Salesforce Buys Cresta to Put AI Agents on the Phone: 87% of Customers Still Want the Option to Reach a Human
In our article on AI chatbots in late 2026, we looked at messaging costs and conversation data. This week the race moved to an older channel: the phone call. On November 2, 2026, Salesforce signed an agreement to acquire Cresta, a company that builds voice AI agents for customer service contact centers.
At the same time, Gartner surveys published in 2026 show that customers remain cautious: 87% say there must always be an option to reach a human agent, and only 27% would try a chatbot again after a bad experience. AI agents are moving into contact centers faster than customer trust.
Salesforce Buys Cresta to Put AI Agents on the Phone
Cresta builds voice AI agents that can handle complex calls, along with real-time guidance for human agents and conversation analytics. Salesforce plans to connect these capabilities with Service Cloud, its customer service platform.
Deal status: this is a signed agreement, expected to close in the first quarter of Salesforce's fiscal 2028 and still subject to regulatory approval.
Price: Salesforce has not disclosed the price. The Information reported a figure of around $2.7 billion, but this is a reported number, not a confirmed one.
Existing customers: according to news reports, Cresta serves names such as Marriott, Comcast and Alaska Airlines, and will keep supporting the contact center systems its customers already use after the deal closes.
Context: this is Salesforce's third acquisition in two weeks, after Rune Technologies and Braze ($5.66 billion). According to Salesforce's own survey of 3,075 service professionals, AI agent adoption in customer service rose from 39% in 2025 to 66% in 2026.
Customers Use More AI, but Still Want a Way Out
Gartner surveyed 3,566 B2B and B2C customers in February and March 2026 and released the results in several parts. The overall picture is clear: customers find AI convenient, but they do not want to be trapped inside it.
Convenient, but with a human option: 50% of customers say interactions are easier when companies use generative AI, yet 87% say an option to reach a human agent is essential (Gartner, August 4, 2026).
Few actually use chatbots: only 7% used a company chatbot in their most recent service interaction, although 49% said they would have if offered.
One bad experience loses the customer: only 27% would try a chatbot again after a negative experience (Gartner, September 2, 2026).
Customers look elsewhere: according to Gartner (July 2026), customers are about three times more likely to use third-party AI tools than company-provided chatbots.
These figures come from general service surveys, not from voice channels alone. With phone calls, expectations are often even higher, because people usually call when they have a problem that needs solving now.
The Agenorix view: a good AI agent knows when to hand over
The Cresta deal shows that voice AI agents are becoming a core part of the contact center, not an experiment. When we build chatbots and AI assistants, we design them so AI handles the repetitive work and people keep the parts that need judgment. These are five principles we apply:
Always offer a human: customers can ask to be transferred at any time, and the AI passes along a summary so they do not have to repeat themselves.
Start with repetitive, low-risk tasks: order lookups, opening hours, booking appointments. Complaints, refunds and sensitive issues should have a person reviewing them.
Get it right the first time: with only 27% of customers willing to try again, launching on a narrow set of questions the AI handles well beats expanding too early.
Identify as AI and confirm: the AI says clearly that it is a virtual assistant, and reads back details before any important action such as rescheduling or cancelling an order.
Measure the right things: track how many issues are actually resolved and how often calls are transferred, not just how many calls the AI picked up.
Where to start?
List the 10 questions customers called or messaged about most in the past month. Mark which ones AI can answer right away and which need a person, and write a handover line for each case. That list is the first blueprint for your chatbot or voice AI agent. If you would like to work through this step together, the Agenorix team is ready to help, and your first consultation is free: get in touch.
Sources: Salesforce (Nov 2, 2026), Gartner (Jul 8, 2026, Aug 4, 2026 and Sep 2, 2026), The Information, SalesforceBen, Constellation Research
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