NTT DATA Announces New Industry-Ready Service for Salesforce's Agentforce
TOKYO & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the unveiling of NTT DATA's Smart AI Agent™ Ecosystem, a transformative enterprise-grade framework for agentic solutions, NTT DATA today announced a new service offering for Salesforce's Agentforce that will help clients accelerate the adoption of autonomous AI agents to work alongside humans. The service will be delivered through an ' EPAS' model – Evangelize, Pilot, Adopt and Scale – and will work in harmony with NTT DATA's existing data and cloud offerings, including Agentic AI Services for Hyperscaler AI Technologies.
Evangelize: NTT DATA will help evangelize the use of Agentforce, identify use cases and build return on investment proposals for adopting Agentforce. NTT DATA will leverage its domain-specific leadership, digital workforce expertise, and repository of hundreds of agentic AI use cases and roadmap, classified by industry, to align with what works best in each client ecosystem.
Pilot: NTT DATA will support a client's initial deployment and build the first use case as a proof-of-concept implementation of Agentforce. NTT DATA will advise on opportunities to add the power of complementary end-to-end AI agent ecosystem capabilities.
Adopt and Scale: Once the value of Agentforce is realized, NTT DATA will build a product-oriented delivery model to support scaling and adoption of Agentforce. NTT DATA will also reuse its extensive repository of Agentforce use cases to help its client get a head start on adoption.
With the NTT DATA offering for Agentforce, clients can experience the benefits of robust solution architecture and services delivery capabilities, along with the opportunity to integrate with MuleSoft and Data Cloud. This multi-faceted advantage is rooted in NTT DATA's award-winning expertise in both integration and data unification platforms, providing clients with the comprehensive and tested scale required for global enterprises.
Megan Piccininni, SVP and Global Salesforce Practice Leader, NTT DATA, commented, 'With our new service for Agentforce, our partnership with Salesforce underscores the transformative potential of agentic AI. Central to this innovation is the coordination and orchestration of multiple intelligent agents, which are essential for achieving comprehensive end-to-end automation across various platforms. Our Smart AI Agent Ecosystem, expert advisory services, depth of AI, data, and cloud talent, position NTT DATA as unique in this space with Salesforce. NTT DATA has been part of Salesforce's Agentforce Partner Network since its inception, and we are committed to deliver client success leveraging Agentforce.'
Agentforce is a digital labor platform for enterprises to augment teams with trusted autonomous AI agents in the flow of work. With Salesforce's AgentExchange, a leading AI agent ecosystem for enterprises, clients have access to hundreds of ready-to-use actions, topics, and templates built by partners, and will have access to pre-validated Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, that have passed rigorous security reviews to quickly create and deploy their digital workforce of AI agents.
NTT DATA's new service for Agentforce is adaptable to different use cases. Clients will be able to benefit from agentic AI and see tangible outcomes across industries.
The top use case for NTT DATA's service for Agentforce is focused on Customer Service and Experience.
Application Management Services Agentification includes deployment of utility agents that interact seamlessly with various observability and service management ecosystems.
The service for Agentforce enables Agentic Business Process as a Service across different domains such as Life Insurance-as-a-Service and Contact Center-as-a-Service.
In Health and Life Sciences, AI agents can help transform patient management and improve patient outcomes.
Real Estate and Vendor Management task automation, such as technical support, helps address changes and vendor management operations, reducing support tickets and manual process time.
Seller Community applications streamline deal validation and sales intake, reducing deal approval time.
Marketing Community use cases include automating email credit management and accelerating marketing email delivery, achieving faster email processing.
Faster Time-to-Hire outcomes from optimized recruitment processes with Agentforce.
Governance and Security Control offer centralized management of security and reuse, ensuring consistency and control across all deployed agents.
Digital labor is already here, delivering a meaningful competitive advantage for organizations that embed it effectively across departments. To truly scale this potential, businesses need clear insight into agent deployment, how agents enhance human productivity, and secure tool usage.
Salesforce's latest Agentforce release provides an enterprise-grade platform to manage human-AI collaboration, connect agents to tools via open standards, and rapidly deploy industry-ready agents with the trust, scale, and performance enterprises demand.
Agentforce expands digital labor across the enterprise with new industry-specific actions to provide industry readiness out of the box that delivers a fast path to value from AI agents. NTT DATA plays a crucial role in driving an agent economy with leadership scale and expertise and guiding clients in their agentic maturity, from task automations to interoperable agents, while helping to ensure responsible innovation and global governance.
