Salesforce's Agentforce Is Here: Trusted, Autonomous AI Agents to Scale Your Workforce

Business Wire 29-Oct-2024 8:00 AM

Agentforce delivers fully customizable autonomous AI agents that can connect to any enterprise data and take action across sales, service, marketing, and commerce

Agent Builder enables users to build an agent to automate any business process in any industry using existing Salesforce Platform tools like workflows, Apex code, and prompt templates

Customers like The Adecco Group, BACA Systems, OpenTable, Saks, and Wiley are choosing Agentforce Service Agents to drive faster, more personalized responses to customers and build efficiencies across their business

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), the world's #1 AI CRM, today announced the general availability of Agentforce, a new layer on the Salesforce Platform that enables companies to build and deploy AI agents that can autonomously take action across any business function. Agentforce goes beyond chatbots and copilots, using advanced reasoning abilities to make decisions and take action, like resolving customer cases, qualifying sales leads, and optimizing marketing campaigns. Agentforce doesn't depend on human engagement to get work done; these agents can be triggered by changes in data, business rules, pre-built automations, or signals via API calls from other systems. Companies like OpenTable, Saks, and Wiley are using Agentforce today to augment their employees, expand their workforce, and improve customer experiences.

In addition, Agentforce includes out-of-the-box agents that are easy to customize and deploy with low-code or no-code tools and that work around the clock across any channel. Agentforce Service Agent, the first generally available out-of-the-box agent, outperforms traditional chatbots by handling a wide range of tasks, from simple to complex, with pre-built topics and actions for customer support. Users can customize pre-built agents to serve any industry and any use case, like retail with order management topics, or financial services with billing and payment support topics.

????"Agentforce is redefining what's possible in business and beyond, ushering in a new era of AI abundance and limitless workforces that augment every employee, build deeper customer relationships and drive unprecedented growth and profitability," said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce. "Built on Salesforce's trusted, fully customizable platform — seamlessly integrating enterprise data, metadata, AI models, workflows, security and applications — Agentforce is what AI was meant to be."

With Agentforce, there's no need to DIY (do it yourself) your AI. Unlike other agent platforms that require complex data integration and custom automation builds, Agentforce is already built into the Salesforce Platform. Customers can instantly turn their existing Flows, prompt templates, Apex, and APIs into agent actions, seamlessly connecting to enterprise data, security models, and automations — with the added power of native tools like Data Cloud, Slack, and MuleSoft. The all-new Agent Builder enables Salesforce admins and developers to use natural language to create instructions and guardrails for their agents.

At Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce customers brought Agentforce to life by building over 10,000 autonomous agents designed to tackle specific business challenges. They learned that "if you can describe it, Agentforce can do it." With Agentforce, customers can create an on-demand digital workforce that operates without constraints, allowing them to quickly and easily build and deploy agents using the Salesforce tools and language they already know.

Why this Matters:

New Salesforce research shows that U.S. consumers can spend up to nine hours interacting with customer service trying to resolve a single issue. On average, 67% of consumers are frustrated when customer service can't resolve their issues instantly and choose to walk away from roughly one-third of customer service interactions. This presents a huge opportunity to improve the customer experience with agents.

"Piloting Agentforce made a noticeable difference during one of our busiest periods — back-to-school season. It's been exciting to go live with our first agent, and we've seen a more than 40% increase in case resolution, outperforming our old bot. Agentforce helps to manage routine responsibilities and free up our service teams for more complex cases." – Kevin Quigley, Director, Process Improvement, Wiley

What's New:

The following solutions are now generally available to all customers:

