Branding Archives - gettectonic.com
Agentforce to the Team
28Jun

How Agentforce 2.0’s New Model Changes the Game

Salesforce Reinvents AI Pricing: How Agentforce 2.0’s New Model Changes the Game From Conversations to Actions: Salesforce’s Bold Pricing Shift When Salesforce launched Agentforce 2.0 in October 2024, it raced ahead of competitors like Microsoft, SAP, and ServiceNow, positioning itself as the go-to platform for enterprise AI agents. The initial -per-conversation model worked well for simple use cases—like AI handling frontline customer chats—but as businesses experimented further, limitations emerged. Now, Salesforce is rolling out a game-changing update: action-based pricing. The New Pricing Model: Pay for What the AI Actually Does Bill Patterson, EVP of Corporate Strategy at Salesforce, explains: “We’re moving to an action-oriented model—charging for the actual work AI agents perform, not just conversations.” Key Features of the New Pricing: ✅ Flex Credits – Universal currency for AI actions across Sales, Service, and Marketing Clouds✅ $0.10 per action (20 credits) – Only pay when the AI completes a task✅ No hidden fees – Unlike hyperscalers, no separate charges for compute, storage, or LLM calls Example: “Think of it like electricity—you don’t pay differently for your fridge vs. your stove. Flex Credits power all AI agents uniformly.”— Bill Patterson Two Major Additions: Flex Agreement & Digital Wallet 1. Flex Agreement: Convert Unused Licenses into AI Credits Many companies overbuy CRM licenses during hiring surges. Now, they can trade unused licenses into Flex Credits for AI agents. Why It Matters: 2. Digital Wallet: Control & Monitor AI Spending A new centralized dashboard lets companies:📊 Track AI agent usage in real-time🛑 Set spending limits (e.g., cap expensive agents)📈 Measure ROI per agent “This isn’t about nickel-and-diming customers—it’s about fair, scalable pricing that grows with AI adoption.” How Does Salesforce Compare to Competitors? Pricing Model Salesforce Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure) AI Startups Basis Actions completed Compute + microservices “Employee replacement” flat fees Flexibility ✅ Universal Flex Credits ❌ Complex tiered pricing ❌ Rigid per-agent costs Transparency ✅ Clear per-action cost ❌ Hidden API/LLM fees ✅ Fixed but inflexible Salesforce’s edge? Agentforce One: The Next Evolution Coming in July 2025, Salesforce is rebranding Einstein One as Agentforce One—a bundled AI package for Sales & Service Cloud users. What’s Included? Goal: Lower the barrier to entry and accelerate AI adoption across Salesforce’s 150,000+ customers. Will This Boost Agentforce Adoption? ✅ 8,000 companies already use Agentforce (fastest-growing Salesforce product ever).✅ Flex Credits remove cost uncertainty.✅ Digital Wallet enables better budgeting. But… 8,000 is just 5% of Salesforce’s customer base. The new pricing could be the push needed to unlock mass adoption. The Bottom Line Salesforce’s pricing shift isn’t just about cost—it’s about trust. By moving to action-based billing, they’re ensuring customers:✔ Only pay for valuable AI work✔ Can scale AI across departments✔ Gain full visibility into ROI What’s next? As AI costs normalize, Salesforce’s flexible, transparent model could set the industry standard. 🚀 Ready to explore Agentforce?Contact us today! “This is the pricing model AI-powered businesses have been waiting for.”— CIO, Fortune 500 Salesforce Customer Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
June 28, 2025in Agentforce Platform, Data, Enterprise, Salesforce
Agentic AI Race
22May

The Evolution Beyond AI Agents

The Evolution Beyond AI Agents: What Comes Next? The Rapid Progression of AI Terminology The landscape of artificial intelligence has undergone a remarkable transformation in just three years. What began with ChatGPT and generative AI as the dominant buzzwords quickly evolved into discussions about copilots, and most recently, agentic AI emerged as 2024‘s defining concept. This accelerated terminology cycle mirrors fashion industry trends more than traditional technology adoption curves. Major players including Adobe, Qualtrics, Oracle, OpenAI, and Deloitte have recently launched agentic AI platforms, joining earlier entrants like Microsoft, AWS, and Salesforce. This rapid market saturation suggests the industry may already be approaching the next conceptual shift before many organizations have fully implemented their current AI strategies. Examining the Staying Power of Agentic AI Industry analysts present diverging views on the longevity of the agentic AI concept. Brandon Purcell, a Forrester Research analyst, acknowledges the pattern of fleeting AI trends while recognizing agentic AI’s potential for greater staying power. He cites three key factors that may extend its relevance: Klaasjan Tukker, Adobe’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, draws parallels to mature technologies that have become invisible infrastructure. He predicts agentic AI will follow a similar trajectory, becoming so seamlessly integrated that users will interact with it as unconsciously as they use navigation apps or operate modern vehicles. The Automotive Sector as an AI Innovation Catalyst The automotive industry provides compelling examples of advanced AI applications that transcend current “agentic” capabilities. Modern autonomous vehicles demonstrate sophisticated AI behaviors including: These implementations suggest that what the tech industry currently labels as “agentic” may represent only an intermediate step toward more autonomous, context-aware systems. The Definitional Challenges of Agentic AI The technology sector faces significant challenges in establishing common definitions for emerging AI concepts. Adobe’s framework describes agents as systems possessing three core attributes: However, as Scott Brinker of HubSpot notes, the term “agentic” risks becoming overused and diluted as vendors apply it inconsistently across various applications and functionalities. Interoperability as the Critical Success Factor For agentic AI systems to deliver lasting value, industry observers emphasize the necessity of cross-platform compatibility. Phil Regnault of PwC highlights the reality that enterprise environments typically combine solutions from multiple vendors, creating integration challenges for AI implementations. Three critical layers require standardization: Without such standards, organizations risk creating new AI silos that mirror the limitations of legacy systems. The Future Beyond Agentic AI While agentic AI continues its maturation process, the technology sector’s relentless innovation cycle suggests the next conceptual breakthrough may emerge sooner than expected. Historical naming patterns for AI advancements indicate several possibilities: As these technologies evolve, they may shed specialized branding in favor of more utilitarian terminology, much as “software bots” became normalized after their initial hype cycle. The automotive parallel suggests that truly transformative AI implementations may become so seamlessly integrated that their underlying technology becomes invisible to end users—the ultimate measure of technological maturity. Until that point, the industry will likely continue its rapid cycle of innovation and rebranding, searching for the next paradigm that captures the imagination as powerfully as “agentic AI” has in 2024. Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
May 22, 2025in Agentic AI, Artificial Intelligence, Data, Enterprise, Generative AI, Salesforce, Technology
salesforce starter
17Apr