Megan Piccininni further added, 'In our role as an Outsourcing Service Provider (OSP), our competence to deploy the new service for Agentforce across industries differentiates us from the rest. By merging our competencies in Salesforce, Application Management Services, Business Process Services, Data and AI Services, Cloud and Security Services, and next-generation technologies, we deliver multi-faceted benefits to our clients. This integrated approach allows us to take ownership, manage, and operate within a business outcome-focused framework.'
'Organizations need a new labor model that unlocks the full potential of humans with AI at work. NTT DATA is a critical partner for identifying and developing specific use cases with our joint customers across industries, helping to ensure tailored and effective AI solutions for scaling digital labor,' said Phil Samenuk, SVP of Global Alliances & Channels and Outsourcing Service Providers, Salesforce. 'With Agentforce constantly evolving and expanding, NTT DATA's new service demonstrates the company's commitment to empowering customers to deliver success with Agentforce.'
Additional Resources
Salesforce, Agentforce and others are among the trademarks of Salesforce, Inc.
About NTT DATA
NTT DATA is a $30+ billion trusted global innovator of business and technology services. We serve 75% of the Fortune Global 100 and are committed to helping clients innovate, optimize and transform for long-term success. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 50 countries and a robust partner ecosystem of established and start-up companies. Our services include business and technology consulting, data and artificial intelligence, industry solutions, as well as the development, implementation and management of applications, infrastructure and connectivity. We are also one of the leading providers of digital and AI infrastructure in the world. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3.6 billion each year in R&D to help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. Visit us at nttdata.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Morgan Stanley Remains a Buy on Salesforce (CRM) With a PT of $404
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is one of the 13 Best Long Term Growth Stocks to Invest in Right Now. In a report released on June 24, Keith Weiss from Morgan Stanley maintained a Buy rating on Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) with a price target of $404.00. The analyst supported the optimistic sentiment with the company's potential for future growth, citing management's clear strategy to expedite revenue growth to low teens. A customer service team in an office setting using the company's Customer 360 platform to communicate with customers. Weiss considers it a notable improvement in regards to the current growth rate, as the strategy covers the optimization of pricing and packaging, improvement of bookings dynamics, and leveraging new innovations. All of these factors are anticipated to allow solid growth for Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM), according to him. The analyst further reasoned that Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) has a promising product portfolio that includes GenAI solutions such as Data Cloud and Agentforce. These solutions are generating positive customer feedback and achieving significant annual recurring revenue, contributing to the company's overall positive outlook. In addition, core products such as Sales & Service Clouds are showing stability, along with momentum in Slack, Mulesoft, and Tableau. According to the analyst, all these factors can provide solid ground to overcome challenges in Marketing and Commerce. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) designs and develops cloud-based enterprise software for customer relationship management. Its solutions encompass customer service and support, sales force automation, digital commerce, marketing automation, collaboration, community management, industry-specific solutions, and salesforce platforms. It also offers training, guidance, support, and advisory services. While we acknowledge the potential of CRM as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Is remote work only for the rich? Double standard ignites workplace tension
More remote workers are being called back to the office in the private sector and the federal government. But the new rules don't always apply to everyone. When ride-sharing company Uber increased the number of days employees had to show up in person from two to three, the return-to-office mandate set off a fiery backlash. In an all-hands meeting and then in online forums, the rank-and-file groused they were being summoned back to work while many corner offices sat empty. Soon, another brouhaha erupted at JPMorgan Chase. After thousands of employees at the world's largest bank were ordered back to the office five days a week, word leaked that Filippo Gori would now run business affairs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from New York, not from Dubai, Johannesburg or London. JPMorgan Chase did not comment. With employers cracking down on how many days a week people can work from home, office workers are calling out what they say is a double standard: Executives who enforce in-person work for their teams but reserve the right to work wherever they please. Salesforce's Marc Benioff is one of those CEOs who self-identifies as a remote worker. "I've always been a remote worker my whole life," Benioff told MSNBC in 2023. "I don't work well in an office. It just doesn't work with my personality. I can't tell you why." His employees often don't have that luxury. In September, they were told to return to the office at least three days a week. Benioff said the message is to 'mix in-person and remote together.' Salesforce did not respond to a request for comment. 'Regardless of how you feel about remote work, you have to laugh at the nerve of these types of people who are being compensated millions of dollars per year to implement 'rules for thee and not for me,'' one Uber employee commented on Blind, an anonymous app for professionals. 