Tag: agentforce

As businesses embrace AI-driven automation, Agentforce agents are fast becoming disruptors; making customer service, marketing, operations, communications and sales functions faster and better than ever before. However, like any workforce – digital or human – ongoing management and optimisation are essential to ensure continued performance and efficiency. To get the most out of your Agentforce agents, it’s crucial to adopt best practices and leverage structured support programs designed to maximise their potential and really see those benefits come to life.

Our Top Five Tips for Managing Your Agentforce Agents

1. Regularly Review Agent Workflows

Just like human employees need feedback and refinement, digital employees require ongoing assessment to ensure they’re working at peak efficiency. Schedule regular workflow reviews to identify inefficiencies, redundant steps, or outdated processes that may hinder performance. Regular check-ins can help fine-tune workflows and maintain seamless automation.

2. Monitor Performance Metrics & KPIs

To ensure that your digital workforce is delivering value, define key performance indicators (KPIs) such as response times, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction scores. Agentforce provides real-time analytics, allowing businesses to track agent interactions, identify bottlenecks, and optimise processes based on data-driven insights. Your agents need a goal to work towards, just like we do!

3. Ensure Data Health (even if you aren’t yet using Data Cloud!)

Autonomous AI-driven agents rely on real-time data to make intelligent decisions, and many Salesforce technologies now come pre-built with Data Cloud, a foundational layer to keep your data unified and ‘speaking the same language’. Keeping your data in check ensures that your agents have access to the most up-to-date and relevant information. Frequent data or Data Cloud reviews ensure your data is clean, structured, and compliant with security and privacy regulations – meaning that your digital agents will be set up for success.

4. Optimise Agent Training & Knowledge Base

Your digital employees are only as good as the training they receive. Updating your knowledge base regularly and refining your agent’s natural language processing (NLP) capabilities will enhance accuracy and efficiency. Providing continuous learning opportunities ensures that your AI agents evolve alongside your business needs.

5. Experiment with New Use Cases

AI is an evolving field, and businesses should continuously explore new applications for their digital employees. We encourage our customers (and our delivery team) to think outside the box. Where are the admin burdens? Where are the bottlenecks? What processes are the most time-consuming? An added bonus is, because this technology is brand new, if you think of it first – it might just be the thing that sets you above your competition!

Exclusive Support: Announcing The Performa IT Agent Review Programme

To help customers manage and optimise their Agentforce implementations, Performa IT offers an exclusive Agent Performance Review Programme – a complimentary support package included with every Agentforce deployment.

What’s Included in the Agent Performance Review Programme?

• Bi-Annual Health Checks – Ensure workflows are optimised and performing efficiently to best practice.
• Annual Data Cloud Health Check – Maintains data integrity and ensures compliance with security protocols.
• 6 One-Hour, One-to-One Support Sessions – Provide dedicated expert guidance for Q&A, troubleshooting, and eliminating risk.
• POC Demos for New Use Cases – Facilitate the exploration of new opportunities with confidence, getting your team access to expert advice before full deployment.

This programme ensures your digital employees continue delivering value and remain aligned with evolving business goals. However, for companies needing more extensive support, Performa IT offers two additional paid service tiers:

For businesses that require ongoing maintenance, troubleshooting, and expert guidance beyond the complimentary programme, we offer two tailored support options:

1. Agentforce Amplify – Essential Support & Maintenance

Designed for businesses without in-house expertise that need on-demand support, minor adjustments, and troubleshooting assistance, the Agent Activation package includes:

• Bug fixes to ensure smooth agent performance
• Q&A/help desk service for operational inquiries
• Ongoing maintenance to keep workflows efficient
• Expedited support for urgent technical issues
• Proactive maintenance and management of new releases

This tier is ideal for organisations that want to retain control over their AI agents and develop their digital workforce, but need expert guidance for continued optimisation.

2. Fully Managed Services for Agentforce

For businesses that prefer total peace of mind, our Fully Managed Services option provides a comprehensive, customisable support offering where we take care of everything related to your digital employees and leave you to focus on the more important things. Although our managed service packages are tailored to each individual customer and their requirements, this support model can include benefits such as:

• Management of Agents and workflows
• Proactive maintenance and management of new releases
• Ongoing development and enhancement of new use cases and agents
• Regular performance evaluations
• Troubleshooting & bug fixes
• Ringfenced resource
• AI-driven innovation to expand capabilities
• Strategic planning
• Access to technical architecture and BA support
• 24/7 support for critical escalations

With this package, you can focus on scaling your business while we handle the optimisation and evolution of your digital workforce.

The Key to Maximising Your AI Resources

Your Agentforce agents are powerful assets that can drive efficiency, improve customer experiences, and streamline business operations. However, ongoing management is crucial to ensure long-term success. With the Performa IT Agent Review Programme, our customers have access to complimentary expert support to keep AI agents performing at their best. And for those needing additional help, our Agent Activation and Fully Managed Services tiers provide flexible, tailored solutions.

Embrace the future of AI-driven workforces with confidence – because even digital employees perform best with the right support. Contact us today to get started on your Agentforce journey!

More on Agentforce and the Digital Workforce:

The Digital Workforce: Which Agent Should I Employ?

“If Agentforce is so easy to use, then why do I need a Salesforce Partner?”

Agentforce, a Guide to Onboarding Your Digital Employee

Human employees typically take 6 months to get fully up to speed in an organisation, and Agentforce is similar – it just happens to be a virtual one! Similar to a real employee, agents take time to learn your brand, your expectations, your colleagues and your customers.

However, while hiring a human employee involves interviews, visual, auditory and kinesthetic training, and integration into company culture, onboarding an Agentforce Agent demands a strong data foundation, extensive testing, and in-house expertise in prompt engineering and automation tools. Here are the top considerations, or prerequisites, before an AI agent joins your team.

