Abstract

The case “Salesforce and the Future of Work: Preparing for an AI-Driven Workplace” discusses the various measures being taken by US-based cloud computing and software company Salesforce, Inc. (Salesforce) to transform its business and workforce through the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The case opens with a detailed account of Salesforce’s product innovation strategy, showing how the company adapted its offerings in step with the evolution of AI, from predictive machine-learning models to generative AI technologies. The case also provides an insight into the way Salesforce integrated AI into its business processes to optimize operations, automate routine tasks, and enable a more agile and innovative workforce. To prepare its employees to thrive in an AI-driven future, Salesforce incorporated AI training into its employees’ reskilling and upskilling programs. The case describes in detail how Salesforce trained its employees to use its agentic AI platform, Agentforce, to prepare them for a future that required new skills and capabilities as AI agents took on more responsibilities. The case highlights the strategic challenges and employee development issues that Salesforce faced in building a hybrid workforce in which humans and AI agents collaborated. Can Salesforce successfully build a workforce ready for the ‘Future of Work’?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the impact of AI on product innovation, business processes, and human resources
• Analyze the role of AI in enabling internal mobility and career-pathing initiatives
• Examine the modern instructional approaches for making employees AI-ready
• Devise ways for HR to balance automation-driven productivity with ongoing employee development, morale, engagement, and job security.

Keywords

Dejobbed World; Agentic AI; Workforce Transformation; Training and Development; Reskilling; Upskilling; Talent Development; Internal Mobility; Digital Labor; Recruitment Sources; AI-Enabled Recruitment; Modern Instructional Approaches; e-Learning; Change Management; AI Applications; Learning organization; Human-AI Collaboration,Salesforce; Cloud-based companies; Modern instructional Approaches; Training Programs; e-Learning; e-Recruitment; Generative AI; Product Innovation; Kurt Lewin’s Change Management Model; Internal Talent Marketplace