'Like the key to the executive toilet' Many office workers got hooked on remote work as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down offices across America. With only 'essential' frontline workers required to show up in person, the white-collar workforce skipped rush hour and cocooned at home. Prioritizing once elusive goals such as quality of life, they relocated in droves to more affordable places such as Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho. Their new schedules made life much easier to balance, especially for parents of young children and workers with disabilities, while research frequently showed the pandemic-induced work arrangements had other benefits. Employees who worked from home were happier and as – if not more – productive. Five years later, a growing number of companies from Amazon to Ford are winding back the clock on remote work – but not for everyone. Flexibility is fast becoming an elite perk, with some top executives running their businesses hundreds or thousands of miles from the home office from the comfort of their own home office. Last year, Starbucks lured Brian Niccol from Chipotle Mexican Grill with a $10 million cash signing bonus, a $75 million stock award and a $1.6 million annual salary, making him one of the highest-paid CEOs in America. But none of his eye-popping perks got as much attention as the work-from-home deal he cut. Even as other corporate workers in the coffee chain's Seattle headquarters were told to work in the office three days a week, Niccol didn't pull up stakes. Instead, he commutes 1,600 miles from his Newport Beach, California, home on the company's private jet and on its dime. Starbucks said its CEO, who engineered the 'Back to Starbucks' turnaround plan to rebound from a prolonged sales slump, maintains an office and home in Seattle but prioritizes an active schedule visiting coffeehouses, roasting plants, support centers and business partners around the globe. Still, that special treatment irks employees. A 2023 Wall Street Journal report that Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West, the second-highest-ranking executive at the company, worked from a small office about five minutes from his home in New Canaan, Connecticut, and hundreds of miles from the company's Arlington, Virginia, headquarters, caused a stir. West has maintained that arrangement even after many staffers were told to return to the office. According to securities filings, Boeing provided $42,271 worth of flights on company aircraft last year for West, whose total compensation was nearly $6.2 million. Boeing declined to comment. Management experts say it matters far less where key executives log into work each day. After all, they often live out of suitcases while jetting to far-flung offices and calling on customers. But permitting executives to live and work remotely conflicts with the messaging that businesses benefit the most when employees show up in person. Like most sought-after workplace perks, flexibility is largely a function of power and pay, according to Stanford University economics professor Nick Bloom, who studies remote work. Higher-income workers are more likely to have remote work arrangements than those at the lower end of the pay scale, his research shows. Just 5% of workers making $10,000 to $50,000 a year live 50 or more miles from their office, compared to 14% of those earning over $250,000. 'Before the pandemic, working from home was a predictor of low pay. We used to joke about it. Is he working from home or shirking from home?' Bloom said. 'Now it's like the key to the executive toilet. Being able to work from home is something that people are flexing about.' Some workers, CEOs buck return to office A similar phenomenon is playing out in the public sector. President Donald Trump made splashy headlines when he ordered federal workers back to the office full-time. But, said Bloom, Trump often prefers his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to the Oval Office. The president is far from alone. A 2023 McKinsey survey found the largest share of employees who strongly prefer working from home earn more than $150,000 a year. They were also the group most likely to quit their jobs if called back to the office every day. The rank-and-file feels strongly about it, too. Three-quarters of employed adults who have a job that can be done from home are working remotely at least some of the time, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. If their employer no longer allowed them that flexibility, nearly half said they would be unlikely to stay on. Pavi Theva was stationed in Texas as a product manager when Amazon began enforcing a new three-day-a-week in-person policy. With none of her teammates located in the Austin office, she'd make the 45-minute commute to sit by herself. She regularly scrambled to find an empty conference room so she could attend virtual meetings uninterrupted. Time spent in the office was pointless, she said. 'It wasn't adding any value from a productivity standpoint or a collaboration standpoint.' After getting flagged a couple of times for not badging into the office often enough, Theva quit in February 2024 to turn a side hustle in career coaching into a full-time gig. She never looked back. 'I have zero commute,' she said. 'Just 20 seconds from my bedroom to my study in my PJs.' A report from the Census Bureau that surveyed 150,000 firms from November 2024 to January 2025 concluded remote workers like Theva are here to stay. Employees work from home at least one day a week on average and businesses expect that to continue through 2029. And some business leaders are leaning into that trend. In 2022, Airbnb instituted a 'Live and Work Anywhere' remote work policy which allows employees to work from home as long as they regularly meet up in person. Before the pandemic, some 95% of Airbnb's employees lived within 50 miles of an office, according to the online marketplace for short-term vacation rentals. Today, that figure stands at about 70%. 'If you want a team to work harder, don't make them come to the office, give them a crazy deadline and check on their progress every week,' CEO Brian Chesky said on the Masters of Scale Rapid Response podcast. 'That's how you get them to work harder, not by being in the office. I don't care where you are.' Dropbox has also doubled down on flexibility with its 'Virtual First' remote work policy. CEO Drew Houston says it doesn't make sense to force employees to show up in the office to do the same work they would do remotely. Over the last five years, about 70% of job applicants have cited remote work as the reason they are interested in working at the file-storage company, Dropbox said. Dropbox has also seen its lowest attrition rates and highest offer acceptance rates since going fully remote, internal company data shows. "We can be a lot less dumb than forcing people back into a car three days a week or whatever to literally be back on the same Zoom meeting they would have been at home,' Houston told Fortune's Leadership Next podcast. 'There's a better way to do this."
