Oracle on Tuesday released a new set of artificial intelligence agents to help salespeople with a range of tasks around dealing with customers. U.S.-based Oracle is among a wave of big tech companies focusing on creating virtual assistants that can tackle repetitive or difficult tasks with more autonomy. Microsoft and Alphabet's Google have also put agents at the center of their AI strategies. Unlike generalized virtual assistants used by consumers, Oracle's agents are designed to handle specific tasks. Each time a salesperson meets with a customer, they need to update company records on how a deal is progressing, and the agents can tackle that writing. But some tasks are more complex. One "customer intelligence" agent can pull records from across Oracle's business software categories and write a report for sales teams heading into deal talks, even if those records are in different languages. For example, the system might show a U.S.-based sales team that a repeat customer has not been receiving shipments on time in a different country - information that could be helpful in offering concessions to renew a contract. "Our customers are oftentimes brands you may not have heard of that run industry. They move rock and produce machinery. They're usually global," Rob Pinkerton, a senior vice president at Oracle, said in an interview. "To have that assistance to pull (data) all together in all the languages a seller has to care about is pretty useful." Oracle said the features are available starting on Tuesday. The company is not charging extra for the new agents.