1. Data Readiness: The Fuel for AI

AI thrives on high-quality, structured data. Just as a human employee needs training materials and business knowledge, an Agentforce Agent needs access to accurate and relevant data to function optimally.

Why It Matters

Your digital employees, or agents, are grounded in your Salesforce data, meaning that they rely on data to complete their tasks, such as answering customer questions, processing transactions, and generating insights. If your data is incomplete, outdated, or poorly structured, the agent may provide inaccurate responses, leading to inefficiencies and frustrated users.

How to Prepare

• Audit your existing data sources to ensure consistency and accuracy.

• Centralise relevant data in a structured format, leveraging CRM tools, knowledge bases, and customer interaction history.

• Define clear security guardrails to protect sensitive information while allowing the agent access to necessary datasets – this is an essential part of building your agent.

By ensuring your data is clean, structured, and accessible, you set up your digital employee for long-term success.

2. Depth of the Testing Process

Onboarding a digital employee is not a “set it and forget it” process. Yes, Agentforce is user-friendly, and much of the set-up can be done declaratively (e.g.point-and-click, rather than coding). However, extensive testing is crucial to ensure that Agentforce Agents perform tasks as expected and improve over time. In many Salesforce implementations, there is a danger of the testing process being overlooked – but this is the part of the process that determins the outputs, ensuring that the results are exactly what your team expect and desires. Think of it like an employee review process, you need to consistently check their work in order to give them room to improve.

Why It Matters

AI learns by interacting with data, and using generative AI means that you will get slightly different outputs each time – even from the same input! Therefore, this makes it necessary to thoroughly test and refine its responses before deployment. An improperly tested AI agent may misinterpret queries, provide incorrect information, or fail to escalate issues to human employees when needed.

When it comes to AI, trust is a big factor – for customers just as much as employees. When done properly, testing ensures that your customers get the best possible experience and reinforces the trust in your brand.

How to Prepare

• Conduct rigorous testing before deployment, running 30-40 different test scenarios at a minimum.

• Simulate real-world interactions to validate responses and identify gaps. The best way to do this is get the whole team on board, as they are best placed to determine the quality of the outputs. When we implement Agentforce for our customers, we ask users to do everything in their power to make the agent give a poor or incorrect response. If they can’t break it, then it’s ready to deploy!

• Continually refine responses based on feedback and performance analytics.

Thorough testing ensures your digital employees can handle a variety of scenarios with accuracy and efficiency.

3. Skills for Prompt Engineering

A key factor in optimising digital employees is the ability to craft precise prompts that guide their behaviour. Prompt engineering is an essential skill that defines how AI understands and processes information. In essence, a good prompt is a clear and detailed instruction with strict perameters, enabling AI to produce accurate and relevant outputs by providing good context and desired task details.

Why It Matters

Just as human employees follow training guides and workflows, AI-driven employees depend on well-structured prompts to operate within predefined boundaries. Poorly engineered prompts can lead to inconsistent outputs, while well-crafted prompts ensure repeatable, reliable results.

How to Prepare

• Develop repeatable prompt templates to create consistent, detailed responses aligned with your business needs – these can be over 100 lines long to cover complex workflows.
• Lean on internal experts to create prompts according to best practices, and leverage Salesforce’s free learning platform, Trailhead, to upskill your team. It is hugely advantageous for all team members to have at least a basic understanding of how the AI technology works.

• If you lack internal expertise, seek a skilled partner with real-world experience implementing Agentforce and Salesforce AI technologies successfully.

Companies that invest in strong prompt engineering practices get the most out of their digital employees by ensuring reliable and predictable AI behavior.

4. Leveraging Your Existing Automation Catalogue

Agentforce Agents don’t operate in isolation; they integrate with and pull from existing automation tools to streamline operations. Businesses that harness their existing automation infrastructure can deploy digital employees faster and more effectively.

Why It Matters

Ensuring smooth integration with Salesforce automation tools like Flow and APEX is essential for scalable and future-proofed AI implementation. And why not leverage the great work that has already been done to make your agents even better?

How to Prepare

• Map out your existing automation catalogue and identify where AI can enhance workflows.

• Use Salesforce Flow and APEX to create new AI-driven actions while maintaining architectural consistency.

• As mentioned in the prompt engineering section above, ensure that your team has the necessary expertise in automation tools to maximise efficiency.

By integrating digital employees into your existing automation framework, you create a seamless, scalable AI-powered ecosystem.

Final Thoughts

Successfully onboarding digital employees requires a shift in mindset from traditional human hiring processes. To get the best results from your Agentforce Agents, you need to:

• Ensure data readiness so your AI has accurate information to work with.

• Conduct extensive testing to refine responses and improve performance.

• Leverage in-house and partner expertise in prompt engineering to create precise, repeatable AI behaviours.

• Maximise existing automations to streamline workflows and future-proof your AI implementation.

By following these four key prerequisites, you can confidently onboard digital employees that enhance productivity, drive efficiency, and seamlessly integrate into your existing operations.

Are you ready to onboard your first digital employee? Reach out to our team for expert guidance and a complimentary readiness session to kick-start your AI journey!

More on Agentforce and the Digital Workforce:

The Digital Workforce: Which Agent Should I Employ?

How Agentforce Can Drive ROI

‘If Agentforce is so easy to use, why do I need a partner?’

Is Agentforce making Einstein redundant? How do these two Salesforce features compare? Read on to learn the ways in which Salesforce’s generative AI functionality can help you save costs and elevate the customer experience with real-world use cases.

The Salesforce ecosystem is ablaze with ‘agentic AI’ as Agentforce rapidly accumulates more and more functionality. Recently, a member of our team was asked the question, “Will Agentforce make Einstein redundant?” – so we thought we would answer it in this article!

