Businesses are at an inflection point, brought about by the rise of Agentic AI and the possibilities for enterprises. 2025 delivered enterprise AI that moved beyond simple prompts and reactive text generation into a new reality where digital agents don’t just talk — they act. According to the Salesforce Agentic Enterprise Index, AI agent creation and deployment soared by 119% in the first half of 2025 alone, and employee-agent interactions grew 65% per month.
Moving into 2026, agentic momentum is undeniable. This is the year when digitally ambitious businesses across the diverse ASEAN region are accelerating the pace to become an Agentic Enterprise: where AI elevates human potential like never before, empowering every employee to achieve more, every customer-facing moment to deliver more, and every company to operate with unprecedented intelligence and speed.
The evolution will be characterized by the rise of localized, region-specific AI innovation and small language AI models (SLMs) suited for specific purposes or industries. This marks a clear opportunity for ASEAN businesses to repeat another bout of technological leapfrogging with agentic AI.
Agentic AI is also going to get more personal in 2026. Rapid technology developments of both human-like forms of robots (which mimic human interactions) or more utilitarian forms, such as roving security robots that perform specific tasks, are reshaping how and where we interact with AI agents. Looking ahead, voice technology will make agentic interactions more human-like, as we enter an age of Ambient AI with virtual agents working seamlessly in the background embedded into everyday devices.
Gavin Barfield, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Solutions, Salesforce ASEAN, expands further on the trends that will shape the business and technology landscape for ASEAN enterprises in 2026:
1. AI Goes Truly Global by Becoming More Local
In 2026, we will see more localisation and relevance of AI innovation to markets in Southeast Asia, with more options available to cater to different purposes. AI innovation has primarily been in English at launch, with a focus on getting the technology working well. As agentic AI becomes more mature, we anticipate that the coming year will see more investments in localising AI to reflect the unique linguistic tapestry that is ASEAN. AI models fine-tuned with regional linguistic and cultural nuances will deliver more accurate and contextually relevant responses, improving customer experience and making a true business impact in the region. We will also see a variety of LLM options emerge for local businesses, as global LLMs localise and more regional, local, and even industry-specific Small Language models (SLMs) emerge to cater to varying needs.
The availability of local and region-specific AI unlocks a huge opportunity in ASEAN, empowering businesses to solve uniquely local problems. For example, we are making our Agentforce available in Southeast Asian languages such as Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, Bahasa Melayu, and Bahasa Indonesia for the first time, to enable more local businesses in the region to transform into truly Agentic Enterprises.
2. ASEAN Leapfrogs to the Agentic Era
ASEAN has a history of technological leapfrogging, famously skipping the PC era for mobile-first super apps connecting millions across a geographically and culturally disparate region. We may be poised to witness this phenomenon again with Agentic AI in 2026, with its young, digitally-savvy, and ambitious population.
Businesses unburdened by archaic legacy infrastructure have the freedom to adopt agentic AI workflows to unlock an entirely new model of work for ASEAN businesses, where AI agents and humans work alongside one another.
This would not have been possible before agentic AI. This ability to bypass old systems and traditional thinking is the essence of the leapfrog: it empowers millions of ASEAN businesses to instantly access a digital workforce of autonomous AI agents working alongside human counterparts to fundamentally transform the very nature of work itself.
3. Experimentation to Uncover AI’s Hidden Potential
Businesses and their customers alike are only beginning to understand what AI can do. As agentic technology matures, we can expect entirely novel use cases–many of which we can’t even imagine today– reshaping how we live, work, and connect with others.
We can compare AI’s development and adoption cycle to that of electricity. When electricity was first harnessed for practical use in the 19th century, it was mainly used to illuminate spaces after sundown. Fast forward today, electricity is used to store and process information (computers) or even ideate and create (AI) – use cases that the early scientists would never have envisioned.
We’ve only just begun to discover where and how AI can be applied, and it is clear that there is much untapped potential with the technology. Businesses cannot afford to “wait-and-see” and must proactively establish systems, procedures, and infrastructure that allow them to seize the AI opportunity. This includes establishing a strong foundation of unified, trusted data to ensure that AI can deliver accurate, relevant, and actionable outputs. Crucially, businesses will need to remain open to constant experimentation and move with agility to capitalize on the latest AI advancements, or risk being left behind.
