Texas Department of Public Safety delivers 24/7 licensing help with Agentforce

More Texans, same workday

The Texas Department of Public Safety (Texas DPS) helps millions of Texans access driver license and identification services every year. With the state’s population growing by about 20,000 people each month, demand was already outpacing what traditional customer service could keep up with.

“We handled 25,000 customer calls daily,” said Brooke Bachmeyer, Assistant Manager. “This resulted in hold times of up to 35 minutes, with some customers even waiting longer. Not because of the lack of effort, but because demand had simply grown beyond what we could support.”

Over six months, more than 14,000 Texans attempted to contact Texas DPS on weekends. To keep costs in check and meet demand, Texas DPS needed to extend trusted service beyond traditional office hours, phone lines, and rigid automated phone menus.

Support built to grow

To support their rapidly growing population, Texas DPS built Agent Sheri, powered by Agentforce.

On the Texas DPS Drivers License web page, any visitor can start a conversation with Agent Sheri to ask questions such as how to renew a license, replace a lost ID, or what to bring to an appointment. Agent Sheri automatically responds in English or Spanish, based on the language the customer used – no waiting for a translator.

That same agentic experience extends to the phone through with Agent Sheri, powered by Agentforce Voice. Instead of navigating a traditional automated phone menu, callers simply describe what they need. Agent Sheri answers common licensing questions and, when information is better referenced later, offers to send helpful resources by text or email. Chat and voice channels share the same knowledge and business logic, giving customers a consistent experience regardless of how they reach out.

When human judgment is needed, Agentforce adapts the handoff based on representative availability. During business hours, it creates a case in Agentforce Service and transfers the conversation with full context to the service queue. When live support isn’t available, Agent Sheri offers to start a case, collects the customer’s information through an in-chat form, and confirms that a representative will follow up as soon as possible.

“The switch to Salesforce has benefited our customers when self-service isn't enough,” said Bachmeyer. “They now have multiple ways to reach us, including phone, email, and live chat, allowing them to choose the channel that works best for them.”

Shared architecture at work

Agent Sheri combines reasoning, trusted knowledge, secure API integrations, and seamless handoffs to answer licensing questions and complete customer requests across channels. The Atlas Reasoning Engine maintains context as conversations evolve, while Agentforce asks clarifying questions when needed. This allows customers to move naturally between related requests without starting over.

To ensure every response is grounded in approved information, Agentforce retrieves vetted knowledge unified in Data 360 from Agentforce Service via retrieval-augmented generation, rather than relying on public web content. When a request requires citizen-specific information, such as validating renewal or replacement eligibility or checking document mailing status, Agent Sheri makes a live API call to the Texas DPS internal Driver License System and returns the answer in real time. Personally identifiable information (PII) never touches the LLM, helping Texas DPS provide the level of security, compliance, and trust expected of a public safety agency.

More service, more citizens, same staff

In its first week, Agent Sheri on web chat handled more than 5,000 conversations, setting Texas DPS up to serve a rising population while making the most of existing resources. 

“Agentforce has helped us double the number of customers we've assisted,” said Chief Sheri Gipson, Chief of the Driver License Division. “We're seeing a 105% increase compared to last year, and it continues to go up.” 

The impact extends beyond chat. With Agent Sheri on the voice channel, Texas DPS expects to support more than 5 million calls annually, categorize the intent behind every interaction, and use those insights to continuously improve how they support Texans.

As Jessica Iselt Ballew, CIO, put it, “We're not done. We're going to continue to advance our AI agents so they can handle more types of calls. We're going to monitor, see what the trends are, and grow how we support Texans.”