CRM Is Becoming Intelligent: What AI Changes for Customer Experience

AIQ TALKS: Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson & CEO, Salesforce India and Mayank, Founder & CEO, ADROSONIC

CRM has traditionally helped organisations manage customer information, interactions and workflows. AI is changing that role. The next generation of CRM is beginning to act on customer information, automate decisions and resolve interactions rather than simply record them.

In this episode of TOI AIQ Talks, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson & CEO, Salesforce India, and Mayank, Founder & CEO, ADROSONIC, discuss how AI is reshaping CRM, customer service and the way enterprises engage with their customers.

From Customer Data to Customer Action

The value of CRM has always depended on the quality and accessibility of customer information. AI adds another layer: the ability to use that information in real time to support decisions and customer interactions.

Salesforce’s move towards agentic AI illustrates this shift. AI agents can operate against relevant customer data and enterprise context, moving CRM beyond information retrieval towards action and resolution. In customer service, this can mean resolving routine requests without waiting for a human agent, while maintaining an auditable trail when intervention is required.

The Data Context Matters

An AI agent is only as useful as the context it can access. Customer data, business rules, workflows and security controls need to work together before AI can reliably act on behalf of an organisation.

This has particular relevance for enterprises managing complex customer journeys across sectors such as insurance, banking and other regulated industries, where customer interactions involve sensitive information, multiple processes and defined controls.

For ADROSONIC, this connects directly with its CRM and Salesforce capabilities, where implementation is increasingly about integrating customer data, business processes and intelligent automation rather than simply deploying a CRM platform.

CRM Moves Closer to Digital Labour

The more significant change may be organisational. AI agents can take on repetitive customer-facing work while human teams move towards activities requiring judgement, relationship management and deeper problem-solving.

Salesforce’s own experience provides an early example. Its AI-enabled help service now resolves more than 80% of calls at first contact, with only a small proportion reaching manual agents.

The conversation points to a broader shift in CRM: the system is no longer simply managing the customer relationship. It is increasingly participating in it.

About AIQ Talks

AIQ Talks,The Times of India’s thought leadership series, brings together business and industry leaders to examine the impact of AI across sectors. As the AI Knowledge Partner, ADROSONIC contributes to the series through conversations led by Mayank, Founder & CEO.