Salesforce launches Agentforce IT Service to automate ITSM with agentic AI
Salesforce is rolling out Agentforce IT Service, a suite that uses autonomous AI agents to resolve incidents and service requests across the enterprise. It includes an agentic IT service desk aligned with ITIL processes, AI agents that act like SMEs for employees and IT teams, and an agentic CMDB with a service graph for full-stack visibility.
This move puts Salesforce in direct competition with ServiceNow and others in ITSM. The goal: cut wait times, lower support costs, and keep employees productive by resolving routine issues without human intervention.
Why it matters for management
IT service is moving from ticket triage to outcome delivery. As Kishan Chetan, EVP and GM of Service Cloud at Salesforce, put it: "They want to engage with employees in a personalized, proactive manner." The same conversational support that serves customers is now being applied internally-at scale.
For leaders, that means fewer bottlenecks for IT, faster resolution for employees, and clearer visibility into systems, dependencies, and risks through the embedded CMDB and service graph.
How Agentforce IT Service works
- Agentic IT service desk: End-to-end ITSM aligned with ITIL, from incident to problem and change.
- Autonomous AI agents: Act as subject-matter experts to answer questions, fulfill requests, and escalate when needed.
- Agentic CMDB and service graph: Maps infrastructure, applications, and services to show connectivity and dependencies across the enterprise.
Employees can request help via Slack, Microsoft Teams, portals, or web chat. Agents can handle routine tasks such as checking eligibility for a laptop refresh by pulling policy and profile data, then executing the next steps.
Connectors and integrations
At launch, Salesforce plans more than 100 pre-built connectors with platforms like Box, CrowdStrike, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Okta, Oracle NetSuite, Qualtrics, Workday, and Zoom. This matters for managers because integration determines speed to value. The tighter the connections to HR and IT workflows, the less friction your team feels on day one.
Incident management, automated
Agents can detect and respond to outages-say, an email server issue-by creating incidents, notifying affected employees, and posting real-time updates. If a case is complex or time-sensitive, agents escalate to a human IT rep with a clean summary and proposed fixes.
Agentforce can also analyze past incidents to identify underlying problems, create and prioritize new incidents based on reports, and recommend resolution paths, helping IT scale without expanding headcount.
Executive checklist to evaluate fit
- Identify top-request patterns: Access, device refresh, software installs, password resets, VPN, email issues.
- Define guardrails: What agents can do autonomously vs. where to escalate (security, PII, production changes).
- Map integrations: Slack/Teams, HRIS, identity, endpoint security, ticketing, asset inventory.
- Align to ITIL processes: Incident, problem, change, and knowledge workflows.
- Pilot scope: Start with 2-3 high-volume use cases and a clear rollback plan.
Governance and risk
- Data access: Limit agent permissions to least privilege and log every action.
- Change control: Require approvals for production-impacting actions.
- Quality assurance: Monitor agent resolutions, accuracy, and false escalations.
- Employee trust: Provide transparent status updates and easy human handoff.
KPIs to track from day one
- Autonomous resolution rate and average handle time
- Mean time to acknowledge and resolve (MTTA/MTTR)
- Deflection from human agents and cost per ticket
- Employee satisfaction (CSAT) and SLA adherence
Availability and next steps
The Agentforce IT Service solution-IT Service Desk, employee agents, and the embedded CMDB-is expected to be generally available later this month. For a deeper product view, see Salesforce's overview of Agentforce and Service Cloud capabilities on the official site: Salesforce Agentforce.
If you're building skills in AI automation for IT and operations, consider structured training for your team: AI Certification for Automation.
The bottom line for leaders
Agentic AI shifts IT service from ticket intake to autonomous execution with clear guardrails. Start small, integrate tightly, measure relentlessly, and expand where the data proves value.
