Salesforce (CRM, Financial) is leaning heavily on AI—shifting 30–50% of its own workload to intelligent agents—even as its shares slide 20% this year.
CEO Marc Benioff told Bloomberg that Salesforce now uses AI for everything from customer service inquiries to augmenting software engineering, freeing employees to tackle higher-value projects.
The company laid off roughly 1,000 staff in February but simultaneously beefed up its AI sales force around products like Agentforce. Meanwhile, Data Cloud and Agentforce annualized recurring revenue has topped $1 billion, up 120% year-over-year, with 4,000 paying customers—evidence that Benioff's internal AI playbook is resonating externally.
Practicing what it preaches gives Salesforce a credibility edge as enterprises hunt proven AI use cases. With peers like ServiceNow (NOW, Financial) reporting dramatic efficiency gains—16× lead-to-sale conversions and 86% task deflection—Salesforce's in-house experience could be a key differentiator in a crowded CRM market.
Despite a tough stock performance, strong AI-driven revenue growth and internal efficiency wins may help Salesforce regain momentum. Investors will be watching upcoming earnings for signs that scale and cost savings translate into renewed top- and bottom-line strength.
