated marketing support, as well as opportunities for co-selling. Moreover, Salesforce is offering these partners the ability to leverage the Alliance for building AI agents, apps, and solutions that maximize their clients’ investments in AI and data. What is Tableau Einstein? Launched in September, Tableau Einstein is an AI-powered visual analytics platform designed to scale and enhance data-driven workflows. It seamlessly integrates with Salesforce tools like Agentforce and its privacy framework, providing data professionals with the ability to create semantic models using real-time customer data. Tableau Einstein also features a marketplace where organizations can share analytical assets, and its APIs facilitate seamless collaboration. Teams can easily work together on data models, visualizations, and dashboards in a unified, drag-and-drop interface. Why Tableau Einstein Matters In discussing the platform, Ryan Aytay highlighted its transformative capabilities: “By leveraging high-performance AI to connect data, actions, and humans, autonomous and assistive agents are redefining business efficiency. They ensure that the data foundation you’re already using will continue to support your needs into the future. You no longer need to sift through data silos or be a specialist to access critical insights—data is now accessible to everyone.” With Tableau Einstein, Salesforce is setting a new standard for how businesses can achieve success with AI-powered, data-driven insights. 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

October 7, 2024in Data, Salesforce, Salesforce Tableau

07Oct

AI All Grown Up

If you thought Salesforce had fully embraced AI, think again. The company has much more in store. AI All Grown Up and Salesforce is the educator! Alongside the announcement of the new Agentforce platform, Salesforce has teased plans to offer free premium instructor-led courses and AI certifications throughout 2025, reflecting a bold commitment to fostering AI skills and expertise. We’ve talked quite a bit over the last year about the need for AI education, and lo and behold here comes Salesforce to the rescue! AI All Grown Up Ah, they grow up so fast. Once just a baby cradeled in our arms with endless possibilities and potential. It was just like a year or so ago we heard of ChatGPT. Prior to that most people’s main exposure to artificial intelligence was their smart phones, which today we realize weren’t reall that smart. Generative, predictive and agentic AI have barreled down the pipeline increasing our vocabulary, and understanding, of what artificial intelligence can do. From generative content to sounds and images, AI continued to amaze us. Then predictive AI did our calculations faster than we could have imagined. Then agentic AI did nearly everything imaginable. AI All Grown Up. Like a very proud mentor of the process, I want to talk about Salesforce’s major contribution. Addressing the AI Skills Gap: Salesforce’s $50 Million Investment As the veritable plethora of AI tools rapidly expands, Salesforce is taking proactive steps to address the growing AI skills gap by investing $50 million into workforce upskilling initiatives. The company aims to ensure that businesses and individuals are prepared to utilize their new wave of AI tools effectively. While the full details have yet to be released, Salesforce has revealed that its premium AI courses and certifications will be made available for free via Trailhead by the end of 2025. This could mean certifications such as AI Associate and AI Specialist, which currently cost $75 and $200 respectively, may soon be offered at no cost. Gratis. Free, Salesforce has also mentioned “premium instructor-led training,” sparking speculation that AI-focused, instructor-led Trailhead Academy courses could become accessible to everyone in the Salesforce ecosystem. Expanding AI Education with Global AI Centers Salesforce’s AI upskilling push is part of a broader initiative to establish “AI Centers” across the globe. Following the opening of its first center in London in June, Salesforce is planning to launch additional AI hubs in cities like Chicago, Tokyo, Sydney, and even a pop-up center in San Francisco. These centers will host in-person premium courses and serve as gathering spaces for industry experts, partners, and customers. This initiative benefits not only the Salesforce ecosystem by increasing AI knowledge where expertise is scarce, but also aligns with Salesforce’s strategy of bringing AI-driven solutions to market through new products like Copilot Studio, Data Cloud, and the newly launched Agentforce platform. Agentforce: Salesforce’s Third Wave of AI On August 28, 2024, Salesforce introduced Agentforce, a suite of autonomous AI agents that marks a significant leap in how businesses engage with customers. Described as the “Third Wave of AI,” Agentforce goes beyond traditional chatbots, providing intelligent agents capable of driving customer success with minimal human intervention. What is Agentforce? Agentforce is a comprehensive platform designed for organizations to build, customize, and deploy autonomous AI agents across various business functions, such as customer service, sales, marketing, and commerce. These agents operate independently, accessing data, crafting action plans, and executing tasks without needing constant human oversight. It is like Artificial Intelligence just graduated highschool and is off to a world of new adventures and growth opportunities at college or university! Key Features of Agentforce: The Technology Behind Agentforce At the core of Agentforce is the Atlas Reasoning Engine, a system designed to mimic human reasoning. Here’s how it works: Customization Tools: Agent Builder Agentforce provides tools like Agent Builder, a low-code platform for customizing out-of-the-box agents or creating new ones for specific business needs. With this tool, users can: The Agentforce Partner Network Salesforce’s partner ecosystem plays a key role in Agentforce’s versatility, with contributions from companies like AWS, Google, IBM, and Workday. Together, they’ve developed over 20 agent actions available through the Salesforce AppExchange. As proud parents we watch our Artificial Intelligence child venture into the world making friends along the way. Learning social skills. Benefits and Impact of Agentforce Early Adopters and Success Stories Several companies are already benefiting from Agentforce: Availability and Pricing of Salesforce’s AI All Grown Up Agentforce for Service and Sales will be generally available on October 25, 2024, with some components of the Atlas Reasoning Engine launching in February 2025. Pricing starts at $2 per conversation, with volume discounts available. The Future of AI and Work Salesforce’s ambitious vision is to empower one billion AI agents with Agentforce by the end of 2025. This reflects their belief that the future of work will involve a hybrid workforce, where humans and AI agents collaborate to drive customer success. AI All Grown Up and We Couldn’t Be Prouder Our amazing AI child has graduated college and ventured out into the workforce. Agentforce vs. Einstein Bots: What’s the Difference? Conclusion Agentforce represents a major leap forward in AI-powered customer engagement. By providing autonomous, intelligent agents capable of managing complex tasks, Salesforce is positioning itself at the forefront of AI innovation. As businesses continue to explore ways to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction, Agentforce could redefine how organizations interact with customers and streamline their operations. If this is the Third Wave of AI, what will the fourth wave bring? Written by Tectonic’s Solutions Architect, Shannan Hearne 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