The unhelpfully short answer is, ‘no’. To elaborate: different types of AI are good at different things (just like humans), although Agentforce does have some generative functionality (e.g. it creates new content based on the information it has access to), Agentforce’s main differentiator is that it is ‘agentic’, meaning that it can take action (within certain parameters or ‘guardrails’.) It is true that Agentforce and Einstein do overlap in some respects, but Einstein is a great way to explore how AI can fit into your business strategy without plunging into all of the data readiness activity required for Agentforce implementation, or taking on a credit-based payment structure – it can also provide some great, low investment quick-wins! The use cases below explain the tasks that Einstein excels at, without the need for ‘agentic’ AI.

1. Einstein Discovery

Einstein Discovery utilises machine learning to analyse data and uncover patterns, providing actionable insights and recommendations. It processes both Salesforce and external datasets to identify trends, correlations, and anomalies.

Value Add: By offering data-driven insights, Einstein Discovery enables businesses to make informed decisions, optimise operations, and identify new opportunities. It transforms complex data into understandable narratives, facilitating strategic planning.

Example Use Case: A financial services company employs Einstein Discovery to identify patterns indicating a high risk of churn. By proactively reaching out to these customers with personalised offers and support, the company reduces churn rates and improves customer retention.

Availability: Einstein Discovery is available as an add-on in the Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions of Salesforce.

2. Einstein Prediction Builder

This feature allows users to create custom AI models to predict specific business outcomes, such as customer lifetime value, using clicks instead of code. It leverages historical data to forecast future events.

Value Add: Einstein Prediction Builder empowers businesses to anticipate customer behaviour and market trends, enabling proactive strategies to enhance customer retention and profitability.

Example Use Case: A hotel chain implements Einstein Prediction Builder to forecast guest preferences for amenities and services. By analysing historical booking data, the chain predicts which guests are likely to book spa services or dine in-house, allowing for targeted promotions and personalised guest experiences.

Availability: It is included in the Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions with Sales Cloud Einstein.

3. Einstein Next Best Action

This tool delivers context-specific recommendations to employees and customers within their workflow. It considers business rules and predictive models to suggest the most effective actions.

Value Add: By providing tailored recommendations, Einstein Next Best Action enhances decision-making, improves customer satisfaction, and increases conversion rates.

Example Use Case: The customer service department in a retail company leverages Next Best Action to provide personalised product recommendations to customers. By analysing purchase history and browsing behaviour, the system suggests relevant products, enhancing the shopping experience and increasing sales.

Availability: It is available in Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions, and it offers 5,000 strategy requests per month at no charge.

4. Einstein Language

Einstein Language encompasses natural language processing (NLP) capabilities that analyse text to determine sentiment and intent. It can classify text and detect customer emotions and feelings across various communication channels.

Value Add: Understanding customer sentiment and intent allows businesses to tailor responses, improve service quality, and automate the routing of inquiries to appropriate departments.

Example Use Case: A public transportation provider implements Einstein Language to analyse customer feedback from social media and service hotlines. By detecting sentiment and intent, the provider identifies areas of dissatisfaction and addresses them promptly, improving overall service quality.

Availability: Einstein Language is available as an add-on across various Salesforce editions.

5. Einstein Bots

This is probably the feature that is most similar to Agentforce functionality. Einstein Bots are a great way to get started with chatbots, offering an affordable and less complex way of lightening the volume of service requests. These bots interact with customers on digital channels, handling routine inquiries and redirecting to human agents when required. They are integrated with CRM data to provide personalised responses. These are a great option if you need help answering day-to-day customer queries, or want to replace a lengthy and non-user-friendly FAQ section.

Value Add: By automating common customer interactions, Einstein Bots reduce the workload of human agents, provide instant support, and enhance customer engagement.

Example Use Case: A healthcare provider uses Einstein Bots to answer patients’ questions and manage prescription refill requests. Patients interact with the bot to understand their options and request medication, and the bot collates all the necessary information to present to medical professionals for approval, reducing administrative workload and enhancing patient convenience.

Availability: Included in the Unlimited edition with 25 Einstein Bot conversations per user per month.

6. Einstein Vision

This feature offers image recognition capabilities, allowing businesses to analyse and classify images. It can identify brand logos, objects, and text within images.

Value Add: Einstein Vision enables companies to monitor brand presence on social media, improve quality control processes, automate image categorisation, and enhance visual search functionalities.

Example Use Case: Einstein Vision allows customers of an ecommerce company to upload images of desired products, enabling the system to identify and suggest similar items available in the retailer’s inventory. This enhances the shopping experience by making product discovery more intuitive.

Availability: Available as an add-on in various Salesforce editions.

7. Einstein Lead Scoring

Einstein Lead Scoring analyses historical sales data to assign scores to leads based on their likelihood to convert. It identifies patterns that correlate with successful conversions.

Value Add: By prioritising leads with higher conversion probabilities, sales teams can focus their efforts effectively, improving efficiency and increasing sales.

Example Use Case: A real estate agency utilises Einstein Lead Scoring to prioritise potential property buyers. By analysing client interactions and property preferences, the agency identifies leads most likely to convert, enabling Sales and Marketing to focus their efforts effectively and increase sales.

Availability: Part of Sales Cloud Einstein, available in Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions.

8. Einstein Opportunity Scoring

Similar to Einstein Lead Scoring, this feature evaluates open opportunities and assigns scores indicating the likelihood of a successful close. It considers factors such as customer engagement and deal progress.

Value Add: Einstein Opportunity Scoring helps sales representatives prioritise deals, allocate resources wisely, and forecast revenue more accurately.

Example Use Case: A B2B energy solutions provider uses Einstein Opportunity Scoring to evaluate the potential of various sales opportunities. By assessing factors such as client engagement and proposal responses, the provider allocates resources to deals with the highest likelihood of closure, optimising sales efficiency.

