Cloud computing giant Salesforce, which recently opened its office in the Philippines, expects 2026 to be a pivotal year for local businesses as “agentic AI” — autonomous digital agents capable of taking action rather than just generating text — begins to transform operations across industries, from small enterprises to large corporations.
According to the Salesforce Agentic Enterprise Index, global creation and deployment of AI agents surged 119% in the first half of 2025, with employee-agent interactions growing 65% month-on-month.
In the Philippines, adoption is also accelerating: 60% of Filipinos have tried AI tools since 2023, while 46% of workers already use AI monthly. The government has likewise committed ₱2.6 billion to AI projects through 2028.
Salesforce executives say this momentum sets the stage for 2026 to become the year businesses nationwide — including enterprises outside major hubs — begin transitioning toward the “Agentic Enterprise,” where humans oversee teams of digital agents that perform tasks autonomously and at scale.
Abraham Cuevas, regional vice president and country manager of Salesforce Philippines, said Filipino businesses are in a position to leapfrog directly into advanced AI-driven operations, much like the country did during the mobile boom of the early 2010s.
Without heavy legacy infrastructure, Cuevas said local firms can adopt agentic AI workflows more quickly, enabling digital agents to manage customer service, orchestrate marketing, and optimize supply chains. This, he noted, could accelerate growth and productivity across the economy.
Micro, small, and medium enterprises — which make up over 99% of Philippine businesses — stand to gain the most from agentic AI, Cuevas added.
MSMEs traditionally face resource and capacity constraints that slow operations and limit customer engagement. AI agents can offer scalable digital labor, allowing small businesses to match the service capabilities of larger firms and reduce inefficiencies.
He said agentic AI can also “democratize innovation,” helping entrepreneurs launch new ideas and business models with lower upfront investment.
While AI usage today remains concentrated in Metro Manila and Calabarzon, Cuevas noted that the DICT’s accelerated digital infrastructure rollout — including nearly 18,000 installed Free Wi-Fi for All sites as of March 2025 — is helping extend AI opportunities to emerging “next-wave cities.”
Agentic AI, he said, can serve as an equalizer for businesses in smaller urban areas, enabling them to serve customers nationwide without establishing costly physical branches. This could support economic expansion and job creation in high-potential regional hubs.
Gavin Barfield, Salesforce Asean vice president and CTO for Solutions, said 2026 will also bring a wave of region-specific and industry-specific AI models tailored to Southeast Asia’s languages and contexts.
“As agentic AI matures, we expect more investment in localization, reflecting the unique linguistic tapestry of Asean,” Barfield said. Salesforce is preparing by making its Agentforce platform available in Tagalog for the first time.
He added that organizations will increasingly adopt “orchestrated workforce” models where a primary agent coordinates specialist agents, while humans act as supervisors using tools that enforce guardrails and ethical standards.
Barfield expects businesses to uncover novel AI applications in the coming year, comparing today’s AI moment to the early days of electricity — when no one anticipated how deeply it would reshape industry and daily life.
Voice-based AI agents will also advance, he said, replacing traditional chatbots and interactive voice response menus. These voice agents could triage customer inquiries, autonomously resolve routine requests, and assist human workers in real time.
Salesforce emphasized that becoming an Agentic Enterprise does not require massive resources or abrupt shifts. Instead, Barfield said businesses should treat AI as a “dial,” scaling up gradually while building strong systems for unified, trusted data.
“Companies of every size in the Philippines can benefit from agentic AI,” he said. “What matters is establishing the right foundation and embracing experimentation to unlock the full potential of this technology.”
