Dive Brief:
- Salesforce is focusing on its Agentforce platform, a collection of generative AI agents, to prepare for a future in which human and digital agents “drive customer success together,” CEO Marc Benioff said on a Q2 2025 earnings call Wednesday.
- The autonomous generative AI agents are expected to bolster, rather than replace, customer service teams. One of Agentforce’s key capabilities will be making handoffs between chatbots and humans seamless, according to Benioff.
- “We're still going to have our analytics and visualization capability, and we're still going to have humans who are in sales organizations and service organizations, but we are going to extend it all with this incredible agent capability,” Benioff said during the call.
Dive Insight:
Salesforce is positioning itself as a top vendor for collaboration between autonomous AI assistants and human agents, but it will have plenty of competition from other major players.
Some of the Agentforce’s early adopters reported successful implementations ahead of the public launch in October.
Textbook publisher Wiley implemented Agentforce in time for the back-to-school season, when customer service volumes reach their peak. The company reported a double digit percentage increase in customer satisfaction and deflection rates compared to older technology, alongside a 50% increase in case resolution, due to the help of AI agents, according to Benioff.
Though Salesforce emphasized the importance of live agents, its technology has already impacted headcounts. Wiley had to hire fewer seasonal workers to handle the back-to-school rush due to the AI agents, Benioff said.
“We're still going to have humans in our companies, but we're also going to have these agents,” Benioff said. “These agents don't require a conversational prompt to take action. You can do advanced planning, reasoning with minimal human input.”
Salesforce isn’t alone in the generative AI agent rush. Microsoft credited its Dynamics 365 Contact Center, which harnesses the Copilot generative AI assistant to help companies optimize call center workflow, as a sales driver during its Q4 2024 earnings call last month.
“We ourselves are on course to save hundreds of millions of dollars in our own customer support and contact center operations,” Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said on the call. “I think we can drive that value to our customers.”
Pricing models may also impact contact centers’ choice of provider. Benioff suggested that the pricing model for Agentforce’s agents could be based on consumption, such as by charging companies based on the number of conversations.
Alternate pricing models have already appeared. Zendesk is planning on charging for its AI agents based on their performance, aligning costs with results, the company announced Wednesday.
