Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, has confirmed that his company is considering how to reutilize its contact center team.
The news comes after the CRM leader revealed that Agentforce now resolves 85 percent of its customer contacts.
That seemed to create a labor overload, with the CEO previously suggesting that Salesforce is “reducing headcount” in the contact center.
However, in a new interview, Benioff stressed that he hopes to retain much of that talent and support them in transitioning between roles at the company.
“I oversee about 9,000 support agents at Salesforce out of our 75,000 employees,” said Benioff during an appearance on the TECHtalk podcast.
I believe about half of those agents will be able to transition into other roles — revenue positions like SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) and BDRs (Business Development Representatives) — because we’ve already shifted half a million conversations to the agentic layer.
Notably, Salesforce customer Gucci took a similar approach after implementing Agentforce.
Instead of cutting staff, it reskilled live service agents as sales reps. Since then, the fashion house has boosted its contact center revenue by 30 percent.
Perhaps Benioff has taken inspiration from the success story.
Nevertheless, many other brands aren’t considering a restructuring. Instead, they’re actively leveraging the latest AI and digital innovations to lower customer service headcounts.
In March, UK telecoms giant Sky shut down three contact center locations, cutting 2,000 jobs. Zalando and Zomato soon followed suit.
Given these stories, contact centers appear on the verge of an AI reckoning. Soon, this could surge across the enterprise, with advancements in generative and agentic AI.
Already, according to a Morgan Stanley study, Agentforce customers are experiencing 20–50 percent cost reductions. These primarily stem from headcount reductions, alongside office space and overhead savings.
Yet, while some contact center staff may despair, it’s critical to note that many service operations suffer from high levels of turnover.
Sources suggest that the average staff turnover rate in contact centers lies between 30 and 45 percent. As such, to some extent, AI agents may replace natural attrition rates.
What Else Did the Salesforce CEO Have to Say?
During the podcast, interviewer Keith Shaw suggested that while companies may talk about reskilling, there’s often no funding behind it, and people can be left to their own devices. Then, they get laid off while the company hires new AI specialists.
According to Shaw, that trend is making a lot of people nervous.
The podcaster then asked if the tech industry needed to step up and create more job certainty through reskilling programs.
While Benioff is still considering how to redeploy contact center talent, he agreed with this notion.
“For decades now, I’ve made it a priority to constantly invest in retraining and reskilling,” said the CEO.
“When we started Salesforce, we committed one percent of our equity, profit, and time to a foundation. We’ve now given away over a billion dollars, and our largest grantees are the San Francisco and Oakland public schools.
“It’s all about education,” he continued. “We have to ensure people are well-trained and well-educated so they can adapt.
Reskilling has been a major area of investment for us for the past 20 years, and it’s going to be crucial moving forward.
Critically, Salesforce is also engaging in these discussions with its customers.
Indeed, it even opened up an AI Center in London and invited thousands of companies through the door to engage with them about this issue, all while giving them first-hand experience with Agentforce.
As such, it’s not shying away from conversations over this challenging topic.
Will Salesforce’s Competitors Follow Suit?
Many of Salesforce’s competitors have yet to open up about rethinking their internal operations in the face of AI.
SAP is one of the few to grab the bull by the horns, announcing plans to reskill 8,000 employees last year.
While its plan initially garnered praise, SAP’s European Workers Council challenged the restructuring by labeling it a guise for layoffs.
Since then, Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, pledged to move forward “with care and empathy” and stay “aware of our social responsibility.”
Meanwhile, others have remained tight-lipped, suggesting that, just like their customers, tech giants are still forming their plans for a hybrid workforce.
Where do you see the future of AI in the workplace? A force for good or a bad sign for employment? Have your say on our Reddit Community.
