Salesforce Agentforce 2dx – Doubling Down on Autonomous AI Excellence

From its role as a co-pilot,  tossing out suggestions, and running automation, AI has stepped into the driver’s seat. 

It’s making decisions, solving complex business challenges, and navigating oceans of customer data with ease. 

And just like that, AI, which once felt like a futuristic dream is now the force powering every move.

But, hold on!

There’s still a lot to see and experience with AI, especially within the Salesforce universe!

First, Salesforce Einstein wowed us by injecting predictive intelligence into CRM. Then came Genie (now Data Cloud), weaving customer data into real-time profiles. Agentforce stepped up next, introducing us to autonomous AI.

But just when we thought Salesforce Agentforce was the peak of what you can do with AI.

Salesforce AgentForce 2dx steps in. It is poised to power up Agentforce and help it  to:

• Proactively engage based on data changes.
• Operate autonomously within business processes.
• Interact with users across various interfaces using rich content and media.

Let’s decode more about this newest announcement by Salesforce. 

Understanding the State of AI Agents

To fully appreciate Salesforce’s Agentforce 2dx, it’s essential to understand the transformative impact of AI agents.

Take, for instance, The Adecco Group.

Under the visionary leadership of Greg Shewmaker, Senior Vice President of Global Operations and AI, AI is redefining recruitment—automating resume screenings, engaging millions of candidates, and elevating the hiring experience. By streamlining operations, recruiters gain the freedom to foster meaningful connections, while AI drives efficiency at scale. This strategic move is set to yield nearly $1.9 million in annualized benefits, reduce handling times for cancellations and emails by 15%, and enable AI agents to manage up to 30% of incoming customer inquiries.^[ii]

Yet, there’s a paradox in the digital realm. 

Enter Agentforce—a solution designed to bridge this chasm. With pre-built workflows, it promises rapid, measurable impacts. 

Unlike traditional AI projects that can languish for up to a year, Agentforce enables businesses to go live in just 4-6 weeks, accelerating value realization by three to four times.^[iv]

Now, comes Agentforce 2dx, true to its name, it offers double the speed in deploying AI agents and a marked improvement in ROI efficiency.

What is Salesforce Agentforce 2dx?

Salesforce’s Agentforce 2dx is an advanced platform that integrates autonomous AI agents into business workflows, enabling them to operate proactively without constant human supervision.

The announcement also introduced 

• Autonomous Operation: AI agents can independently monitor data changes and execute tasks across various business processes, enhancing operational efficiency.
• Development Tools: Low-Code and Pro-Code Options: These tools enable developers to configure, test, and deploy AI agents efficiently, catering to varying levels of technical expertise.
• Agentforce Developer Edition: A free environment for developers to prototype agents and explore Salesforce’s Data Cloud, fostering experimentation and innovation.
• AgentExchange Marketplace: A built-in platform within Salesforce that offers a library of ready-to-use templates and actions, accelerating AI agent deployment. It also allows partners to list their components, contributing to a growing digital labor market.
• Advanced Analytics: Provides real-time monitoring and optimization of agent performance, ensuring that AI agents operate effectively and adapt to evolving business needs.

What’s New With Salesforce Agentforce 2dx

Agentforce 2dx introduces a suite of new features designed to seamlessly integrate autonomous AI agents into various business processes, enhancing efficiency and flexibility. Here’s what you can expect: 

