transcosmos has announced that it has been honored with the Japan Partner of the Year – Innovation award at the Salesforce Japan Partner Award 2026. The recognition highlights the company’s work with Kanagawa Prefecture, where it supported the #7119 / #8000 Contact Center Project by deploying a suite of solutions such as Agentforce for Public Sector, Agentforce Service, Data 360, Tableau, and Agentforce.

The company actively integrates Agentforce, Salesforce’s AI-driven agent platform, into contact center operations to help address challenges like maintaining a stable workforce, ensuring consistent service quality, and reducing post-interaction workload for human agents. In addition, transcosmos leverages Tableau and Data 360 to enable clients to analyze accumulated data and implement systems that enhance operational efficiency.

Commenting on the achievement, Atsushi Urano, Senior Vice President for Japan, Korea & Taiwan, Alliance & Channels & Global Technology Partners, noted that transcosmos is focused on accelerating client growth and helping organizations overcome challenges across the entire customer experience landscape in an era of rapid technological advancement and AI-driven transformation. He also emphasized that partners play a vital role in Salesforce’s mission to drive customer success.

Now in its 19th year, the Salesforce Japan Partner Award program recognizes the contributions of its partners—including consulting firms, digital agencies, sales organizations, and ISVs—for their impact across cloud technologies, industries, and various partner initiatives.

Click here to view the list of winners of the Salesforce Japan Partner Award 2026.

Kingfisher plc, a leading global home improvement retailer, has announced a multi-year collaboration with Google Cloud aimed at transforming the online shopping experience through agentic AI.

Leveraging Google Cloud’s technology, Kingfisher plans to go beyond conventional keyword searches across its brands—including B&Q, Castorama in France and Poland, and Brico Dépôt France—by introducing AI-driven shopping assistants that anticipate customer needs.

The partnership focuses on two main initiatives:

 

Thierry Garnier, CEO of Kingfisher plc, commented: “Partnering with Google Cloud allows us to offer AI-enhanced shopping experiences, making it easier for customers to find and purchase home improvement products. These investments position Kingfisher at the forefront of AI-driven retail, driving meaningful innovation within our growing digital ecosystem and addressing the evolving expectations of our customers.”

Matt Renner, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Google Cloud, added: “Kingfisher is redefining how retailers can harness cloud technology to tackle complex customer challenges. By integrating Vertex AI and preparing its data for an agentic future, Kingfisher is creating genuinely helpful, conversational shopping experiences. We are proud to support their digital transformation across the UK and Europe.”

This agreement builds on Kingfisher’s existing use of Google Cloud to enhance digital operations and drive omnichannel growth, which has already contributed to e-commerce making up more than 20% of Group sales. It also complements the success of Kingfisher’s proprietary AI platform, Athena, launched in 2023, which powers virtual assistants such as Hello Casto and Hello B&Q.

Additionally, Kingfisher collaborates closely with Google’s Ads and Shopping teams to boost online performance. Central to these efforts is the modernization of Nucleus, Kingfisher’s data lake, which provides a secure and scalable foundation for current and future AI initiatives.