Salesforce has announced a significant update to its artificial intelligence platform, introducing Agentforce 360. The new version aims to provide enterprises with more sophisticated tools for building and managing AI agents, featuring a new prompting system, a unified development environment, and deeper integration with the Slack messaging application.
The announcement comes as competition in the enterprise AI market intensifies, with major technology companies vying for corporate customers who are still evaluating the return on investment from AI tools.
Key Takeaways
- Salesforce announced Agentforce 360, the latest version of its enterprise AI agent platform.
- New features include Agent Script for advanced AI prompting and Agentforce Builder for streamlined development.
- The update brings deeper integration with Slack, including a new personalized Slackbot and plans for enterprise search functionality.
- The new tools are entering beta in November, with broader feature rollouts planned through early 2026.
New Tools for AI Agent Development
Salesforce is introducing two primary components designed to simplify and enhance the process of creating AI agents. These tools are aimed at giving developers and business users more control over how AI agents behave and respond in various scenarios.
Agent Script for Advanced Prompting
A key feature of Agentforce 360 is Agent Script, a new tool for instructing AI agents. Scheduled for a beta release in November, Agent Script allows users to program agents with greater flexibility, particularly for handling conditional logic, often described as “if/then” situations.
This capability is intended to make AI agents more predictable and reliable when dealing with less structured interactions, such as complex customer service inquiries. The system utilizes advanced “reasoning” models, which are designed to process information before generating a response, rather than relying solely on pattern recognition.
Underlying Technology
The reasoning capabilities within Agent Script are powered by models from leading AI developers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google Gemini. This multi-provider approach allows Salesforce to leverage different strengths from across the AI industry.
Agentforce Builder for Unified Deployment
Alongside Agent Script, Salesforce is launching Agentforce Builder. This integrated platform allows users to build, test, and deploy their AI agents from a single, centralized location. This consolidation is meant to streamline the development lifecycle and reduce complexity for enterprise teams.
Agentforce Builder, also entering beta in November, will incorporate Agentforce Vibes, a tool for coding application vibes that the company announced earlier this month. The goal is to create a comprehensive toolkit for enterprise-grade AI development.
Expanded Integration with Slack
A significant part of the Agentforce 360 strategy involves a much deeper integration with Slack, the workplace messaging platform owned by Salesforce. The company aims to position Slack as a central hub for enterprise AI interactions and information retrieval.
Starting this month, core Salesforce applications like Agenforce Sales, IT, and HR will begin to surface directly within the Slack interface. According to the company, this integration will continue to expand through the beginning of 2026, making more Salesforce functionalities accessible without leaving the Slack environment.
Evolving the Slackbot
Slack is currently piloting a new version of its native chatbot, Slackbot. The new iteration is being developed as a personalized AI agent that can learn about an individual user’s work patterns and proactively offer relevant insights and suggestions to improve productivity.
Salesforce also has long-term plans to transform Slack into a comprehensive enterprise search tool. The company intends to launch connectors for external platforms such as Gmail, Outlook, and Dropbox in early 2026. This would allow users to search for information across multiple business applications directly from Slack.
Navigating a Competitive Enterprise AI Market
The release of Agentforce 360 occurs at a critical time for the enterprise AI sector. While technology companies are rapidly releasing new AI features, many businesses report difficulties in achieving a clear return on investment for these tools.
The competitive landscape is active. Last week, Google officially announced Gemini Enterprise, a collection of tools for building AI agents that has already attracted early customers like Figma and Klarna. Similarly, Anthropic has gained momentum with its Claude Enterprise product.
Anthropic recently secured its largest enterprise deal to date, partnering with consulting firm Deloitte to provide its Claude chatbot to Deloitte's 500,000 global employees. This was followed by a strategic partnership announcement with IBM.
Despite the competition, Salesforce reports a strong customer base for its existing AI products. In its press release, the company stated that Agentforce already has 12,000 customers. Early pilot users for the new Agentforce 360 features include major companies such as homebuilder Lennar, staffing firm Adecco, and education company Pearson.
The Challenge of AI Implementation
A recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) highlighted the challenges businesses face. The research found that an estimated 95% of enterprise AI pilot projects fail to reach full production, often because companies struggle to justify the financial investment and demonstrate tangible value.
With Agentforce 360, Salesforce is betting that providing more granular control, easier development tools, and seamless integration into existing workflows like Slack will help its customers overcome these hurdles and successfully deploy AI at scale.