Salesforce Agentforce: How This New AI Feature Will Impact Customers

In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, we chat with Adam Mansfield, UpperEdge’s Salesforce Practice Leader, to dive into Salesforce’s new feature, Agentforce, announced at the recent Dreamforce conference. The episode covers what Agentforce is, how it is priced, and ways customers can factor it into their Salesforce negotiation strategy.

What is Agentforce?

Agentforce is Salesforce’s latest innovation. It utilizes AI-driven bots, called “Agents,” to assist sales, service, marketing, and commerce teams. These agents operate autonomously, helping employees focus on more complex tasks by handling routine activities 24/7.

Key Agentforce Highlights from Dreamforce

1. Introduction: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff emphasized that the future lies in Agentforce, a comprehensive AI solution integrated across all Salesforce products.
2. Integration and AI: Built on AI capabilities, particularly from Salesforce’s acquisition of Air Kit AI, Agentforce is designed to work seamlessly within the Salesforce ecosystem.

Understanding the AI Integration with Agentforce

Agentforce relies on Salesforce’s Data Cloud, which aggregates data from various applications, ensuring accurate and efficient AI-driven interactions. For optimal performance, customers might also need to integrate Mulesoft for broader data connectivity.

Agentforce Pricing

Salesforce is shifting from a per-seat licensing model to a consumption-based model, charging approximately $2 per conversation. This model, while potentially increasing costs for high usage, aims to demonstrate value through improved efficiency and productivity.

Free Trials and Future Costs

Salesforce is offering free trials of “agents”, particularly for Enterprise level and above customers using Salesforce Foundations, but only for the first 1,000 conversations. Beyond this, customers will need to pay, making it crucial to understand and negotiate the terms upfront to avoid unexpected expenses.

Negotiation Strategies

Customers should:

1. Clarify what constitutes a “conversation’ and confirm the pricing per conversation.
2. Understand the pricing structure as well as potential volume discounts that can be applied based on your organization’s needs.
3. Negotiate future costs and lock in pricing agreements via renewal term price protections to prevent cost escalations later down the line.

Conclusion

Agentforce promises to provide a significant advancement in AI-driven customer service and sales automation, and Salesforce will be aggressive in their sales pitch to get customers to adopt it. It’s essential for companies to thoroughly understand the implications, negotiate favorable terms, and prepare for potential integration challenges.

For a deeper dive into Salesforce strategies, join our upcoming webinar on October 30th, hosted by Adam Mansfield and Erik Bullard. Save your spot for the webinar here.