Salesforce's Agentforce hits adoption wall; only 34% of customers on board

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff entered 2024 asserting the company was "all in on Agentforce," but the autonomous AI agent platform has underperformed expectations in its first year. Agentforce, introduced as a way for businesses to build and deploy autonomous AI agents to handle customer service, sales, and marketing tasks, was pitched by Benioff as the next major evolution of enterprise software that would transform how companies interact with customers and automate routine work. Initial customer response, however, was notably muted. Only 34% of customers have adopted the platform, and according to KeyBanc Capital Markets research shared this month, approximately 23,000 of Salesforce's 150,000 customers are actively using it.

Many early adopters reported spending as much time preparing and organizing data as actually using the AI—a critical signal that the product had arrived before customers' infrastructure was ready. The adoption gap triggered a swift reassessment by Wall Street. KeyBanc downgraded Salesforce, citing slow Agentforce adoption and warning that deployments remain largely in proof-of-concept stages rather than enterprise-wide rollouts. The same day, Bernstein issued its own downgrade, an unusual convergence for a company of Salesforce's size. KeyBanc's analysis identified two root causes: data readiness (many enterprises still struggle with fragmented CRM records, disconnected systems, and inconsistent customer information) and product maturity (most implementations have not yet moved beyond pilot projects). A CIO survey conducted by KeyBanc also found that more organizations expect to reduce Salesforce spending over the coming 12 months than increase it, suggesting a broader deprioritization of the platform within IT budgets.

The financial toll has been substantial. Salesforce shares have fallen more than 50% from their December 2024 peak, erasing more than $200 billion（約32兆円） in market value as investors questioned whether Agentforce can become the company's next major growth engine. KeyBanc summarized its concerns bluntly: "Customers' data is not in order to do meaningful AI work" and "Agentforce, as a product, just isn't there." Salesforce has pushed back forcefully. Benioff publicly dismissed the KeyBanc report as a "bad call" and told The Wall Street Journal that "people think we have our back against the wall when, in fact, the opportunity has never been greater." He also pointed to internal metrics showing Agentforce is the fastest-growing product in the company's history.

Not every analyst has sided with the bears. Andreessen Horowitz recently reported that companies investing heavily in AI increased their median Salesforce spending by 3% over the previous three months. Guggenheim upgraded the stock to Buy, and Monness, Crespi, Hardt also raised its rating, arguing Salesforce shares have meaningful upside despite current concerns. In parallel, Salesforce has moved to address the barriers slowing adoption by investing in data infrastructure. The company has added technology that automatically pulls customer data from external sources and expanded its data-management capabilities through acquisitions, including Informatica, to improve data integration and governance. The article concludes that for marketers and enterprises broadly, success with agentic AI will depend less on buying the newest AI software and more on whether organizations have already built the data foundation those systems need to deliver meaningful results.

Salesforce's Agentforce adoption struggles reveal a disconnect between enterprise AI ambitions and operational reality. When Benioff introduced the platform in 2024, he positioned autonomous agents as a major evolution in enterprise software that would transform how companies interact with customers and automate routine work. Yet the company quickly discovered that early customers spent as much time preparing and organizing data as actually using the AI—a sign that the promise of autonomous agents outpaced the foundation needed to support them.

The convergence of downgrade reports from KeyBanc and Bernstein this month amplified investor concern, particularly because both firms cited the same core problem: only about 23,000 of Salesforce's 150,000 customers are actively using Agentforce, and many are still in proof-of-concept mode. Critically, KeyBanc's CIO survey found that more organizations expect to reduce Salesforce spending over the coming 12 months than increase it—a signal of deprioritization rather than enthusiasm. The body's analysis suggests the issue is not skepticism about agentic AI itself, but rather that fragmented data, disconnected systems, and inconsistent customer records make it nearly impossible for agents to make reliable decisions at scale.

Salesforce has not conceded the point. Benioff dismissed KeyBanc's assessment as a "bad call" and cited internal metrics showing Agentforce is the fastest-growing product in company history. Notably, other analysts—including Andreessen Horowitz, Guggenheim, and Monness, Crespi, Hardt—have maintained or upgraded their views, with Andreessen Horowitz reporting that companies investing heavily in AI increased their median Salesforce spending by 3% over three months. The company is also doubling down on data infrastructure, investing in acquisitions like Informatica to improve integration and governance. For marketers and enterprises more broadly, the lesson appears to be that success with agentic AI hinges not on buying the newest software but on building the data foundation those systems require first.

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