Availability: Included in Sales Cloud Einstein for Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions.

9. Einstein Forecasting

Einstein Forecasting uses AI to predict sales revenue by analysing historical data and current pipeline information. It provides insights into forecast accuracy and potential outcomes.

Value Add: Accurate sales forecasts enable businesses to set targets, manage resources effectively, and make informed strategic decisions.

Example Use Case: A hotel chain leverages Einstein Forecasting to predict sales revenue by analysing historical data and current booking information. This enables the company to set realistic targets, manage inventory, and be more confident in their decision making.

Availability: Available with Sales Cloud Einstein in Performance and Unlimited editions, and as an add-on in Enterprise edition.

10. Einstein Activity Capture

This tool analyses emails and calendar events to identify new contacts and relevant information, automatically updating and enriching Salesforce records.

Value Add: By maintaining up-to-date contact information, businesses enhance data accuracy, reduce manual data entry, and improve relationship management.

Example Use Case: A bank with a busy, growing sales team employs Einstein to identify new contacts and relevant information, ensuring that no information on potential new customers is lost in cluttered inboxes. The system automatically updates Salesforce records, maintaining up-to-date contact information, supporting the pipeline and enhancing relationship management.

Availability: Part of Sales Cloud Einstein, available in Performance and Unlimited editions, and as an add-on in Enterprise edition.

11. Einstein Knowledge Creation

Einstein Knowledge Creation streamlines the process of expanding an organisation’s knowledge base by automatically drafting new articles based on customer interactions.

Value Add: By analysing case data and conversation transcripts, Einstein identifies recurring issues and generates relevant content, ensuring that information is up-to-date and readily available for both agents and customers. This proactive approach reduces the time spent on manual article creation and helps in quicker issue resolution.

Example Use Case: A software company notices a surge in customer inquiries about a specific error message in their application. Einstein Knowledge Creation analyses these interactions and drafts a knowledge article outlining the error, its causes, and step-by-step solutions. After review, the article is published, enabling customers to self-serve and resolve the issue without contacting support, thereby reducing the support team’s workload.

Availability: Available with Service Cloud Einstein in Performance and Unlimited editions, and as an add-on in Enterprise edition.

12. Einstein Work Summaries

Einstein Work Summaries leverages generative AI to draft concise summaries of customer interactions, capturing the main issues and resolutions discussed.

Value Add: This feature reduces the time spent on reviewing past interactions and ensures that all team members are informed of relevant activity and information.

Example Use Case: In the healthcare industry, a patient contacts support multiple times regarding issues with accessing their online health records. Einstein Work Summaries compiles these interactions into a coherent summary, highlighting the patient’s concerns and the solutions provided. When the patient reaches out again, the support agent can quickly review the summary to understand the context and offer informed assistance, leading to a more personalised and efficient support experience.

Availability: Available with Service Cloud Einstein in Performance and Unlimited editions, and as an add-on in Enterprise edition.

13. Einstein Reply Recommendations (for Live Messaging)

Einstein Reply Recommendations suggests appropriate responses during live customer chats. It identifies common queries and effective replies, presenting agents with a selection of recommended responses.

Value Add: This accelerates response times, ensures consistency, and enhances the customer experience.

Example Use Case: A client of a shipping company sends a chat message about the status of their order. Einstein Reply Recommendations suggests responses such as “Your order has been shipped and is expected to arrive on [date].” The agent can select and send the most appropriate reply, reducing handling time.

Availability: Available with Salesforce Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions. It requires the Service Cloud Einstein add-on license.

14. Einstein Service Replies

Einstein Service Replies utilises generative AI to draft fluent, courteous, and contextually relevant responses for customer service agents. By analysing historical interactions and grounding responses in the company’s knowledge base, it ensures consistency and accuracy in communications.

Value Add: This feature significantly reduces the time agents spend composing replies, allowing them to focus on more complex customer issues.

Example Use Case: A customer sends an email to a clothing manufacturer about the return policy for a recent purchase via email. Einstein Service Replies drafts a personalised response detailing the return process, including any necessary steps the customer should follow. The agent reviews and sends the response promptly, enhancing customer satisfaction through swift and accurate communication.

Availability: Available with Salesforce Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions. It requires the Service Cloud Einstein add-on license.

By implementing these simple generative Salesforce AI features, organisations can enhance and automate their sales and customer service operations, improving efficiency, consistency, and customer satisfaction. As far as we can see, Einstein isn’t going anywhere. Maybe now is the time to explore which AI features are right for your business – whether that be Einstein, Agentforce, or something else entirely!

To learn more about how you could be using Salesforce Einstien to enrich your customer experience and streamline your operations, book a call with us today!

In the increasingly competitive Energy and Utilities sector, companies face the dual challenge of reducing operational costs while enhancing customer engagement. Salesforce’s AI-driven solutions, notably Einstein and Agentforce, offer transformative tools to address these challenges effectively. But what are the use cases?

Harnessing Salesforce Einstein for Enhanced Customer Engagement

Salesforce Einstein integrates advanced, generative AI capabilities directly into the Salesforce platform, enabling companies to:

• Predict Customer Needs: by analysing historical data, Einstein anticipates customer requirements, allowing for proactive service offerings.

• Personalise Interactions: by implementing tailored communication strategies, Einstein can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• Automate Routine Tasks: freeing up human resources for more complex issues, therefore improving efficiency and making room for innovation.

Some examples of how this can apply to Energy and Utilities are:

1. Account and Customer Service Summaries and Next Best Action

Einstein provides service agents with instant, comprehensive insights into customer interactions, account histories, and service cases. This functionality service teams to quickly understand customer issues and offer personalised solutions. This can be taken one step further by combining Summaries with Next Best Action, so that service agents are provided with amendable solutions to customer queries without having to formulate responses from scratch. Einstein also has the power to take these responses and turn them into helpful knowledge articles to empower customers to self-serve.

