Salesforce to Hire 2,000 New Salespeople for AI Products Amid Agentforce 2.0 Launch

Salesforce will hire 2,000 people to sell AI products, CEO Marc Benioff says

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff speaks at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2024. Salesforce will hire 2,000 people to sell artificial intelligence software to clients, CEO Marc Benioff said on Tuesday, double the number the company indicated it was planning to add a month ago. The cloud software company, which targets sales reps, marketers and customer service agents, is among the many technology companies hoping to boost revenue with generative AI features. "We're adding another couple of thousand salespeople to help selling these products," Benioff said at a company event in San Francisco. "We already had 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions that we've opened up. It's amazing." Last month, Benioff told Bloomberg that it planned to hire 1,000 salespeople focusing on AI. On Tuesday, Salesforce said the second generation of its Agentforce technology creating and operating artificial intelligence agents will become available to customers in February 2025. Agentforce will be able to tackle sophisticated questions in Salesforce's Slack communications app, based on all available data. Salesforce is ramping up its AI sales team almost two years after announcing that it was laying off more than 7,000 employees to better reflect economic conditions. As of Jan. 31, 2024, headcount stood at 72,682, down about 1% from two years earlier, according to filings. Benioff said Salesforce's homepage now features an experimental AI agent that can respond to user queries about the company's products. Salesforce customers in need of assistance can visit a chat-based help page that conducts 32,000 conversations a week. About 5,000 are getting escalated to humans as a result of current AI capabilities, down from 10,000 before, Benioff said. Microsoft has been selling a series of Copilot-branded AI tools. But if you check Microsoft's website to see how it's automating customer support, Benioff said, "you can't find it." Microsoft didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Salesforce reveals major hiring push to sell AI products

Salesforce quarterly revenue continues to climb, now at $9.44 billion Following years of pandemic-induced layoffs, software giant Salesforce has confirmed plans to hire 2,000 new sales representatives to help it handle increased demand for its new AI tools. Company CEO Marc Benioff revealed (via CNBC) at Salesforce's Dreamforce conference that thousands of workers would be added to its headcount, which at the beginning of 2024 stood at more than 72,600. At the event, he added: "We're adding another couple of thousand salespeople to help sell these products... We already had 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions that we've opened up. It's amazing." Salesforce has invested heavily in artificial intelligence, and is set to release the second generation of its Agentoforce in February 2025. Updates are also expected for the Salesforce-owned communications platform, Slack. With strong competition from Microsoft, which has affiliations with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Benioff has been pushing the company's AI toward sales representatives, marketers and customer service agents in the race to become the go-to software provider. The expansion plans are two-sided, though, because while thousands of workers are set to get new opportunities, many have been made redundant as a result of Salesforce's tech. The company's AI agent handles 32,000 customer queries weekly, with human intervention halving from 10,000 cases per week to just 5,000. More broadly, plans to hire 2,000 new members of staff contrast with previous moves. Two separate rounds of layoffs in 2024 have seen around 1,000 workers dismissed (via layoffs.fyi), with more than 8,000 leaving the company in 2023 and a further 1,000 in 2022. All part of an effort to cut costs, Salesforce's previous layoffs could be seen more as a restructuring and a shift in priorities. In the three months ending October 31, the company reported $9.44 billion in revenue, up 8% year-over-year. Benioff commented: "Agentforce, our complete AI system for enterprises built into the Salesforce Platform, is at the heart of a groundbreaking transformation. The rise of autonomous AI agents is revolutionizing global labor, reshaping how industries operate and scale. With Agentforce, we're not just witnessing the future -- we're leading it, unleashing a new era of digital labor for every business and every industry." Previous quarterly revenues have climbed 8%, 11% and 11%, marking consistent growth for the company.

Salesforce plans to hire 2,000 people to sell its AI products | TechCrunch

Cloud software giant Salesforce looks to hire thousands of new sales people to sell its AI tools to customers. The company plans to hire 2,000 new sales representatives, according to CNBC, which cited remarks from CEO Marc Benioff at a company event Tuesday. This doubles the hiring plans that Benioff told Bloomberg last month. Benioff that Salesforce has already received 9,000 referrals for these 2,000 positions. This bulking up comes just months before the company plans to release the second generation of its AI agent software in February 2025. Benioff recently said on TechCrunch's Equity podcast that he expects Salesforce will have more than a billion agents running in the next 12 months. Regarding generative AI generally, Benioff added, "I've never been more excited about anything at Salesforce, maybe in my career."

