Christina Lepkowski didn't start in technology. While working in a New Business role, she became a Salesforce super user and quickly realized the platform could become much more than CRM. Today, Christina is known for asking a different set of questions - not just what AI can do, but how it should sound, feel, and interact with customers. That philosophy defines everything about Clara, the voice agent that Christina’s team built.
Christina's team built and launched a voice agent for Sammons's call centers. Business stakeholders, who wouldn't typically be involved in a technology implementation, helped shape everything from the agent’s name and personality to how the agent interacts with customers. The result was a voice agent designed to be warm, helpful, and deliberately Midwestern.
Christina explains that Sammons customers expect Midwestern service. As a financial services company, they want to make sure their voice matches the moment customers are calling about. They want their agent to be ready to help, and the agent meets their energy where they are. Every decision, from the agent’s personality to the way it speaks with customers, was designed to make the experience feel like a natural extension of the human team.
The road to the Call Center agent started before Agentforce even launched. Christina's team began with a chatbot concept, then waited for the technology to catch up to their vision. When Agentforce Voice became available, they were ready - partnering with Salesforce Professional Services and their Signature Success team to bring their vision to life.
Since going live, the Call Center agent has handled approximately 15,000 calls. Those calls translated into nearly 348 hours of reduced average handle time across Sammons' call centers. Every minute saved has a dollar value. The ROI is real.
The agent’s responsibilities continue to expand to help customers with policy and contract information. The Sammons team has also delivered the ability for the agent to provide real-time servicing status updates and phone call accuracy evaluations.
Start small, inch wide, mile deep. Find a solution that is going to provide immediate impact. You don't have to boil the ocean. Give it priority and make it work for you.
Christina LepkowskiSystem Architect, Sammons Financial Group Companies
For Christina, the most rewarding part wasn't the metrics, it was seeing how the rest of the company responded. When our voice agent went live, Slack channels lit up. Other business units immediately started asking: what can this do for us?
She says it showed the company’s capabilities, what they were able to deliver and how they could meet business value. It also immediately got other business stakeholders thinking about what they could do next.
For Christina, the project’s success came from building alongside business stakeholders from the beginning. They didn’t just shape the requirements. They helped shape the experience. It is a testament to what is possible when leaders like Christina choose to bridge the gap between human purpose and digital innovation.