October 7, 2024in Agentforce Platform, AI Tools, Data, Google, Mulesoft, Salesforce, Technology

03Oct

Agentforce Unveiled

Salesforce Unveils ‘Agentforce’ to Empower a Billion AI Agents by 2025 Salesforce has introduced Agentforce, a revolutionary suite of autonomous AI agents aimed at transforming service, sales, marketing, and commerce sectors. With Agentforce, companies can rapidly scale their operations, boost efficiency, and elevate customer satisfaction by leveraging intelligent agents that handle routine tasks and complex workflows. The Agentforce Atlas Reasoning Engine powers these agents, autonomously analyzing data, making decisions, and completing tasks. This engine enables organizations to easily build, customize, and deploy their own agents using intuitive low-code tools. In addition, the Agentforce Partner Network allows customers to integrate pre-built agents from industry leaders like AWS, Google, IBM, and Workday, offering even more flexibility. Real-world impact Companies like OpenTable, Saks, and Wiley are already deploying Agentforce within their existing systems to enhance workforce capabilities and scale operations. Agentforce works autonomously, retrieving the right data on demand, building action plans, and executing them without human intervention. However, when needed, it can seamlessly hand off tasks to human employees, providing an overview of interactions, customer details, and suggested next steps. For example, Wiley has reported a 40% increase in case resolution after implementing Agentforce to handle routine inquiries. During busy seasons, like back-to-school, Agentforce has helped Wiley streamline operations, freeing up employees to handle more complex cases. Saks is also leveraging Agentforce to elevate its personalized customer experiences, empowering employees with real-time insights to deliver exceptional service. A new era of AI-driven customer success Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is confident that Agentforce represents the third wave of AI, surpassing traditional chatbots and copilots with its fully autonomous capabilities. “Agentforce is a revolutionary and trusted solution that seamlessly integrates AI across every workflow, embedding itself deeply into the heart of the customer journey. This means anticipating needs, strengthening relationships, driving growth, and taking proactive action at every touchpoint,” Benioff said. Unlike its predecessors, Agentforce operates independently, adapting to changing conditions using real-time data. Whether responding to a customer service inquiry, qualifying sales leads, or optimizing marketing campaigns, Agentforce makes timely, relevant decisions based on an organization’s custom settings. When more human oversight is required, the platform provides detailed summaries and recommendations to assist employees in making informed decisions. Agentforce’s scalability and future Salesforce’s ambitious goal is to empower one billion AI agents by the end of 2025. This bold vision stems from the understanding that 41% of employee time is often spent on repetitive, low-impact work, according to the Salesforce Trends in AI Report. By automating these tasks, Agentforce allows employees to focus on more strategic, high-value initiatives, creating a hybrid workforce that is more effective and adaptable. Benioff noted, “While others require you to DIY your AI, Agentforce offers a fully tailored, enterprise-ready platform designed for immediate impact and scalability. Our vision is bold, and this is what AI is meant to be.” As businesses worldwide continue to explore AI’s potential, Agentforce positions Salesforce as a leader in the next wave of AI innovation, where autonomous agents enhance every facet of business operations. With over 1,000 agents already active, the future of work is a dynamic blend of human expertise and AI-powered agents, enabling organizations to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. 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

October 3, 2024in Einstein 1 Platform, Salesforce Einstein, Salesforce Optimization