Here's Why an AI Shift Means Thousands of New Jobs at Salesforce

Salesforce's CEO Marc Benioff announced the move at a company event in San Francisco, CNBC reports. Benioff had earlier indicated that maybe 1,000 new staff would be joining Salesforce's ranks, so the newly revealed figure is a doubling of the earlier estimate -- which could be read as a sign that Salesforce is really confident that its customers will want to buy its AI software. Benioff also said his company had "already had 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions that we've opened up," a fact he said was "amazing." The new staff will join a company that only two years ago laid off over 7,000 people due to difficult economic headwinds. Based on headcount data reported by CNBC, Salesforce's 2,000 new sales staff may swell the company's count by over 2 percent--a not insignificant reversal of fortunes. In September, Benioff demonstrated exactly how much faith he has in AI by launching a system called Agentforce. It's based on agent AI tools that can actually perform tasks in a digital environment, as opposed to chatbot AIs that merely serve up text and image or video responses after a user queries them. Benioff said Agentforce was different from other AI tools. Many AI offerings really aren't "ready for prime time" business use, said Benioff.

AI Creates 2000 New Jobs at Salesforce

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, announced at the Agentforce 2.0 event that the company is undergoing a hiring surge, and they're adding a 'couple thousand' employees to sell the company's AI-focused products. He also revealed that the company has received 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions they have opened up. Salesforce announced Agentforce 2.0 on Tuesday, calling it the "digital labour platform for building a limitless workforce." The company said that Agentforce 2.0 brings in advanced reasoning and RAG capabilities to deliver precise answers to complex multi-step questions. The company also said that the release brings in a new library of integrations and the ability to deploy Agentforce in Slack. Agentforce can perform tasks across Slack, Tableau, and AppExchange. The new release also allows Agentforce to be extended to any system using MuleSoft. Agentforce also features an improved Agent Builder capable of understanding instructions in natural language. "These agents seamlessly combine pre-made skills with custom logic built in Salesforce, offering unparalleled flexibility and speed," said the announcement. Agentforce 2.0 is the successor to the first iteration, and it is an AI-focused platform that helps businesses create and deploy agents that leverage language models and tools within the Salesforce ecosystem. "I'm not just managing human beings, but I am also managing agents," Benioff said. A few months ago, he also said that his vision is to empower one billion agents with Agentforce by 2025. Earlier, it was reported that Salesforce is planning to hire a thousand people to help the company sell their AI products. However, Salesforce laid off 700 employees earlier this year in January. In June, reports indicated another round of layoffs, with 300 more employees heading their way out. Salesforce AI Research also recently launched Moirai-MoE, which is described as the first mixture-of-experts time series foundation model. The model aims to empower time series foundation models with a sparse mixture of experts (MoE) and achieve token-level specialisation in a data-driven manner. That said, Benioff is taking the agents' game seriously - and has regularly engaged in a war of words with Microsoft. "Microsoft rebranding Copilot as 'agents'? That's panic mode," Benioff posted on X. "Let's be real -- Copilot's a flop because Microsoft lacks the data, metadata, and enterprise security models to create real corporate intelligence..." In another post, he said, "Unlike Microsoft Copilot, Salesforce Agentforce's Large Action Models (LAMs) leverage both structured and unstructured data across Salesforce's secure, scalable ecosystem -- Data Cloud, Customer 360, Tableau, Flow, & Slack -- to drive real-time, intelligent, autonomous actions."

