Agentic AI for Energy and Commodities Service Operations

In energy and commodities, customer service is rarely just a service issue. It is often a billing issue, an approvals issue, a data issue and a relationship issue all at once. Invoice details may sit in one system, case history in another, approvals in email threads and operational context somewhere else entirely. As a result, customers wait too long for answers, service teams spend too much time triaging work and commercial relationships absorb friction that should never have existed in the first place.

Agentic AI creates an opportunity to change that dynamic.

Publicis Sapient helps energy and commodities organizations modernize B2B service operations by connecting Salesforce Service Cloud and Experience Cloud with enterprise data, workflow logic and AI-powered orchestration. The goal is not to layer a chatbot on top of fragmented processes. It is to redesign service as a connected operating model where customers can self-serve on common needs, service teams work from cleaner workflows and complex issues reach the right people faster with better context.

Why service modernization matters in energy and commodities

Across the sector, service operations are shaped by complexity. Billing and invoice inquiries can require access to line-item detail, contract context and exception history. Case routing often depends on issue type, business unit or downstream approvals. Escalations can involve multiple teams across finance, operations, legal and compliance. In many organizations, that work is still coordinated through legacy systems, spreadsheets, emails and other disconnected tools.

This is not unlike the challenge seen in other parts of the energy value chain, where critical workflows have historically been managed through a mix of siloed systems and manual handoffs. In one energy trading modernization program, Publicis Sapient helped transform an ad hoc approval environment that relied on legacy tools, emails, spreadsheets and third parties for compliance checks. By creating a user-friendly digital point of entry and integrating Salesforce with siloed on-premises systems, the organization established a real-time single source of truth for 150 users. Manual steps across multiple systems were reduced from 14 to just 4 clicks, improving efficiency and decision-making.

The lesson for service leaders is clear: when fragmented processes are unified, service becomes faster, more reliable and more strategic.

A practical starting point: invoice inquiries, case routing and escalation

Recent proof-of-concepts developed with Phillips 66 show how quickly this model can take shape. In just three weeks, Publicis Sapient and Phillips 66 built three Agentforce proof-of-concepts focused on core customer service scenarios.

The first centered on invoice inquiry, enabling customers to review invoice details and continue the conversation when more support was needed. The second focused on case management, allowing customers to retrieve additional information about an invoice line item and open a case when necessary. That case could then be automatically assigned to the right queue based on issue type, reducing manual workload and improving response times. The third addressed case management escalation, enabling customers to check case status, ask follow-up questions and receive updates through a combination of AI agents and human service representatives. Sentiment analysis helped tailor interactions, while service representatives received support from agents to maintain stronger, more productive dialogue.

These use cases matter because they reflect recurring pain points across energy and commodities organizations:

From isolated use cases to a modern service operating model

1. Self-service for high-volume, repeatable requests

With Experience Cloud as the front door, customers can securely access invoice information, line-item detail, case status and common service actions in a digital self-service environment. Agentic AI adds conversational capability on top of that experience, allowing customers to ask questions in natural language rather than navigating rigid workflows.

For common requests, this reduces dependency on live agents while improving responsiveness. Customers get faster answers. Service teams see lower volumes of repetitive contacts. And the organization creates a more modern B2B experience that reflects the expectations buyers increasingly bring from other digital environments.

2. Intelligent routing and cleaner workflows for service teams

Service modernization is not just about customer convenience. It is also about operational clarity.

When service teams lack a unified view of the customer and must jump between systems to resolve a case, response times slow down and error risk rises. Publicis Sapient has addressed this challenge in other industries by replacing legacy service environments with Salesforce Service Cloud, building extensive integrations and reducing the need for representatives to log into disparate systems. In one transformation, more than 15 integrations expanded the data available to representatives, reduced system switching and created a single source of truth with consolidated global processes. The result was faster save times, fewer clicks, optimized case information and increased efficiency for more than 250 employees.

In energy and commodities, the same principle applies. By connecting enterprise data into Service Cloud, case creation and assignment can become far more intelligent. Issue type, invoice attributes, customer segment and workflow rules can all inform routing logic. Instead of manually triaging each request, organizations can move cases directly into the right queue with the right supporting context.

3. Context-rich escalation management

Not every issue should be contained. Some require human judgment, commercial sensitivity or cross-functional coordination.

That is where agentic AI becomes especially valuable. Rather than replacing service representatives, it can gather context, summarize customer intent, capture prior actions and prepare a case before it is handed to a human expert. By the time the escalation reaches a specialist, the specialist is not starting from zero.

This model mirrors a broader pattern Publicis Sapient uses in AI-led service transformation: automate routine work intelligently, then escalate complex issues with full context so humans can focus on resolution, reassurance and relationship-building. In industries where approvals, disputes and operational exceptions can have outsized commercial impact, that is a meaningful advantage.

4. Visibility that strengthens commercial relationships

In B2B energy and commodities markets, service responsiveness directly affects trust. Customers want to know not only that an issue has been logged, but where it stands, who owns it and what happens next.

A connected service model improves that visibility. Customers gain clearer digital access to invoice data, case progress and updates. Service teams gain real-time insight into workloads, bottlenecks and escalation trends. Leadership gains a better operational picture of where manual effort persists and where service performance is affecting the customer relationship.

That makes service more than a back-office function. It becomes a lever for reducing cost to serve, improving accountability and protecting revenue.

How Publicis Sapient helps

Publicis Sapient brings together strategy, workflow redesign, experience design, engineering and data and AI to modernize service end to end. Our work with Salesforce spans Service Cloud, Experience Cloud and broader enterprise integration, helping organizations move from disconnected operations to connected experience ecosystems.

For energy and commodities leaders, that means:
The result is a more resilient service organization: one that gives customers faster, more transparent support while freeing teams to focus on exceptions, relationships and higher-value outcomes.

Service as a strategic differentiator

The future of service in energy and commodities is not a choice between AI and humans. It is a model where AI handles the repeatable, humans handle the consequential and both work from the same connected foundation.

When invoice inquiries, case routing, status visibility and escalation management are redesigned around shared data and intelligent workflows, service operations become simpler for customers and more effective for employees. Manual effort comes down. Responsiveness improves. And customer service starts to contribute directly to stronger commercial relationships.

That is the shift Publicis Sapient helps organizations make: from fragmented service operations to AI-enabled, connected service ecosystems built for speed, trust and long-term value.