03Oct

Marc Benioff Interviewed

Salesforce, now one of the most influential companies in tech history, was founded by Marc Benioff after his successful tenure at Oracle. Having witnessed the potential of the internet, Benioff realized it would usher in a new era for delivering enterprise software through the cloud. However, this new approach demanded a complete overhaul of traditional business models, marketing strategies, and software development practices. Salesforce would embody this transformation, evolving over the decades into a platform supporting a diverse array of enterprise applications. Today, Salesforce’s flagship initiative is Agentforce, a pioneering wave of AI agents built on the Salesforce platform. This initiative, which I covered in detail earlier this month, exemplifies Benioff’s forward-thinking vision for AI. He passionately argues that Salesforce is well-positioned to lead in this space, and his insights on AI and its potential are as compelling as they are thought-provoking. Before diving into Agentforce and Benioff’s views on AI, it’s important to explore his early life and the founding of Salesforce. Benioff’s path to becoming the CEO of one of the most powerful software companies in the world was shaped by an early interest in technology. His first foray into software development was creating an app called “How to Juggle,” which he sold for $75 to CLOAD Magazine in Goleta, California. This early success marked the beginning of a long career in tech. Benioff went on to establish an Atari game company called Liberty Software and later wrote assembly code for the Mac as part of an internship. Despite his success as a software developer, he transitioned to a leadership role after realizing his interest in the broader business of technology. He credits his time at Oracle, where he learned the intricacies of sales, marketing, and customer communication, as critical to shaping his vision for Salesforce. Oracle, during Larry Ellison’s prime, was an ideal place to hone these business skills, which Benioff would later apply to revolutionize the enterprise software space. With this foundation, Benioff founded Salesforce, a company that has fundamentally changed the way businesses engage with technology. The company’s success lies not just in its cloud-based software, but in its ongoing evolution to address new challenges, including the AI-powered Agentforce initiative, which stands at the forefront of Salesforce’s future growth. Benioff’s journey, from a young programmer to the CEO of a global tech giant, is a testament to his visionary approach and adaptability in an ever-changing tech landscape. Marc Benioff’s early entrepreneurial instincts were evident even before he fully embraced the title of entrepreneur. From a young age, he knew he wanted to build something of his own, though he hadn’t yet honed the full set of skills needed to succeed in business. He had a knack for technology, excelling as a programmer working in assembly code, but his mentors, including university professors and colleagues at Apple, recognized that being an entrepreneur required more than just technical ability. They encouraged him to develop his sales, marketing, and business acumen. His early exposure to these lessons was pivotal in shaping his future trajectory. Benioff’s transition from a programmer to a business leader began when he sought advice from Bill Jost at Apple, who connected him with Gary Gibson, an Oracle executive. After a memorable and unexpected interview, Benioff joined Oracle, starting with a role answering calls at the company’s 800-number. He quickly moved into sales and marketing, eventually working directly with Larry Ellison, who would become a significant mentor over the next 13 years. Benioff’s success at Oracle set the stage for his eventual departure to start Salesforce in 1999. In the mid-1990s, while at Oracle, Benioff had an epiphany while using a web browser. The internet was transforming how software could be delivered, and Benioff saw the potential for a new business model based on cloud computing. At this time, Oracle was focused on the network computer—a vision Benioff did not fully share. After discussing his ideas with Larry Ellison and taking some time off for reflection and research, Benioff recognized that the world was on the cusp of a major shift in technology. He felt compelled to create something new that would leverage the internet, offering software over the web through a subscription model. During his time off, Benioff traveled to Hawaii, reflecting on the future of the tech industry and contemplating ideas. He also experimented with domain names, purchasing You.com and later gifting it to a friend who turned it into a search and AI company. Benioff returned to Larry Ellison to share his vision of a cloud-based business model and later found inspiration from spiritual gurus during a trip to India, who reminded him that success in business should also be grounded in positive values. Benioff’s experience led to the founding of Salesforce with its revolutionary 1-1-1 Model—dedicating 1% of equity, profit, and employee time to philanthropy. Salesforce also embraced emerging technologies such as social, mobile, and AI, and created a new business model through subscription-based services. This combination of technological innovation and a strong sense of social responsibility has set Salesforce apart, attracting both admiration and emulation from other companies. Benioff’s Career Benioff’s career is a testament to the power of surrounding oneself with great people, continuing to learn, and having a clear vision. His leadership at Salesforce has been guided by values he believes are crucial to the company’s success and its ability to make a positive impact on the world. His insights on the Innovator’s Dilemma, a concept popularized by Clayton Christensen, highlight the challenges companies face as they evolve with changing technologies. While Salesforce’s core principles remain intact, the company has continued to adapt to new technology paradigms, ensuring it remains at the forefront of innovation in the software industry. Marc Benioff (MB) recently shared his excitement about the future of AI and its potential to revolutionize business and technology. He explained that, from a business perspective, this is the most thrilling moment in his career. AI, according to him, will transform how enterprises operate, making them more

October 3, 2024in Agentforce Platform, Data, Enterprise, Google, Hyperforce, Salesforce, Salesforce Data Cloud, Snowflake, Technology