Essential Teams Every SMB Needs

Lean & Mean: The Essential Teams Every SMB Needs to Thrive Gone are the days when success required massive budgets and bloated teams. Today’s most competitive small and medium businesses (SMBs) run lean, agile operations—often with remote teams, strategic outsourcing, and smart automation. But while you can cut costs, you can’t cut corners on these six core teams—the engine that keeps your business moving forward. 1. Sales & Customer Acquisition: Your Growth Engine Mission: Turn prospects into paying customers. Key Focus Areas: ✅ Lead generation – Find your ideal customers (social media, referrals, targeted outreach).✅ Pipeline management – Never let a hot lead slip through the cracks.✅ Closing deals – Guide buyers with confidence. Pro Tip: A CRM like Salesforce Starter Suite automates follow-ups, tracks leads, and uses AI to predict the best next steps. 2. Finance & Accounting: Your Money Guardians Mission: Keep cash flowing and finances healthy. Key Focus Areas: ✅ Bookkeeping – Track income, expenses, and profits.✅ Invoicing & payments – Get paid faster, pay vendors on time.✅ Tax compliance – Avoid penalties with organized records. Pro Tip: Tools like QuickBooks automate invoicing, expense tracking, and financial reporting. 3. Marketing & Branding: Your Storytellers Mission: Make sure the right people know (and love) your business. Key Focus Areas: ✅ Content marketing – Blogs, social media, videos that build trust.✅ Multi-channel campaigns – Email, social, SEO, ads.✅ Brand consistency – Same look, voice, and vibe everywhere. Pro Tip: With AI-powered tools like Agentforce, you can launch campaigns in minutes—just give a prompt, and it drafts emails, schedules posts, and optimizes engagement. 4. Operations & Logistics: Your Efficiency Experts Mission: Keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes. Key Focus Areas: ✅ Inventory management – Avoid stockouts or overstocking.✅ Supply chain optimization – Faster, cheaper deliveries.✅ Process automation – Reduce manual work. Pro Tip: Platforms like ShipBob automate order fulfillment, while Salesforce Operations Hub streamlines workflows. 5. Customer Support & Success: Your Retention Army Mission: Keep customers happy so they keep coming back. Key Focus Areas: ✅ Quick response times – Solve issues fast.✅ Proactive check-ins – Ensure customers succeed with your product.✅ Self-service options – FAQs, chatbots, tutorials. Pro Tip: Agentforce AI assistants handle 24/7 support, answering FAQs and escalating only when needed. 6. People & Culture: Your Team Builders Mission: Attract, retain, and empower top talent. Key Focus Areas: ✅ Hiring & onboarding – Find people who fit your culture.✅ Payroll & benefits – Keep employees happy.✅ Employee engagement – Foster a great workplace. Pro Tip: Salesforce Employee Service Management automates HR workflows, so your team spends less time on admin. How to Structure Your SMB for Success You don’t need corporate-level bureaucracy—just clarity, flexibility, and the right tools. 5 Steps to Build a Scalable Team Structure: 1️⃣ Identify core functions – What’s essential? (Sales, finance, marketing, ops, support, HR).2️⃣ Assign (or outsource) key roles – No need to hire full-time if a tool or freelancer can do it.3️⃣ Encourage cross-team collaboration – Break silos; share insights.4️⃣ Automate repetitive work – Free up time for high-value tasks.5️⃣ Stay adaptable – Evolve roles as you grow. The Bottom Line:With lean teams + smart tech, SMBs can punch above their weight. Starter Suite brings sales, service, marketing, and operations into one platform—so you stay nimble as you scale. 🚀 Want to optimize your small biz? Explore Salesforce for SMBs #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #Salesforce #AI #BusinessGrowth Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
April 17, 2025in Agentforce Platform, Generative AI, Marketing Automation, Salesforce
B2B Customer Service with Agentforce
24Mar

