How Ambient AI Agents Can Transform Revenue Organizations

Forbes

6 days ago

Leslie Lee, Head of Product at Squid AI, brings 20 years in enterprise AI, data analytics, scalable automation and cloud product management.
Despite years of sales technology innovation, revenue teams face a troubling reality: frontline sellers dedicate a staggering amount of their time to tasks other than closing deals. Each new platform promises to streamline workflows, yet the administrative burden continues to expand.
The entry of agentic AI into this arena sparks both intrigue and skepticism. Leaders in this industry I've spoken to recognize its transformative potential but are wary of solutions demanding yet another overhaul, especially when current systems often feel like part of the problem.
The Strategic Cost Of Friction
Despite abundant sales tech, many representatives face outdated experiences. I've heard sales and revenue operations leaders voice the following concerns over and over again:
• "Our CRM, which is supposed to be our source of truth, feels like a legacy implementation with cumbersome workflows and outdated, irrelevant fields. How did our system of record become a barrier to efficiency and reliable data when it was supposed to do the opposite?"
• "My top performers dedicate time to account planning, tailoring pitches and building bespoke client strategies. How can I bottle what my top performers are doing and scale it across the team?"
This isn't just operational noise—it's systemic friction directly impacting revenue potential and increasing the cost of sales. Tools meant to empower can, paradoxically, add cognitive load, erode data integrity and hinder adoption.
Ambient, Agentic AI: Adapting Technology To Your Team
Ambient, agentic AI introduces a new paradigm: intelligent technology that adapts to your team, not the other way around. These sophisticated agents work discreetly in the background, automating tasks and anticipating needs without disrupting established sales processes or requiring complex re-engineering.
Consider the impact if your sales team gained an efficiency boost of, say, 30% or more, directly improving sales capacity and per-rep productivity. This goes beyond reducing data entry. It's about AI synthesizing account history, market insights and product knowledge to automatically equip reps with tailored talking points before meetings—or even providing insights in real-time.
Agentic AI can seamlessly capture notes, accurately update CRM opportunities based on conversations and alert managers to at-risk deals, improving pipeline hygiene and forecast reliability—all behind the scenes. The core principle is subtraction: removing burdens that weigh reps down, freeing them to excel at human-centric selling while allowing revenue operations to focus on strategic optimization rather than data cleanup.
Pragmatic Adoption: Impact Over Perfection
A common executive concern surrounding AI adoption is imperfect CRM data. But waiting for perfect data is like waiting for a perfect quarter. By applying a semantic layer, agentic AI can work with the messy, unstructured data that is reality for most sales teams, even improving data quality over time.
The key is to initiate a focused pilot. Identify a single, high-friction task impacting sales productivity, such as automated call summaries. Demonstrate how this can be handled seamlessly without altering core methods. Trust builds when a persistent annoyance vanishes, improving both rep experience and data fidelity.
Evaluating AI Agents: Strategic Fit And Measurable Impact
When considering AI agent solutions, leadership focus must go beyond ROI calculations. When vetting potential solutions, ask yourself the following questions:
• Can the solution simplify work for my team and remove repetitive tasks? Will my team be happier and more productive because my salespeople won't need to change their habits?
• Does it reduce friction without adding new steps?
• Does it make life demonstrably easier for reps and managers while providing revenue operations with cleaner data?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then that solution might not be worth the investment. The AI solutions that deliver lasting value augment human capability, fit organically into existing team rhythms and allow people to concentrate on core strengths.
The Augmented Future
The future of sales and revenue operations hinges on swiftly converting insight into action. Agentic AI can dramatically accelerate this capability, functioning as a true partner to sales professionals and a streamlining force for operations. The tools that win will alleviate administrative burdens, empower strategic preparation and free your team to drive revenue—underpinned by efficient processes and trustworthy data.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?