03Oct

What Makes a True AI Agent

What Makes a True AI Agent? Rethinking the Pursuit of Autonomy Unpacking the Core Traits of AI Agents — And Why Foundations Matter More Than Buzzwords The tech industry is enamored with AI agents. From sales bots to autonomous systems, companies like Salesforce and HubSpot claim to offer groundbreaking AI agents. Yet, I’ve yet to encounter a truly autonomous, agentic experience built from LLMs. The market is awash with what I call “botshit,” and if the best Salesforce can do is improve slightly over a mediocre chatbot, that’s underwhelming. What Makes a True AI Agent? But here’s the critical question everyone is missing: even if we could build fully autonomous AI agents, how often would they be the best solution for users? To explore this, let’s consider travel planning through the lens of agents and assistants. This use case helps clarify what each trait of agentic behavior brings to the table and offers a framework for evaluating AI products beyond the hype. By the end of this piece, you’ll be able to decide whether AI autonomy is a worthwhile investment or a costly distraction. The Spectrum of Agentic Behavior: A Practical Framework There’s no consensus on what truly defines an AI “agent.” Instead of relying on a binary classification, I suggest adopting a spectrum framework with six key attributes from AI research. This approach is more useful in today’s landscape because: Using the example of a travel “agent,” we’ll explore how different implementations fall on this spectrum. Most real-world applications land somewhere between “basic” and “advanced” tiers across the six traits. This framework will help you make informed decisions about AI integration and communicate more effectively with both technical teams and end users. By the end, you’ll be equipped to: What Makes a True AI Agent The Building Blocks of Agentic Behavior 1. Perception The ability to sense and interpret its environment or relevant data streams. An agent with advanced perception could, for instance, notice your preference for destinations with excellent public transit and factor that into future recommendations. 2. Interactivity The ability to engage with its environment, users, and external systems. LLMs like ChatGPT have set a high bar for interactivity. However, most customer support bots struggle because they need to integrate company-specific data and backend systems, prioritizing accuracy over creativity. 3. Persistence The ability to store, maintain, and update long-term memories about users and interactions. True persistence requires systems that not only store data but also evolve with each interaction, much like how a human travel agent remembers your favorite seat on a plane. 4. Reactivity The ability to respond to changes in its environment in real time. For example, a reactive system could suggest alternative travel dates if hotel prices surge due to a local event. 5. Proactivity The ability to anticipate needs and offer relevant suggestions unprompted. True proactivity requires robust perception, persistence, and reactivity to offer timely, context-aware suggestions. 6. Autonomy The ability to operate independently and make decisions within defined parameters. Autonomy varies by the level of resource control, impact scope, and operational boundaries. For example: The more complex the task and the greater the impact of a mistake, the more safeguards and precision the system needs. Proactive Autonomy: A Future Frontier The next step is proactive autonomy — the ability to modify goals or parameters to achieve overarching objectives. While theoretically possible, this introduces new risks and complexities, bringing us closer to the scenarios seen in sci-fi, where AI systems operate beyond human control. Most companies are nowhere near this level, and prioritizing foundation work like perception and persistence is far more practical for today’s needs. Agents vs. Assistants: A Useful Distinction An AI agent demonstrates at least five of the six attributes and exhibits autonomy within its domain. An AI assistant excels in perception, interactivity, and persistence but lacks autonomy or proactivity. It primarily responds to human requests and relies on human oversight for decisions. While many AI systems today are labeled “agents,” most function more like assistants. A Roomba, for example, is closer to an agent, autonomously navigating and adapting within a predefined space. On the other hand, tools like GitHub Copilot serve as powerful assistants, enhancing user capabilities without making independent decisions. Foundations Before Flash: The Role of Data Despite all the AI buzz, few companies today have the data foundations to support meaningful agentic behavior. For instance, most customer interactions rely on nuanced, unwritten information that is hard to automate. Missing perception foundations and inadequate testing lead to the “botshit” plaguing the industry. The key is to focus on building strong foundations in perception, interactivity, and persistence before tackling full autonomy. Start with the Problem: Why User-Centric AI Wins Before chasing the dream of autonomous agents, companies should start by asking what users actually need. Many organizations would benefit more from developing reliable assistants rather than fully autonomous systems. Real user problems, like those solved by Waymo and Roomba, offer clear paths to valuable AI solutions. The Path Forward: Align Data, Systems, and User Needs When deciding where to invest in AI: By focusing on foundational pillars, companies can build AI systems that solve immediate problems, laying the groundwork for more advanced capabilities in the future. Whether you’re developing agents, assistants, or indispensable tools, aligning solutions with real user needs is the key to meaningful progress. Contact Tectonic for assistance answering the question What Makes a True AI Agent work for my business? 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

October 3, 2024in Data, Salesforce

03Oct

Supercharged Sales and Service Excellence

When sales and service teams are seamlessly aligned, organizations can transform every service interaction into a powerful opportunity to drive revenue and build customer loyalty. By delivering contextual, personalized offers at the right time, businesses can turn each customer touchpoint into a chance to solve problems, create value, and enhance engagement. With the help of real-time data and AI, we move beyond treating customer interactions as isolated events. Instead, we focus on understanding the unique needs and preferences of each customer, whether they’re reaching out for support, visiting a store, or engaging online. Every touchpoint becomes an opportunity to deliver tailored solutions, strengthen loyalty, and increase revenue. These examples are just a glimpse of the solutions we help our clients deploy. With our deep expertise in AI implementation and industry-specific insights, Tectonic is ideally positioned to guide you through activating AI agents that build on your successes. Our extensive experience across diverse sectors enables us to identify the most impactful opportunities for AI, ensuring tailored solutions that align with your business strategy. Tectonic’s proven approach ensures AI agents are deployed efficiently and effectively, driving ROI and delivering measurable results. Agentforce: Open, Extensible, and Transformative Agentforce is designed to foster smooth interactions between agents created on the platform and external agents and applications. With integration into Salesforce Data Cloud, it enables real-time data access for better, faster decision-making. Tectonic can help facilitate this interconnectivity across various channels and platforms, ensuring seamless operations. In a society that prioritizes digital, artificial intelligence is changing sales and service tactics. Adopting AI agents is crucial for business leaders to keep ahead of the competition and develop more effective and efficient methods of customer and employee support. AI agents are not just upgrades—they are transformative forces that redefine what’s possible. They empower organizations to move from envisioning possibilities to realizing a future of enhanced sales performance, streamlined operations, and unmatched customer satisfaction, all powered by AI. Salesforce’s Agentforce: Scaling Your Workforce with Autonomous AI Agents Agentforce provides fully customizable autonomous AI agents that can integrate with enterprise data and take action across sales, service, marketing, and commerce. The Agent Builder allows users to create agents that automate any business process, in any industry, using existing Salesforce tools such as workflows, Apex code, and prompt templates. Leading companies like The Adecco Group, BACA Systems, OpenTable, Saks, and Wiley are already leveraging Agentforce Service Agents to deliver faster, more personalized customer responses while improving operational efficiency. Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the world’s #1 AI CRM, has announced the general availability of Agentforce. This new platform layer enables businesses to create and deploy AI agents that autonomously take action across any business function. Unlike traditional chatbots and copilots, Agentforce agents possess advanced reasoning abilities to make decisions and take actions such as resolving customer issues, qualifying sales leads, and optimizing marketing efforts. These agents operate independently—triggered by changes in data, business rules, pre-built automations, or external signals from APIs. Agentforce includes out-of-the-box agents that can be easily customized and deployed with low-code or no-code tools, working around the clock across any channel. The first of these, the Agentforce Service Agent, outperforms traditional chatbots by handling a wide range of tasks—from simple to complex—using pre-built topics and actions for customer support. These agents are fully customizable to serve various industries, such as retail with order management or financial services with billing and payment support. “Agentforce is redefining business possibilities, ushering in an era of AI-driven abundance and limitless workforces that enhance every employee’s capabilities, strengthen customer relationships, and fuel unprecedented growth,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce. “Built on Salesforce’s trusted, fully customizable platform—integrating enterprise data, metadata, AI models, workflows, security, and applications—Agentforce is everything AI was meant to be.” The Power of Agentforce With Agentforce, there’s no need for DIY AI. Unlike other platforms that require complex integrations and custom builds, Agentforce is natively built into the Salesforce Platform. Customers can instantly convert their existing Flows, prompt templates, Apex code, and APIs into agent actions, seamlessly connecting to enterprise data and security models. With the added power of native tools like Data Cloud, Slack, and MuleSoft, Agentforce offers a streamlined and efficient approach to scaling your workforce with AI. The new Agent Builder empowers Salesforce admins and developers to easily create AI agents with natural language instructions and guardrails, enabling even more customization and control. 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