Agents are the Future of Customer Engagement

Agentic Customer Engagement is Here There was a time when customer service meant going into a brick and mortar building and talking to a person face to face. It was time consuming and did not guarantee a solution. The mail order business brought on the need for the 800 number to contact a merchant. The dot com boom brought customer engagement opportunities directly to our homes. Ios and Android apps brought customer engagement to our fingertips. Yet we still were dependent upon the availability of humans or at least chatbots. Customer service often repressed customer engagement, not enhanced it. Agents, like Salesforce Agentforce, brought 24 7 customer engagement to us no matter where we are, when it is, or how complicated our issue is. And agents improved customer service! What’s next? Robots and drones who deliver our items and answer our questions? Who knows. AI bots are transforming client relationships and customer service. To achieve unparalleled efficiency, these intelligent systems plan and automate difficult activities, make deft decisions, and blend in seamlessly with current workflows. Yes, it’s widely believed that AI agents will play a crucial role in the future of customer engagement, offering personalized, efficient, and consistent experiences across various channels.  Here’s why AI agents are poised to be a key driver in customer engagement: AI agents are becoming smarter every day, using machine learning and natural language processing to predict customer needs, handle complex queries with empathy and offer real-time, personalized assistance. How AI Agents Are Redefining Customer Engagement Marketing is undergoing a seismic transformation. Tectonic shift, if you will. The past decade was dominated by complex tech stacks and data integration—now, AI is shifting the focus back to what truly matters: crafting impactful content and campaigns. Welcome to the era of agentic customer engagement and marketing. The Rise of Marketing Agents Unlike traditional customer service agents handling one-to-one interactions, marketing agents amplify human expertise to engage audiences at scale—whether targeting broad segments or hyper-personalized personas. They ensure consistent, high-quality messaging across every channel while automating the intricate backend work of delivering the right content to the right customer at the right time. This shift is powered by rapid AI advancements: How Agentic Engagement Amplifies Marketing Marketing agents don’t replace human creativity—they extend it. Once strategists set guidelines, approve messaging, and define brand voice, agents execute with precision across channels. At Typeface, for example, AI securely learns brand tones and styles to generate on-brand imagery, text, and videos—ensuring every asset aligns with the company’s identity. Key Capabilities of Marketing Agents The Human-Agent Partnership AI agents don’t replace marketers—they empower them. Humans bring creativity, emotional intelligence, and strategic decision-making; agents handle execution, data processing, and scalability. Marketers will evolve into “agent wranglers”, setting objectives, monitoring performance, and ensuring alignment with business goals. Meanwhile, agents will work in interconnected ecosystems—where a content agent’s blog post triggers a social agent’s promotion, while a performance agent optimizes distribution, and a brand agent tracks reception. Preparing for the Agent Era To stay ahead, businesses should:✅ Start small, think big – Pilot agents in low-risk areas before scaling.✅ Train teams – Ensure marketers understand agent management.✅ Build governance frameworks – Define oversight and intervention protocols.✅ Strengthen data infrastructure – Clean, structured data fuels agent effectiveness.✅ Maintain human oversight – Regularly audit agent outputs for quality and alignment. Work with a Salesforce partner like Tectonic to prepare for the Agent Era. The Future is Agentic The age of AI-driven marketing isn’t coming—it’s here. Companies that embrace agentic engagement will unlock unprecedented efficiency, personalization, and impact. The question isn’t if you’ll adopt AI agents—it’s how soon. Ready to accelerate your strategy? Discover how Agentforce (Salesforce’s agentic layer) can cut deployment time by 16x while boosting accuracy by 70%. The future of marketing isn’t just automated—it’s autonomous, adaptive, and agentic. Are you prepared? The Future of Customer Experience: AI-Driven Efficiency and Innovation Businesses have long understood the connection between operational efficiency and superior customer experience (CX). However, the rapid advancement of AI-powered technologies, including next-generation hardware and virtual agents, is transforming this connection into a measurable driver of value creation. Increasingly well-documented use cases for generative AI (GenAI) demonstrate that companies can simultaneously deliver a vastly superior customer experience at a significantly lower cost-to-serve, resulting in substantial financial gains. From Customer Journeys to Autonomous Customer Missions To achieve this ideal balance, companies are shifting from traditional customer journeys—where users actively manage their own experiences via apps—to a more comprehensive approach driven by trusted autonomous agents. These agents are designed to complete specific tasks with minimal human involvement, creating an entirely new paradigm for customer engagement. While early implementations may be rudimentary, the convergence of hardware and AI will lead to sophisticated, seamless experiences far beyond current capabilities. AI-Enabled Internal and External Transformation AI is already driving transformation both internally and externally. Internally, it streamlines processes, enhances employee experiences, and significantly boosts productivity. In customer service operations, for example, GenAI has driven productivity improvements of 15% to 30%, with some companies targeting up to 80% efficiency gains. Externally, AI is reshaping customer interactions, making them more personalized, efficient, and intuitive. Virtual co-pilots assist customers by answering inquiries, processing returns, and curating tailored offers—freeing human employees to focus on complex issues that require nuanced decision-making. Linking Operational Efficiency to Customer Experience Leading organizations are demonstrating how AI-driven efficiencies translate into enhanced CX. Despite these gains, companies must raise the bar even further to fully capitalize on AI’s potential. The convergence of next-generation hardware with AI-driven automation presents an unprecedented opportunity to redefine customer engagement. From App-Driven Experiences to Autonomous Agents At Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff highlighted that service employees waste over 40% of their time on repetitive, low-value tasks. Similarly, customers face friction in making significant purchases or planning events. Google research indicates that travelers may engage in over 700 digital touchpoints when planning a trip—a fragmented and often frustrating experience. Imagine instead a network of proprietary and third-party agents seamlessly executing customer missions—such as purchasing a car or planning a vacation—without requiring constant user input. These AI agents

