New research has revealed a fundamental shift in the Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) workforce: employees are bringing their “at-home” AI habits to the office, driving a surge in workplace confidence and a demand for sophisticated enterprise tools.

The research commissioned by Salesforce and conducted by YouGov surveyed 2,132 ANZ knowledge workers. The findings show that 86 per cent of respondents now use AI in their personal lives. Critically, this personal experimentation is the primary driver for professional adoption, with 74% saying personal use boosted their workplace confidence.

The study highlights a transition from simple chatbots to AI agents – autonomous tools that can take action, not just answer questions.

• 76% of knowledge workers have already engaged with AI agents.
• 95% expect agents to have a positive impact on their roles within the next two years.
• 88% report that their personal AI use has raised their expectations as consumers, demanding quicker service (46%), expecting fewer errors (44%), and more personalised experiences (41%).

AI adoption and guardrails

“Employees don’t want to leave AI at the office door,” says Kevin Doyle, RVP, Agentforce & Data 360, Salesforce.

“The urgency for business leaders is to move AI out of the sandbox and into the heart of operations. By building on a foundation of trusted, real-time data, companies can finally close the ‘last mile’ of AI and turn potential into measurable ROI.”

While confidence is high, workers are sending a clear message to leadership: they want guardrails. To feel comfortable using AI agents at work, employees identified four critical requirements:

• Transparency and control (47%)
• Access to expert support (45%)
• Security and privacy guardrails (43%)
• Easy access to approved tools (40%)

New AI tools for conversational retail shopping

Salesforce recently launched three new Agentforce innovations to help retailers deliver more conversational, AI-powered shopping experiences across marketing, ecommerce and service.

With Salesforce data showing AI and agents drove 20% of retail sales this past holiday season, the updates focus on enabling a single, continuous customer conversation – from a marketing email through to checkout – with shared context across channels. 

The new innovations include: 

• Two-way conversational email: Turns marketing emails into an interactive shopping channel where customers can ask questions and get instant, AI-powered responses. 
• Contextual search: Improves onsite search by understanding shopper intent and natural language, not just keywords. 
• Enhanced guided shopping agents: Proactively assist customers on ecommerce sites, helping them find products and complete purchases within a single conversation.