By our Chief Operations Officer Florencia Cattelani
In the weeks leading up to Dreamforce, we saw how social networks were filled with posts about what Salesforcewould introduce… the long-awaited autonomous agents.
Throughout this year, Salesforce kept giving us clues as to where their strategy is headed. During the World Tours, they presented the evolution of Artificial Intelligence, launched Copilot, and now, almost at the end of 2024, #Agentforce has arrived.
Why so many announcements this year? Is Salesforce trying to position itself as a leader in the AI segment?
The tech world doesn’t stop, and neither can we.
We are entering the third wave of AI.
The first wave was predictive AI, which uses historical data to predict future actions, such as suggesting the next step in a sale or recommending content. Then came generative AI, with models like ChatGPT, which can create text and content from human prompts.
The third wave, which we are just beginning to experience, will be when systems can not only make decisions and execute tasks autonomously but also reflect on them without human intervention. This is precisely what Salesforce has announced with Agentforce: a series of autonomous agents designed for various fields, from finance to marketing, sales, and customer service.
We are moving from content generation to action automation.
During 2024, Salesforce has been showing us the way. The key topic of the World Tours was AI, powered by Copilot, but mostly by Data Cloud, which marks a before and after. For years, we have been generating and storing data in Data Lakes, trying to get reports that explain certain behaviors. Now, it’s time to use that data as fuel to develop efficient AI models. It’s all about data: we’ve moved from seeing data as simple records in database tables to exploring them in much more complex formats, like vector databases or graphs. And now, thanks to technology, we can manage unstructured data in real time, such as images, audios, or videos, and turn them into valuable information sources without extensive development.
Does this mean that all automation needs will be solved with Agentforce? Is Agentforce going to replace RPA tools? The answer is no. Agentforce is part of an evolution known as APA (Agentic Process Automation), representing an advancement over RPA (Robotic Process Automation).
RPA (Robotic Process Automation)
RPA is a technology that automates repetitive, rule-based tasks by emulating human actions such as entering data or clicking buttons. RPA does not include advanced AI or adaptive capabilities, but requires human interventions when processes change or become complex.
APA is the evolution of RPA, integrating AI and Machine Learning to automate more complex tasks. APA not only follows predefined rules, but can also analyze unstructured data and make autonomous decisions, making it much more flexible and efficient in processes that require adaptability, such as customer service or fraud identification.
Key Differences:
RPA: Ideal for automating repetitive and structured tasks, where complex decision making is not required.
APA: Leverages AI and Machine Learning to automate dynamic tasks, adapting to unforeseen situations and providing real-time analytics to optimize processes.
With Agentforce, Salesforce is taking automation to a new level, introducing autonomous agents that combine the best of generative and predictive AI with advanced automation capabilities. While it does not completely replace RPA solutions, it offers a more powerful and flexible tool for processes that require a higher degree of intelligence and autonomy.
In short, Agentforce is a clear bet on the future of intelligent automation, enabling companies not only to improve operational efficiency, but also to evolve their processes with agents capable of making decisions and learning on the fly. This is just the beginning of a new era in which data and AI will work together to radically transform the way we do business.