• Agentforce Service Agent — Now available, Agentforce Service Agent is a customer-facing autonomous AI agent that helps customers deliver self-service with accurate, always-on support across any channel — like voice, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and websites. Agentforce Service Agent can be set up in minutes with pre-built topics and actions for key service use cases, such as case management, reservation management, order inquiries, account management, delivery issues, and general FAQs. Escalations and hand-offs to human reps are seamless, with the full context of interactions instantly shared in the support representative's service console. For example, a rep wraps up their morning global support call, and before they can even grab a cup of coffee, a team of AI agents has automatically helped hundreds or even thousands of customers simultaneously, ranging from troubleshooting an issue with personalized advice to automatically scheduling field service appointments.
• Agent Builder — Also now available, Agent Builder makes the set-up and activation of an agent simple. Agent Builder enables users to customize out-of-the-box agents or build new agents for any role, any industry, or any use case. Using low code, or no code, Agent Builder brings in structured and unstructured data from Data Cloud and uses existing tools like Flows, Prompts, Apex, and MuleSoft APIs to configure an agent. Starting with the Agent Wizard, users are guided in the selection and setup of the agent. Next, users can create a job to be done for their agent by defining topics, writing natural language instructions within that topic, and creating a library of actions for it to choose from. Users can also easily observe an agent's plan of action and test its responses in Agent Builder.

Go deeper:

The Agentforce layer is deeply integrated into the Salesforce Platform, powered by data, AI, and Salesforce's ecosystem of Customer 360 apps, all built on a trusted foundation. The Salesforce Platform expands the boundaries of agents, enabling infinite capacity, proactive actions across any role or channel, and context of every customer interaction with powerful capabilities, including:

• Data Cloud — Data Cloud and the Zero Copy Partner Network allow organizations to harmonize all their enterprise data — both structured and unstructured — no matter where it resides. Data Cloud connects, unifies, and harmonizes customer data and metadata, giving agents access to the exact information they need to deliver precise, contextual responses. Data Cloud makes structured and unstructured data – including emails, transcripts, and PDFs – easily digestible by large language models (LLMs). Now, with new Data Cloud retrieval augmented generation (RAG) functionality, users can also upload files and URLs as data sources for their agent. Data Cloud provides the vital customer data that grounds Agentforce, making agents more contextually aware, knowledgeable, and adaptable to customer needs. For example, when a frustrated customer contacts Agentforce, Data Cloud's built-in RAG capabilities add real-time insights and context from past emails, support tickets, product photos, voicemails, and other sources as defined by governance policies to help the agent better understand the customer's perspective. Data Cloud's hybrid search then identifies the right knowledge article based on customer context to help agents resolve the issue accurately. As customer requests evolve, Data Cloud enables the agent to determine the next best steps, like automating follow-up emails.
• Atlas Reasoning Engine — The Atlas Reasoning Engine, the brain inside Agentforce, autonomously analyzes data, makes decisions, and completes tasks, providing reliable and accurate results. This is what allows Agentforce to act, not just assist. Agentforce doesn't depend on human prompts or struggle with complex, multistep tasks like now-outdated chatbots and copilots. Atlas is built on a proprietary system designed to simulate how humans think and plan. It starts by evaluating user queries and refining them for clarity and relevance. Then, it retrieves the most relevant data and builds a plan for execution. The process then refines the plan further, ensuring it's accurate, relevant, and grounded in trusted data. Created by the Salesforce AI Research team, the Atlas Project initially involved a select set of customers but grew considerably after research showed the results Agentforce could deliver were twice as relevant and 33% more accurate than other available solutions. Salesforce AI Research continues to push what's possible in the agentic AI space, incubating with strategic customers and bringing innovation to the edge of the roadmap.
• Trust & Security Built-in — The Einstein Trust Layer protects customer data through robust security features and guardrails like zero data retention, toxicity detection, secure data retrieval, and dynamic grounding — improving the safety and accuracy of outputs while ensuring the responsible use of AI agents across the Salesforce ecosystem. For example, the Audit Trail feature empowers customers with the necessary data to track AI agent actions and outputs, ensuring AI usage complies with their organization's security, privacy, regulatory, and AI governance policies. Additionally, Salesforce has released a new set of principles and ethical controls, known as trust patterns, to enhance the reliability of the AI agents and ensure a seamless partnership between humans and AI. These patterns include hallucination reduction with topic classification, opt-out functionality, and design decisions to ensure proper human oversight.
• Customer 360 — Agentforce is deeply integrated with Salesforce Customer 360, leveraging the full power of applications like sales, service, marketing, and commerce. It provides a complete view of the customer, enabling seamless hand-offs to human agents with the full conversation history.
• MuleSoft capabilities — MuleSoft is an industry-leading integration, automation, and API management platform, managing 205 billion integration flow monthly executions and 331 billion automation flow monthly executions. MuleSoft can extend Agentforce capabilities by enabling Salesforce developers and admins to leverage their APIs and bring in third-party data.
• Salesforce Flow capabilities — Customers have been building workflow automations in Flow Builder since 2019, with an estimated 4 trillion flows built annually and 5.6 billion hours saved, according to Salesforce research. Agentforce can take action by invoking any existing process flow created in Flow Builder, such as elevating a priority of a customer case ticket.
• Slack — Slack empowers every employee with agentic skills in the flow of work, making it the best place to deploy Agentforce for employee-facing use cases. Users can build and customize employee agents, tap into better context with more relevance, and work side-by-side with agents right where work is already happening in Slack.

