- Marc Benioff opens Dreamforce 2025 hailing the “agentic enterprise”
- CEO says Salesforce has to be customer zero in trying these new products
- Salesforce unveils more on Agentforce 360 and other new offerings
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has declared the age of the “agentic enterprise”, with AI playing a larger role than ever before for firms of all sizes.
The company co-founder and CEO opened Dreamforce 2025 with a typically rambunctious keynote as he talked through its latest round of updates and releases – top of which was the new Agentforce 360 platform.
But top of mind, of course, was the growing role of AI tools for enterprises, as human workers and agents will have to work together in this mix – which Salesforce calls the ‘Agentic Enterprise’.
AI all over
Welcoming attendees to, “the biggest, most exciting Dreamforce ever”, Benioff was in a typically charismatic mood, racing through the huge amounts of new additions to Salesforce’s platforms at a rapid pace.
Benioff noted there is a “very real” divide in using agentic AI, adding that simply deploying enterprise AI models isn’t enough, if solutions aren’t integrated and grounded in proper governance.
“This agentic divide is split – it’s a bifurcation. Your customers are elevated, now what about your enterprise?”
“We want to connect with our customers in a brand new way…the rate and growth of innovation has been awesome,” Benioff noted.
However he highlighted that when at home on his phone, “using amazing AI and LLMs”, the experience is “so much worse” when he gets to the office and logs on to AI tools there.
Salesforce wants to play a key role in advancing AI technology, particularly when it comes to Agentforce, Benioff added, saying, “What we realized at Salesforce is we have to be customer zero…we have to be able to go from one, to two, to three, to four, to five and show you what we’re doing.”
“We do 11 trillion emails a year at Salesforce, but each of those emails is a one way conversation – but what if each of those emails was a two-way conversation?”
“AI alone is not enough. It’s not enough just to have an LLM. It needs (Agentforce) capabilities to connect it, to give it the context, to give it the guardrails, and all of the critical pieces.”
“You have got to get your data right. You have got to get to more integrated solutions. You have got to get the priorities right. You have to get the governance right.”
“We all saw that just making our own models or rolling it ourselves, or DIYing it, isn’t going to do it. We need to be doing our work at Salesforce for you, and we need to all be on this journey together to get to this Better Place. That in our vision, is the Agentic Enterprise.”
“This is the next revolution,” Benioff declared, “we’ve gone through predictive AI, and we’re now entering this new agentic AI revolution.”
Benioff highlighted how the company has continued its 1% pledge, where it donates 1% equity, 1% of its time, and 1% of its product to good causes, including a new $30 million committed to education and AI literacy – meaning Salesforce has now given away $841 million, committed to 10 million nonprofit hours, $300 million in reskilling training and $150 million for local schools in San Francisco and Oakland.
