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Agentforce who?

Agentforce who? A guide to Salesforce AI tools for nonprofits and philanthropic organizations

If you’re tuned into the latest from Salesforce, you’ve likely been hearing a lot of buzz about something called Agentforce, or “agentic AI.” We’re here to break down what it is, what it means for your organization, and what might be coming next.

What is Agentforce, anyway?

Agentforce is a toolkit that combines generative AI tools (think ChatGPT, but safer), the Salesforce automation tools you’re familiar with (flow! Apex!), and the context of your organization’s data (including, but not necessarily limited to, what’s in your Salesforce org). Your data does not ever leave the tool, and it respects your security settings as defined in Salesforce.

 

Wait, what does “agentic AI” mean?

Salesforce is calling Agentforce “agentic AI” as opposed to predictive or generative AI, because in addition to identifying patterns in your existing data or generating text based on prompts, it can act on your data as if it has agency (by running automations designed and built by humans).

You’ll also hear the word “autonomous” kicked around—that doesn’t mean it’s sentient, or that it’s proactive in any way. It just means that where previous AI tools like Einstein Copilot required a human to confirm any changes that were made to your data, Agentforce tools can make the changes that they’re configured to make without a human needing to approve them.

 

What would a nonprofit or grantmaking organization use it for?

Agentforce tools are designed to be an interaction point between your organization and external stakeholders. For many Salesforce users, “external stakeholders” means “customers,” so you’ll see that language used a lot in conversations about Agentforce. For nonprofits, it’s more likely to be donors, program participants, or members; for grantmakers, it might be grantee partners, external reviewers, or board members.

Agentforce can give those folks a user-friendly, conversational interface to ask and answer questions about what your organization does and about their history with you, drawing context from the conversation itself and also—here’s the really new part—any data your organization already has about that person, plus any other background information that you’ve given the tool access too, like program descriptions on your website, or dates and availability information on an external event management platform. Some examples of possible uses for nonprofits and grantmakers we’ve seen include:

  • Give members a quick way to upgrade or renew, or check on any unused benefits they might have
  • Give potential grantees or participants a way to check their eligibility for one of your programs, letting them share information in any order and giving you a chance to tell them about other programs they would be eligible for
  • Give awarded grantees a straightforward, mobile-friendly way to provide updates on the work your funding has supported or ask for an amendment to their award

What are the costs?

While we can’t tell you how much it will cost for your organization specifically, we can tell you what kinds of costs you’ll need to consider when deciding whether to adopt Agentforce:

  • Platform costs: The price per user that you pay for using Salesforce is likely to go up to access these features, and as far as we’re aware as of this writing, you can’t go back down if you ever decide not to use the features.
  • Product costs: If you want Agentforce to have access to information that doesn’t live in Salesforce (like your website or external event management system), you’ll need to include Data Cloud in your roster of Salesforce products.
  • Setup and maintenance costs: While the Agentforce tool itself is relatively quick to set up, it will take time and expertise to prepare and maintain (more on that below).

How much work is it to set up and maintain?

Since Agentforce as a toolkit comprises multiple custom components, some of which might already be configured in your system, the amount of work it takes to set up and maintain will can vary pretty widely. How much time you need will depend on a bunch of questions:

  • What do you want to use Agentforce for?
    • Salesforce offers a framework for answering this question that includes defining a role for it, what data it needs access to, what actions it should take, where it should live, and what security parameters should be in place.
  • How much of that use case is already configured as automation humans run in your system?
  • Is the data you need Agentforce to access already set up in a way that allows for secure use?
  • How will you use the information you get from Agentforce to inform your processes and the way you interact with the folks that it’s designed to support?

Each of those questions sparks a whole lot more questions, and each of those takes time to answer and plan for.

So the short answer to “how much work” is: depending on your use case, it’s definitely going to involve some amount of work, both strategic and technical. Orgs with full-time, skilled in-house Salesforce admins or trusted managed services partners are going to be better set up to enable and manage Agentforce over time than orgs who rely on part-time admins or ad hoc support from partners.

What risks should I be thinking about?

Understanding the kinds of risks that AI tools carry is an essential first step in deciding whether those tools should be part of your organization’s technology strategy. Salesforce has done a good job of mitigating the data security risks posed by many AI tools, and Sputnik Moment recommends the AI Risk taxonomy developed by MIT as a way to understand the range of other potential risks that could arise for your organization:

https://airisk.mit.edu/#Domain-Taxonomy-of-AI-Risks

How do I get started?

We’re happy to be a thought-partner with you as you consider the possibilities for your organization. Click here to book a one-time consultation with our Director of Professional Services to dig in on what makes the most sense for you.