October 3, 2024in Agentforce Platform, Artificial Intelligence, Data, Enterprise, Google, Hyperforce, Mulesoft, Salesforce, Salesforce Data Cloud

02Oct

AI Agents and Work

With AI tools becoming increasingly prevalent in workplaces worldwide, the focus has shifted from their novelty to optimizing productivity and effectiveness. AI Agents and Work. At Dreamforce 2024, AI agents were a hot topic, particularly with the launch of Salesforce’s new Agentforce platform. However, Slack also made its mark in the AI space, keen to demonstrate its role in transforming the future of work. TechRadar Pro sat down with Slack CEO Denise Dresser to explore how AI is reshaping the platform and why businesses should embrace this transformation. “Work is Broken” “Work, fundamentally, is broken,” Dresser stated, explaining that many workers spend too much time on what she describes as “the work of work.” This often involves switching between disconnected enterprise apps and navigating through data silos just to access the basic information needed to perform their jobs. Dresser emphasized that AI is poised to relieve much of this burden. She highlighted the “incredible wave” of AI adoption across industries, with over 13,000 AI-powered apps built on Slack. “We’re really investing in ensuring AI works for every worker, driving more productivity,” she said, noting that we’re in one of the most significant periods of change in the workplace, full of both opportunity and questions. Slack’s AI-Powered Enhancements With the support of its parent company, Salesforce, Slack has fully embraced AI, offering a broad range of tools designed to improve productivity. Dresser pointed to Slack’s summarization tools, which streamline workflows by surfacing important items from channels and conversations—tools she finds invaluable in her own workday. In addition, Slack’s Huddles—quick, impromptu meetings—now come with AI enhancements, including a new canvas sidebar that generates summaries, notes, and action items in real-time from a live transcript. Slack AI is also integrated into Workflow Builder, allowing users to automate processes using natural language, eliminating the resistance that some workers may feel toward adopting AI. “Slack is the natural place for work,” Dresser said, explaining that the future of work will involve searching, collaborating, and taking action all within the flow of daily tasks. “That vision has never been more true, and never been more real, because this moment is here.” The Era of AI Agents AI agents represent another major step forward for Slack. Dresser noted that third-party integrations with tools like Adobe, Box, and Workday will help facilitate seamless conversations across multiple apps without the need to switch between them. “The era of agents is a big idea, and it’s happening now,” she remarked. However, Dresser stressed the importance of ensuring a smooth transition, noting that onboarding customers effectively will be key to fulfilling this vision. “We think that’s the future.” Looking Ahead: AI at the Core of Work With the technology now in place, the responsibility lies with workers and managers to leverage AI to enhance their daily routines. “What we focus on is making sure we build a product that people love,” Dresser said, adding, “there’s really no one in the world that can offer the breadth of product that can operate across your entire business at the scale we can.” Dresser concluded with optimism about the future of work: “We’re really excited about this innovation meeting this moment. I don’t think there could be a better time for us, and we’re very optimistic about what’s ahead.” Slack’s AI-powered future is designed to break down barriers, streamline workflows, and make work more efficient for everyone. 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

October 2, 2024in Agentforce Platform, AI Tools, Data, Enterprise, Salesforce, Technology

