Synopsis: Muralidhar Krishnaprasad, president & CTO of 360 Platform, Apps, Industries and Agentforce at Salesforce, dives into how organizations should be thinking about justifying the return on investment (ROI) for artificial intelligence (AI) agents.
Muralidhar Krishnaprasad joins host Mike Vizard to unpack the rise of agentic AI and what it means for the enterprise.
Krishnaprasad describes agentic AI as the next stage of intelligent automation—where humans and AI agents work side by side to solve complex business problems. Unlike early AI systems that relied on passive prompts or static workflows, agentic systems are proactive. They can reason, plan, and take action autonomously, orchestrating multiple processes across departments and applications.
At Salesforce, this vision aligns with the company’s push to embed AI directly into business workflows through its Einstein and Agentforce platforms. Krishnaprasad emphasizes that building an “agentic enterprise” requires more than powerful models—it demands secure orchestration, context-aware data, and a strong trust foundation.
He highlights several challenges organizations face as they adopt agentic AI at scale, including data governance, model drift, and maintaining human oversight in decision loops. The goal, he says, isn’t to replace people, but to amplify their capabilities—using AI agents to manage repetitive tasks, surface insights, and ensure that decisions are explainable and auditable.
Krishnaprasad also points to the growing need for standardization and interoperability, as enterprises will soon deploy thousands of specialized agents that must collaborate seamlessly. Salesforce’s approach, he notes, focuses on creating guardrails and transparency so that enterprises can safely scale these new forms of automation.
Ultimately, agentic AI isn’t just another technology shift—it’s a redefinition of how work gets done. Krishnaprasad’s message is clear: the future enterprise will be defined not by automation alone, but by intelligent collaboration between humans and AI agents.
