{"id":66199,"date":"2024-12-05T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=66199"},"modified":"2024-12-05T10:28:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T23:28:24","slug":"autonomous-service-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/au\/blog\/autonomous-service-agents\/","title":{"rendered":"Agentforce: Good to Great Strategies for Autonomous Service Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The goalposts in customer service are always shifting. As technology advances, what was \u201cgreat\u201d yesterday is simply \u201cgood\u201d today. To stay ahead, your service strategy must evolve \u2014 and that\u2019s where AI agents, specifically Agentforce Service Agents<\/a>, step in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike your traditional chatbots, these agents can work autonomously alongside your team, handling routine and complex tasks alike, and taking action to resolve issues in real time. By combining your team\u2019s human intuition with AI\u2019s speed and efficiency, agents open up new ways to deliver faster, smarter, and more scalable customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this blog, we\u2019ll cover three essential strategies to unlock the full potential of AI agents and transform both customer and employee experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Video: Take Your Service From Good to Great<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Learn seven digital support best practices in under 20 minutes with Matt Kravitz.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tWatch now<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
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Aligning your AI strategy with your service strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With so many new capabilities at your fingertips, where do you start? If Service Cloud<\/a> and Agentforce<\/a> can do a myriad of amazing things, the first step is knowing which align best with your business\u2019s needs. Before you can define an AI strategy, you need to understand your organisation\u2019s service strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service strategies usually fall into one of three categories and are dependent on the complexity of cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Action-based:<\/strong> Service organisations like Australia Post<\/a> or Uber Eats<\/a> handle high-volume, repetitive tasks that require quick resolutions. Automation is essential to keep operations efficient.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Order-based:<\/strong> For companies like MECCA<\/a> and Telstra<\/a>, the majority of customer interactions represent potential value and revenue. Balancing efficiency with customer satisfaction and brand love is crucial, as each contact opens up upsell and cross-sell potential.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Knowledge-centred: <\/strong>These businesses manage complex, long-resolution cases that require deep expertise to help resolve cases \u2014 think of service interactions at Salesforce or Xero<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Identifying where you fit helps pinpoint where AI can deliver the most value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, in action-based service organisations, a high deflection rate might be the goal. Autonomous service agents<\/a> can take care of rescheduling appointments or tracking orders by pulling relevant customer data and reasoning based on your knowledge articles and FAQs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In order-based organisations, AI can play a critical role in assisting and augmenting the human experience by providing recommendations and offers. It can also help ensure organisational policies are executed accurately and consistently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In knowledge-centred organisations, AI agents can support the most complex queries by accessing both structured and unstructured data, answering technical questions and escalating cases to human representatives when necessary. They even help customer representatives by summarising those multi-interaction cases, generating replies, and recommending next steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Define a channel strategy for humans with AI agents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Each type of customer inquiry has its ideal channel, and getting this right is essential for effective AI-powered service. Simple tasks, like updating an address, are well suited for no-touch processes, while interactions that add value, like cancellations or product inquiries, might need a high-touch approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To craft your channel strategy, bring your team together to review each contact driver and determine which channels serve each best. This approach lets customer representatives focus on high-value interactions, while Agentforce handles the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Need more help on channel strategy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Explore the seven best practices for customer support<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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    Read blog<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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    Watch this video for a walk-through<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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    Watch now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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    2. Map out a maturity journey for your AI agents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Where are you on your AI journey? Knowing what your AI agents can do today \u2014 and how they can evolve to do more \u2014 is essential for long-term success. A maturity plan helps you guide your Agentforce<\/a> deployment from \u201cgood\u201d to \u201cgreat\u201d and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are four levels to the journey, each with an increasing percentage of containment: <\/p>\n\n\n\n