AI evolves with tools like Agentforce and Atlas

02Oct

AI Evolves With Agentforce and Atlas

Not long ago, financial services companies were still struggling with the challenge of customer data trapped in silos. Though it feels like a distant issue, this problem remains for many large organizations unable to integrate different divisions that deal separately with the same customers. Salesforce AI evolves with tools like Agentforce and Atlas. The solution is a concept known as a “single source of truth.” This theme took center stage at Dreamforce 2024 in San Francisco, hosted by Salesforce (NYSE). The event showcased Salesforce’s latest AI innovations, including Agentforce, which is set to revolutionize customer engagement through its advanced AI capabilities. Agentforce, which becomes generally available on October 25, enables businesses to deploy autonomous AI agents to manage a wide variety of tasks. These agents differ from earlier Salesforce-based AI tools by leveraging Atlas, a cutting-edge reasoning engine that allows the bots to think like human beings. Unlike generative AI models, which might write an email based on prompts, Agentforce’s AI agents can answer complex, high-order questions such as, “What should I do with all my customers?” The agents break down these queries into actionable steps—whether that’s sending emails, making phone calls, or texting customers—thanks to the deep capabilities of Atlas. Atlas is at the heart of what makes these AI agents so powerful. It combines multiple large language models (LLMs), large action models (LAMs), and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) modules, along with REST APIs and connectors to various datasets. This robust system processes user queries through multiple layers, checking for validity and then expanding the query into manageable chunks for processing. Once a query passes through the chit-chat detector—which filters out non-relevant inputs—it enters the evaluation phase, where the AI determines if it has enough data to provide a meaningful answer. If not, the system loops back to the user for more information in a process Salesforce calls the agentic loop. The fewer loops required, the more efficient the AI becomes, making the experience seamless for users. Phil Mui, Senior Vice President of Salesforce AI Research, explained that the AI agents created via Agentforce are powered by the Atlas reasoning engine, which makes use of several key tools like a re-ranker, a refiner, and a response synthesizer. These tools ensure that the AI retrieves, ranks, and synthesizes relevant information to generate high-quality, natural language responses for the user. But Salesforce’s AI agents don’t stop at automation—they also emphasize trust. Before responses reach users, they go through additional checks for toxicity detection, bias prevention, and personally identifiable information (PII) masking. This ensures that the output is both accurate and safe. The potential of Agentforce is massive. According to Wedbush, Salesforce’s AI strategy could generate over $4 billion annually by 2025. Wedbush analysts recently increased their price target for Salesforce stock to $325, reflecting the strong customer reception of Agentforce’s AI ecosystem. While some analysts, such as Yiannis Zourmpanos from Seeking Alpha, have expressed caution due to Salesforce’s high valuation and slower revenue growth, the company’s continued focus on AI and multi-cloud solutions places it in a strong position for the future. Robin Fisher, Salesforce’s head of growth markets for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, highlighted two major takeaways from Dreamforce for African businesses: the Data Cloud and AI. Data Cloud provides a 360-degree view of the customer, consolidating data into a single source of truth without requiring full data migration. Meanwhile, Agentforce’s autonomous AI agents will drive operational efficiency across industries, especially in markets like Africa. Zuko Mdwaba, Salesforce’s managing director for South Africa, added that the company’s decade-long AI journey is culminating in its most advanced AI offerings yet. This new wave of AI, he said, is transforming not just customer engagement but also internal operations, empowering employees to focus on more strategic tasks while AI handles repetitive ones. The future is clear: as AI evolves with tools like Agentforce and Atlas, businesses across sectors, from banking to retail, are poised to harness the transformative power of autonomous technology and data-driven insights, finally breaking free from the silos of the past. 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

October 2, 2024in Agentforce Platform, AI Tools, Data, Generative AI, Salesforce, Salesforce Implementation Services, Technology

02Oct

Spotlight on Agentforce

Agentforce stole the spotlight at Dreamforce, but it’s not just about replacing human workers. Equally significant for Service Cloud was the focus on how AI can be leveraged to make agents, dispatchers, and field service technicians more productive and proactive. During the Dreamforce Service Cloud keynote, GM Kishan Chetan emphasized the dramatic shift over the past year, with AI moving from theoretical to practical applications. He challenged customer service leaders to embrace AI agents, highlighting that AI-driven solutions can transform customer service from delivering “good” benefits to achieving exponential growth. He noted that AI agents are capable of handling common customer requests like tech support, scheduling, and general inquiries, as well as more complex tasks such as de-escalation, billing inquiries, and even cross-selling and upselling. In practice, research by Valoir shows that most Service Cloud customers are still in the early stages of AI adoption, particularly with generative AI. While progress has accelerated recently, most companies are only seeing incremental gains in individual productivity rather than the exponential improvements highlighted at Dreamforce. To achieve those higher-level returns, customers must move beyond simple automation and summarization to AI-driven transformation, powered by Agentforce. Chetan and his team outlined four key steps to make this transition. Deploy AI agents across channelsAgentforce Service Agent is more than a chatbot—it’s an autonomous AI agent capable of handling both simple and complex requests, understanding text, video, and audio. Customers were invited to build their own Service Agents during Dreamforce, and many took up the challenge. Service-related agents are a natural fit, as research shows Service Cloud customers are generally more prepared for AI adoption due to the volume and quality of customer data available in their CRM systems. Turn insights into actionLaunching in October 2024, Customer Experience Intelligence provides an omnichannel supervisor Wall Board that allows supervisors to monitor conversations in real time, complete with sentiment scores and organized metrics by topics and regions. Supervisors can then instruct Service Agent to dive into root causes, suggest proactive messaging, or even offer discounts. This development represents the next stage of Service Intelligence, combining Data Cloud, Tableau, and Einstein Conversation Mining to give supervisors real-time insights. It mirrors capabilities offered by traditional contact center vendors like Verint, which also blend interaction, sentiment, and other data in real time—highlighting the convergence of contact centers and Service Cloud service operations. Empower teams to become trusted advisorsSalesforce continues to navigate the delicate balance between digital and human agents, especially within Service Cloud. The key lies in the intelligent handoff of customer data when escalating from a digital agent to a human agent. Service Planner guides agents step-by-step through issue resolution, powered by Unified Knowledge. The demo also showcased how Service Agent can merge Commerce and Service by suggesting agents offer complimentary items from a customer’s shopping cart. Enable field teams to be proactiveSalesforce also announced improvements in field service, designed to help dispatchers and field service agents operate more proactively and efficiently. Agentforce for Dispatchers enhances the ability to address urgent appointments quickly. Asset Service Prediction leverages AI to forecast asset failures and upcoming service needs, while AI-generated prework briefs provide field techs with asset health scores and critical information before they arrive on site. Setting a clear roadmap for adopting Agentforce across these four areas is an essential step toward helping customers realize more than just incremental gains in their service operations. Equally important will be helping customers develop a data strategy that harnesses the power of Data Cloud and Salesforce’s partner ecosystem, enabling a truly data-driven service experience. Investments in capabilities like My Service Journeys will also be critical in guiding customers through the process of identifying which AI features will deliver the greatest returns for their specific needs. 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

