Latest news with #AgentExchange
Techday NZ
5 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
NTT DATA launches EPAS service to boost Salesforce Agentforce AI
NTT DATA has introduced a new service for Salesforce's Agentforce, aimed at supporting client adoption of autonomous AI agents to work alongside human teams. The newly announced service follows the earlier launch of NTT DATA's Smart AI Agent Ecosystem, which provides a framework for deploying agentic solutions at enterprise scale. This service for Agentforce will be offered through an "EPAS" model—Evangelize, Pilot, Adopt, and Scale—designed to assist clients in every stage of agentic AI implementation and integration. Four-stage approach The "EPAS" approach begins with Evangelize, in which NTT DATA helps organisations identify relevant use cases for Agentforce and develops return on investment proposals tailored to individual client needs. The company relies on its industry-specific experience and a repository of use cases to align with the client's operational environment and strategic objectives. During the Pilot phase, NTT DATA supports the client's initial implementation of Agentforce, including building the first proof-of-concept use case. The company also advises on the potential benefits of incorporating additional AI agent ecosystem components. As clients transition to the Adopt and Scale phases, NTT DATA moves to a product-oriented delivery model to facilitate the widespread deployment of Agentforce solutions. The company's extensive library of use cases further streamlines this process, providing clients with pre-developed scenarios for rapid integration. Integration options The service enables integration with tools such as MuleSoft and Data Cloud, taking advantage of NTT DATA's expertise in integration and data unification. The company highlights the importance of offering a robust architecture and service delivery capabilities to support the requirements of global enterprises. "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," said Megan Piccininni, SVP and Global Salesforce Practice Leader at NTT DATA. Agentforce platform and use cases Salesforce's Agentforce is described as a digital labour platform that enables enterprises to augment their teams with autonomous AI agents directly integrated into their work processes. Through AgentExchange, organisations can access hundreds of pre-built actions, topics, and templates. The platform also offers pre-validated Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers that have met stringent security standards for rapid deployment of digital AI workforces. NTT DATA's Agentforce service is positioned as adaptable to various industry requirements and aims to provide business outcomes in sectors ranging from customer service to health and life sciences. Key use cases include Customer Service and Experience, management of observability and service operations, agentic business process outsourcing in domains such as Life Insurance and Contact Centres, patient management in healthcare, and task automation in real estate and vendor management. The company outlines additional applications, such as Seller Community platforms to reduce deal approval times, Marketing Community tools for automating marketing communications, and tools to speed up recruitment processes, among others. Centralised governance and security controls are highlighted as features to ensure consistency and management across AI agents deployed within an organisation. Scaling digital labour NTT DATA notes that digital labour is already providing a competitive advantage for organisations embedding the technology across their operations. Effective scaling, the company suggests, requires insight into agent deployment, productivity enhancements, and secure management of AI tools. According to Salesforce, Agentforce's latest release offers an enterprise platform for managing human-AI collaboration, connecting agents via open standards, and enabling rapid deployment of industry-ready agents with a focus on security and scalability. Salesforce has designed Agentforce to enable ready-to-use, industry-specific actions, aiming to provide measurable value for enterprise users. NTT DATA, with its industry reach and technical scale, plays a role in supporting clients' adoption of agentic models and guiding organisations in their evolution towards broader AI agent use while focusing on responsible innovation and governance. "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," added Megan Piccininni. "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. With Agentforce constantly evolving and expanding, NTT DATA's new service demonstrates the company's commitment to empowering customers to deliver success with Agentforce," said Phil Samenuk, SVP of Global Alliances & Channels and Outsourcing Service Providers, Salesforce.