Use Case: A utility company receives numerous customer inquiries daily. With Einstein, agents can access concise summaries of each customer’s past interactions and account details, which the AI then uses to generate a response or ‘next best action’, allowing the service rep to resolve issues with accelerated speed and accuracy, improving customer satisfaction.

2. Bill and Energy Usage Insights

By centralising billing, rates, and consumption data, Einstein can generate AI-driven summaries and insights. This empowers service agents to provide accurate and timely support regarding billing inquiries and energy usage patterns.

Use Case: Customers often have questions about their consumption and bills. Einstein analyses usage data to identify trends or anomalies, enabling agents to explain charges clearly and suggest energy-saving measures, thereby enhancing transparency and trust.

3. Field Work Summary

Einstein assists field technicians by generating intelligent summaries of tasks, incorporating real-time customer data, work orders, and job images. This reduces administrative burdens and ensures accurate reporting.

Use Case: A field technician completes a maintenance job and uses Einstein to generate a detailed report, including steps taken and any issues encountered. This streamlined documentation process reduces paperwork and allows technicians to focus more on fieldwork. To save even more time, the field technician can use voice recording functionality to cut the data entry process down even further. These reports can even then be turned into knowledge articles for future training resources.

4. Clean Energy Program Advisor

Einstein aids agents in guiding customers toward optimised energy usage by providing personalised recommendations on clean energy programs and services.

Use Case: An energy provider aims to promote its renewable energy programs as this is their value proposition. Einstein analyses customer profiles and usage patterns to identify those likely interested in clean energy solutions, enabling targeted outreach and increased program adoption.

Einstein features can provide great quick wins for businesses looking to leverage AI to save time, cut costs and improve their customer experience.

Implementing Agentforce to Streamline Operations

Agentforce, Salesforce’s exciting new autonomous AI agent technology, automates more complex tasks across various functions. These agents have the power to act, making them available for a different, agentic, category of use cases than the generative Einstein tools. Here are three key ways we use Agentforce to give Energy and Utilities companies a leg-up in their industry:

1. Use Case: Instant price comparison with competitors

Unsurprisingly, price is one of the most important factors to customers in this market, and often this is cited as the reason for transitioning to a new provider. We have taken the Einstein Billing Insights use case even further, using Agentforce AI to allow customers to compare their current bills, calling on additional resources like the EPC database to validate inputs from the customer, and using all of this information to dynamically outprice their competitors. By setting strict prompts and guardrails, you can ensure that you will achieve the right margins, balancing your business needs with customer incentives.

1. Use Case: Conversational advisory services and intuitive upselling

With the right knowledge articles and prompts, Agentforce can get to know your customer on a scale that would require a massive investment to replicate in hiring a physical sales team. Customer activities, purchase history, previous engagement and behaviours all make up a picture of their preferences and intent. Armed with this information, these AI agents can advise your customers on which products or services would suit them best, upselling certain upgrades based on both their profile and the nuances of each Agentforce interaction 24/7.

1. Use Case: Scheduling maintenance and installation

For our clients in this sector, scheduling and coordinating field service is a substantial admin burden that they aim to reduce. Salesforce has certainly alleviated much of the manual data entry with its various automation capabilities and products such as Field Service Lightning, but businesses can now enlist Agentforce to do ALL of the heavy lifting. AI Agents can schedule, amend and cancel appointments using logic from the Atlas reasoning engine to correctly decipher and interpret customer requests, all while acknowledging external elements such as engineer availability and experience, operating hours and resource fluctuations.

Not only can these use cases reduce costs by automating routine tasks, decreasing reliance on third-party resources and limiting the need to expand your existing team, but they can become a driving force for customer acquisition. Personalised and timely interactions (and actions) foster stronger customer relationships, helping to retain existing customers and win new ones. As the Energy and Utilities vertical continues to navigate complex dynamics in the macro and micro environment, leveraging Salesforce’s AI solutions like Einstein and Agentforce offers a strategic advantage in a saturated market.

Book a call with us today to learn how we can help you enrich your customer experience, cut costs and streamline your operations with Salesforce AI.

‘Turning Agents into Teammates with Agentforce’

First of all: What is Slack?

If you’re not familiar with the technology, Slack is a business comms platform that enables teams to collaborate efficiently, centralising conversations, files, and tools in one place. With its intuitive interface and powerful integrations, Slack has become a cornerstone of modern workplaces, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity. However, as businesses generate more data and communicate across multiple channels, employees often struggle to find the right information when they need it. This is where AI-powered features in Slack, including Agentforce, come into play.

Why Agentforce in Slack? Turning AI into Your Teammate

Slack is taking a bold approach to AI by integrating Agentforce, an autonomous AI-driven assistant, to help users navigate their work environment more effectively. Rather than replacing human effort, Slack AI aims to act as an enabler, supporting users by synthesising (making information coherent) and summarising existing data, surfacing relevant insights, and reducing the time spent searching for critical information.

A key advantage of integrating AI into workplace communication is the ability to tailor information to different learning styles. Whether you prefer concise bullet points or a more detailed breakdown, AI-powered summarisation adapts to your needs, ensuring you receive the most relevant updates in a way that suits you best.

Moreover, Slack prioritises responsible and sustainable AI. This means ensuring fairness, non-discrimination, and privacy at every stage. Your data never leaves Slack, and large language models (LLMs) are not trained on it, nor do they access the Internet. This commitment guarantees that businesses can harness AI-driven productivity without compromising data security or compliance, and this model (coined the ‘Einstein Trust Layer by Salesforce) is a major reason why Salesforce are leading the charge with AI.

