Agentforce. It’s the topic on everyone’s minds, the focus of all meetings, and yes – we admit – we’ve now written about it more times than we can count! That’s because the introduction of Agentforce is a truly exciting and innovative step for Marc Benioff and Salesforce, and we’re keen to see what happens as the CRM giant ventures further into the realm of AI-driven automation.
The promise of autonomous agents designed to handle tasks across various departments (including service, sales, marketing, and commerce) marks an unprecedented shift in the way businesses operate and interact with their customers. However, this shift could have some serious implications for the Salesforce ecosystem, both positive and negative. On the one hand, Agentforce has the potential to project customer experiences to new levels. And on the other, it stirs up concerns about job security and the displacement of certain roles in the industry.
Salesforce has had a lot to say about their new product, but I was keen to hear from someone working in the ecosystem. I had the privilege of chatting with Robert Sösemann – the Principal Technical Architect of Aquiva Labs and a contributor to Salesforce Ben. We discussed all things Agentforce, including the implications AI may have on the Salesforce job market, and I also asked for his thoughts about this year’s Dreamforce conference.
Who Is Robert Sösemann?
When it comes to talking about Salesforce AI, few know the ropes better than Robert. The Germany-based software engineer is a well-known Salesforce MVP who’s no stranger to innovation. He is also the brains behind Open-Source Code Analyser PMD for Apex.
Following the hype of ChatGPT, Robert and his team at Aquiva Labs worked to pioneer Salesforce AI innovations (for free) on AppExchange and GitHub, including the open-source tool MyOrgButler. He has since spoken at Salesforce events, including London’s Calling, to discuss his learnings and general recommendations in the realm of Salesforce AI.
Aquiva Labs has recently demonstrated an innovative real-world application of Agentforce in the hospitality sector by integrating data from Hotel Property Management Systems (PMS), CRM, Data Cloud, and AWS S3. You can check out the demo here.
Although he couldn’t make the trip to San Francisco, Robert was impressed with this year’s Dreamforce event and Salesforce’s efforts to pivot to an agent-driven future following the general disappointment of Einstein Copilot:
“I really liked the focus on getting AI right. They covered AI at last year’s Dreamforce, and I was excited – but then I was very disappointed [with Copilot].
“I really felt this was a very focused Dreamforce. It was very focused on telling all the skeptics about what this new agentic AI is and how much it could transform.”
Will Agentforce Disrupt the Salesforce Job Market?
Agentforce is poised to be the next big thing for Salesforce – from streamlining operations and enhancing the customer experience to driving overall business growth.
For now, Salesforce is focusing on sales and service use cases, such as agents that can book meetings or handle customer support requests. There are also other agents Salesforce plans to implement, such as health, ops, and finance agents.
Of course, with the emergence and ongoing development of agents, certain job responsibilities are sure to be replaced, which could in turn lead to some displacement across the job market. Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that 40% of all jobs could be impacted by AI – whether it’s a case of reducing wages or even eradicating some roles altogether. This has already happened at Klarna, where an estimated 1,200 people have been replaced in the customer support workforce as the company plans to rely more on AI agents.
It’s also possible (and probable) that this will impact technical roles; AI assistants are becoming better at writing code, which could negatively impact job opportunities for prospective junior developers. Once code writing by AI is fully established, CIOs and dev leaders will likely need to reshape their teams, bringing on board AI specialists and senior developers to oversee AI-generated code – ultimately, displacing more junior roles.
This, of course, raises questions as to whether Salesforce will feel the brunt of an AI overhaul and if certain roles within the ecosystem will be replaced over the coming years. Right now, Salesforce’s only automated GenAI tools are Einstein for Developers and Einstein for Flow, but platforms such as Swantide and GitHub Copilot are developing more automated tools that could threaten entry-level Salesforce jobs in the future.
Robert is of the opinion that this overhaul is almost inevitable for certain Salesforce roles, with the possibility of admins having some of their responsibilities covered by autonomous agents:
“I believe Salesforce professionals, especially in roles like junior developers and standard admins, could be replaced by agents who can handle tasks like custom field setup and report creation.
“In the short term, this might reduce some roles, as business people can increasingly configure software independently.”
Salesforce has already had a tough year with layoffs, with 1000 employees losing their jobs. As Agentforce naturally progresses and grows more prevalent, it’s likely that less established roles may also come into question, further complicating the Salesforce job market.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for Salesforce professionals. Robert was quick to remind me that AI agents will never be able to replace some of the most important aspects of Salesforce – that level of deep experience that long-term Salesforce professionals have.
Although Agentforce may call some jobs into question, it certainly won’t be the case for all jobs; according to Robert, business analyst and architect roles are still more valuable to companies than AI agents:
“I absolutely don’t believe that [BAs and architects could be replaced]. The complexity of the software business does not lie in coding. It’s about humans, wrong assumptions, communication effectiveness, etc.
“I’m sure you can replace people with agents that may draw beautiful diagrams, but for me, an architect is something more. It’s a person with deep technology skills, deep communication skills, an understanding of the messiness of the world, and doesn’t religiously believe in diagrams and patterns.
“The things that [agents] can learn easily will be replaced first and the jobs that are harder to gain will take a long time [for agents to replace].”
Summary
As Salesforce enters a new era, it will be interesting to see if Agentforce can really live up to its potential. If it does, we will likely see a ripple effect across the whole Salesforce job market that calls into question a range of entry-level roles.
A big thank you to Robert for taking the time to speak with me and share his insights. Be sure to check out Robert’s most recent Salesforce Ben article on how he built three of his own Salesforce AI apps!
