A report from an American bank finds that Agentforce has not yet broken through with companies, a sentiment that is also prevalent among investors.
How is Agentforce doing? Salesforce announced it nearly two years ago as ‘the AI agent platform’, aiming to be at the center of companies’ AI transformation: an ambition in which Salesforce is far from alone. Agentforce was supposed to usher in a new AI era, but two years later, it has yet to convince the masses.
That is the conclusion of the American investment bank KeyBanc Capital Markets after a survey of CIOs, viewed by The Register. CIOs surveyed in the study were reportedly not very positive about Salesforce’s agent platform and would even prefer to scale back further investments in Agentforce rather than expand them.
Messy data
The survey points to two reasons why Agentforce might not be delivering on its promises. The first reason is that company data is too ‘messy’ to make an impact. The idea behind Agentforce is that it is deeply embedded in companies’ CRM environments to make decisions based on real customer data. The fact that AI can only work if it receives good data is no less true for Agentforce.
This cause does not lie primarily with Salesforce, although CIOs are reportedly not entirely convinced of the Agentforce product either. According to the study, it takes too long for companies to ‘convert Agentforce proof-of-concepts into potential deals’. The bank alludes to ‘aggressive price increases’ that Salesforce reportedly wants to implement, but which companies are ‘unwilling to pay to their CRM provider’.
Investors are doubting
In investment circles, doubts about Agentforce and its adoption and profitability have existed for some time. Since the start of 2026, Salesforce’s share price has fallen by more than thirty percent. Salesforce is part of a broader stock market trend where SaaS companies are struggling. Whether recent layoffs at Salesforce are related to this remains unclear.
In a response to the study, Salesforce shows no sign of doubt. It states that Agentforce is ‘the fastest-growing product ever’. New agents and version numbers are rolled out constantly, and new customers are signing up enthusiastically. According to Salesforce’s figures, Agentforce reportedly has more than 25,000 business customers.