Salesforce aiming to hire 2,000 people amid 2025 software launch

The company will need to add to its existing employee roster in order to successfully launch new AI features. US-based cloud software company Salesforce has announced intentions to hire an additional 2,000 employees in order to meet AI demands, including the upcoming launch of its second generation Agentforce technology. The business had previously reported it would make available 1,000 new roles, however, the latest figures are double that, ahead of the February 2025 release. Agentforce is an autonomous AI agent that enables employees and wider organisations to access skill and workflow integrations, for greater work management. Since announcing the positions, CEO Marc Benioff has said that already there have been 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 open jobs, which are mainly in the area of AI expertise. It is a positive sign for the company, which previously announced intentions to lay off 10pc of its global workforce and close a number of offices worldwide, as part of plans to scale back in a challenging economy. In 2023 the platform held an 'AI Day' in New York to mark its continued commitment to the tech. At the event, Benioff delved deeper into what the public can expect in terms of a long-term AI expansion strategy. Speaking on the company's potential to transform through AI, CEO Benioff stated, "Agentforce 2.0 takes our revolutionary Salesforce digital labor platform to another level, with new reasoning, integration and customisation features that supercharge autonomous agents with unprecedented levels of intelligence, precision and accuracy. "We're seamlessly bringing together AI, data, apps, and automation with humans to reshape how work gets done. Agentforce 2.0 cements our position as the leader in digital labor solutions, allowing any company to build a limitless workforce that can truly transform their business." Silicon Republic also previously spoke with Carolan Lennon, the country manager of Salesforce Ireland and former CEO of telecoms company Eir. During the conversation Lennon discussed her career trajectory, her advice for organisational leaders and how the growth of AI will transform the industry. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Salesforce Plans Hiring Spree To Sell AI That Cuts Hiring Time And Boosts Sales Productivity - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce Inc. CRM plans to hire 2,000 people to sell its artificial intelligence products, doubling its previous hiring target announced last month, as the cloud software giant sees strong demand for its enterprise AI solutions. What Happened: CEO Marc Benioff revealed the expanded hiring plans at a company event in San Francisco on Tuesday, noting overwhelming interest with "9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions." The hiring push comes as Salesforce prepares to launch Agentforce 2.0, its next-generation AI platform, in February 2025. The increased focus on AI sales represents a strategic shift for Salesforce, which laid off over 7,000 employees two years ago amid economic pressures. The company's headcount stood at 72,682 as of Jan 31, down about 1% from two years earlier. Salesforce's AI capabilities are already showing promising results in customer service applications. Benioff highlighted that the company's AI-powered help page now handles 32,000 conversations weekly, with only 5,000 requiring human escalation - down from 10,000 previously. Salesforce's Agentforce 2.0 serves as a digital labor platform that transforms core business operations. The AI agents autonomously handle sales lead nurturing, provide real-time coaching, prequalify job candidates, and manage customer support 24/7. See Also: Microsoft Scoops Up 485,000 Nvidia AI Chips, Twice As Many As Its Closest Rival Meta: Report Why It Matters: The expanded hiring initiative aligns with Salesforce's ambitious vision for enterprise AI. Benioff has positioned autonomous AI agents as the next evolution in enterprise software, setting a target of deploying a billion AI agents within a year through the company's Agentforce platform. Major customers including Accenture, The Adecco Group, and Indeed are implementing Salesforce's AI solutions. Indeed's CIO Anthony Moisant said the company is leveraging Agentforce to achieve goals including reducing time-to-hire by 50%. The move intensifies competition with Microsoft Corp. MSFT, which has been rolling out its own Copilot AI tools. With Agentforce 2.0's launch approaching, Salesforce is positioning itself at the forefront of enterprise AI automation, focusing on practical applications that can demonstrate immediate business value rather than theoretical capabilities. Read Next: Palantir's Alex Karp Embraces 'Cult' Status, Complains About The Missing Perks As Stock Soars 350% Image via Flickr Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Salesforce Doubles AI Hiring Goal, To Add 2K Sales Roles - Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce plans to hire 2,000 AI-focused salespeople.Its upgraded Agentforce AI platform launches in February 2025. Salesforce Inc CRM targets employing 2,000 people in the form of sales reps, marketers, and customer service agents to sell artificial intelligence software to clients, CNBC cited CEO Marc Benioff at a company event in San Francisco on Tuesday. In November, Benioff shared plans to employ 1,000 salespeople focusing on AI. Benioff told CNBC Salesforce already had 9,000 referrals for the 2,000 positions. Also Read: Verizon Teams Up With Nvidia To Power AI Apps Over Private 5G Networks On Tuesday, Salesforce announced that a second generation of its Agentforce technology, capable of tackling questions in Salesforce's Slack communications app, will be available in February 2025. Salesforce has embedded experimental AI agents on its homepage to enhance user interaction. It manages 32,000 weekly queries through its chat-based help page, with only 5,000 requiring human escalation, down from 10,000. Benioff highlighted these advancements as evidence of AI's growing role in improving customer support efficiency. Benioff contrasted Salesforce's offerings with Microsoft Corp MSFT, noting the limited visibility of its Copilot-branded AI tools. Microsoft countered, stating that its AI solutions are driving measurable improvements, including a 9.4% boost in revenue per seller and an 11.5% reduction in case resolution time. Salesforce's hiring spree comes nearly two years after the company laid off over 7,000 employees to adjust to economic conditions. On Tuesday, Salesforce and Adecco Group boosted recruiting with Agentforce and Data Cloud for faster candidate matching. Vivint, a provider of smart home and security solutions, tapped Agentforce to enhance its customer service teams with 24/7 autonomous agent support. On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Benioff predicted that Salesforce will surpass a billion agents within the next 12 months. In October, Northland Capital Partners stated that the AgentForce platform now matches Microsoft's capabilities. Salesforce stock surged over 37% year-to-date. Salesforce reported a third-quarter revenue of $9.44 billion, up 8%, above the analyst consensus of $9.35 billion. The adjusted EPS of $2.41 missed the analyst consensus of $2.44. Salesforce expects fourth-quarter revenue of $9.9 billion-$10.1 billion versus $10.04 billion analyst consensus. It anticipates fourth-quarter adjusted EPS of $2.57-$2.62 compared to consensus estimate of $2.61. Investors can gain exposure to Salesforce through JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF JEPI and SPDR Series Trust SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF SPYG. Price Action: CRM stock traded higher by 0.71% to $353.47 premarket at the last check on Wednesday. Also Read: Amazon's Project Kuiper In Talks With Taiwan For Satellite Partnership Photo via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Salesforce is finally 'joining the AI party'

