Financial services firms are bullish on artificial intelligence (AI), and the conversation is shifting from the benefits of an AI strategy to how to implement and realize those benefits while maintaining regulatory compliance and customer trust.
We’re at an inflection point where workforces are overwhelmed with low-value tasks and stalled productivity, but customers expect more personalized experiences and empathetic conversations. In our latest research, 89% of service professionals at financial services institutions report increased customer expectations.
Business leaders are realizing that AI can help solve this problem, and some firms have already spent billions on AI and machine learning. The financial services industry is expected to outspend other industries on AI solutions in the coming years. Between 2024 and 2028, IDC forecasts that financial services will account for 20% of a worldwide AI spending surge to $632 billion. What’s more, 92% of businesses are already seeing returns from their AI investments.
AI itself has also evolved, moving from the first wave of predictive AI and second wave of generative AI to the current wave: agentic AI. AI agents bring together large language models (LLMs) and traditional programming to autonomously perform tasks with the “agency” to reason, make decisions, and take action.
But what are these agents, really? How do AI agents in financial services help firms grow business? And what is Agentforce, anyway? Let’s dive in.
What you’ll learn:
What are AI agents?
What is Agentforce for financial services?
Why AI agents in financial services?
How humans with AI transform financial services
Maximizing customer engagement and efficiency with AI agents in financial services
Get started with Agentforce today
What are AI agents?
AI agents are autonomous, proactive applications designed to execute specialized tasks to help employees and customers. Agents use LLMs to analyze and understand the full context of customer interactions or an automated trigger, then reason through decisions on the next steps autonomously.
These agents generate responses that are consistent with your company’s brand voice and guidelines using trusted business data, including Salesforce Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data, external data from Data Cloud, and more. Agents can operate 24/7 across various platforms like self-service portals and messaging channels, handling tasks proactively within set guardrails. When faced with complex issues beyond their scope, they can escalate the matter to human agents, ensuring that queries are resolved efficiently and accurately.
Agents are an evolution (and an upgrade) of the fixed rules and repetitive tasks of chat bots, as well as the smart, tailored assistance of copilots. They know your business and can plan and reason, take action, and scale. They can be easily built by defining jobs to be done with topics, giving each topic specific instructions, and creating and assigning intelligent actions to those guardrails.
Many companies have already made “no regrets” AI moves while planning for transformation — 82% of large companies plan to implement agents by 2027.
Explore AI Resources for Financial Services
What is Agentforce for financial services?
Meet Agentforce, Salesforce’s set of tools designed to create and customize agents — along with a suite of preconfigured agents that help you extend your teams and get work done faster. These agents are configured with Salesforce data, its Atlas Reasoning Engine that plans, evaluates, and refines actions, and industry-specific data models for banks, lenders, insurers, and wealth and asset managers using the trusted AI Einstein platform.
Agentforce brings data, AI, and action into the flow of work at your firm, ensuring that your operations are both efficient and effective. And you don’t have to build this by yourself. Why DIY and risk over-spending on a solution that might not work or be compliant with your sector’s regulations and policies?
As with every Salesforce product, trust, compliance, and security are built in as table stakes, providing the necessary safeguards that the financial services industry demands. With Agentforce, you can build autonomous agents equipped with the controls and constraints required to maintain industry standards. AI agents in financial services can reduce the burden of manual processes for regulatory compliance through automation. Agents can handle documentation, audit trails, and filings — all within your established governance framework that ensures the ethical use of AI.
Far more powerful than generative AI, Agentforce is intelligent, proactive, and capable of reasoning and taking action on your behalf. This allows for seamless collaboration between humans with AI, enhancing productivity and decision-making processes.
Agentforce for Financial Services is how Salesforce is bringing humans and agents together to drive real customer success in the industry. You can start with small jobs to be done and expand your implementation from there — this doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul. Agentforce enables the financial services industry to meet the evolving demands of customers, ensuring a high level of service and operational efficiency.
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Agentforce provides always-on support to employees or customers. Learn how Agentforce can help your company today.
Why AI agents in financial services?
The answer is simple: You need to scale and grow your business.
One option is to hire more people, but with unemployment at record low rates, that can be difficult and expensive. However, agents perform assigned roles and jobs, and they report to their managers for approvals and guidance. Agents can do the tedious work that is non-productive but necessary, so your people can focus on complex, high-value work.
How humans with AI transform financial services
Imagine an agent that could analyze a client’s spending habits, investment history, and goals. It could then make suggestions for their investment portfolio while factoring in risk tolerance and potential returns. This would save investment managers time analyzing data and free them up to focus on delivering high-value client service and bringing in new accounts.
Agentforce is now generally available. AI agents are already working with humans and varying degrees of autonomy to drive impact. Here’s how financial services firms are bringing AI agents to life in various sectors.