Agentforce Industry Examples:

The flexibility of the Agentforce platform is critical to tailoring each agent to serve a specific use case or industry. Customers can expect agents in the following sectors:

• Communications — A billing resolution agent provides faster customer support around billing inquiries and resolves issues faster to boost team productivity and improve customer experiences. For example, if a customer submits a complaint or question about a specific charge on their account, the agent can analyze past monthly bills, identify the issue, and validate dispute requests to arrive at a solution based on business rules.
• Education — A recruitment services agent provides immediate, personalized assistance to prospective students, 24/7. Instead of receiving repetitive or reactive responses from a chatbot or having to wait for support from staff, prospective students will get the tailored information they need in real time. The agent will be able to engage in a dynamic conversation and answer multiple questions on financial aid, specific majors, and other topics while providing helpful recommendations for students.
• Banking — A banking service agent provides faster responses to customer service inquiries and automates complex manual tasks like facilitating transaction disputes. For example, the agent can autonomously retrieve recent transactions from an account, coordinate with customers to identify unauthorized charges, notify merchants of disputed charges, and issue provisional credits to customers — all before a human agent needs to intervene.
• Insurance — An insurance service agent helps insurance brokerages automate time-intensive processes, such as plan year renewals, and identify potential retention risks. For example, the agent can proactively analyze client data, detect gaps in client coverage, and create action plans with recommendations for potential plan adjustments or additional coverage options to fill the gaps.
• Healthcare — A patient services agent answers inquiries and helps schedule the best physician for a given patient based on their needs. For example, the agent will be able to review coverage benefits, generate medical history summaries, and approve care requests.
• Life Sciences — A medical sales agent proactively manages inventory and generates contracts with hospital systems. For example, the agent will be able to curate promotional content based on clinical studies and an HCP's specialty.
• Manufacturing — A proactive maintenance agent monitors the vast amount of data being generated by connected assets — including machinery, industrial equipment and vehicles, appliances, and devices — in real time. For example, the agent will be able to identify declining performance or potential failures, proactively alert customers to the issue, and help them set up a service appointment. It will also be able to provide detailed summaries so customer service representatives and technicians can quickly understand case history to better serve customers.
• Public Sector — A DMV help agent helps answer questions about registration, licenses, and appointments. For example, the agent will be able to help provide guidance to someone selling their vehicle to ensure everything is properly reported to the state.
• Media — ??An advertising proposal agent helps advertising sales teams respond faster to campaign briefs and requests for proposals (RFPs). For example, the agent will be able to suggest the right combination of ad products, target audience, and placement details that fit the campaign's needs and KPIs, and help kickstart a comprehensive media plan on behalf of an ad sales team.
• Retail — ??A personal shopper agent acts as a digital concierge for online shoppers, using generative AI to provide personalized assistance on ecommerce sites, chat, or messaging apps like WhatsApp. Unlike basic chatbots that are limited to answering predefined questions, it taps into a retailer's catalog and product data, learning from shoppers' behavior and preferences. This allows shoppers to use natural language search, get conversational responses, and quickly add items to their cart for instant checkout.