The Challenge: Time is Our Most Precious Resource

The modern workplace is overwhelmed with information. 9.3 hours per week—that’s how long employees spend searching for information across multiple sources (Slack, 2025). With countless apps contributing to daily workflows, critical insights often become scattered across different channels and systems.

Can you trust the data you access? Is it up-to-date or stale? Finding relevant information in Slack shouldn’t feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. With Agentforce in Slack, AI removes the noise, surfaces the most pertinent details, and ensures teams stay informed without wasting time. Notably, early pilot users of Slack AI have already reported saving 97 minutes per week!

Key Uses of Slack AI

Slack’s AI-powered features are designed to eliminate information overload and optimise workflow efficiency. Here’s how:

1. Slack Recap: AI-Powered Catch-Up

Slack AI automatically generates intelligent recaps of conversations and updates. Whether you’re catching up after a holiday or need a quick summary of a busy channel after a day of meetings, Recap ensures you never miss key details. Instead of scrolling through endless messages, AI compiles the most relevant discussions so you can focus on what matters.

2. Capture Key Takeaways from Huddles and Meetings

Meetings are crucial for collaboration, but not everyone can attend every discussion. Slack AI helps capture and summarise the key takeaways from huddles and meetings, making it easier to align teams, document action items, and ensure nothing gets lost in translation.

3. AI-Powered Search: Finding the Right Information, Fast

In a recent webinar, Slack highlighted that 47% of workers struggle to find information in their workplace tools. Slack AI enhances search functionality by understanding context and delivering the most relevant results based on your query. Whether you’re looking for a project update, a specific file, or past conversations, AI helps retrieve the right information instantly.

4. Summarise Channels for Quick Insights

Slack channels often contain valuable discussions, but reading through weeks of messages to find one key piece of information can be overwhelming. With AI-powered channel summarisation, Slack condenses conversations into digestible highlights, providing a quick overview of what’s important without needing to sift through hundreds of messages.

5. AI Workflow Builder: Automate with Natural Language

Slack AI introduces an AI Workflow Builder, allowing users to create automated processes using natural language commands. Instead of manually setting up workflows, users can describe their needs, like they would to a colleague, and AI takes care of the rest – streamlining routine tasks and reducing manual effort.

AI in the Workplace: The Future is Now

AI is already an integral part of our daily lives – Slack (2025) reports that 60% of people interact with AI at least once a day. By 2030, 80% of project management tasks are expected to be AI-driven. This shift isn’t about replacing human workers; rather, it’s about enhancing their capabilities, or ‘augmenting’ them (a hot AI buzzword).

As the Harvard Business Review (2023) states, “AI won’t replace humans. Humans with AI will replace humans without AI.” This perspective underscores the importance of businesses adopting AI-powered tools to remain competitive. Companies that leverage AI, like Slack’s intelligent features, will outperform those that don’t by working smarter, not harder. The good news is that Slack has made it that much easier to incorporate and explore AI securely in your employees’ day-to-day work.

Customisation & Integrations

Yes – like Salesforce, Slack can integrate with all of your other third-party ISV (Independent Software Vendor) applications. Companies can embed their preferred applications directly into Slack, ensuring a tailored experience that aligns with their workflow. In this way, businesses can extend Slack AI’s capabilities to meet their specific requirements.

Conversational AI

Slack AI isn’t just about finding information – it’s about creating a conversational interface where humans and AI agents collaborate. Whether it’s retrieving reports, automating workflows, or summarising discussions, Slack AI acts as a digital assistant that helps teams find what they need and take action immediately.

It’s clear that AI is a powerful force in shaping the modern workplace. By removing the noise and presenting relevant insights, Slack AI empowers teams to focus on meaningful work rather than administrative overhead.

Slack is levelling-up the workplace by making AI an intuitive and integrated part of daily communication. From smarter search to automated workflows, Slack AI helps businesses save time, increase efficiency, and enhance collaboration – all while ensuring data security and compliance.

For organisations looking to support, augment and retain their staff in an increasingly competitive landscape, adopting AI in Slack is a brilliant quick-win. By turning AI into a true teammate, you can pave the way for a more intelligent, productive, and efficient future of work for you and your team.

To learn more, schedule a chat with one of our friendly experts today.

References

• Karim R. Lakhani and Adi Ignatius (2023) AI Won’t Replace Humans — But Humans With AI Will Replace Humans Without AI, Harvard Business Review, Business and Society. Available [online] https://hbr.org/2023/08/ai-wont-replace-humans-but-humans-with-ai-will-replace-humans-without-ai (Accessed 13/02/25)
• Slack City Tour (2025) Salesforce Webinar 16/01/25

Salesforce remains a dominant force in the CRM and enterprise software industry as it enters its new financial year. Known for its innovation and relentless focus on customer success, they are poised to redefine the technological landscape – even beyond the world of CRM. As a Salesforce customer and partner, we understand how quickly the Salesforce offering and ecosystem can change. But this year, the CRM leader is doubling down on Agentforce and going for gold as the reigning AI tech company in 2025. Key priorities for Salesforce this year include furthering its ambitious Agentforce initiative, AI advancements in industry-specific products such as Health Cloud, strategies to maintain market leadership in competition with Microsoft, and its ongoing investment in thought leadership. These priorities underscore Salesforce’s commitment to driving technological progress and creating meaningful impacts across verticals.

Agentforce: Building the Future of Autonomous Assistants

Salesforce’s Agentforce initiative represents a major leap in the development and deployment of autonomous agents. Building on the success of the Agentforce Service Agent and newly released SDR Agent, Salesforce plans to introduce new agents such as the Marketing Agent and the Personal Shopping Agent. These agents are designed to simplify workflows, enhance customer interactions, and provide a deeper level of personalisation than ever before.

