Why Agentic AI Success Hinges on Its Infrastructure
Salesforce News & Insights
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The scoop: In today’s fast-moving business landscape, companies are fundamentally reimagining how they engage with their customers, leveraging agentic AI to create dynamic, responsive experiences. But beneath the surface of agentic AI systems lies a critical, often underestimated, challenge: the underlying cloud infrastructure.
“To truly unlock the potential of agentic AI, we must move beyond mere elasticity and embrace an infrastructure that is intelligent, predictive, and highly efficient,” said Paul Constantinides, EVP of Engineering at Salesforce. “We need engineering systems that can anticipate demand, optimize resource allocation across a heterogeneous fleet, and enable rapid iteration for continuous improvement.”
Also in this edition:
How life sciences company Takeda uses agentic AI to increase customer engagement while keeping patient trust at the center.
Salesforce’s Winter ‘26 release introduces hundreds of trusted, enterprise-ready AI innovations.
Why 9 in 10 consumer goods leaders believe AI agents will be essential to compete within two years.
And more.
The Big Story
Salesforce is deeply invested in evolving its cloud infrastructure to meet agentic AI’s demands.
This includes developing and deploying innovations that directly address the unique characteristics of AI workloads, including AI-Driven Predictive Autoscaling, Intelligent Resource Management, and Accelerated CI/CD for AI.
These infrastructure advancements translate directly into tangible benefits for CIOs, IT leaders, and engineers. They provide the confidence to handle unpredictable AI workloads, optimize operational costs without compromising performance, and accelerate the time to market for critical AI innovations.
Watch: How Takeda Increases Customer Engagement with Agentforce
Samer Ansari, Head of Commercial Innovation and External Experience at Takeda, believes life sciences is at an inflection point, facing a critical opportunity to look at their current capabilities and innovate.
“I don’t think pharma has an excuse, or life sciences has an excuse not to offer that sort of human-centered experience anymore, despite us being a heavily regulated industry,” said Ansari. “AI is embedded in the whole value chain of the company. It’s not one use case or one win. It’s the entire value chain.”
Jeff Amann, EVP and General Manager of Salesforce Industries, met with Ansari to discuss the rising role of AI agents in the life sciences industry and how agents are delivering better commercial engagement for Takeda.
More Insights
How Agentic AI Can Help Overcome the Child Welfare Information Crisis
The heartbeat of any compassionate society lies in its ability to protect its most vulnerable: its children.
Yet child welfare professionals face immense obstacles, often entering homes with minimal information, rather than the critical data or tools they need to ensure a child’s safety.
To address this, the child welfare sector is increasingly turning to advanced technology solutions.
Child welfare agencies can use Agentforce to process and summarize historical data — like a child’s health, financial, or education information. Critically, Agentforce can then analyze this information against reports and policies and surface insights that the caseworker can then review and ask questions of, helping them make data-driven decisions faster.
This drastically reduces the time caseworkers spend on administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on the critical social and emotional elements of their jobs, building rapport and understanding with families.
From Chatbot to Concierge: AI Agents Boost Customer Connection in Retail's Digital Age
When an online shopper searches a retail site for red basketball shoes, today’s systems respond with a product list.
Autonomous AI agents can take that interaction further — asking follow-up questions just like an in-store associate might: "Do you prefer Nike or Adidas? What's your budget? Are these for indoor or outdoor courts?"
Powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), this next wave of AI technology can understand and respond to customers in a natural conversation flow. It’s an evolution from transactional efficiency to genuine concierge service that can build lasting brand connections.
Retailers like Saks, Dolce & Gabanna, The Real Real, and Versace are piloting AI agents that can create sophisticated, personalized experiences — at scale.
Latest News
Winter ’26 Release: Breakthrough Innovations to Transform Customer Experience and Workflows
Salesforce announced the Winter ’26 Release, rolling out hundreds of powerful AI, data, and automation advancements, generally available starting October 13, 2025.
From reimagined shopping experiences to enhanced data collaboration and industry-specific AI agents, Winter ’26 extends the Salesforce portfolio with trusted, enterprise-ready AI innovations.
Top updates include Agentforce for Service: IT Service, Agentic Commerce: Guided Shopping for B2C, Data Cloud: Clean Rooms, and more.
Agentic AI in Consumer Goods
Consumer Goods Leaders: AI Top Priority as 57% Expect Increased Instability
New data from Salesforce's Consumer Goods Industry Insights Report reveals 2025 to be one of the toughest years for consumer goods companies.
Weak consumer confidence, increasingly complex routes to market, softening returns from traditional revenue boosting strategies, and macroeconomic changes, all threaten to squeeze margins.
In response, leaders are betting big on AI. Nearly 9 in 10 believe AI agents will be essential to compete within two years, and 88% expect them to directly boost sales.
"Embracing an AI-first world means reimagining an enterprise where humans and intelligent agents don't just coexist, they collaborate,” said Athina Kanioura, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at PepsiCo. "With Agentforce, rich data is enabling better decision-making and efficiency across our organization, paving the way for a more resilient future-ready enterprise."
Agentforce in Action for Consumer Goods and Retail Industries
Companies across the retail and consumer goods industry are using Agentforce to transform operations.
PepsiCo is one of the first major food and beverage companies to deploy Agentforce at scale, marking an important step in PepsiCo’s AI roadmap.
“With Agentforce, PepsiCo is taking a significant step forward in our agentic journey. By unifying our insights through Salesforce Data Cloud, we’re gaining a holistic view of our customers and operations. This visibility enables us to continue to act strategically, strengthen engagement, and drive greater value across every market we serve,” said Athina Kanioura, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at PepsiCo.
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