Microsoft is taking on Salesforce with its latest AI innovations, Sales Agent and Sales Chat. Who will emerge victorious?
Microsoft has unveiled two AI sales agents, known as “Sales Agent” and “Sales Chat.” By connecting to both Microsoft Dynamic 365 and Salesforce, the two models can be used to qualify potential leads and provide invaluable customer insights for sales reps.
Wednesday’s announcement coincided with Salesforce launching its own Agentforce 2dx, which similarly allows users to integrate AI agents into existing business workflows. There is no love lost between the two companies, with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff previously criticizing Microsoft’s forays into the AI realm.
Microsoft’s flagship AI model, Copilot, was rolled out last year to no shortage of bad press. In March 2024, US congressional staff were banned from using it due to concerns over data security. Elsewhere, users cited common issues with speed and performance. The company will hope that this latest innovation fares better in its bid to take on Salesforce.
Microsoft Unveils AI Sales Agents
On Wednesday, Microsoft revealed that it plans to launch two AI sales agents – Sales Agent and Sales Chat – as it gears up to rival Salesforce. Designed to work in conjunction with the company’s own Dynamics 365 business programs, the models can be used to streamline and optimize workflows for sales reps.
Sales Agent identifies and qualifies potential customers, as well as scheduling meetings and following up with leads. Sales Chat, on the other hand, provides reps with customer summaries and insights. They gather information from customer databases, company pricing sheets, CRM data, Microsoft emails, and more.
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Alongside the two new agents, the company also introduced a new program designed to help businesses “migrate off legacy CRM vendors,” in a thinly-veiled barb presumably aimed at Salesforce.
Microsoft Goes Head-to-Head With Salesforce
On the day that Sales Agent and Sales Chat were announced, Salesforce unveiled a series of enhancements to its own bot, Agentforce. The new release, which it is calling Agentforce 2dx, allows Agentforce to “engage proactively, be triggered on changes in data, operate autonomously in the background of any business process, and interact with users across any user interface,” according to a statement.
Microsoft is investing heavily in a bid to overthrow Salesforce as the de facto CRM platform for businesses. This has brought them into conflict with Benioff, who has publicly made his feelings towards Microsoft known.
During an episode of the GeekWire podcast in October 2024, the Salesforce CEO compared Copilot to the second coming of “Clippy,” the primitive Office assistant that was retired in 2007. He went on to talk about the “mess that Microsoft has made in regards to the AI industry.”
AI Set to Transform Sales Landscape
As a use case, AI for sales agents is in its relative infancy, but this is set to change dramatically over the coming months. According to the Tech.co Impact of Technology on the Workplace report, which surveyed over 1,000 US-based senior executives, just 15% of businesses are not using AI at all, with two-thirds spending at least $10,000 on AI per year.
The survey further finds that writing tasks, including emails, reports, and presentations, currently make up the biggest use for AI, with 43% of AI-using businesses confirming that they leverage the technology for this purpose. In second place is data analysis (37%), followed by customer support and chatbots (33%).
Undoubtedly, there’s an enormous opportunity for AI to overhaul the sales arena. And with Salesforce recently laying off 1,000 roles to accommodate investment in the technology, this potential has not gone unnoticed by big players in the space.
Source:https://tech.co/
