Stop chasing AI features in Salesforce. Fix the data plumbing first.

Most teams are piloting agents and gen‑AI, few are scaling value. Here’s the reality check (and a simple plan to win).

The numbers that matter

88% of companies now use AI somewhere, but only ~1/3 have begun to scale it across the enterprise. Translation: lots of pilots, limited impact.

Integration is the choke point: the average enterprise runs 897 apps, yet only 29% are integrated; just 2% have more than half of apps connected. 90% say silos are hurting the business, and 95% struggle to integrate AI with existing processes.

Salesforce’s bet is clear: Data Cloud hit $1B ARR in Q1 FY26 (+120% YoY). The market is paying for unified, trusted data.

CFO reality: Salesforce raised core cloud prices ~6% and is bundling Agentforce (roughly $125–$550 per user/month). If you can’t show ROI, budgets will balk. This is why we built ConvoPro.

A 30–60–90 day playbook to show ROI

1. Pick one outcome, not a feature.
   Examples: “Cut email‑ticket deflection costs by 15%,” “Lift renewal conversion by 5% with next‑best‑action.” Tie it to a P&L line.

2. Make the data ‘agent‑ready’.

   • Connect the 5–10 systems that actually power the use case (start with CRM, service desk, knowledge base, telemetry).

   • Establish a customer ID and governance (who owns fields, freshness, access).

   • Aim to move your integration coverage for this workflow from the ~29% average toward >50% in 60 days.

3. Pilot where payback is fastest (usually Service).

   • Start with 2–3 skills (triage, knowledge lookup, reply drafting).

   • Track: AI resolution rate, time‑to‑first‑response, $/case vs. baseline, CSAT.

   • Use guardrails + grounding to your approved data (Data Cloud / Data 360) to maintain accuracy and trust.

Why this works
The orgs that scale AI don’t just add models, they rewire workflows on top of clean, connected data. That’s the difference between a cool demo and durable EBIT impact.

If you’re on Salesforce:
Start with one service flow, wire the data, pilot an agent, publish the KPI delta then scale. Fancy features can wait; value can’t.