Read More
March 24, 2025in Agentforce Platform, Agentic AI, Data, Generative AI, Google, Salesforce
Navigating the New Era of Agentic Customer Engagement
19Feb

Navigating the New Era of Agentic Customer Engagement

Marketing is undergoing a seismic shift—from the tech-stack heavy approaches of the past decade to AI-driven, agentic customer engagement. No longer bogged down by complex integrations and data wrangling, marketers can now focus on what truly matters: creating meaningful, personalized customer experiences at scale. Welcome to the age of AI marketing agents—intelligent systems that learn from human expertise, then execute strategies autonomously. Unlike traditional customer service bots (which handle 1:1 interactions), marketing agents amplify human-approved content, campaigns, and branding across millions of touchpoints, ensuring consistency and precision at every step. Why Agentic Engagement is the Future The rapid evolution of AI has unlocked unprecedented capabilities: For marketers, this means:✔ Hyper-personalization at scale✔ Faster time-to-market for campaigns✔ Data-driven decision-making with AI-powered insights✔ More time for creativity & strategy (less manual execution) How AI Agents Enhance Marketing Marketing agents don’t replace humans—they augment them. Here’s how: 1. Agentic Content 2. Agentic Campaign Planning 3. Agentic Branding 4. Agentic Creative 5. Agentic Optimization The Human-Agent Partnership The best outcomes happen when human creativity meets AI efficiency: The Agent-to-Agent Ecosystem Imagine: This interconnected system creates a self-optimizing marketing engine. How to Prepare for the Agentic Future 1. Start Small, Scale Smart 2. Upskill Your Team 3. Strengthen Data Infrastructure 4. Establish Governance 5. Keep Humans in the Loop The Bottom Line Agentic engagement isn’t just another tech trend—it’s a fundamental shift in marketing. Companies that embrace it will:🚀 Launch campaigns faster🎯 Deliver hyper-relevant experiences📈 Drive higher ROI with AI-powered optimization The future belongs to marketers who harness AI agents as force multipliers—freeing teams to focus on strategy, storytelling, and innovation. Ready to step into the agentic era? Start experimenting today. Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
February 19, 2025in Agentforce Platform, Data, Generative AI, Salesforce, Salesforce Personalization
The AI Adoption Paradox
12Feb

The AI Adoption Paradox

The AI Adoption Paradox: Why Society Struggles to Keep Up with Rapid Innovation Public discourse around artificial intelligence (AI) oscillates between extremes. Is AI overhyped, or is it truly a civilization-altering force? Are foundation models intelligent, or merely sophisticated statistical tools? Is artificial general intelligence (AGI) imminent, or is the concept fundamentally flawed? Most observers land somewhere in the middle: AI is impressive but exaggerated, useful but not truly “intelligent,” and AGI remains distant. Yet, to some, these debates miss the point entirely. AI is already reshaping industries, automating workflows, and demonstrating capabilities that resemble human reasoning. The real question isn’t whether AI is transformative—it’s why adoption lags so far behind innovation. The Slow March of Progress In 2014, while working on an outsourcing initiative, one observer questioned why certain tasks required human labor at all. A video by CGP Grey, “Humans Need Not Apply,” crystallized the idea that automation would eventually render many jobs obsolete. A decade later, AI and robotics have advanced dramatically—yet daily life remains largely unchanged. McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) projected in 2015 that automation would gain traction by 2025. OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT in late 2022 accelerated that timeline, yet adoption remains sluggish. Despite 300 million weekly ChatGPT users, only 10 million pay for the service—less than 0.3% of the global workforce. Even with AI embedded in countless applications, the predicted 15% automation of baseline work has yet to materialize. The Bottlenecks: Design, Enterprise Hesitation, and Human Resistance 1. Clunky Interfaces Stifle Mass Adoption AI’s biggest hurdle may be poor user experience. OpenAI’s breakthrough wasn’t just GPT-3—it was ChatGPT’s accessible interface, which brought AI to the masses. Yet, two years later, the platform remains largely unchanged. Most users treat it like a search engine, unaware of its full potential. Model naming conventions further confuse consumers. What is “Gemini 1.5 Flash”? Is “Opus” better than “Haiku”? If AI companies want mass adoption, they must simplify branding and prioritize intuitive design. 2. Enterprises: Caught Between Disruption and Inertia While venture funding for AI startups surged to $101 billion in 2024, most investment flows into B2B companies selling to legacy firms—the very organizations AI could eventually displace. Many enterprises remain hesitant, citing hallucinations, security risks, and integration challenges. Employees, meanwhile, bypass restrictions, uploading sensitive data to third-party AI tools—deepening management’s distrust. The result? A widening gap between AI’s capabilities and its real-world implementation. 3. Human Stubbornness: The Biggest Roadblock The final barrier is psychological. Many professionals treat AI as an abstract concept rather than a practical tool. Consulting firms, for example, may sprinkle AI buzzwords into presentations but resist hands-on experimentation. Mastery requires practice—yet few invest the time needed to harness AI effectively. The Path Forward AI’s potential is undeniable, but its impact hinges on overcoming adoption inertia. Companies must: For individuals, the imperative is clear: Those who embrace AI will outpace those who don’t. The technology is here—the only question is who will use it first, and who will be left behind. As the saying goes: You don’t need to outrun the bear—just the other humans. Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more Tectonic’s Successful Salesforce Track Record Salesforce Technology Services Integrator – Tectonic has successfully delivered Salesforce in a variety of industries including Public Sector, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Read more

