The agentic wave just hit the enterprise mainstream. Microsoft launched Copilot Cowork last week, turning M365 from a productivity suite into an agentic execution layer. Apollo shipped an AI Assistant that 20,000 reps are already using. EY launched its own agentic sales orchestration platform. Zig.ai is charging by outcome instead of by seat. And the AI SDR data keeps getting harder to ignore. The theme this week: the tools are moving faster than most teams can absorb them. Here's what landed.
🤖 AI RELEASES
Microsoft launches Copilot Cowork, turning M365 into an agentic execution layer
Microsoft announced Copilot Cowork on March 9, built in partnership with Anthropic's Claude. The shift: Copilot moves from chat assistant to autonomous task executor across the entire M365 suite. Describe the outcome you want and Cowork builds context from your emails, meetings, messages, and files, then executes multi-step workflows with built-in checkpoints where you confirm or adjust. Use cases range from inbox triage to client meeting prep to building research memos. Currently in Research Preview with broader rollout expected late March. The distribution angle is the real story here. Most enterprise orgs already pay for Microsoft 365 and Copilot licenses. This might be the first agentic AI tool that millions of salespeople can access without asking anyone for permission.
Apollo.io ships AI Assistant out of beta — 20,000 weekly users, 2.3x more meetings booked
Apollo.io launched its AI Assistant to general availability on March 10, positioning itself as the first fully agentic GTM operating system. The numbers from beta: nearly 20,000 weekly active users, 2.3x more meetings booked, and new users are 36% more likely to book in their first 14 days. The assistant handles prospect discovery, qualification, enrichment, outreach, and reporting through natural language. Free on Basic, Pro, and Org plans at launch. If your team is on Apollo, this is worth testing this week.
EY launches agentic sales platform with Snowflake and Canva — deploying internally first
EY announced EY.ai Agentic for Sales on March 2, a platform that unifies prospect identification, automated outreach, deal support, and contract automation into one orchestrated system. Built on Snowflake's AI Data Cloud with Canva handling content creation. The interesting move: EY is eating their own cooking as "Client Zero" before rolling out to North America. The stat they're leading with: 78% of sellers missed their targets in 2025, with reps spending 21% of their time navigating systems instead of selling.
Zig.ai launches with outcome-based pricing — no more per-seat licensing
Zig.ai came out of stealth on March 10 with an AI sales execution platform that replaces traditional per-seat SaaS pricing with outcome-based billing. The platform embeds agents into revenue workflows that learn from every interaction and compound improvements over time. Raised $3M led by super{set}. The pricing model is the story here. If outcome-based billing works at scale, it changes the ROI conversation for every AI sales tool on the market.
📊 RESEARCH & DATA
2026 AI SDR Report: AI-led outreach converts at 14.2% vs 3% for human-only
The 2026 State of the AI SDR Industry Report dropped with the clearest data yet on the human vs. AI outreach gap. When fully personalized, AI-led outreach converts at 14.2% compared to 3% for human-only efforts. 72% of sales teams now use AI assistance and 81% are experimenting with AI SDRs. But here's the reality check: 88% of AI pilots stall before reaching production, and only 35% of reps fully trust their data. The report's bottom line: humans + AI always beats either alone.
Salesforce: 54% of sellers have used AI agents, 9 in 10 plan to by 2027
Salesforce's latest State of Sales data shows more than half of sellers have already used AI agents in their workflow. Nearly 9 in 10 plan to by 2027. Once fully implemented, sellers expect agents to cut prospect research time by 34% and email drafting by 36%. The adoption curve is steepening fast.
💰 SALES & GTM
Salesforce Agentforce hits $800M ARR — 82% growth in six months
Salesforce reported that Agentforce crossed $800M in annual recurring revenue, growing 82% in just six months. Q4 premium SKU adoption surged 300% quarter-over-quarter. Full-year FY26 revenue came in at $41.5B. Whatever you think about Salesforce's AI narrative, $800M ARR in this timeframe is real market validation for agentic AI in enterprise sales. The F1 partnership extension through 2030 with an Agentforce-powered Fan Companion is the kind of brand play that signals long-term commitment.
Block cuts 4,000+ employees — 40% of workforce — citing AI efficiency
Block, the parent company of Square and Cash App, is cutting more than 4,000 employees. That's roughly 40% of its total staff. CEO Jack Dorsey says AI tools now enable smaller, more efficient teams. This is one of the largest AI-attributed workforce reductions to date and a signal that the "do more with less" narrative has moved from talking point to execution at scale. This has been a controversial topic lately as some do not believe it was all due to AI. Use your own judgement.
💡 ONE TAKE
The Microsoft Copilot Cowork launch is the story this week, and it's not because the tech is the most advanced thing out there. It's because of distribution.
Every AI sales tool I've tracked for the last year requires the same thing: a champion inside the org who fights for budget, gets through procurement, runs a pilot, and convinces leadership the ROI is real. That cycle takes months. Copilot Cowork skips all of it. If your company has Microsoft 365 licenses, which most enterprise sales orgs do, in theory it should be there once rolled out. No new contract. No vendor review. No IT ticket.
That matters because the first AI tool most salespeople actually use won't be the best one. It'll be the one that's already on their laptop. Microsoft just made sure that tool is Copilot. The reps who start building workflows in Cowork now are the ones who'll have a real edge when their org finally mandates AI adoption across the team.
-- Brent
Rep Intelligence | newsletter.brenthansard.com |