What does the future of customer engagement look like?
Working at the intersection of technology and people, I’m always curious to learn more about how tools like AI can reshape the way we support and create value for our customers. Attending Salesforce’s Agentforce World Tour this spring gave me new ideas and insights, but it also inspired me in a way I hadn’t expected.
I went into the events expecting the usual mix of product updates, polished demos, and some well-packaged AI hype. But what I walked away with was something different. I got a real glimpse into how Salesforce is reimagining the future of work, more specifically, the future of customer engagement.
The key message was undeniably clear: AI agents won’t just support our work; they will truly transform how services are designed, delivered, and experienced.
Is Agentforce just another buzzword?
This spring, I’ve felt like a day hasn’t gone by without hearing about Agentforce. Agentforce is Salesforce’s new AI-powered product that brings autonomous agents into the platform – designed to make decisions, take action, and collaborate with users across real business processes.
Honestly, with all the buzzwords floating around in tech, it was easy at first to assume this was just another one. But seeing real-life use cases at the Agentforce Tour and implementing Agentforce with some of our own customers, has changed my view.
What’s actually happening is a shift in how Salesforce approaches automation. It’s no longer just about background processes or pre-defined flows. Instead, AI agents are now being designed to act as collaborators – interpreting context, making decisions, and coordinating actions across systems in real time. It’s not about AI quietly doing tasks in the background anymore – it’s about building digital colleagues that help drive outcomes alongside us.
This is a huge shift. And for me, working as a full-service manager, it opens a new way of thinking about how we create value. Traditionally, our focus has been on delivering working solutions and supporting adoption. Now, we’re being asked to design intelligent, flexible systems where agents play an active role in delivering services.
It changes the way we think about how work gets done – who does what, how value is created, and what success really means. It’s about aligning people and AI to work better together, not just faster.
Agent governance: the quiet but crucial conversation
With more autonomy comes more responsibility, and this was one of the underlying themes at Agentforce Tour too.
When AI agents start acting independently or interacting directly with customers, we need to be very clear about the boundaries. What should the agent be able to do? When should a real-life person step in? Who’s responsible when something goes wrong?
Salesforce touched on these questions, and it’s clear that governance is going to be one of the most important parts of any Agentforce rollout. The technical side is only part of the equation. Customers will also need help thinking through policies, accountability, transparency, and how to make sure people still feel in control.
And that’s where we at Sofigate can add a lot of value. Helping customers adopt Agentforce is one thing, helping them use it in a way that’s thoughtful, trustworthy, and well-governed is where things really get interesting. Governance isn’t just about risk; it’s a core part of good design.
Redefining our roles in a world with AI Agents
One thing that really stayed with me is how my role continues to evolve. It’s increasingly about co-creating smarter, more adaptive service environments with our customers, where people and AI each play a role based on what creates the most value.
Now is the time to start building new skills. We need to understand how agents behave, how to design for human-agent collaboration, and how to explain what these systems are doing in a way that’s transparent, easy to understand, and builds trust. And through it all, the customer experience must stay at the center.
Agentforce isn’t just a feature release. It’s a mindset shift, one that challenges us to rethink how we work, what roles we play, and how we build value together with our customers. And this shift isn’t unique to Salesforce. Across the tech industry, AI agents are starting to take on real responsibilities in everything from customer service to operations. That’s why this topic matters to everyone, not just those in Salesforce ecosystems.
If you work with technology, services, or people, now is the time to decide whether you want to be at the forefront of this shift – and part of shaping the future of work.
About the author:
Kiia Jalonen is a Full-Service Manager at Sofigate, working closely with both customers and Salesforce to deliver future-ready, high-impact solutions. She plays a key role in evolving Sofigate’s service offering through continuous learning and understanding of shifting customer needs.
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