Wealth Management
Financial advisors can use Agentforce to deliver personalized, proactive service, thereby deepening client relationships and increasing productivity. With Agentforce, advisors can:
- Deliver personalized, proactive service: Financial advisors can use Agentforce to provide tailored advice and proactive service, enhancing client relationships and boosting satisfaction.
- Increase assets under management (AUM): With faster account transfers facilitated by Agentforce, advisors can efficiently manage and grow their clients’ portfolios, leading to increased AUM.
Banking
In banking, Agentforce provides bankers and loan officers with a comprehensive 360-degree view of their customers. This includes profiles, interests, and financial accounts, which enable more effective customer interactions. Key use cases include:
- 360-degree customer view: Bankers and loan officers can access a complete view of their customers, enabling more personalized and effective interactions.
- Streamlined onboarding: Agentforce can streamline the onboarding process for new customers, making it faster and more efficient, thereby improving the overall customer experience.
Insurance
In the insurance industry, producers, territory managers, CSRs, and claims adjusters can greatly benefit from Agentforce. With the Insurance Agent Console app, they can boost sales performance, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Here are some specific use cases:
- Drive sales performance: AI agents can identify policy renewal and cross-selling opportunities within a producer’s book of business, initiating campaigns with pre-approved, compliant content. Territory managers can also use AI agents to identify areas of interest and new opportunities for distribution partners
- Customer service and claims management: Agentforce enables AI agents to engage policyholders across channels 24/7, providing natural responses and a seamless handoff to human team members based on predetermined guidelines. In claims management, AI agents can help facilitate first notice of loss (FNOL) and straight-through processing for less complex claims. This means that customer service representatives (CSRs) and adjusters can focus on delivering things that AI can’t, like empathy and exceptional service during times of hardship.
Connect with fellow financial services professionals
Join the FinServ Innovators community to chat with other financial services professionals about how humans with agents can drive customer success together.
Maximizing customer engagement and efficiency with AI agents in financial services
Customers walk away from nearly one-third of customer service interactions unsatisfied and without getting what they need. Meanwhile, service representatives are spending 66% of their time on non-customer facing tasks like manual data entry and administrative work. However, 85% of customer service representatives at organizations that use AI say it saves them time.
Here are a few things that Agentforce can help with right away:
Enhanced customer engagement
In the financial services industry, providing a personalized and seamless customer experience is crucial. Agentforce, integrated with Financial Services Cloud, allows institutions to deliver tailored services. This is achieved by leveraging customer data to offer personalized advice, proactive service, and relevant product recommendations. This leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, which are vital in a competitive market.
Improved operational efficiency
AI agents within Agentforce automate time-consuming tasks, allowing financial institutions to operate more efficiently. This optimization leads to reduced operational costs and improved resource allocation, ultimately contributing to increased profitability. By automating routine tasks, staff can focus on higher-value activities, enhancing overall productivity.
Improved decision-making
AI agents in Agentforce provide real-time data analysis and insights, empowering financial professionals to make informed decisions. By using AI-driven analytics, financial institutions can identify market trends, assess risk exposure, and optimize investment strategies, resulting in enhanced decision-making capabilities. This data-driven approach ensures that institutions can respond swiftly to market changes and customer needs.
Automated communication
Financial services institutions often need to maintain constant communication with their clients. Agentforce, through Marketing Cloud, automates communication processes such as sending confirmation messages, follow-up emails, texts, status updates, and in-app notifications. This ensures a smooth and consistent customer experience before, during, and after-service interactions. This experience is essential for maintaining trust and engagement in financial services.
Elevated customer satisfaction
AI agents in financial services enhance customer satisfaction by providing personalized and efficient services. These agents are available 24/7. They offer real-time support, resolve queries, and provide financial advice, leading to improved customer experiences and increased loyalty. This round-the-clock availability ensures that customers receive timely assistance, enhancing their overall experience with the institution.
See the best of Dreamforce for Financial Services
Hear financial services brands and experts share how they grow revenue with data and trusted AI to create lifetime customer loyalty and success using Salesforce.
Get started with Agentforce today
Ready to dip your toes in the latest wave of AI technology? Here are a few ways to start your journey with Agentforce:
- Try it yourself — Have you ever built an agent before? Here’s your chance. Take the Salesforce Trailhead Module Build Your First Agent With Agentforce. This module is part of the Get Ready for Agentforce trail. It will also help you learn how Agentforce fits your business goals and build a plan for AI success.
- Learn more about Agentforce in person and online — Agentforce World Tour hits the road to help you discover what AI was meant to be. Check out our in-person event opportunities in large cities across the globe. You can also see which events are streaming for free on Salesforce+.
- Join the conversation — The FinServ Innovators community on LinkedIn is a great place to crowdsource about Agentforce. Share your own experiences with AI agents in financial services and hear from others, too. Our forum gives financial services professionals a place to engage and learn from each other.
