Employee versus Service agent selection
Key Takeaway
Choose by who the user is: an Employee agent for internal employees, and a Service agent for external customers and partners.
Agentforce has different agent types for different audiences. The Employee agent and the Service agent are the two most often compared. Employee agents help your own staff with their daily work and act with each user's own permissions. Service agents talk to external customers and partners on messaging channels and act through a dedicated agent user. So the choice starts with who the agent is talking to.
Start with who the user is
In every scenario, the choice between an Employee agent and a Service agent starts with one question: who is the user?
If the users are your own internal employees...
You should use an Employee agent.
If the users are external customers or partners...
You should use a Service agent. Service agents support both authenticated and unauthenticated users. Partners count as external users, so an agent built for partners is a Service agent use case, not an Employee agent use case.
A service-related task does not automatically call for a Service agent. For example, an Employee agent can support a service team by finding experts and using past knowledge to help reps resolve customer issues. It is still an Employee agent because its users are internal.
An Experience Cloud site does not decide the agent type on its own, either. Employee agents can reach internal users through an Experience Cloud portal, but they are not meant for unauthenticated external customers.
Lead Nurturing agents are a separate third agent type. They handle automated outreach to external leads, prospects and customers through outbound email. They run as the EinsteinSDRAgent User. So proactive email outreach to prospects points to a Lead Nurturing agent, not to a Service agent.