Whilst many organizations now have the budget for AI, and some already have the tools, most are paralyzed by the “how.”
How do we actually get human agents to trust digital ones? How do we stop AI from just being a fancy spellchecker and turn it into a revenue driver?
Salesforce has just released its AI Fluency Playbook, and it offers a surprisingly human answer to a technical problem.
The CRM leader isn’t just selling the software; they are acting as “Customer Zero.” They have spent the last year transforming their own workforce into an “Agentic Enterprise.” The reported results are strong, with Salesforce employees using AI daily reporting 64% higher productivity.
But for CX leaders, the real story isn’t the efficiency. It is the strategy behind the skills.
Technology Alone Is Not a Strategy
The biggest mistake companies make is treating AI implementation as an IT project. It is actually a cultural overhaul.
Nathalie Scardino, Chief People Officer at Salesforce, put it bluntly, stating that “technology alone is not a strategy.
“The true differentiator… is not the tool itself, but it’s how organizations shape their governance and integrate AI into core workflows.”
This is the difference between deploying a chatbot and fundamentally changing how work gets done. Scardino noted that success depends on “moving into the workforce advantage with people at the center of this massive transformation.”
For a CX operation, this means shifting the focus from “What can this bot do?” to “How fluent is my team in working alongside it?”
The Three Pillars of Fluency
Salesforce breaks this down into three distinct phases: Engagement, Activation, and Expertise.
Engagement is about overcoming fear. Ruth Hicken, VP of Workforce Innovation at Salesforce, explained that many workers still worry about job loss or simply lack confidence. The goal here is to get teams to experiment and “be okay failing” to find the best use cases.
Activation moves usage from a novelty to a habit. It is about consistent adoption in daily work.
Expertise is the final frontier. This is where employees develop the “human, agentic, and business skills” to orchestrate complex work.
Hicken emphasized that we need employees to move toward viewing AI “as a catalyst.” It isn’t just about performing tasks; it is about brainstorming and unlocking value in new ways.
Real-World CX Results: The Redeployment Revolution
The most compelling argument for this approach comes from Salesforce’s own customer support organization.
By deploying “Service Agent” to handle over 2 million support requests, the company didn’t just cut costs. They reshaped careers, as Scardino explained.
“Because of the benefits and efficiencies of Agentforce, we were able to reshape the function, redeploying our support engineers into forward deployed engineering roles.”
The impact on talent retention and growth was massive. Scardino revealed that “50% of our new hires over the last 12 months have been internal moves.”
This is the holy grail for CX leaders. By offloading the transactional volume to agents, you can elevate your human support staff into higher-value technical roles. You aren’t replacing them; you are promoting them.
The “Dirty Data” Warning
However, there is a catch. You cannot layer agentic AI on top of broken processes.
Pierre Mattouche, SVP of Adecco IT and Digital Transformation, offered a crucial warning. “Many organizations try to identify broken processes… agents will just amplify dysfunction,” he said.
“If your escalation rules are vague or your knowledge base is outdated, an AI agent will simply make those mistakes faster and at a larger scale.”
Mattouche advises that companies must focus on “fixing and standardizing processes first.” You must define explicitly where the human stays in the loop. “Once people understand… that they will stay in control, adoption will really accelerate,” he added.
The Future is More Human, Not Less
As we look toward 2030, the workforce won’t just be faster. It will be more intentional.
The paradox of the AI revolution is that as machines handle the volume, the unique value of human connection skyrockets.
“The workplace will feel faster but calmer,” Mattouche predicted. “More automated, but more human… The more agentic the workforce will become, the more the human part will matter.”
For CX leaders, the mandate is clear. Stop waiting for the technology to settle. It won’t. The competitive advantage now lies in building a workforce that is fluent enough to guide the agents, confident enough to delegate to them, and skilled enough to handle the complex human moments that remain.
The question isn’t whether this matters, but whether you’re prepared for it.
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