4. Agent-to-Agent Communications Reimagine Business Interactions
We may see the emergence of personal AI agents, which are capable of taking over tedious administrative tasks in your personal life, such as managing daily schedules, handling shopping, and overseeing finances on your behalf. For example, instead of making a mental note to pay your mobile bill every month, you can delegate the task to your personal AI agent. It reviews the bill and seeks approval to make payment directly if the bill does not significantly deviate from your bill last month. This can significantly help lighten cognitive load, bringing greater efficiency and productivity into our daily lives.
The rise of personal AI agents will likely change how we interact with businesses. Agent-to-agent interactions, where autonomous agents communicate, collaborate, and transact without direct human involvement, will become more commonplace. For example, your personal AI agent might work with an airline’s flight booking agent to find a flight that fits your preference and schedule, and directly make the payment by interacting with your bank’s AI agent to finalize the booking.
5. Beyond Taglines: AI Agents Will Shape Brand Identity
Personal AI agents may also change the way companies connect with their customers. Instead of offering messaging, products, and services tailored to consumers, businesses will also need to consider how their outreach can best meet the preferences and objectives of personal AI agents.
In 2026, brands may find their identity defined less by their logos or slogans and more by their AI agents. We can envision customizable agents becoming always-on brand ambassadors: intelligent, deeply personalized, and continuously evolving with every single customer interaction.
This could mark a decisive shift in how customers connect with brands. Instead of judging companies by clever taglines, customers might evaluate brands by how their AI agents interact with them. In this new agent-driven reality, the winning brands will be those whose AI interactions feel less like scripted support and more like a genuinely helpful partner.
6. Agentic AI Finds A Voice
Voice will increasingly become the new interface through which we interact with agents, replacing chatbots. Agentic voice technology will allow humans to speak to agents in a natural, conversational manner – as if conversing with another human.
Maturing this technology will take time, with the diversity in language, as well as nuances in slang, accents, and colloquialisms in human speech, adding to the complexity.
Operating as a limitless labor force, these agents can handle all incoming calls in real-time, effectively eliminating the need for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) (e.g., Press 1 for sales; Press 2 for support) menus and even hold music, which has been an annoyance in traditional customer service.
We could see AI agents functioning as triage within contact centers, interacting conversationally with customers to route queries to the relevant departments. With more experience, AI agents may resolve routine requests autonomously, for example, processing the annual fee waivers for a credit card.
Not only does this ensure a natural, seamless, and positive experience for the customer, but it also frees up time for human employees to focus on resolving complex cases and focus on building rapport for stronger customer relationships.
7. Agents Enter the Real World with Ambient AI
In 2026, AI will become increasingly ambient. We could see AI agents moving from virtual interfaces and being embedded into devices and the physical space, operating unobtrusively and naturally in the background of everyday environments and interactions.
Imagine walking into the mall, and AI agents embedded within digital signage show you personalized promotions based on your shopping habits. Or interacting with a physical robotic concierge that you can converse with, much like a human, to manage your hotel booking and proactively adjust your itinerary based on real-time changes due to traffic or weather.
8. Humans Orchestrate the Agentic World
Agentic enterprises could rapidly transition to an “orchestrated workforce” model. In this structure, a primary “orchestrator” agent directs smaller, expert agents, much like how a restaurant’s general manager oversees the work of hosts, servers, managers, chefs, cooks, and expediters. In an enterprise context, a service agent processes a customer’s inquiry while an inventory agent checks product availability, before the orchestrator agent coordinates all these inputs into a coherent, effective, on-brand, and contextually relevant response for the human employee to share with the customer.
Crucially, this model ensures humans remain in control. The human role shifts to a high-level supervisor, who leverages AI-powered observability tools to set guardrails, ensure ethics, and oversee the entire digital team’s performance.
Conclusion
The words “Agentic Enterprise” may conjure images of huge conglomerates with vast resources. But companies of every size in ASEAN can benefit from this transformation. Small and medium-sized businesses now have the potential to compete with companies several times their size.
Treat agentic AI or even AI as a whole, not as an on/off switch, but as a dial you turn up gradually. As you gather evidence that the agent is performing reliably, you can grant it more responsibility. This phased approach ensures you have a scalable and sustainable approach to becoming an Agentic Enterprise: a company where AI agents and human experts work as a seamless team, unlocking a level of productivity and innovation we’ve only dreamed of.