As Salesforce (CRM-1.67%) rolls out the latest iteration of its Agentforce platform and plans to hire thousands more salespeople to sell it, some analysts are finally convinced that the cloud company is getting its foot in the AI door. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said at a company event in San Francisco on Tuesday that it will be "adding another couple of thousand salespeople to help sell" the new version of its Agentforce platform, CNBC reported. Benioff said the company has opened up 2,000 positions, double the number he told Bloomberg last month. Also on Tuesday, Salesforce unveiled Agentforce 2.0, an update of its AI system that uses autonomous AI agents to support enterprise functions. New features include integration into its messaging network Slack, enhanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, and more accuracy. "Agentforce 2.0 takes our revolutionary Salesforce digital labor platform to another level, with new reasoning, integration and customization features that supercharge autonomous agents with unprecedented levels of intelligence, precision and accuracy," Benioff said in a statement. He added that the demand for Agentforce has been "amazing," and that "no other company comes close to offering this complete AI solution for enterprises." Researchers at Wedbush, led by Dan Ives, said in a note Wednesday that Salesforce will be "joining the AI party in 2025" with these announcements. The analysts said Agentforce 2.0 "is looking to enable AI to perform advanced actions for humans with elevated trust layers built in for agents paving the way for a new era of digital labor." And Wedbush believes that Salesforce's focus on CRM, which helps businesses build and improve relationships with customers, is well positioned "to capture its fair share of market expansion as the AI monetization phase" catalyzes growth. Over the next 12 to 18 months, Wedbush says CRM presents $7 trillion digital labor market opportunity, making it "a clear 2nd derivative beneficiary of the AI Revolution" that could add approximately $80 per share. Salesforce stock was up almost 3% in pre-market trading Wednesday. Shares closed down 1.75% Tuesday at $350.97 per share. Wedbush maintained its outperform rating on the company and its 12-month price target of $425 per share.