Read More
February 12, 2025in AI Tools, Artificial Intelligence, Data, Enterprise, Technology
Agentforce for Retail
21Jan

Agentforce for Retail

Salesforce Introduces Agentforce for Retail: A Sector-Specific Skills Library for AI Innovation Salesforce has unveiled Agentforce for Retail, an industry-specific skills library designed to empower retailers to develop AI agents tailored to their unique business needs. This release provides tools for retailers to enhance customer service, assist store associates, and engage customers in innovative ways. For example, AI agents can now automate and streamline processes like order management, guided shopping, and appointment scheduling. While Salesforce had previously launched 100 preconfigured, industry-specific AI agents for the core Agentforce platform, this new retail-focused release represents a shift toward providing specialized tools that enable retailers to build AI agents with greater precision and flexibility. Driving Seamless, Unified Retail Experiences Nitin Mangtani, SVP & GM of Retail at Salesforce, described the vision behind Agentforce for Retail: “Salesforce is helping retailers deliver seamless, unified shopping experiences across both the physical and digital realms of retail, driving productivity advancements and business growth across their entire enterprise.” This move aligns with Salesforce’s broader commitment to delivering sector-specific AI innovations, expanding the Agentforce offering into targeted solutions that meet the distinct demands of industries like retail. Agentforce for Retail: Core Capabilities Commerce Skills for Order Management These skills empower retailers to offer self-service order support, helping reduce costs while boosting customer loyalty. Customers can: Commerce Skills for Guided Shopping Using natural language, customers can receive personalized product recommendations based on behavior, inventory, and operational data. They can also: Field Service Skills for Appointment Scheduling Service representatives can use AI-powered tools to streamline the scheduling of deliveries, installations, or consultations. Real-time availability updates improve efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction. Marketing Skills for Loyalty Promotion Creation Marketers can use conversational prompts informed by shopper data, point-of-sale (POS) insights, and segmentation to design loyalty campaigns. These tools also assist in creating personalized email content and subject lines to drive higher engagement. Retail Cloud with Modern POS: A Complementary Innovation In addition to Agentforce for Retail, Salesforce announced the Retail Cloud with Modern POS, a cloud-based point-of-sale solution designed to unify online and offline shopping experiences. Key features include: The POS system also incorporates AI capabilities such as: Shoppers benefit from flexible fulfillment options, including buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) and omni-exchanges. Each cart item can have unique fulfillment methods, optimizing supply chain costs while enhancing convenience. Mangtani noted, “Together, AI-fueled digital labor and a modern POS can unlock a new scale of operational capacity for retailers.” The Evolution of Agentforce: A Platform for Digital Labor In late 2024, Salesforce launched Agentforce 2.0, branding it as “The Digital Labor Platform.” This expanded version introduced enhanced capabilities aimed at helping businesses streamline operations and adopt AI-driven automation on a larger scale. Agentforce for Retail builds on this foundation, offering retailers the tools to reimagine customer engagement, boost efficiency, and drive business growth. Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
January 21, 2025in Agentforce Platform, Data, Enterprise, Salesforce
20Jan