October 2, 2024in Agentforce Platform, Data, Generative AI, Salesforce, Unified Knowledge

28Sep

Salesforce Continues to Push the Boundaries of AI Innovation

In a strategic move to enhance its AI capabilities, Salesforce has announced the acquisition of Zoomin, a leader in unstructured data management solutions. This acquisition, expected to finalize in the fourth quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2025, aligns with the company’s mission to dominate the enterprise AI landscape through its Agentforce platform. The acquisition further highlights Salesforce’s commitment to advancing AI-driven customer experiences and operational efficiency. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, but Salesforce confirmed that it would not affect previous earnings guidance. Previously, in discussions around Service Cloud’s push for Unified Knowledge, there were concerns about relying on partners like Zoomin. This acquisition addresses those concerns by filling a critical gap in Salesforce’s product offerings and adding new functionalities to Data Cloud. Strengthening Data Cloud for AI Zoomin’s technology will enhance Salesforce’s Data Cloud by providing improved support for managing unstructured data—a cornerstone of modern AI systems. This is a critical step in Salesforce’s AI strategy, particularly for the Agentforce platform, as it enables more comprehensive, context-aware AI capabilities. Rahul Auradkar, Salesforce’s EVP & GM of Unified Data Services & Einstein, stressed the importance of this acquisition. “Unstructured data is the key to unlocking AI’s full potential in customer interactions,” Auradkar said. “With Zoomin’s technology, we’re not just improving data management—we’re revolutionizing how AI agents understand and use information to deliver personalized experiences.” The integration of Zoomin’s Unified Knowledge technology directly addresses a key challenge in AI: managing and understanding unstructured data to create smarter AI agents. By strengthening its data foundation, Salesforce is positioning itself to deliver more sophisticated AI applications across its platform. Agentforce: A New AI Frontier Salesforce’s recently launched Agentforce platform aims to revolutionize enterprise AI with autonomous AI agents capable of advanced decision-making and task automation. By incorporating Zoomin’s technology, Agentforce will gain the ability to process and utilize unstructured data more effectively, setting it apart from competitors like Microsoft’s Copilot, which often requires significant user input and prompt engineering. The enhanced Agentforce platform will deliver a host of benefits, from improved customer service automation to more accurate sales forecasting and personalized marketing campaigns. By tapping into unstructured data, Salesforce is paving the way for AI-driven insights and actions previously unattainable with traditional approaches. A Natural Progression from Partnership to Acquisition Zoomin’s relationship with Salesforce began in 2018 as an AppExchange partner, followed by an investment from Salesforce Ventures in 2019. This acquisition marks a natural progression in their partnership, promising a smooth integration into Salesforce’s ecosystem. Zoomin CEO Gal Oron shared his enthusiasm: “Joining forces with Salesforce is a natural next step for us. Our shared vision is to make AI truly intelligent by giving it access to the vast amount of unstructured data that exists in enterprises. Together, we’ll help businesses unlock the full potential of their data and AI investments.” Implications Across the Business Spectrum The integration of Zoomin’s technology is expected to have broad implications, especially in customer service, where AI agents can use unstructured data to deliver more personalized and efficient responses. Beyond customer service, this technology is poised to impact sales, marketing, and overall business operations, enabling deeper insights into customer behavior and more targeted campaigns. Kishan Chetan, EVP and GM of Salesforce Service Cloud, highlighted the potential: “With Unified Knowledge, we’re not just improving AI—we’re transforming how businesses understand and serve their customers. Imagine AI agents that can grasp the full context of a customer’s history, preferences, and needs in real time. That’s the power we’re unlocking.” A Strategic Response to the AI Arms Race Salesforce’s acquisition of Zoomin comes amid an increasingly competitive enterprise AI landscape. By bolstering its embedded AI capabilities through strategic acquisitions, Salesforce is solidifying its position as a leader in enterprise AI, while addressing key challenges faced by rivals like Microsoft and Google. Zoomin’s expertise in processing large volumes of technical content and generating insights based on user behavior will be instrumental in helping Salesforce deliver cutting-edge, AI-driven solutions. These advancements will improve everything from customer service to digital transformation initiatives across industries. With this acquisition, Salesforce continues to push the boundaries of AI innovation, cementing its leadership in the rapidly evolving enterprise AI market. 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

September 28, 2024in Agentforce Platform, Data, Enterprise, Google, Salesforce, Salesforce Service Cloud, Technology, Unified Knowledge

27Sep

Salesforce AI Evolves with the Generative AI Landscape

Salesforce AI: Powering Customer Relationship Management Salesforce is a leading CRM solution that has long delivered cutting-edge cloud technologies to manage customer relationships effectively. In recent months, the platform has further advanced with the integration of generative AI and AI-powered features, primarily through its AI engine, Einstein. Salesforce AI Evolves with the Generative AI Landscape. To explore how AI operates within the Salesforce ecosystem and how various business teams can leverage these innovations, this guide delves into Salesforce’s AI capabilities, products, and features. Salesforce AI: Transforming CRM Capabilities Salesforce remains a top choice in the CRM software market, offering one of the most comprehensive solutions for managing relationships across departments, industries, and initiatives. Through dedicated cloud platforms, Salesforce enables teams to oversee marketing, sales, customer service, e-commerce, and more, with tools focused on delivering enhanced customer experiences supported by powerful data analytics. With the introduction of generative AI, Salesforce has significantly elevated its native automation, workflow management, data analytics, and assistive capabilities for customer lifecycle management. Einstein Copilot exemplifies this innovation, aiding internal users with tasks such as outreach, analysis, and improving external user experiences. What is Salesforce Einstein? Salesforce Einstein is an AI-driven suite of tools integrated natively into various Salesforce Cloud applications, including Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, and Commerce Cloud. It also operates through assistive technologies like Einstein Copilot. Einstein is built on a multitenant platform and incorporates numerous automated machine learning features to unify organizational data with CRM capabilities. Designed to make intelligent, data-driven decisions, Einstein requires no additional installation, offering a seamless user experience when paired with a compatible subscription plan. 7 Key Features of Salesforce Einstein 7 Applications of Salesforce Einstein Future Trends in Salesforce AI Bottom Line: Salesforce AI Evolves with the Generative AI Landscape Salesforce continues to enhance its AI-powered features, keeping pace with advancements in generative and predictive AI. Whether new to the platform or a seasoned user, Salesforce offers innovative, AI-centric solutions to streamline customer relationship management and business 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