Customer & Analyst Quotes

"Since introducing Agentforce at Saks, we are beginning to see the real potential for its autonomous AI agents to augment our teams' ability to provide personalized and efficient customer support. Agentforce will streamline routine tasks, such as order tracking, enabling our service teams to prioritize more meaningful customer interactions and focus on delivering a high-touch, tailored customer experience. We're excited to continue enhancing our luxury shopping experience and exploring new ways Agentforce can continue to further elevate our service." – Mike Hite, Chief Technology Officer, Saks Global

"Every year, OpenTable helps 60,000 restaurants fill 1.7 billion seats. With Agentforce, we are able to automate routine tasks like reservation changes and loyalty point redemptions, freeing up our support team to focus on more complex customer inquiries. Saving just two minutes on a 10-minute call lets our service reps focus on strengthening customer relationships. The seamless integration with Service Cloud gives us a unified view of each diner's preferences and history, allowing us to deliver personalized, high-quality service. It's not just about solving problems faster — it's about creating better, more meaningful interactions with our diners and restaurants. With Agentforce, we can meet growing global demand while maintaining the exceptional service our customers expect." – George Pokorny, Senior VP of Global Customer Success, OpenTable

"After great early success with Salesforce, we are focused on the next era of AI to transform the future of staffing, consulting, and business services across the 100,000 clients we support on any given day. By harnessing Data Cloud, MuleSoft, and Salesforce's AI capabilities, including Agentforce, we're unlocking the full power of our data to accelerate decision-making, boost efficiency, and reimagine how we serve clients." – Caroline Basyn, Chief Digital & IT Officer, The Adecco Group

"Agentforce will help ezCater transform the way workplaces order and manage food. With Agentforce, we will be able to effectively streamline everything from last-minute order changes to managing dietary preferences through AI-powered agents. Agentforce will also ensure we can seamlessly transition to human assistance if a more complex issue arises. This blend of AI and human interaction ensures that our customers always have the best experience, no matter what their needs may be." – Erin DeCesare, CTO, ezCater

"Agentforce isn't just another AI platform that requires months of customization. At BACA Systems, we saw how it enabled us to launch powerful generative AI experiences in days — no AI engineers needed. For customers with larger admin teams, the impact could be even greater. Unlike other platforms, Agentforce prioritizes data privacy, building on the trust we expect from Salesforce, and these virtual coworkers become invaluable assets. We started our journey with employee-facing use cases where our team members were saving multiple hours a week, and now, with Agentforce, we see even more opportunity to drive efficiencies and better serve our customers." – Andrew Russo, Salesforce Architect, BACA Systems

"We can't wait to start utilizing Agentforce to completely reimagine the recruitment and enrollment processes at Unity Environmental University. Instead of traditional forms or even chatbots, our students will soon have the convenience of interacting with an autonomous recruitment agent directly on our website, which will offer personalized support around the college application process." – Dr. Melik Khoury, President & CEO, Unity Environmental University

"For first-generation college students, the 1:385 coach-to-student ratio makes receiving individualized guidance difficult. By integrating Agentforce into our platform, we are implementing cutting-edge solutions to better support students. Agents empower our coaches to focus on high-touch, personalized experiences — real connection and guidance — while Agentforce manages vital tasks like sharing deadlines and answering common questions at any time day or night." – Siva Kumari, CEO, College Possible

"Agentforce provides organizations the unique opportunity to transition from incremental gains to exponential ROI with agents by automating customer interactions, improving outcomes, and reducing costs. By integrating data, flows, and user interfaces, it mitigates risk and accelerates time to value. The agentic platform approach enables businesses to harness the full potential of AI, transforming how they engage with customers and setting the stage for exponential growth." – Rebecca Wettemann, CEO and principal analyst at industry analyst firm Valoir