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About Agentforce who?
Contact Agentforce who?

Agentforce who? A guide to Salesforce AI tools for nonprofits and philanthropic organizations

If you’re tuned into the latest from Salesforce, you’ve likely been hearing a lot of buzz about something called Agentforce, or “agentic AI.” We’re here to break down what it is, what it means for your organization, and what might be coming next.

What is Agentforce, anyway?

Agentforce is a toolkit that combines generative AI tools (think ChatGPT, but safer), the Salesforce automation tools you’re familiar with (flow! Apex!), and the context of your organization’s data (including, but not necessarily limited to, what’s in your Salesforce org). Your data does not ever leave the tool, and it respects your security settings as defined in Salesforce.

 

Wait, what does “agentic AI” mean?

Salesforce is calling Agentforce “agentic AI” as opposed to predictive or generative AI, because in addition to identifying patterns in your existing data or generating text based on prompts, it can act on your data as if it has agency (by running automations designed and built by humans).

You’ll also hear the word “autonomous” kicked around—that doesn’t mean it’s sentient, or that it’s proactive in any way. It just means that where previous AI tools like Einstein Copilot required a human to confirm any changes that were made to your data, Agentforce tools can make the changes that they’re configured to make without a human needing to approve them.

 

What would a nonprofit or grantmaking organization use it for?

Agentforce tools are designed to be an interaction point between your organization and external stakeholders. For many Salesforce users, “external stakeholders” means “customers,” so you’ll see that language used a lot in conversations about Agentforce. For nonprofits, it’s more likely to be donors, program participants, or members; for grantmakers, it might be grantee partners, external reviewers, or board members.

Agentforce can give those folks a user-friendly, conversational interface to ask and answer questions about what your organization does and about their history with you, drawing context from the conversation itself and also—here’s the really new part—any data your organization already has about that person, plus any other background information that you’ve given the tool access too, like program descriptions on your website, or dates and availability information on an external event management platform. Some examples of possible uses for nonprofits and grantmakers we’ve seen include:

  • Give members a quick way to upgrade or renew, or check on any unused benefits they might have
  • Give potential grantees or participants a way to check their eligibility for one of your programs, letting them share information in any order and giving you a chance to tell them about other programs they would be eligible for
  • Give awarded grantees a straightforward, mobile-friendly way to provide updates on the work your funding has supported or ask for an amendment to their award

What are the costs?

While we can’t tell you how much it will cost for your organization specifically, we can tell you what kinds of costs you’ll need to consider when deciding whether to adopt Agentforce:

  • Platform costs: The price per user that you pay for using Salesforce is likely to go up to access these features, and as far as we’re aware as of this writing, you can’t go back down if you ever decide not to use the features.
  • Product costs: If you want Agentforce to have access to information that doesn’t live in Salesforce (like your website or external event management system), you’ll need to include Data Cloud in your roster of Salesforce products.
  • Setup and maintenance costs: While the Agentforce tool itself is relatively quick to set up, it will take time and expertise to prepare and maintain (more on that below).

How much work is it to set up and maintain?

Since Agentforce as a toolkit comprises multiple custom components, some of which might already be configured in your system, the amount of work it takes to set up and maintain will can vary pretty widely. How much time you need will depend on a bunch of questions:

  • What do you want to use Agentforce for?
    • Salesforce offers a framework for answering this question that includes defining a role for it, what data it needs access to, what actions it should take, where it should live, and what security parameters should be in place.
  • How much of that use case is already configured as automation humans run in your system?
  • Is the data you need Agentforce to access already set up in a way that allows for secure use?
  • How will you use the information you get from Agentforce to inform your processes and the way you interact with the folks that it’s designed to support?

Each of those questions sparks a whole lot more questions, and each of those takes time to answer and plan for.

So the short answer to “how much work” is: depending on your use case, it’s definitely going to involve some amount of work, both strategic and technical. Orgs with full-time, skilled in-house Salesforce admins or trusted managed services partners are going to be better set up to enable and manage Agentforce over time than orgs who rely on part-time admins or ad hoc support from partners.

What risks should I be thinking about?

Understanding the kinds of risks that AI tools carry is an essential first step in deciding whether those tools should be part of your organization’s technology strategy. Salesforce has done a good job of mitigating the data security risks posed by many AI tools, and Sputnik Moment recommends the AI Risk taxonomy developed by MIT as a way to understand the range of other potential risks that could arise for your organization:

https://airisk.mit.edu/#Domain-Taxonomy-of-AI-Risks

How do I get started?

We’re happy to be a thought-partner with you as you consider the possibilities for your organization. Click here to book a one-time consultation with our Director of Professional Services to dig in on what makes the most sense for you.