Trust has become key when it comes to businesses using AI.
As Salesforce’s Brent Hayward, head of competitive intelligence, told City AM: “I don’t think there’s any more valuable thing. If you’re in the business of working with other businesses or customers, then trust… It is the foundational level”.
Hawyard insisted that this trust ‘layer’ must be embedded from the ground up within the enterprise, or they risk becoming another digital casualty.
Brad Arkin, Salesforce’s chief trust officer (often akin to a CISO), also told reporters on Thursday: “Trust is actually a propellant”.
‘Augmenting’ humans
The ‘agentic enterprise’ era, touted as the next frontier tech, promises to augment human capabilities with AI agents that handle everything from customer service to code reviews.
Hayward, a 13-year Salesforce veteran and former MuleSoft boss, sees this as a game-changer for businesses grappling with constraints on human engagement.
“All of us have called into a service centre trying to get help, long lead times, emails that don’t get replied to”, he told City AM.
But legacy data messiness compounds the issue: “It’s messy within the enterprise”, he added.
This comes as a recent SnapLogic report revealed that while 81 per cent of workers now use AI tools, 57 per cent rely on agents to save time.
Meanwhile, 43 per cent worry about being seen as lazy or untrustworthy.
Training gaps remain a key drawback, too, with only 36 per cent receiving formal instructions, disproportionately affecting non-managers.
As agents evolve, Hayward pointed to a future where they “talk to one another”, a pace of change which depends on that element of trust.
Building trust and secure AI
This fear is well-founded amid rising cyber risks. On Tuesday, the UK government fired a salvo to FTSE 100 and 250 firms, urging board-level prioritisation of cyber resilience.
The NCSC’s ninth annual review, launched concurrently, painted a grim picture, revealing 429 incidents handled in the year to August 2025, with 18 “highly significant” ones, a 50 per cent jump year on year.
These numbers reflect an escalating issue impacting government, infrastructure, and the economy. Chief executive Richard Horne warned: “The urgency to act has never been greater as cyber incidents increase in scale, frequency, and impact”.
For smaller businesses, Hayward noted, trust in partners is crucial: “Smaller companies have to depend on service providers, where trust becomes critical”.
Larger firms, with more to lose, face amplified reputational risks, yet both must navigate brand-damaging pitfalls.
In the end, trust as currency means investing in it yields dividends: faster adoption, resilient operations, and competitive edge.
As Hayward told City AM: “We try to actually go deliver that in the products and the services that we provide.”