What’s New at Dreamforce 2024? 10 Exciting Announcements Shaking Up AI

Salesforce isn’t just talking about AI—they’re investing heavily in it. With $50 million earmarked for upskilling the workforce and $1 billion aimed at building out AI capabilities, including AI centers popping up in cities like London, Chicago, Tokyo, and Sydney, the future of AI looks brighter than ever.

1. Agentforce: The Future of Autonomous Business Agents

In a bold leap forward, Salesforce has unveiled Agentforce, a platform that allows businesses to build and deploy autonomous agents across a wide range of business operations. Imagine having AI-powered agents for Sales, Marketing, Service, Commerce, and even platform-specific tasks, all working seamlessly to streamline processes and drive efficiency.

Agentforce empowers businesses to automate tasks that would otherwise require manual intervention, enabling quicker decision-making and faster time-to-value. From service chatbots that can solve customer queries autonomously to sales agents that qualify leads and close deals, Agentforce is set to become a game-changer across industries.

Key Features:

• Atlas Reasoning Engine: The core intelligence behind Agentforce, this agentic system doesn’t just assist—it plans, analyzes, and executes tasks autonomously, refining its actions in real time based on the data it gathers.
• Agent Builder: Customize your own AI agents with ease! Agent Builder offers the flexibility to create agents tailored to your business needs using automation, APIs, and custom code, bringing Agentforce capabilities to life. This tool integrates with the new Agentforce Studio, which includes Prompt Builder and Model Builder, allowing complete control over agent creation.
• Agentforce Partner Network: Salesforce is partnering with industry leaders to expand Agentforce’s reach, ensuring that agents adhere to the highest standards of data security, ethical guardrails, and seamless action integration.

But that’s not all—Dreamforce attendees will get a first-hand experience in the Agentforce Launch Zone, where 1,000 select customers will have the opportunity to build their very own AI-driven agents under the guidance of Salesforce experts. This initiative is designed to showcase the real-world potential of Agentforce in action, gathering a wide variety of business use cases to kickstart this exciting new era.

2. Atlas: The Brain Powering Agentforce’s Autonomy

At the heart of Agentforce lies Atlas, Salesforce’s next-generation AI engine. Unlike traditional AI systems that require continuous human input, Atlas has the ability to autonomously analyze, plan, and act—effectively becoming the brain behind your organization’s operations.

Here’s how it works: Atlas evaluates what tasks need to be done based on the role and responsibilities of the agent. It generates a strategic plan, refines it through loops of data integration if necessary, and takes action based on predetermined business processes, like workflows or approvals. What makes Atlas truly remarkable is its ability to engage with customers and employees on their preferred communication channels, ensuring seamless interactions and higher satisfaction.

Powered by Data Cloud, Atlas can access vast amounts of data in real time, making its decisions more accurate and relevant. As the backbone of Agentforce, Atlas ensures that every action is backed by high-quality data, helping businesses achieve faster, more informed decision-making with minimal human intervention.

3. Data Cloud: New Capabilities Transforming Data Processing

Data Cloud has been a key player in Salesforce’s ecosystem for years, and 2024 is no different. Having evolved from a Customer Data Platform (CDP) into the powerful engine that drives every Salesforce product, Data Cloud is now more essential than ever. The latest updates expand its capabilities and performance, helping businesses tap into the full potential of their data.

What’s New in Data Cloud:

• Support for Unstructured Data: Until now, much of the world’s data—like video, audio, and unstructured text—was difficult to analyze in a meaningful way. With this latest update, Salesforce Data Cloud can now natively process unstructured data formats like audio recordings and video, opening up a wealth of opportunities for deeper insights. For example, businesses can now analyze sales calls, customer service interactions, and even voicemails to extract actionable data.
• 50+ New Connectors: Data integration just got easier. Data Cloud now offers over 200 pre-built connectors, with 50 new ones added this year, making it easier than ever to pull in data from a variety of sources.
• Sub-Second Real-Time Capabilities: Need speed? Salesforce has enhanced Data Cloud’s ability to process data at lightning-fast speeds, handling ingestion, analysis, and activation in sub-seconds. This means businesses can respond to real-time events and customer needs faster than ever before.