Einstein Copilot No More

Salesforce Rebrands Einstein Copilot as Agentforce Salesforce has officially retired its Einstein Copilot feature, rebranding it as “Agentforce (Default).” While hints of this change surfaced earlier, with confirmation arriving in January 2025, many users were still surprised by the move. Ashish Agarwal, a Salesforce Architect, Consultant, and Trainer, highlighted the change in a LinkedIn post, noting that the conversational AI assistant had been integrated into Salesforce’s broader Agentforce platform. Salesforce’s release notes confirmed the update, stating there would be no changes to functionality but minor refinements to permissions, user interface elements, and help documentation. “In Setup, you’ll see Agentforce or Agentforce (Default) for the agent name and type. This change won’t impact your implementations,” Salesforce assured its users. The company reiterated that the tool remains a vital resource for assisting Salesforce users with daily business interactions. The Journey of Einstein Copilot Einstein Copilot, introduced in April 2024, was Salesforce’s flagship generative AI (GenAI) solution. Integrated into Salesforce applications, it allowed users to perform workflows and ask questions using natural language. Built on the Einstein 1 Platform, it leveraged Salesforce’s Data Cloud and metadata to deliver personalized experiences. Despite its relatively short lifespan, the update positions Einstein Copilot as a component of Agentforce, aligning it with Salesforce’s focus on AI agents. Moving Beyond the “Copilot” Label Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s critical remarks about Microsoft’s Copilot may offer clues to the rebranding decision. Over recent months, Benioff has labeled Microsoft’s Copilot as “repackaged ChatGPT” and “Clippy 2.0,” aiming to distinguish Salesforce’s offerings from its competitor. This shift also reflects Salesforce’s evolving AI strategy. The company’s “Four Waves of AI” framework identifies copilots as part of the second wave, now replaced by the third wave: autonomous AI agents. Agarwal encapsulated this shift in his LinkedIn post, stating: “In today’s Agentic world, you don’t need a Copilot to assist you. Agents are taking the controls themselves. They can pilot the plane, handle turbulence, and even serve the in-flight snacks—all while you sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.” Reactions and Reservations Despite Salesforce’s enthusiasm, the rebranding has drawn some skepticism. Richard Clark, Vice President of EMEA Alliances and Success at Elements.cloud, expressed surprise at the decision, citing Einstein Copilot’s unique role as an internal user agent. Agarwal also questioned the naming convention, arguing that “Agentforce” represents Salesforce’s entire AI platform, which includes components like the Prompt Builder, agents, and the Einstein Trust Layer. Assigning the name to a single agent, he suggested, could create unnecessary confusion. The Future of Agentforce Since its debut in October 2024, Agentforce has quickly evolved. The introduction of Agentforce 2.0, dubbed “The Digital Labor Platform,” has expanded its capabilities, allowing users to create and deploy autonomous AI agents. Salesforce has also tailored its offerings for specific industries. For example, Agentforce for Retail provides AI-driven solutions for customer service, guided shopping, order management, and appointment scheduling. Conclusion Salesforce Agentforce Details The transition from Einstein Copilot to Agentforce signifies Salesforce’s commitment to advancing its AI strategy. While some users may need time to adjust, the move aligns with the company’s vision of autonomous AI agents driving productivity and innovation. Whether viewed as a strategic pivot or a deliberate effort to distance itself from competitors, the rebranding underscores Salesforce’s ongoing evolution in the AI space. Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
January 20, 2025in Agentforce Platform, Data, Einstein 1 Platform, Generative AI, Salesforce
Agentforce Redefines Generative AI
16Jan

Agentforce Redefines Generative AI

Agentforce: Redefining Generative AI in Salesforce Many Dreamforce attendees who expected to hear about Einstein Copilot were surprised when Salesforce introduced Agentforce just a week before the conference. While it might seem like a rebranding of Copilot, Agentforce marks a significant evolution by enabling more autonomous agents that go beyond summarizing or generating content to perform specific actions. Here’s a breakdown of the transition and what it means for Salesforce users: Key Vocabulary Updates How Agentforce Works Agents take user input, known as an “utterance,” and translate it into actionable steps based on predefined configurations. This allows the system to enhance performance over time while delivering responses tailored to user needs. Understanding Agentforce 1. Topics: Organizing Agent Capabilities Agentforce introduces “Topics,” a new layer of organization that categorizes actions by business function. When a user provides an utterance, the agent identifies the relevant topic first, then determines the best actions to address it. 2. Actions: What Agents Can Do Actions remain largely unchanged from Einstein Copilot. These are tasks agents perform to execute plans. 3. Prompts: The Key to Better Results LLMs rely on prompts to generate outputs, and crafting effective prompts is essential for reducing irrelevant responses and optimizing agent behavior. How Generative AI Enhances Salesforce Agentforce unlocks several benefits across productivity, personalization, standardization, and efficiency: Implementing Agentforce: Tips for Success Getting Started Start by using standard Agent actions. These out-of-the-box tools, such as opportunity summarization or close plan creation, provide a strong foundation. You can make minor adjustments to optimize their performance before diving into more complex custom actions. Testing and Iteration Testing AI agents is different from traditional workflows. Agents must handle various phrasing of the same user request (utterances) while maintaining consistency in responses. The Future of Salesforce with Agentforce As you gain expertise in planning, developing, testing, and deploying Agentforce actions, you’ll unlock new possibilities for transforming your Salesforce experience. With generative AI tools like Agentforce, Salesforce evolves from a traditional point-and-click interface into an intelligent, agent-driven platform with streamlined, conversational workflows. This isn’t just an upgrade — it’s the foundation for reimagining how businesses interact with their CRM in an AI-assisted world. Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
January 16, 2025in Agentforce Platform, AI Tools, Data, Generative AI, Salesforce
Clippy-gate
10Dec

