What are AI Agents? A Complete Guide
Autonomous AI agents can understand and interpret customers’ questions using natural language. Here’s what service leaders need to know about the next evolution in proactive, personalised support.
Autonomous AI agents can understand and interpret customers’ questions using natural language. Here’s what service leaders need to know about the next evolution in proactive, personalised support.
Maybe you’re dealing with a surge in case volume, but your team is stretched thin. Or you’d love to offer 24/7 support, but tight budgets make it difficult to justify a round-the-clock workforce. Or you’re under pressure to reduce response times, yet customers just keep expecting more — and want everything faster. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone: our research shows that 69% of agents say balancing speed and quality is difficult. That’s where AI agents come into play. Let’s take a few minutes to review what AI agents are, how they work and what you can do to deploy them successfully.
High-performing organisations are using data, AI and automation to deliver faster, more personalised service. Find out how in the 6th State of Service report.
AI agents are intelligent systems that can understand and respond to customer enquiries without human intervention. They rely on machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to handle a wide range of tasks, from answering simple questions to resolving complex issues — even multi-tasking. Most importantly, AI agents can continuously improve its own performance through self-learning. This is distinct from traditional AI, which requires human input for specific tasks. (back to top)
Here’s a breakdown of how AI agents operate:
By combining these capabilities, AI agents can handle a wide range of customer service tasks autonomously, such as making product recommendations, troubleshooting problems and engaging in follow-up interactions. This frees up human agents to focus on more complex and value-added activities. (back to top)
The adoption of AI agents in customer service offers numerous benefits, transforming how businesses interact with their customers and manage their service operations.
If you’re getting ready to deploy AI agents, here are some best practices to keep in mind:
If you're looking to integrate AI agents into your customer service strategy, Salesforce Service Cloud can help. Here’s how:
By providing personalised support at scale, AI agents represent a great leap forward for service organisations. Businesses that embrace this technology will be well-positioned to reduce costs while meeting the demands of modern customers in a competitive global market. (back to top)
You can scale your customer service with the power of generative AI on a unified foundation of trusted data. See how this technology improves efficiency and generates revenue from the contact centre to the field.
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