A key component of the Agentforce strategy is the concept of “agents working with agents.” This vision entails creating an infrastructure where autonomous agents can seamlessly collaborate with each other to complete complex tasks. For instance, a Marketing Agent might coordinate with a Sales Agent to ensure leads are nurtured effectively, while a Personal Shopping Agent integrates with customer support agents to offer tailored recommendations in real-time.

To promote adoption and foster community engagement, Salesforce plans to host more hands-on events for Trailblazers, similar to the interactive sessions we have seen at Dreamforce and Agentforce World Tour. These events aim to showcase the power of Agentforce by providing live demonstrations, workshops, and use-case scenarios that highlight how these assistants can revolutionise workflows across industries. By empowering the Trailblazer community to experiment with and deploy these tools, Salesforce is ensuring that Agentforce becomes a foundational aspect of modern business operations. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to check out the Trailhead modules, like ‘Get Ready for Agentforce’ where you can get hands-on with this exciting new technology for free!

Health Cloud: Transforming Healthcare with AI

Healthcare is a critical industry where Salesforce is poised to make significant strides. The Salesforce Health Cloud, already a key player in the market, is expected to become even more influential in 2025 due to the integration of advanced AI capabilities. With the growing demand for personalised and efficient healthcare solutions, AI-powered tools can revolutionise how providers interact with patients and manage their operations.

AI’s potential in healthcare includes predictive analytics, personalised care recommendations, and enhanced patient monitoring. For instance, AI can analyse large datasets to identify patterns that predict health outcomes, enabling providers to intervene earlier and improve patient care. Additionally, tools like chatbots and virtual assistants can improve accessibility by helping patients schedule appointments, navigate insurance processes, select appropriate products and receive medical advice in real-time.

Salesforce Health Cloud stands out as a comprehensive platform for managing these capabilities. Its ability to unify patient data, integrate with electronic health records, and deliver actionable insights makes it an indispensable tool for healthcare providers. As Salesforce continues to invest in AI, we can expect the Health Cloud to become a central hub for healthcare innovation, enabling providers to deliver smarter, more personalised care while improving operational efficiency.

Salesforce Voice: Revolutionising Communication

Another key area of focus for Salesforce in 2025 will undoubtedly be Service Cloud Voice. This feature transforms business communication by integrating AI-driven voice technology with Salesforce’s broader ecosystem. Essentially, as we saw in the impressive Dreamforce Saks demo, calls will be automatically triaged, and customers with non-complex, priority or sensitive requests will be able to phone up with a query or issue and be served by an AI agent who can understand, interpret and meet their needs without the input of a human.

This technology will use a scalable, resilient architecture built on standard Salesforce objects, designed to support high-volume, high-availability contact centers. This design ensures a consistent, integrated experience across voice, messaging, and email, allowing IT leaders to seamlessly integrate multiple systems within their contact centers. This incredible new functionality can be additionally combined with features like Einstein Conversation Insights, supporting both sales and service contexts and providing actionable data to optimise performance.

We are not yet sure when this technology will become generally available, but we are excited for the moment that this functionality moves off the roadmap and into the hands of users.

Brand and Strategic Events: Staying Ahead of the Competition

One of Salesforce’s key challenges in 2025 will be maintaining its market leadership amidst fierce competition from Microsoft and other industry players. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 platform, bolstered by its integration with Azure and AI tools like Copilot, presents the CRM leader with a rival. However, Salesforce has consistently demonstrated its ability to stay ahead by leveraging its unique strengths, including its robust ecosystem, customer-centric focus, and innovative products like Agentforce.

To reinforce its brand and maintain its competitive edge, Salesforce is expected to continue hosting large-scale strategic events such as Agentforce World Tour. These events not only showcase the company’s latest innovations but also serve as powerful platforms for engaging customers, partners, and developers. In 2025, these events will place a significant emphasis on Agentforce, highlighting its capabilities and demonstrating how it outperforms competitors’ solutions.

By combining product innovation with impactful events, Salesforce can reinforce its position as a leader in the CRM space. Moreover, its ability to create a vibrant community around its platform ensures that it remains top-of-mind for businesses seeking cutting-edge solutions.

Thought Leadership: Engaging the Broader Ecosystem

In addition to being an industry leader, Salesforce aims to maintain its position as a thought leader in 2025. This involves not only driving innovation within its own platform but also engaging with executives, experts, and other stakeholders to shape the broader conversation around technology and business trends.

Salesforce’s thought leadership initiatives include publishing insightful research, hosting executive roundtables, and participating in global forums. By facilitating discussions on topics such as global AI ethics, compliance, best practices, digital transformation, and sustainability, Salesforce can influence the direction of the industry and strengthen its reputation as a visionary company.

Furthermore, the company’s vast network of customers and partners provides a valuable platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing. By fostering these relationships and investing in community-driven initiatives, Salesforce can ensure that its thought leadership efforts resonate with a wide audience and drive meaningful change.

Conclusion

Salesforce’s priorities for this financial year reflect its commitment to innovation, customer success, and industry leadership. Through initiatives like Agentforce, the company is redefining the potential of CRM and workforce technology and enabling businesses to achieve new levels of efficiency and personalisation.Meanwhile, strategic events and thought leadership efforts ensure that Salesforce remains at the forefront of the technology landscape, even in the face of stiff competition.

As Salesforce continues to execute on these priorities, it is poised to deliver significant value to its customers and drive progress across multiple industries. By staying true to its core values of trust, customer success, and innovation, Salesforce is well-positioned to grow its stake in the future of technology.

References

Harvard Business Review (2023). The Role of AI in Healthcare Innovation. [Online] available at: https://hbr.org (accessed 20/01/25).

Salesforce (2023). Agentforce: A New Era of Autonomous Agents. [Online] available at: https://salesforce.com (accessed 20/01/25).

Salesforce (2024). Driving Healthcare Transformation with Health Cloud. Retrieved from https://salesforce.com. (accessed 20/01/25).

