One common concern that I hear is that Salesforce Flow isn’t worth learning about in the new AI era that we’re well and truly stepping into, and I want to explain why I don’t think this is valid.
Salesforce Flow is here to stay. Let’s dive in and talk about why learning about Salesforce Flow – and how best to work with it – is still imperative for Salesforce professionals in the AI era.
Goodbye Flow, Hello Agentforce?
When it comes to this idea that Flow is going away, there is one culprit that is more responsible for this than any other: Agentforce. If you’ve been anywhere near Salesforce in the last year, it has been impossible to ignore the wave that Agentforce has created. Even in-person events are being renamed (Salesforce World Tour became Agentforce World Tour, for example).
Given that Agents are being sold as the next-gen AI that not only generates information but can also take action on your data, it’s no wonder that so many people think we’re going to see a world where Flow is fully replaced by AI.
While it does make sense that Agents will take over some of the work we do, which can be seen as ‘automating complex business processes’, the problem with this way of thinking is that it shows a lack of understanding of just how Agents take action for our businesses. If you’ve read my previous article, then you would know that Agentforce is empowered by Flows, not in spite of them.
Agents take action using Flows that we’ve created and given them access to. It’s not as simple as giving them free rein over your business data, giving them a few lines of instruction, and hoping they do what you’re expecting. Salesforce has put guardrails in place and given us the ability to provide solid, structured commands to these Agents by empowering them with specific sets of information and a concise ability to act through Flows and Apex as Agent Actions.
So by this logic, it doesn’t make sense at all that Agents are replacing Flows – it’s like saying that a car is replacing tyres. A car needs tyres to operate, as Agents need Flows to take action on your business data. It remains of utmost importance that every Salesforce professional has a solid understanding of the domain of Salesforce Flow.
Flow is Still Being Upgraded
It’s clear to me that Flow isn’t just being maintained (i.e, supported by Salesforce), but continually upgraded. As of writing this, we’ve just gained access to Winter ‘26 Preview Orgs and can see a flurry of new features specifically for Salesforce Flow. We’ve discussed above that Salesforce Flow is one of the ways that you can empower your Agents to take action on your data, but given that there are many other options available (Apex is a key one), is Flow always going to have a spot in the race?
The brutal, short, and misleading answer is no. Flow will not always be around with its hat in the ring, but this is the nature of automation tools. There is always something bigger and better around the corner that will take the place of what exists today.
A more accurate answer to this question is a bit longer: I would argue that the writing was on the wall for tools like Workflow Rules, Process Builder, and Approval Processes for a long time before Flow swooped in to take their place, and Salesforce Flow shows no signs of stopping, or even slowing down.
Flow is a Tool for Humans and Agents Alike
When we think about Flow automating complex business processes, we often think about the behind-the-scenes actions it takes to achieve this. One thing that no agent can ever replace is the ability to create beautiful experiences for your users to interact with using Screen Flow. Sure, your customers can talk to an Agent and have actions and tasks performed for them on their behalf, which is incredible for quicker interactions – but for longer interactions, you can imagine it would get cumbersome quite quickly.
This is where a Screen Flow would be a much better solution than an Agent conversation, for example. If you’re trying to perform KYC (Know Your Customer) on a customer and need to capture copious amounts of information about them, a conversation isn’t the most effective medium to capture this data. A series of screens that can dynamically show or hide information based on relevancy would be much more worthwhile.
When we think about Flow Approvals, this would also be handled better by a Flow than in a conversation with an Agent. Complex, multi-step processes that require actions from different people and teams should definitely happen behind the scenes rather than being directed by an Agent (at least at this stage).
Finally, when we think about the kind of actions that an Agent will take, we need to consider how it is given the ability to take those actions. I previously wrote a detailed article about how Agentforce can be enabled with Flows. In summary, Flows are one of the ways that we empower Agents to take action on our business data, and if we took Flow entirely out of the equation, we would be crippling its ability to perform on our behalf. AI Agents won’t make tools like Flow redundant – they will use these tools on our behalf to give us back time for more complex tasks.
What I’m trying to say is that Flow is a tool, like any other tool that we have inside of Salesforce. AI is different in that it leverages our data and tools to assist us with our daily tasks. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the tools we use today are to be done away with, but rather it means that we humans and AI Agents will share some of the tools that currently make our lives just that little bit easier.
Flow is Here to Stay
AI is evolving rapidly (Forbes has written that AI is the fastest growing technology in its history), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will rip everything that existed before it out and replace it (including us feeble humans!). AI will certainly mean a change to what we do today, how we do it, and the tools we use – but in some circumstances, it may also leverage the tools that we are familiar with today. Salesforce Flow is one of these tools that AI is utilizing, not replacing.
One of the biggest AI advancements in recent times is the Agentic AI movement, with Agentforce being a key player in the Salesforce ecosystem. Agentforce is not designed to replace Flow, but instead, it will use it to take action on business data.
This is why I believe it is still as important as ever to not just learn Flow, but master it. Your business may be looking to take advantage of some of the recent AI evolution, but that doesn’t mean your Flow-building days are over! You’re buying a power drill, but now you need to give it a battery and some drill bits.
You’re buying AI, but now you need to empower it with actions using Salesforce Flow.
Final Thoughts
I hope that tidies things up a bit better. The confusion around AI replacing Salesforce Flow – rather than augmenting it – is one I hear quite a bit, given my enthusiasm for Flow in an ever-advancing AI world. I’m sure you’ll realise now that Flow is a tool that is here to stay; to be used by humans and AI alike to streamline our business processes.
What are your thoughts on Salesforce Flow in the era of AI? What kind of Flows will you be building more of in this stage of history, and what will you be building less of? Let us know in the comments below!
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