Dreamforce 25 - a ‘glass half empty’ reality check for Salesforce’s agentic ambitions, but customers are ready to top it up over time

At the start of a Dreamforce that will be resolutely ‘glass half full’ when it comes to tales of agentic prowess, IBM has issued its annual State of Salesforce study which surveys the real world lie of the land across the Salesforce ecosystem. And this year’s study, it has to be said, leans rather more towards a ‘glass half empty’ interpretation of the status quo - or perhaps more fairly, a ‘glass in need of topping up’?

For context, the State of Salesforce 2025 - 2026 from the IBM Institute for Business Value is a global survey of 1,222 Salesforce customers across 22 industries - 51% B2B, 49% B2C - and 23 geographies. With Salesforce pivoted around agentic AI since last year’s Dreamforce, this year’s study inevitably has a strong AI bent - and it’s conclusions aren’t necessarily as sunny as spin might suggests.

For example, according to respondents ...