• Agentforce API: This feature allows businesses to integrate AI agents into backend processes and applications.
  Use Case: A financial institution can utilize the Agentforce API to automatically trigger an AI agent upon loan application submission. The agent ensures application completeness, cross-references applicant data with internal databases, and schedules follow-ups—accelerating and optimizing the loan approval process. You can also integrate AgentForce into an external website that is not hosted on Salesforce using the Agent API.
• Agentforce Invocable Actions: This capability enables embedding AI agents within Salesforce’s business logic, such as Flow and Apex, allowing for a blend of traditional workflow automation with AI reasoning.
  Use Case: In a sales environment, when an opportunity reaches a critical stage, an AI agent can be activated to analyze historical data and suggest the most effective next steps, such as recommending specific product bundles or promotional offers, thereby increasing the likelihood of closing the deal.
• MuleSoft for Agentforce: With MuleSoft’s Topic Center and API Catalog, developers can use natural language to create Agentforce topics and actions, making AI agent development seamless across systems.
  Use Case: Setting up topics and instructions for Agentforce manually takes time. With MuleSoft’s Topic Center, developers can manage topics more efficiently, reducing effort and enhancing Agentforce’s capabilities. A finance company can also use MuleSoft to automate loan processing—triggering Agentforce to validate customer data, fetch credit scores, and update Salesforce for a smooth, automated approval process.
• Agentforce Steps in Slack Workflow Builder: This feature allows developers to embed AI agents into Slack’s no-code automation workflows, enabling agents to be triggered by Slack events and utilize conversational context.
  Use Case: In an IT support channel, if an employee asks about a VPN issue, AgentForce can suggest troubleshooting steps or open a helpdesk ticket.
• Agentforce Employee Template: This template facilitates the deployment of AI agents for employee-related use cases across Slack and Salesforce, allowing for the creation of multiple agents tailored to specific business lines.
  Use Case: An HR department can deploy an AI agent to assist employees with onboarding processes, guiding completing necessary documentation and answering frequently asked questions, thereby enhancing the onboarding experience.
• Agentforce Surfaces: This feature enables the delivery of rich content within Agentforce across all Digital Engagement channels, allowing for the addition of dynamic, interactive components and media tailored to specific channels and devices.
  Use Case: A marketing team can use Agentforce Surfaces to deliver interactive product demonstrations to customers through various channels, such as mobile apps or web portals, enhancing customer engagement and product understanding.
• Agentforce Cards: This capability allows for embedding Lightning Web Components within the responses of Agentforce actions, providing more context and functionality for the AI agent’s interactions.
  Use Case: In a customer service scenario, an AI agent can present support representatives with embedded components displaying customer purchase history and recommended solutions, enabling faster and more informed responses.
• Tableau Semantics: This feature allows for the creation of organized data structures that AI agents can utilize, enriching them with real-time business context for more accurate insights and responses.
  Use Case: A healthcare organization can structure patient data using Tableau Semantics, enabling AI agents to provide doctors with real-time insights and treatment recommendations during patient consultations.
• Agentforce Developer Edition: A free environment that provides access to Agentforce and Data Cloud, allowing developers to prototype use cases and experiment with the platform.
  Use Case: A startup can use the Agentforce Developer Edition to prototype an AI-driven customer onboarding process, testing data integration and agent behaviors before deploying the solution at scale.
• AI Assistance in Agent Builder: This tool assists teams in configuring AI agents more efficiently by providing AI-powered topic and instruction creation, adhering to best practices.
  Use Case: A telecommunications company can utilize AI Assistance to quickly configure AI agents that handle routine customer inquiries, such as billing questions, reducing the workload on human agents and improving response times. It can also simplify agent configuration by generating topics and instructions.
• Testing Center: This feature allows teams to test their Agentforce configurations at scale using AI, automatically generating and running test cases to ensure adherence to guardrails like accuracy and context relevance.
  Use Case: Before deploying an AI agent that manages loan applications, a bank can use the Testing Center to simulate various customer scenarios, ensuring the agent’s decisions align with regulatory requirements and internal policies.
• CLI and VS Code Support: Developers can create, update, and test Agentforce configurations using Command Line Interface (CLI) in Visual Studio Code, streamlining the development process.
  Use Case: Developers at a tech company can use CLI in VS Code support to retrieve Agentforce agent metadata and effortlessly attach actions, streamlining AI-driven workflows.
• DX Inspector: This tool allows exploration and understanding of all metadata and data used by Agentforce, facilitating easy tracking and modification of configurations.
  Use Case: A logistics firm can use  DX Inspector to monitor and analyze the performance of AI agents responsible for route optimization, identifying areas for improvement, and ensuring efficient delivery operations.
• Agentforce Interaction Explorer: Provides detailed reporting and analytics on Agentforce’s performance, from general trends to individual session tracing, aiding in continuous refinement of agent performance.
  Use Case: An e-commerce platform can use Interaction Explorer to track how AI agents handle customer inquiries, gaining insights into common issues and refining agent responses to enhance customer satisfaction.

By incorporating these features, Agentforce 2dx empowers organizations to deploy autonomous AI agents that proactively engage in business processes, enhancing efficiency and user experience across various platforms.

The Bottom Line

By empowering AI agents to proactively engage, adapt, and evolve within business processes, Salesforce Agentforce 2dx challenges us to reimagine the boundaries of innovation and productivity. The horizon gleams with possibilities, urging enterprises to embrace this transformation and harness the full potential of AI-driven autonomy.

Statistical References
^{[i][ii][iii][iv]}CRN.in
^[v]Siliconangle