As we head into the latter stages of 2025, and with Salesforce’s latest earnings call right around the corner, both Marc Benioff as the figurehead and Salesforce as a defining SaaS company are going to be considering their options. Which path do you take at the crossroad? When you’re at the top, where do you go?
Salesforce has been at the top of the SaaS food chain for a long time. But where they sit in the world of AI is a different discussion. Both Salesforce’s survival and prosperity now hinge on proving its artificial strategy outpaces disruption – not just quarterly earnings – but AI revenue remains below 10% of sales. So what gives?
The Hype vs. Reality Discussion
Talk of whether Salesforce’s AI solutions have escaped their hype cycle is constant – I covered this very topic two months ago. As any new technology matures, it is natural for critics, enthusiasts, and analysts alike to observe its growth journey, and it can be easy to forget just how much Salesforce has evolved in just a year.
Experiences with Agentforce have ranged widely, with some users eagerly sharing successfully deployed agents, while others have complained of inaccuracies/hallucinations, confusion around building, and more.
From a business perspective, although Agentforce had a perhaps naturally rocky start, it helped Salesforce achieve over $100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR) since its launch last year, with 4,000+ deals and 8,000+ transactions.
To say that Agentforce is still at the hype stage would be inaccurate at this point, as the tool is beginning to deliver real-world value. However, when positioned against its competitors in the wider market and the reality of Salesforce’s future, whether the bets are just too high is suddenly forced into the spotlight.
The Reality: Just 8,000 Paid Deals
Whatever your opinions are on Agentforce, the numbers are clear: Salesforce has only completed 8,000 Agentforce deals so far, despite the fact that CFOs feel largely positive about AI investment.
Additionally, out of the 8,000 deals, just over half of these were paid – indicating a near 50/50 split between paid and unpaid/given out deals. Plus, Salesforce’s claimed $900M in Data Cloud and AI annual recurring revenue for the year represents less than 3% of the company’s total reported revenue.
Couple this with the fact that investors are still uncertain about Agentforce living up to its marketing or not, and it’s clear that both Agentforce and Salesforce still need to prove that the tool is as necessary as it is efficient.
What Do Strong AI Numbers Look Like?
Agentforce – and largely AI agents – are not entirely mature tools. Agentforce has had just a year to fledge so far, so it is natural for numbers to still sit on the lower side.
Analysts estimate that AI services within Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing arm generated revenue of $11.5 billion for the last fiscal year, but this makes up only around 4% of the company’s total annual sales. It is also estimated that ServiceNow’s AI ventures make up 2-3% of the company’s total revenue.
On the other hand, for AI giant Nvidia, AI GPUs account for nearly 88% of its revenue, but AI ventures are the core focus of the company.
This is not to say that Salesforce’s AI revenue members are below or above average – in fact, they are relatively in line with their competitors. However, investors will still be looking for that connection between a viable SaaS solution in 2025 and a suite of AI tools and functionality that will generate ROI without cutting too much of businesses from underneath them.
What to Look Out For in Salesforce’s Earnings
Salesforce’s Q2 FY26 earnings call is scheduled to take place at 2:00PM PT on Wednesday, September 3, and investors anticipate that the CRM giant will report upwards of $10B in revenue.
For many, the focus will and should be on the latest developments in Salesforce’s AI ventures, including updated Agentforce deal numbers and investment figures for Data Cloud. Investors will be looking for signs that indicate AI-driven revenue is on the rise, and how soon the single-digit sales percentage is likely to move to double digits.
Don’t Forget Data Cloud
As Salesforce Ben journalist Henry Martin covered in his recent article, a keen focus should also be placed on Data Cloud’s performance.
Data Cloud plays a pivotal role in the functioning of Agentforce, and the amount of data funneling through the cloud will be a strong indicator of how healthy Salesforce’s offerings are.
In Salesforce’s first 2025 fiscal quarter, Data Cloud’s ARR came in at an impressive 120% YoY, surpassing 22T records – the essential framework is in place to deliver Salesforce’s Agentforce goals, but will both customers and analysts see the need for it?
Final Thoughts
It’s no secret that Salesforce have marketed Agentforce rather vigorously – it has transformed the company’s vision and messaging, contended strongly in the wildly competitive AI market, and has adapted time and time again.
However, now is the time to solidify the product as not only a shiny promise, but a tool that companies need to navigate a tech space that is rapidly advancing with artificial intelligence.
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