The buzz around AI-powered agents was palpable at Dreamforce 2024 where several prominent tech players showcase their latest initiatives. One of the biggest headlines from this year’s event was Salesforce’s Agentforce, a suite of AI-powered agents that are capable of handling complex reasoning and decision-making. 

According to Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, “Agentforce represents the Third Wave of AI—advancing beyond copilots to a new era of highly accurate, low-hallucination intelligent agents that actively drive customer success.” 

But will these agents really transform the contact center all on their own? 

While companies like Slack have already begun to incorporate these agents into their products, there are still many questions to be answered. In this blog, we’ll explore how this new wave of agents can help transform your business and answer some of the most common questions.  

What is an AI Agent? 

As businesses continue to explore ways to enhance efficiency, streamline operations, and improve the customer experience, some are turning to AI-powered agents. These agents are designed to interact with their environment, learn from experience, and make decisions. They are capable of performing tasks traditionally handled by humans, aiming to revolutionize how we communicate and collaborate, leading to a more productive and efficient future of work. 

What is Salesforce Agentforce? 

Salesforce Agentforce is a suite of AI-powered autonomous agents designed to enhance customer experiences and streamline business operations. According to Salesforce, Agentforce will usher in a “third wave” of AI that moves past predictive models and generative AI that we’ve become accustomed to in recent years.  

Agentforce features several “out-of-the-box agents” that can be used for functions like sales development, marketing campaign optimization, and customer service. Additionally, organizations will be able to customize these agents to their specific needs and wants without requiring a vast amount of technical expertise. 

How Do AI Agents Work? 

AI-powered agents are powered by a combination of artificial intelligence techniques, like machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). Essentially, they work by: 

1. Determining goals: AI agents receive a specific objective or goal from a user. Then they’re able to break out specific smaller tasks to help accomplish that goal. 
2. Acquiring information: Once AI agents have determined a goal and established specific tasks, they need acquire the necessary information to carry out those specific tasks.  
3. Completing task: After acquiring the necessary information, AI agents can implement those tasks to reach the outcome.

What Are the Benefits of AI Agents? 

AI agents offer numerous benefits to businesses and individuals. Here are some of the key advantages: 

• Improved Efficiency: AI can automate routine tasks, freeing up human employees to focus on more strategic work. This can lead to increased productivity and cost savings. 

• Enhanced Customer Experience: AI support agents can provide personalized assistance and support, improving customer satisfaction. They can also handle large volumes of customer inquiries efficiently, reducing wait times. 

• Increased Productivity: By streamlining workflows and automating tasks, incorporating AI can boost overall productivity. This can help businesses stay competitive and achieve their goals. 

• Data-Driven Insights: AI can analyze large datasets to identify trends, patterns, and insights. This can help businesses make better decisions and improve their operations. 

• 24/7 Availability: AI agents can be available 24/7, providing support and assistance at any time. This can be particularly beneficial for businesses with global operations or customers in different time zones. 

What are the Challenges of AI Agents? 

It’s important to remember that AI isn’t a silver bullet for contact center productivity and come with a unique set of challenges and considerations, including: 

• Data Quality: AI relies on high-quality data to learn and perform effectively. If the data is biased, incomplete, or inaccurate, it can lead to poor decision-making and biased outcomes. In other words, garbage in, is garbage out.  

• Ethical Considerations: The use of AI-powered agents raises ethical concerns, such as privacy, bias, and job displacement. It is essential to develop and implement ethical guidelines to ensure that AI is used responsibly. 

• Technical Challenges: Implementing and maintaining AI agents can be technically challenging, requiring specialized skills and expertise. Additionally, it’s important to understand the total cost of ownership for AI agents and consider whether you’re willing and able to commit.   

Will AI Replace Humans? 

The question of whether AI will replace humans has been a hot topic over the last several years. While AI-powered agents can automate many tasks and perform them more efficiently than humans, they are not likely to completely replace humans in the foreseeable future.  

While AI can be complimentary to humans, they lack the creativity, empathy, and compassion that human agents possess. AI agents are essentially self-service without human intervention, meaning they can’t provide the white glove service that, currently, only humans are capable of.  

For example, AI agents can handle simple, standard customer service inquiries, while human agents can deal with complex issues that require empathy and problem-solving skills. By working together, AI and human agents can create a more efficient, effective, and customer-centric organization. 

How Do I Get Started with AI-Powered Agents? 

If you’re interested in incorporating AI agents into your contact center operations, here are some steps to consider: 

1. Assess your needs: Decide which area of your business would benefit from AI. 
2. Define goals: Outline what you hope to achieve by incorporating AI into your business strategy. This will help you measure their effectiveness and areas for improvement.
3. Choose the right platform: There are many AI vendors and platforms available, but it’s important to find the one that matches your specific needs and goals. You should also consider your existing infrastructure and choose a vendor that integrates seamlessly.
4. Prepare your data: As we mentioned before, garbage in = garbage out. It’s important to prepare and clean your data to help train your AI.
5. Train your AI agents: Feed your AI agents with the prepared data to train them on specific tasks or use cases.
6. Monitor and Evaluate: Measure performance using relevant metrics, such as customer satisfaction, efficiency, and cost savings. Adjust as needed to ensure optimal performance.  

Who Can Advise Me on AI? 

When implementing AI, having expert support can alleviate the burden and ensure you’re getting the most out of your strategy. Upland Software is a leading provider of cloud-based enterprise applications for the contact center. Our team of experts has deep knowledge and experience in technology and can provide valuable guidance on how to effectively implement AI agents within your organization. 

Building a Tech Ecosystem to Empower Your Contact Center Agents 

While AI is a powerful tool, they are just one piece of the puzzle. A truly efficient contact center requires an ecosystem of technologies that empower your contact center agents, not replace them.  

Upland Software offers a suite of contact center software solutions that can help you maximize the customer and agent experience. Discover how we can help you turn your contact center into a well-oiled machine.