Forbes
7 hours ago
- Forbes
Can Agentic AI Bring The Pope Or The Queen Back To Life — And Rewrite History?
Can Agentic AI Bring the Pope or the Queen Back to Life — and Rewrite History? Elon Musk recently sparked global debate by claiming AI could soon be powerful enough to rewrite history. He stated on X (formerly Twitter) that his AI platform, Grok, could 'rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors.' This bold claim arrives alongside a recent groundbreaking announcement from Google: the launch of Google Veo3 AI Video Generator, a state-of-the-art AI video generation model capable of producing cinematic-quality videos from text and images. Part of the Google Gemini ecosystem, Google Veo3 AI generates lifelike videos complete with synchronized audio, dynamic camera movements, and coherent multi-scene narratives. Its intuitive editing tools, combined with accessibility through platforms like Google Gemini, Flow, Vids, and Vertex AI, open new frontiers for filmmakers, marketers, educators, and game designers alike. At the same time, industry leaders — including OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft Copilot, and Mistral (Claude) — are racing to build more sophisticated agentic AI systems. Unlike traditional reactive AI tools, these agents are designed to reason, plan, and orchestrate autonomous actions based on goals, feedback, and long-term context. This evolution marks a shift toward AI systems that function much like a skilled executive assistant — and beyond. The Promise: Immortalizing Legacy Through Agentic AI Together, these advances raise a fascinating question: What if agentic AI could bring historical figures like the Pope or the Queen back to life digitally? Could it even reshape our understanding of history itself? Imagine an AI trained on decades — or even a century — of video footage, writings, audio recordings, and public appearances by iconic figures such as Pope Francis or Queen Elizabeth II. Using agentic AI, we could create realistic, interactive digital avatars capable of offering insights, delivering messages, or simulating how these individuals might respond to today's complex issues based on their documented philosophies and behaviors. This application could benefit millions. For example, Catholic followers might seek guidance and blessings from a digital Pope, educators could build immersive historical simulations, and advisors to the British royal family could analyze past decision-making styles. After all, as the saying goes, 'history repeats itself,' and access to nuanced, context-rich perspectives from the past could illuminate our present. The Risk: The Dangerous Flip Side — Rewriting Truth Itself However, the same technologies that can immortalize could also distort and manipulate reality. If agentic AI can reconstruct the past, what prevents it — or malicious actors — from rewriting it? Autonomous agents that control which stories are amplified or suppressed online pose a serious threat. We risk a future where deepfakes, synthetic media, and AI-generated propaganda blur the line between fact and fiction. Already, misinformation campaigns and fake news challenge our ability to discern truth. Agentic AI could exponentially magnify these problems, making it harder than ever to distinguish between genuine history and fabricated narratives. Imagine a world where search engines no longer provide objective facts, but the version of history shaped by governments, corporations, or AI systems themselves. This could lead to widespread confusion, social polarization, and a fundamental erosion of trust in information. Ethics, Regulation, and Responsible Innovation The advent of agentic AI demands not only excitement but also ethical foresight and regulatory vigilance. Programming AI agents to operate autonomously requires walking a fine line between innovation and manipulation. Transparency in training data, explainability in AI decisions, and strict regulation of how agents interact are essential safeguards. The critical question is not just 'Can we?' but 'Should we?' Policymakers, developers, and industry leaders must collaborate to establish global standards and oversight mechanisms that ensure AI technologies serve the public good. Just as financial markets and pharmaceuticals drugs are regulated to protect society, so too must the AI agents shaping our future be subject to robust guardrails. As the old adage goes: 'Technology is neither good nor bad. It's how we use it that makes all the difference.' Navigating the Future of Agentic AI and Historical Data The convergence of generative video models like Google Veo3, visionary leaders like Elon Musk, and the rapid rise of agentic AI paints a complex and compelling picture. Yes, we may soon see lifelike digital recreations of the Pope or the Queen delivering messages, advising future generations, and influencing public discourse. But whether these advancements become tools of enlightenment or distortion depends entirely on how we govern, regulate, and ethically deploy these technologies today. The future of agentic AI — especially when it touches our history and culture — must be navigated with care, responsibility, and a commitment to truth.