September 27, 2024in AI Tools, Data, Einstein 1 Platform, Enterprise, Generative AI, Mulesoft, Salesforce, Salesforce Einstein

26Sep

AI Agent Myths

Myths About AI Agents Agents will transform how we work, but separating fact from fiction is essential. AI agents are revolutionizing business operations, yet misconceptions persist about their capabilities and value. Understanding these myths—and the truth behind them—can help your organization unlock their potential. Myth #1: AI Agents Are Just Glorified Chatbots While chatbots and AI agents both use artificial intelligence, their functionality and complexity differ significantly. For instance, a chatbot might provide an overview of your sales metrics, but an AI agent can analyze those metrics, forecast demand, adjust inventory levels, update marketing strategies, and even notify suppliers—all proactively and autonomously. This leap in capability allows agents to optimize workflows, make strategic recommendations, and dynamically respond to changing conditions. They’re not just answering questions—they’re driving outcomes. Myth #2: They’re unpredictable and uncontrollablePopular culture often paints AI as rogue systems—think 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Terminator—but in reality, modern AI agents are designed with safety, trust, and precision at their core. The most effective agents today use advanced techniques to prevent errors and ensure their actions stay within strict boundaries. At the heart of this is a reasoning engine. This engine doesn’t just execute tasks—it creates action plans based on the user’s goals, evaluates those plans, and refines them by pulling data from customer relationship management (CRM) systems and other platforms. It then determines the correct processes to execute and iterates until the task is completed successfully, improving with each interaction. When tasks fall outside an organization’s predefined guardrails—like user permissions or compliance rules—the reasoning engine automatically flags the task and escalates it for human oversight. “Helping an agent perform accurately while understanding what it is not allowed to do is a complex task,” says Krishna Gandikota, Manager of Solution Engineering at Salesforce. “The reasoning engine plans and evaluates the AI’s approach before it takes any action. It also assesses whether it has the necessary skills and information to proceed.” This process is further enhanced by continuous learning, enabling agents to refine their decision-making and actions over time. Grounded in DataThe best agents are contextually aware, leveraging relevant, up-to-date information to perform tasks accurately. Techniques like retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) help by sourcing the most relevant data, while semantic search ensures that agents retrieve the latest and most accurate information. Salesforce’s Agentforce employs these methods using Data Cloud, which enables agents to access real-time data without physically copying or modifying it—thanks to zero-copy architecture. This ensures speed, accuracy, and compliance across all agent-driven actions. Myth #3: They’re complicated, time-consuming, and expensive to set upIt’s easy to assume that deploying AI agents would require months of integration work and millions of dollars, but that’s no longer the case. Advances in generative AI and large language models (LLMs) have drastically simplified the process. Agents can now be deployed in minutes with prebuilt topics—specific areas of focus—and actions for common tasks in customer service, sales, and commerce. For more tailored needs, low-code tools make it easy to create custom agents. Using natural language processing (NLP), you simply describe what the agent needs to do, and the system builds it for you. For instance, Agent Builder automatically suggests guardrails and resources based on the task description. By scanning an app’s metadata, it identifies semantically similar processes, creating a smarter, context-aware agent that aligns with your business operations. “All the sophistication is already built into the platform,” Gandikota explains. “The Einstein Trust Layer, reasoning engine, and vector database for RAG and semantic search work seamlessly. With this foundation, you can build a team of agents quickly and confidently.” Myth #4: They’re always fully autonomousAI agents don’t need to operate completely autonomously to deliver value. Their autonomy depends on the complexity of their tasks and the industry they serve. “Agents don’t always need to take actions autonomously,” Gandikota explains. “They’re designed to understand requests, assess whether they can proceed independently, and involve humans when necessary.” Myth #5: They won’t deliver real business valueSome businesses using generic AI tools haven’t seen the ROI they expected. That’s because generic AI isn’t tailored to specific business needs. AI agents, on the other hand, are purpose-built to perform specialized tasks with precision. Whether it’s nurturing sales leads, brainstorming marketing campaigns, or resolving service tickets, targeted AI agents excel at solving specific problems. Unlike generic AI, they don’t just provide insights—they take action, driving measurable outcomes. For example, educational publisher Wiley improved support case resolution by over 40% after adopting AI agents. By handling routine tasks, the agents freed up Wiley’s service teams to focus on more complex cases. Similarly, early adopters like OpenTable and ADP have reported significant improvements in customer satisfaction and efficiency. According to MarketsandMarkets, AI agents are driving demand for automation by enhancing decision-making, scalability, and efficiency. The global market for AI agents is expected to grow from .1 billion in 2024 to billion by 2030. The Bottom LineUnderstanding the myths—and realities—of AI agents is critical for business leaders. Misconceptions can lead to missed opportunities, while clarity around their capabilities can help organizations work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. With trusted, adaptable, and purpose-built agents, the future of business automation is already here. 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

September 26, 2024in Artificial Intelligence, Data

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