Business Wire
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
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
Business Insider
7 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
PayPal expands Salesforce partnership over Agentforce
PayPal (PYPL) said it is expanding its partnership with Salesforce (CRM) as a featured Model Context Protocol Server on Agentforce's AgentExchange. 'Now, Agentforce users can easily plug into PayPal's full suite of #commerce tools to create agents,' PayPal said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Confident Investing Starts Here:
Techday NZ
12-06-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Skillsoft & Salesforce launch AI learning for support teams
Skillsoft has announced a partnership with Salesforce to provide AI-powered learning solutions designed to improve the capabilities of customer support teams using the Salesforce platform. The collaboration introduces Skillsoft's CAISY offerings to the Salesforce ecosystem in response to persistent skill gaps in customer support. Research cited by the companies highlights that while 59% of service decision-makers consider upskilling customer-facing staff a priority, 70% still report service challenges due to underskilled teams. AI-driven coaching Skillsoft's CAISY platform delivers interactive, AI-powered coaching environments within Salesforce, enabling support personnel to practise high-stakes customer conversations and receive real-time feedback. These features are intended to strengthen essential skills such as communication, empathy, and problem-solving without interrupting regular workflows. According to Salesforce data, customer expectations are changing rapidly, with 80% of customers valuing the quality of their experience as highly as the company's products and services. Skillsoft and Salesforce aim to address these evolving demands by making targeted training accessible directly within the tools customer-facing teams already use. "Exceptional customer service does not happen by chance – it is the result of consistent practice, feedback, and development. Too often, support teams lack access to the kind of training that effectively prepares them for the real-world conversations they face every day," said Apratim Purakayastha, General Manager, Talent Development Solutions, Skillsoft. "Our work with Salesforce will bring the transformative learning experience of CAISYTM directly into the tools customer-facing teams use every day, helping organisations strengthen relationships, improve performance, and turn their support function into a competitive advantage." Skillsoft's integration with Salesforce will allow support teams to simulate varied customer scenarios, such as managing difficult issues with upset customers or handling refund requests. These scenarios are customisable and include instant feedback aligned with each organisation's unique requirements. Integration details The first of the new applications, Skillsoft CAISY for Agentforce on AgentExchange, is embedded in Agentforce, Salesforce's digital labour platform. This tool uses custom conversation rubrics developed by Skillsoft to evaluate real customer support interactions. Agents get actionable performance scores and coaching recommendations, while managers can spot skills gaps and identify development opportunities for their teams. The aim is to create faster feedback cycles and more consistent service performance. For continuous learning during work, Skillsoft CAISY for AppExchange offers another route for support teams. This application provides access to interactive practice modules - such as dealing with irate customers—directly within Salesforce. The modules are intended to build confidence and competence in handling typical customer service cases through targeted skills practice. Tyler Carlson, Senior Vice President and Head of Product, AppExchange and Ecosystem at Salesforce, highlighted the immediate and scalable value of the partnership: "We are excited for Skillsoft to bring its industry-leading enterprise learning solutions to Salesforce, delivering real-time AI training for organisations and their customer service teams exactly when they need it. Having Skillsoft CAISYTM within Salesforce will unlock the next evolution of how humans and AI agents, together, deliver quality training and great customer experiences at scale." Focus on measurable outcomes Both companies cite the need for measurable improvements in service quality and customer satisfaction. Through deeper integration with daily operations, organisations are expected to benefit from enhanced visibility into team capabilities and more efficient ways to address performance issues. The partnership targets organisations seeking to accelerate workforce upskilling and reskilling by embedding coaching and development tools within the platforms their support teams regularly use. The approach is designed to mitigate the ongoing challenges that have been widely reported within customer service environments. Skillsoft's offerings will be available to the broad Salesforce user base, enabling practical, in-the-moment learning opportunities that reflect the diverse and evolving demands of customer support roles. Follow us on: Share on:
CNBC
28-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Salesforce shares advance on strong results and optimistic forecast
Salesforce shares rose 4% in extended trading on Wednesday after the sales and customer service software maker reported upbeat fiscal first-quarter results and guidance. Here's how the company performed relative to LSEG consensus: Salesforce's revenue grew 8% year over year in the quarter, which ended on April 30, according to a statement. Net income of $1.54 billion, or $1.59 per share, was basically flat compared with $1.53 billion, or $1.56 per share, a year ago. President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. in early April. Co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff sounded positive about the company's results for the quarter anyway, pointing to its plan, announced on Tuesday, to buy data management company Informatica for $8 billion. It would be Salesforce's priciest acquisition since the $27.1 billion Slack deal in 2021. Slack marked the top end of the buyouts Salesforce had made under Benioff. Activist investors raised concerns about all the spending, in addition to slowing revenue growth. Salesforce sprung into action, slashing 10% of its headcount. Benioff proclaimed that the board's mergers and acquisitions committee had been disbanded. The company's finance chief at the time said it would reach a margin expansion goal two years early. And Salesforce started paying dividends to shareholders. Initial reception to the Informatica announcement was generally favorable. "Salesforce is paying a reasonable multiple for the asset, in our view, and the deal should be more easily digested by investors than some of the company's large deals in the past (i.e. Slack)," Stifel analysts led by J. Parker Lane wrote in a note to clients. The investment bank has a buy rating on Salesforce shares. During the fiscal first quarter, Salesforce introduced the AgentExchange marketplace for artificial intelligence agents. Management sees $2.76 to $2.78 in adjusted earnings per share on $10.11 billion to $10.16 billion in revenue for the fiscal second quarter. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected $2.73 in adjusted earnings per share on $10.01 billion in revenue. Salesforce bumped up its full-year forecast. It called for $11.27 to $11.33 in adjusted earnings per share and $41.0 billion to $41.3 billion in revenue. The LSEG consensus included net income of $11.16 per share and $40.82 billion in revenue. The guidance in February was $11.09 to $11.17 in adjusted earnings per share, with $40.5 billion to $40.9 billion in revenue. As of Wednesday's close, the stock had slipped about 18% so far in 2025, while the S&P index was unchanged. Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.