Clippy-gate

Clippy-gate: Why Salesforce vs. Microsoft is More Than a Marketing Spat Salesforce and Microsoft are clashing once again, this time over AI and intelligent agents. What started as a seemingly lighthearted joke by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at Dreamforce—mocking Microsoft’s Copilot as a “Clippy 2.0″—has escalated into a significant dispute. This confrontation extends beyond the typical vendor rivalry, touching on enterprise AI’s future and its implications for businesses. A History of Rivalry Salesforce and Microsoft have a long history of competition. Past disputes included lawsuits and marketing stunts, such as Microsoft’s ill-fated 2010 Dreamforce gimmick involving a “defecting” Salesforce customer. While the two companies briefly found common ground under Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, this détente dissolved amidst antitrust challenges over Microsoft’s LinkedIn acquisition and an aborted attempt to acquire Salesforce. Benioff has since reverted to openly criticizing Microsoft. The latest round of hostilities centers on Microsoft’s announcement of ten AI agents for Dynamics 365, coinciding with the release of Salesforce’s Agentforce. Benioff has doubled down, accusing Microsoft of overhyping Copilot and failing to meet enterprise AI standards. Benioff’s Allegations Benioff’s critiques have been relentless. He has accused Microsoft of misleading customers about AI capabilities, claiming that Copilot “spews data all over the floor” and lacks the security, metadata, and integration necessary for enterprise use. On social media, he dismissed Copilot as “panic mode” rebranding, contrasting it with Agentforce, which he describes as a transformative platform integrated with enterprise data and workflows. Microsoft’s Position Microsoft has largely refrained from engaging directly. Nadella, during a European AI tour, promoted Copilot as “the UI for AI,” positioning it as the interface to a broader AI ecosystem. However, his remarks avoided addressing Benioff’s criticisms, leaving Salesforce’s claims unanswered. Implications for Enterprise AI This debate highlights critical issues for businesses adopting AI technologies. While Salesforce has emphasized pragmatism, acknowledging AI’s uncertainties, Microsoft’s perceived lack of response risks leaving questions unanswered. The stakes are high, with both companies vying for leadership in a rapidly evolving market. What’s Next? How Microsoft responds—or doesn’t—will shape this rivalry’s trajectory. A direct rebuttal could clarify its AI vision, but staying silent risks ceding thought leadership to Salesforce. For businesses navigating the complexities of enterprise AI, understanding these dynamics is essential to making informed decisions. As the AI landscape unfolds, this conflict underscores the competitive importance of securing trust and demonstrating actionable value. For now, the war of words is as much about shaping perceptions as it is about delivering results. Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
December 10, 2024in Data, Enterprise, Laws, Salesforce

Microsoft Copilot as “Repackaged ChatGPT”

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Criticizes Microsoft Copilot as “Repackaged ChatGPT” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff took aim at Microsoft’s Copilot AI offerings during Salesforce’s latest quarterly earnings call, dismissing them as a rebranding of OpenAI’s generative AI technology. “In many ways, it’s just repackaged ChatGPT,” Benioff asserted. He contrasted this with Salesforce’s platform, emphasizing its unique ability to operate an entire business. “You won’t find that capability on Microsoft’s website,” he added. Benioff highlighted Agentforce, Salesforce’s autonomous AI agent product, as a transformative force for both Salesforce and its customers. The tool, available on Salesforce’s support portal, is projected to manage up to half of the company’s annual support case volume. The portal currently handles over 60 million sessions and 2 million support cases annually. Agentforce Adoption and Partner Involvement Salesforce COO Brian Millham outlined the significant role of partners in driving Agentforce adoption. During the quarter, global partners were involved in 75% of Agentforce deals, including nine of Salesforce’s top 10 wins. More than 80,000 system integrators have completed Agentforce training, and numerous independent software vendors (ISVs) and technology partners are developing and selling AI agents. Millham pointed to Accenture as a notable example, leveraging Agentforce to enhance sales operations for its 52,000 global sellers. “Our partners are becoming agent-first enterprises themselves,” Millham said. Since its general availability on October 24, Agentforce has already secured 200 deals, with thousands more in the pipeline. Benioff described the tool as part of a broader shift toward digital labor, claiming, “Salesforce is now the largest supplier of digital labor.” Expanding Use Cases and Market Impact Agentforce, powered by Salesforce’s extensive data repository of 740,000 documents and 200–300 petabytes of information, supports diverse use cases, including resolving customer issues, qualifying leads, closing deals, and optimizing marketing campaigns. Salesforce has committed to hiring 1,000–2,000 additional salespeople to expand Agentforce adoption further. Benioff positioned Salesforce as the leading enterprise AI provider, citing its 2 trillion weekly transactions through its Einstein AI product. He claimed Salesforce’s unified codebase provides a competitive edge, unlike rival systems that run disparate applications, potentially limiting AI effectiveness. “This is a bold leap into the future of work,” Benioff said, “where AI agents collaborate with humans to revolutionize customer interactions.” AI Growth Across Salesforce Products AI-driven growth extended beyond Agentforce to other Salesforce products: Millham noted that AI-related $1 million+ deals more than tripled year over year. Financial Highlights For Q3 FY2024, Salesforce reported: Looking ahead, Salesforce expects Q4 revenue between $9.9 billion and $10.1 billion, representing 7%–9% year-over-year growth. The company raised its full fiscal year revenue guidance to .8– billion, an 8%–9% increase. Industry and Product Insights Salesforce’s growth was driven by its core clouds and subscription services, with health, life sciences, manufacturing, and automotive industries performing particularly well. However, retail and consumer goods saw slower growth. While subscription revenue for MuleSoft and Tableau decelerated, Salesforce’s broader portfolio continued to deliver robust performance. Benioff concluded by emphasizing the transformative potential of Salesforce’s AI ecosystem: “This is the next evolution of Salesforce—an intelligent, scalable technology that’s no longer tied to workforce growth.” Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
December 3, 2024in Data, Enterprise, Generative AI, Mulesoft, Salesforce, Technology
Salesforce Experience Cloud
02Dec