"Autonomous agents powered by Salesforce's Agentforce are transforming the customer experience by delivering fast, accurate, and personalized support around the clock. By harnessing advanced AI to make decisions and take action autonomously, businesses can resolve customer issues more quickly and at scale, leading to more meaningful interactions and enhanced customer satisfaction. This innovation empowers companies to redirect their human workforce toward more complex tasks, ultimately driving individual productivity and business growth that scales. Agentforce sets a new standard for consistent, seamless sales, service, marketing, and commerce interactions across multiple channels, reinforcing its role as a leader in customer experience." – Michael Fauscette, CEO and Chief Analyst, Arion Research LLC

Additional Agentforce Resources:

• Try Agentforce for Free with Foundations — Customers can now try Agentforce for free with Salesforce Foundations, a $0 add-on for Enterprise Edition and higher. Announced last month, Foundations helps businesses prepare to get ready for AI by extending their CRM capabilities with additional key features from sales, service, marketing, commerce, and Data Cloud. Foundations now includes credits to power the first 1,000 conversations with Agentforce Service Agent, allowing companies to try its capabilities before buying.
• Agentblazer Community — The new Agentblazer Community makes it easy for professionals in any line of business or industry to learn about AI agents, get hands-on with Agentforce technology, connect with Salesforce product experts and community members, grow their careers, and shape the future of their organizations.
• Salesforce Accelerator — Agents for Impact — Agents for Impact is a new accelerator designed to help nonprofits harness Agentforce. Agents for Impact will provide technology, funding, and expertise to help nonprofits build and customize AI agents, enabling them to improve operational efficiency and scale community impact in the AI-driven future.
• Access to experts on demand: Salesforce Professional Services is a team of over 10,000 Salesforce consultants and architects built to help customers strategize, implement, and innovate on Salesforce; more than 95% of Salesforce Professional Services customers have reported innovating faster on Salesforce. Agentforce Activator, now available through both Salesforce Professional Services and certified partners, connects customers with Agentforce experts who can quickly build and deploy agents tailored with actions, data, and guardrails aligned with business goals and values.
• Get more done, faster: The Agentforce Partner Network empowers enterprises to customize out-of-the-box AI agents, build new ones, or deploy partner-built agents for specific industries and functions via Salesforce AppExchange. Leading Global Systems Integrators (GSIs) like Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, PwC, and Slalom are available to help accelerate adoption; customers on average report a 31% faster rollout of emerging tech after working with a consulting partner.* Systems Integrators (SIs) are also using their domain expertise to help customers define, deploy, and build AI agents. For example, NeuraFlash, a leading Salesforce implementation partner, collaborated with a large smart home security and automation provider to meet customers where they are by streamlining troubleshooting, accelerating response times, and significantly reducing the need for human intervention in support cases.

How Customers Get Agentforce

Agentforce Service Agent and Agent Builder are now generally available. Agentforce Service Agent pricing starts at $2 per conversation; standard volume discounts apply.

Get Started

• Realize the value of Agentforce sooner by working with the experts from Salesforce Professional Services and certified partners through Agentforce Activator.
• Build Your First Agent with the #BuiltWithAgentforce Quest. The first 1,000 Trailblazers to complete the Quest are eligible to receive an exclusive Agentforce T-shirt.

Resources

• Explore Agentforce
• Join the Agentblazer Community
• Learn more about Service Agents
• Estimate your ROI with Agentforce
• Learn more about Agentforce pricing
• Explore Agentforce use cases
• Learn how Agentforce works
• Read more about how AI is transforming our lives
• Get more insights on AI agent trends
• Read how Agentforce is inventing the future of agents
• Explore Salesforce's trust and ethical use principles

*Source: 2023 Salesforce Partner Value / AppExchange Customer Success Survey. 2023 survey based on n=1,000 customers across AMER, EMEA, LATAM and APAC.

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