Dive Brief:
- Salesforce loaded up on partner incentives to support the Tuesday launch of a platform consolidation that integrates its AppExchange and Slack cloud-based marketplaces with AgentExchange, an agentic AI marketplace rolled out last month. Salesforce purchased Slack for $27.7 billion five years ago.
- “These marketplaces have already created enormous value for our customers and partners, and they've become a trusted way for how companies solve real business problems with pre-built apps, integrations and now agents,” Tyler Carlson, SVP and head of product for AppExchange, said in a Tuesday briefing.
- The marketplace move was backed by a $50 million investment in funding and technical assistance programs that give partners tools and support to build AI agents and bring them to market. The CRM colossus will also furnish a select group of partners, including Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, Slalom and IBM Consulting, with forward-deployed engineering teams to help customers generate clear returns on AI spending.
Dive Insight:
Salesforce is banking on enterprise consumption of cloud-based AI agents to help extract it from a valuation slump as investors sweat the impact of AI coding tools on the software industry. The company is leaning on partners to assist in testing the mettle of agentic automation and prove its value to customers.
Salesforce streamlined its channel program, installing a two-tiered framework based on technical specializations and reducing 170 consulting badges with 28 certifications as it targeted $1 billion in partner-driven revenue.
While the company saw revenue increase 12% year over year, reaching more than $11 billion in the quarter that ended Jan. 31, Salesforce shares have declined precipitously since the start of the year, losing roughly one-third of their value.
Salesforce had agentic AI in its sights last year when it rolled out Agentforce 360, its largest platform revamp in two decades. A marketplace rationalization effort is the next step in expanding its agentic footprint, providing agent builders with material support and customers with a one-stop shop for CRM add-ons.
The revamp is also meant to ease partner sales, with a go-to-market app designed to automate provisioning, simplify billing and provide direct access to private offers.
“With the new AgentExchange, partners get better access to Salesforce’s entire install base and tools that help them build, manage and scale their distribution,” Brian Landsman, CEO of AgentExchange and EVP of global partnerships at Salesforce, said in the marketplace announcement.