These updates ensure that Data Cloud continues to be the backbone of every AI and business solution Salesforce offers, providing the scalability, performance, and real-time data access that modern businesses demand.

4. Free AI Certifications and Training: Building Skills for the Future

In an inspiring move, Salesforce announced free AI certifications and premium training courses available through the end of 2025! Aimed at closing the rapidly growing AI skills gap, these certifications will be offered through Trailhead, Salesforce’s popular online learning platform.

This initiative makes it easier than ever for professionals to upskill and gain expertise in AI, with premium, instructor-led courses available at no cost. For anyone looking to future-proof their career in the AI-driven world, this is a golden opportunity to get certified and stay ahead of the curve.

5. Power Partnerships: Salesforce Teams Up with IBM and Google

Big things are happening in the world of Salesforce partnerships! IBM and Google are joining forces with Salesforce to extend the capabilities of Agentforce. Here’s how:

• IBM is creating autonomous agents specifically tailored to industries like banking, designed to streamline complex processes such as loan approvals and compliance with local tax laws. These agents will enable banks to make quicker decisions, comply with regulations, and improve customer experiences in real-time.
• Google is enhancing Agentforce’s functionality by allowing Salesforce agents to interact with Google Workspace applications. Tasks like generating Google Docs, managing Gmail, or scheduling meetings based on Google Calendar events can now be automated with ease, reducing manual workload and increasing efficiency.

Salesforce is moving beyond disconnected AI copilots, heading toward a future where interoperable third-party systems and agent forces can work together seamlessly.

6. Salesforce Foundations: A Free Taste of AI-Powered Integration

Salesforce has unveiled Salesforce Foundations, a free feature set that showcases how powerful AI can be when integrated across their various products. This suite pulls together new features from sales, service, marketing, commerce, and Data Cloud into one cohesive package, giving organizations a taste of what’s possible when these tools work in harmony.

Salesforce Foundations is available at no extra cost to customers with enterprise licenses for Sales and Service Cloud, providing a low-risk way for businesses to explore the full potential of AI without making significant investments upfront.

7. Slack Supercharged: AI Agents and Enhanced Features

Salesforce is making significant strides with Slack, integrating AI agents and new capabilities directly into the platform. With Agentforce now powering Slack, human users can collaborate with AI agents in real time, using natural language to communicate and get work done faster.

New capabilities include:

• Third-Party AI Agents: Trusted partners like Adobe and Cohere are building AI agents that can operate within Slack, bringing more automation into your daily workflows.
• Salesforce Channels: These new Slack channels will bring your CRM data directly into Slack, creating a more collaborative, data-driven work environment.

With enhanced automation, simplified workflows, and smarter search features, Slack is now more than just a messaging tool—it’s becoming the ultimate hub for AI-powered productivity.

8. Pre-Built Industry Agents: Ready to Transform Your Business

Salesforce has long understood that industry-specific solutions are key to success, and Agentforce is no exception. With over 100 industry-specific agent prompts ready to go, businesses can immediately start leveraging AI for their unique needs.

These out-of-the-box agents can be tailored for industries like retail, financial services, healthcare, and more, allowing businesses to hit the ground running with minimal setup time.

9. Agentforce World Tour: Coming Soon to a City Near You

Can’t make it to Dreamforce? No problem! Salesforce is hitting the road with the Agentforce World Tour, a global event series that brings the best of Dreamforce to cities around the world. Kicking off in October, the tour will run through the end of the year, offering a chance to dive deep into the new features and capabilities of Agentforce.

You’ll get the chance to connect with Salesforce specialists, explore hands-on demos, and get answers to your burning questions about the future of AI and business automation.

10. $1 Billion in AI Investments: Building the Future of Artificial Intelligence

Salesforce isn’t just talking about AI—they’re investing heavily in it. With $50 million earmarked for upskilling the workforce and $1 billion aimed at building out AI capabilities, including AI centers popping up in cities like London, Chicago, Tokyo, and Sydney, the future of AI looks brighter than ever.

These AI hubs will host premium in-person courses, bringing together experts, partners, and customers to shape the future of AI.

Stay Tuned for More Dreamforce 2024 has just begun, and the announcements are coming in hot! Keep an eye on A360 for all the updates and in-depth insights from the event.

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