Empowering Digital Experiences

Salesforce Experience Cloud: Empowering Digital Experiences Salesforce Experience Cloud is a robust digital experience platform that enables businesses to create beautifully designed, CRM-powered online sites. Previously known as Community Cloud, the rebranding reflects its versatility in supporting a wide range of connected digital experiences. What is an Experience Cloud Site? An Experience Cloud site serves as an online hub to connect with customers, foster collaboration, and streamline business processes. These sites are customizable through Experience Builder, which allows users to design visually compelling and functional spaces based on their unique needs. Experience Builder SitesFormerly called Lightning Communities, Experience Builder sites are template-based and built on one of two frameworks: Introducing Lightning Web Runtime (LWR) LWR is the core framework powering modern Experience Cloud sites. It leverages Lightning Web Components (LWC) for enhanced performance, scalability, and customizability. Key advantages of LWR include: New LWR-Based Experience Cloud Templates The latest Experience Cloud templates are built exclusively on Lightning Web Components, making them faster and more efficient than Aura-based alternatives. The templates are designed for customers using Salesforce CMS and feature: Page Layouts and Slots Experience Cloud enables dynamic page structuring with: Slots play a crucial role in defining placeholders for content or markup. Metadata configuration allows these layouts to be integrated seamlessly into the Experience Cloud. CSS and Styling in Experience Cloud In Experience Cloud, Synthetic Shadow DOM replaces the native Shadow DOM. This allows global CSS to be applied across web components, ensuring design consistency. For example, custom buttons inherit background colors directly from the site theme, regardless of where they’re used. Navigation Options Experience Cloud sites support two types of navigation: For more advanced customization, Salesforce provides access to open-source codebases, such as the LWR Demo Agent site available on GitHub. Future-Ready Digital Experiences By leveraging the latest advancements in Lightning Web Components and the flexibility of LWR, Salesforce Experience Cloud empowers organizations to build connected, fast, and beautifully designed digital experiences tailored to their specific needs. Whether you’re enhancing customer engagement, building AI-enabled workflows, or streamlining collaboration, Experience Cloud serves as a powerful foundation for success. Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
December 2, 2024in Data, Mulesoft, Salesforce, Salesforce Experience Cloud
gen z and retail travel
25Nov

Gen Z and Retail Travel Insights

Is Travel Retail Ready for Gen Z? New Research Highlights Gaps in Alignment The latest research from Swiss-based travel retail agency m1nd-set sheds light on the shopping and travel behaviors of Gen Z—a group poised to become the largest segment of traveling shoppers within the next few years. The findings reveal a pressing need for the travel retail industry to better align its offerings with the unique expectations and values of this influential generation. Gen Z: A Generation with Distinct Values and Habits Peter Mohn, CEO and Owner of m1nd-set, emphasized the importance of prioritizing Gen Z consumers, noting their markedly different behaviors compared to other generations. “Like the focus placed on Millennials and Chinese consumers in recent years, it’s critical to give equal or greater attention to Gen Z. This generation exhibits distinct traits, particularly in their consumer habits, lifestyle preferences, and media consumption,” Mohn said. Key insights from m1nd-set’s research include: How Gen Z is Reshaping Travel and Retail The research highlights how Gen Z is redefining the travel industry by prioritizing experiences that are authentic, eco-conscious, and culturally meaningful over traditional luxury goods and activities. “Gen Zs are reshaping tourism,” Mohn explained, “by focusing on flexible, short-haul travel and unique experiences. They spend a significant portion of their budgets on international travel, favoring local and sustainable options over dining or shopping at home. Cultural experiences resonate far more than nightlife or traditional tourism.” Key data points from m1nd-set’s study include: Challenges in Engaging Gen Z in Travel Retail Despite their growing presence, the research highlights key challenges in converting Gen Z travelers into loyal shoppers in duty-free and travel retail spaces: Opportunities for Travel Retail: Winning Over Gen Z Mohn emphasized the vital role of shop floor sales staff in boosting Gen Z conversion rates, noting that interactions with staff positively influence purchase decisions for over 70% of Gen Z shoppers who engage with them. To capture the attention of this discerning generation, m1nd-set recommends that travel retail businesses: A Generation of Growing Influence By 2030, Gen Z and their successors, Gen Alpha, are expected to spend three times as much as all other generations combined. Currently, Gen Z already wields a staggering $200 billion in spending power, solidifying their position as a key demographic for travel retail. However, to fully tap into this potential, the industry must evolve quickly to meet the demands of this purpose-driven, tech-savvy, and sustainability-focused generation. As Mohn concluded, “Travel retail must become more than just a place to shop—it should be an engaging, socially conscious destination that resonates deeply with Gen Z values.” Like Related Posts Who is Salesforce? Who is Salesforce? Here is their story in their own words. From our inception, we’ve proudly embraced the identity of Read more Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transactional Emails are immediate, automated, non-promotional messages crucial to business operations and customer satisfaction, such as order Read more Salesforce Unites Einstein Analytics with Financial CRM Salesforce has unveiled a comprehensive analytics solution tailored for wealth managers, home office professionals, and retail bankers, merging its Financial Read more AI-Driven Propensity Scores AI plays a crucial role in propensity score estimation as it can discern underlying patterns between treatments and confounding variables Read more

Read More
November 25, 2024in Data, Salesforce Hospitality Travel and Transportation
gettectonic.com