A recent Fortune article on Salesforce’s AI journey caught my attention and is worth the attention of every support leader. Not only because of the $100 million in cost savings but because of the implicit risk and reward AI creates for support.
The risk exists when support is perceived as replaceable. The reward is when AI frees support teams to deliver more value.
The first critical step is to make sure support is perceived as a value creator and not a cost to eliminate.
For Salesforce the first chapter of their AI journey focused on cost reduction. AI agents handled three million support conversations, case volume dropped 8%, and human teams shifted from reactive work to more proactive customer engagement. With the cost story established Salesforce pivoted AI toward revenue — deploying it to pursue opportunities that human teams never had the capacity to chase.
The pivot from cost reduction to revenue contribution should concern every support leader who has not yet made the case that their work contributes to growth.
If support cannot align to growth — if it remains defined by ticket volume and cost per case — AI can do that work at lower cost. Support becomes a reduction target rather than an investment.
The case that support protects revenue, accelerates adoption, and influences the outcomes executives fund needs to be made now. Before the decision is made for you.
Support Leadership Unfiltered covers this journey every week — how support proves its worth and earns its place at the table. Subscribe