Salesforce Agentforce: What’s All The Buzz About?
Salesforce Agentforce is here to revolutionize how we work by introducing virtual agents who can take action on your behalf and make intelligent decisions.
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Salesforce Agentforce: What’s All The Buzz About?
If you were at Dreamforce 2024 or have been following the latest CRM news, then you have definitely heard of Salesforce Agentforce. Salesforce Agentforce AI is here to revolutionize how we work by introducing virtual agents who can take action on your behalf and make intelligent decisions.
In this article, we check out what all the hype is about and explain how this brand-new technology can enhance our CRM. We also check out some concerns and question marks before wrapping up.
Sound good? Let’s dive in!
What is Salesforce Agentforce?
So what is Salesforce Agentforce in any case? Well, it has everything to do with the third wave of AI for Salesforce! Ever since Einstein was released in 2016, Salesforce has been driving an enterprise AI agenda. What started then as predictive AI moved to a focus on Generative AI. With the general availability of Agentforce this year, Autonomous AI is now upon us!
Predictive AI: leverages machine learning and data models to predict future outcomes based on past trends.
Generative AI: has the ability to create new content based on large language models, transformers, Generative Adversarial Networks, and other data models. Generative AI can make code, essays, musical compositions, images and so much more by recognizing historical patterns.
Autonomous AI: Autonomous AI doesn’t need to be operated by a human to follow tasks or make big decisions. Tech such as self-driving cars can bring together both predictive and generative AI to make dynamic decisions in a given situation.
Agentforce in Salesforce describes agents who can act within your org to carry out intelligent work on your behalf. It is more than an assistant; it is a partner or even a colleague. One of the most mind-blowing things is these agents are part of a layer of technology that sits on top of all your existing Salesforce tools and processes. Agentforce is not a feature or a product but a technology that will transform every aspect of the Salesforce platform. So, with the #1 CRM set to become a “Salesforce Agentforce platform”, what are the key offerings?
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Key Features of Agentforce
Agentforce can take task automation to the next level by acting intelligently in your Salesforce org across any channel for real-time collaboration with your team and other agents. To work effectively, these agents need centralized access to a trusted source of data. Like any AI, the data it operates off is everything so make sure it is clean!
While your agents can work anywhere in your Salesforce, there are several pre-built agents, for example:
- Service Agent: Resolves customer inquiries any time of day or night. Customer cases can be handled automatically and you can choose to introduce guardrails for when it is more appropriate that a human takes the lead.
- Agentforce Sales Development Representatives: Speak to prospects round the clock by drawing on your most up-to-date business data.
- Agentforce Campaigns: Slash time to empower marketers to create targeted campaigns that can be clearly measured.
- Personal Shopper: Engages with buyers to discuss potential purchases in a personalized way to enhance your e-commerce strategies.
These are just some of the pre-built templates from Agentforce, that require little code to customize and make your own. In theory, you are meant to be able to create any agent you want to suit your business needs.
How Agentforce Benefits Users
The benefits of Agentforce are easy to see! Not only can your AI generate content for you but it can also take intelligent action based on trusted data. The result? Your employees are freed up for more high-value work. Check out some of the biggest benefits below.
Improved Productivity Through Automation
Imagine the time your top-performing employees will save when they no longer have to spend their time answering routine emails, calls, and inquiries. Instead of drowning in manual work or having to spend time lifting and adapting content to customer interactions, your admins can oversee agents and let them do the driving. The degree to which this can boost productivity and innovation hasn’t been measured yet, watch this space!
Enhanced Customer Relationships via Personalized Interactions
When it comes to Agentforce, customers are not engaging with a one-dimensional bot but with an intelligent conversationalist who can assist them in a highly personalized way. Provided that your agent is hooked up to the right data, and you have reasonable guardrails in place, customer relationships will be enhanced with 24/7 super-speedy and incredibly personalized response.
Seamless Workflow Management
Salesforce has long been changing the game in terms of automating workflows with tools like Process Builder and later Salesforce Flows. Agentforce takes this to another level. Your CRM processes are not only automated but you can leverage agents to make key decisions in your workflow process at any time of day or night. Pretty cool huh?
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Limitations and Challenges of Agentforce
Of course, nothing is perfect and there are still a lot of questions when it comes to Agentforce. One of the biggest issues is a genuine fear amongst members of the community that the rise of agents could make many admins, service staff, and salespeople redundant and jobless. Just like human beings, Salesforce Agents have a trusted role within your organization and can make intelligent decisions 24/7 without any of the frailties or fallibilities of a human being. What does this mean for the future of our CRM? Only time will tell.
Secondly, while there are many agent templates, not all will fit your use case. Even the ones that do will require some coding and development to set up. Given how new this technology is, we still see quite a long way to go before it can be configured with all clicks and no code. To get up and running with Agentforce, you will have to set aside time and resources for development. Finally, Salesforce Agentforce pricing is still not fully transparent. You can get the Salesforce Foundations for free but you might need more than this freemium version provides to support the unique needs of your organization. Similarly, the “Agentforce” package comes at $2 per conversation for a Service Agent, which can add up very quickly. Finally, it is not easy to find standardized pricing for the Standard, Premier, or Signature Agentforce plans. So you will have to check with your Salesforce Account Executive that this technology aligns with your budget.
Predictions for the Future of Agentforce
The future of Agentforce is closely tied to the future of the Salesforce CRM. If Agentforce is as big as it is promised to be, well the sky is the limit and we will be experiencing unprecedented automation. Will some of the dystopian fears come to pass? While this is anyone’s guess, one thing is certain: it’s in everyone’s interest to upskill on this new technology fast and figure out how it impacts them. Watch this space!
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