Salesforce (2024). Salesforce Voice: Enhancing CRM Through AI-Driven Communication. Retrieved from https://salesforce.com. (accessed 20/01/25).

TechCrunch (2024). Salesforce vs Microsoft: The Battle for CRM Supremacy. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com. (accessed 20/01/25).

Trailblazer Community (2023). Engaging with Salesforce Events and Initiatives. Retrieved from https://trailblazer.salesforce.com. (accessed 20/01/25).

The travel and hospitality industries are constantly evolving, driven by customer expectations for seamless experiences and personalised service. Salesforce AI, through tools like Agentforce and Einstein, is helping businesses in these industries revolutionise their operations. By leveraging AI-powered capabilities, businesses can deliver better customer experiences, streamline operations, and stay ahead of market trends. Below, we explore key use cases for Salesforce AI in travel and hospitality.

1. Making and Amending Bookings for Travel and Hotels

One of the most common pain points in travel is managing bookings. Salesforce AI simplifies this process with AI-powered agents that easily handle customer bookings and modifications.

• Travel Bookings: Whether it’s a last-minute flight change or an upgrade request, autonomous agents can process these changes in real-time, reducing the burden on human agents and enhancing customer satisfaction.
• Hotel Reservations: AI streamlines room bookings, modifications, and cancellations, ensuring faster response times and fewer errors.
• Personalised Offers: Einstein can suggest upgrades, loyalty rewards, or discounted packages based on customer profiles and preferences, maximising upsell opportunities.

By automating these processes, businesses can save time, reduce costs, and deliver a smooth booking experience to their customers.

2. Easily Accessing Information About Flights, Tickets, Offers, Hotels, and Policies

Customers expect instant access to accurate and comprehensive information when planning their trips. Salesforce’s suite of AI functionality ensures they get the answers they need in seconds.

• Flight Information: Customer-facing Agentforce agents can provide real-time updates on flight schedules, gate changes, and delays, ensuring travellers stay informed.
• Policy Details: Whether it’s baggage rules, refund policies, or visa requirements, Salesforce can provide clear answers to customer queries, reducing the need for manual searches.
• Hotel Options: Einstein and Agentforce can suggest hotels based on location, budget, and preferences, making trip planning faster and more efficient.

This level of instant support builds customer trust and loyalty while empowering businesses to handle high volumes of inquiries without additional manpower.

3. Flagging Special Requests and Requirements

Personalisation is a key driver of customer satisfaction in the travel and hospitality sectors. Salesforce AI enables businesses to capture and act on special requests efficiently.

• Dietary Preferences and Allergens: AI agents can record and flag dietary restrictions, ensuring seamless meal preparations for flights or hotel stays.
• Accessibility Needs: From wheelchair assistance to room preferences for guests with mobility challenges, Salesforce ensures these needs are flagged and addressed by calling on its powers of artificial intelligence.
• Celebrations and Events: Einstein can identify when a customer is celebrating a special occasion, such as a honeymoon or birthday, and suggest tailored packages or gestures to enhance their experience.

By proactively managing these details, businesses can elevate their service levels and create memorable experiences for their customers.

4. Avoiding Disruptions with Alerts for Weather, Political Events, and Other Factors

Disruptions in travel can lead to dissatisfied customers and lost revenue. By leveraging AI, Salesforce helps businesses stay ahead of potential issues with real-time alerts and proactive solutions.

• Weather Alerts: AI has the power to analyse weather data to predict potential disruptions and notify travellers of changes to their itineraries, offering alternative solutions.
• Political or Social Events: AI tools can similarly be trained to monitor news and alerts to identify potential risks in travel destinations, allowing businesses to keep customers informed and reroute them if necessary.
• Traffic Predictions: For local travel, AI can anticipate traffic congestion and suggest optimal travel times or routes, ensuring a smoother experience for customers.

By developing or integrating technologies that support these specific use cases, businesses can be proactive with their communication, not only preventing frustration but also reinforcing the business’s commitment to customer care and safety.

5. Forecasting Demand Based on Market Trends

Understanding and predicting customer demand is critical for optimising resources and maximising revenue. Salesforce excels in providing actionable insights based on data.

• Seasonal Trends: Einstein can analyse historical booking data to forecast peak travel periods, helping businesses adjust pricing and allocate resources effectively.
• Market Changes: From emerging travel destinations to shifting customer preferences, businesses can leverage the latest AI innovations to identify trends and opportunities for growth.
• Inventory Management: For hotels and airlines, Einstein can predict demand for rooms, bookings or seats, enabling better inventory planning, stock management and pricing strategies.

By leveraging these insights, businesses can stay competitive, reduce waste, and increase profitability.

A common thread in all these use cases is the ability of Salesforce AI to provide seamless, omnichannel support. Whether a customer reaches out via email, chat, social media, or phone, AI ensures consistent, high-quality service across all touchpoints. Salesforce AI tools, such as Agentforce, are designed with scalability, security, and flexibility in mind. With robust data integration capabilities and customisable solutions, businesses can tailor AI to meet their unique needs as well as deploying the standard use cases to delight their customers.

The travel and hospitality industries are undergoing a digital transformation, and AI is at the forefront of this evolution. By automating bookings, personalising customer experiences, anticipating disruptions, and predicting demand, AI empowers businesses to operate more efficiently and delight their customers. Whether you’re a travel agency, hotel chain, or airline, embracing Salesforce AI isn’t just about keeping up with competitors – it’s about setting new standards for service excellence and operational efficiency. The future of travel and hospitality is smarter, faster, and more personalised – and Salesforce is making it happen.

To learn more about how we can unlock the benefits of AI for your business, contact us today or book your complimentary Agentforce readiness consultation.

Take a look at our resources or learn more about Agentforce here.