A Salesforce survey of C-suite leaders in the UK highlights the significant progress companies are making in adopting agentic AI. 78% of UK C-suite leaders report their companies are already using AI agents. With 72% rating their technical infrastructure’s adaptability to AI as good or very good, enabling rapid growth and scaling.
The report suggests the productivity benefits are evident. Employees are saving between three and 10 hours per week by using AI agents. This translates to up to a full day each week freed from routine, low-impact tasks. For employers, these tangible gains are adding up, with an anticipated 26% increase in employee productivity.
Spurred by the $6 trillion digital labour market opportunity, thousands of customers around the world are investing in Agentforce, Salesforce’s digital labour platform. The solution enables businsses to build and deploy agents that can reason, decide, act, and drive meaningful outcomes 24/7.
At Salesforce’s Agentforce World Tour in London companies like Heathrow and Capita showcased the transformative impact of agentic AI first hand. Agentforce, is having a major impact on the operations of these companies and the respective industries. Driving significant productivity gains, enhancing customer experiences, boosting revenue, and enabling human workers to focus on more high-value areas across their businesses.
A national digital skills platform
According to Zahra Bahrololoumi, Salesforce UK & Ireland CEO, “I’m encouraged to see the UK government and business leaders committing to AI training and reskilling. As we position ourselves as a global leader in AI talent.
“Our research shows nearly one in four UK workers will be reassigned to different roles in the near future. As the world of work is being re-written with digital labour.
“The research indicated 84% of UK senior leaders plan to train their teams on AI within the next twelve months. 40% planning to do so within the next six months, investing 12% of an average salary.
“Salesforce continues to call for the establishment of a national online digital skills platform, bringing together programmes from industry and training providers. This will help us scale these efforts and provide better awareness and access to the essential skills training people need.”
In June 2024, the company launched its AI centre in London. Which has since hosted 12,500 visitors and trained over 1,000 AI agents. More recently, Salesforce has formed a partnership with Brunel University’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence. The partnership aims to curate leadership on technical AI development and responsible AI implementation.
Research methodology
The findings of the Salesforce’s UKI Digital Labour Trends survey are based on a quantitative survey conducted with 110 C-level executives. Involved in the decision-making of AI integration or automation for their companies. The sample includes 100 respondents from the UK and 10 from Ireland, representing organisations with 200 or more employees across a broad range of industries.
The survey captured insights from a diverse mix of C-suite roles. Thus, reflecting perspectives from both medium-sized enterprises and large-scale businesses.
Enterprise Times: What this means for businesses
The urgency for UK businesses to capitalise on these AI opportunities is evident as Salesforce welcomed more than 15,000 delegates from diverse industries to the Agentforce World Tour London. Thus ensuring that the workforce of today has the skills required for the jobs of the future. This will require all stakeholders to act and work together.
Every board in every enterprise must prepare for this organisational transformation. They will need to equip their employees for a hybrid workforce that is both human and digital. This is the digital labour revolution. The research suggests the vast majority of UK senior leaders plan to train their teams on AI within the next twelve months. This represents one of the biggest skills investments seen in a lifetime.
This week, the UK Prime Minister announced a new national skills drive. To support the development of AI skills, with a commitment to train 7.5 million UK workers in AI by 2030. These steps are crucial to driving economic growth.
Salesforce, which has long advocated a national digital skills platform to boost skills training. As a result the company has joined this initiative and will work closely with the UK government to increase opportunities and access to AI training across the country.
