Scaling Salesforce Case Intelligence: A Context-First Approach to Einstein Search

Blogs » Scaling Salesforce Case Intelligence: A Context-First Approach to Einstein Search

 

In our last post, we explored how token-efficient, context-first architectures can significantly cut costs and boost scalability when working with large language models (LLMs). Now, let’s take that theory into the real world—specifically, how we optimized Salesforce Service Cloud for complex B2B case resolution while avoiding burnout from Einstein Search limits.

The B2B Support Challenge: Complex Cases at Scale
A global SaaS provider supporting large enterprise clients faces a familiar problem: support cases aren’t just about minor bugs or simple FAQs. These are high-stakes issues—enterprise-level problems involving integrations, outages, or configuration anomalies.

Here’s a real example:
“We’re experiencing delayed sync in our East region. This started after the recent data schema update. Attached are logs from all four clusters and our integration mapping files.”

This is not a lightweight ticket. A typical case might include:

  • 6+ paragraphs of unstructured issue description
  • Multiple attachments like logs, PDFs, diagrams
  • References to configuration versions, third-party APIs, timelines

Now imagine hundreds of these coming in every week. Each case needs to be:

  • Interpreted for technical context
  • Matched against historical cases and solutions
  • Triaged, resolved, or escalated
  • Ideally, automated where possible

The Standard Flow: Salesforce Tools in Action
Salesforce offers a rich toolkit for handling this workflow:

  • Einstein Prompt Builder – Turns raw data into smart prompts
  • Einstein Search – Finds similar cases and helpful knowledge articles using semantic matching
  • Salesforce Agent (SFDC Agent) – Orchestrates workflows like retrieval, analysis, recommendation, and escalation

A typical flow looks like this:

  1. Ingest the case
  2. Run Einstein Search across:
         – Past support cases
         – Knowledge base articles
         – Known issues (custom object)
  3. Use an LLM to summarize and recommend next steps
  4. Respond or escalate

It works well—until it doesn’t.

The Problem: Einstein Search Burnout
This workflow leans heavily on Einstein Search. For each support case, multiple searches are triggered:

  • One unstructured description might spark 3–5 search queries
  • Each query scans tens of thousands of records
  • Hundreds of cases = massive search traffic

The result?
2 million Einstein Search calls consumed in under three weeks.
Soon, the system hits its usage limits. Searches fail, agents stall, and manual triage returns.

The Fix: A Context-First AI Design
Instead of relying immediately on heavy search, we flipped the script with a context-first architecture.

Here’s how it works:

  1. LLM Preprocessing (Outside the Einstein Search Quota)
    Before any searches, an LLM:
        • Summarizes the case
        • Extracts key metadata like:
              – Products/features
              – Region or account
              – Error types and impacts
              – Timelines and dependencies
              – References to past tickets or changes
  2. SOQL Filtering (Free or Token-Light)
    Using this structured metadata, we run targeted SOQL queries to narrow down candidates:
         • Only look at cases with the same product, error category, or client type
         • Optionally, generate SOQL dynamically using an LLM if sequence logic is involved
  3. Einstein Search—Only Where It Counts
    Now that we’ve narrowed the pool from 100,000+ to 50–100 cases, Einstein Search is applied for deep semantic matching—but only within that refined set.
  4. Optional LLM Final Ranking
    Lastly, a lightweight LLM pass ranks the top 3 results based on contextual relevance.

Impact

Metric Without Context-First With Context-First
Einstein Search Ops 2,500/day (5 per case × 500) <500/day
Quota Duration Exhausted in 3 weeks Sustains a full month (and scales)
Result Relevance Mixed, high noise High accuracy
Triage Time 15–20 mins <5 mins
Automation Success ~40% 80%+

Bonus: It Works with External Contexts Too
Many support cases originate outside Salesforce—from email threads, Slack exports, or third-party monitoring tools. These aren’t natively stored as SFDC objects.

But the context-first design handles these just as well:

  • LLMs pre-process unstructured inputs
  • Structured metadata is extracted
  • Metadata becomes filters for search
  • Result: Einstein Search load stays minimal

The Takeaway
Einstein Search is a powerful tool—but expensive when overused.
By shifting to a context-first design, we:

  • Summarize and filter outside the quota
  • Use SOQL for broad, efficient narrowing
  • Reserve Einstein Search for high-impact use
  • Enable scalable, intelligent triage—including for external inputs

This architecture delivers real scalability and smarter automation for complex B2B support in Salesforce—no matter how messy the cases get.

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