Salesforce kicked off its annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco with a message for businesses of every size: AI isn’t coming, it’s already here, and it’s time to get on board.

CEO Marc Benioff took to the stage to unveil Agentforce 360, calling it the start of a new era he’s dubbed “the agentic enterprise”, where humans and AI ‘agents’ work side-by-side to run sales, marketing, and customer service more efficiently than ever.

“We’ve gone faster with Agentforce than with any other technology we’ve created,” Benioff told the crowd of 50,000. “This connects humans, agents and data on one trusted platform, helping every employee and every company achieve more than they ever thought possible.”

From cloud to agentic

According to Benioff, this moment in tech is as big as the move to the cloud 20 years ago. “We’ve gone through cloud, mobile and social. Now we’re entering the agentic AI revolution,” he said.

So what’s an ‘agentic enterprise’ when it’s at home? Think of it like having a team of smart AI helpers embedded across your business. They can answer customer questions, automate routine admin, draft personalised emails, and even suggest ways to improve processes; all using your company’s data and rules.

For small business owners, that means AI that’s useful and safe, not some wild chatbot guessing at answers. Salesforce’s new tech aims to give even the smallest business the same level of productivity boost that big corporates are seeing.

Customers lead the way

The keynote was packed with demos from household names showing how agentic AI is already transforming the way they work.

At Williams Sonoma, the US homewares retailer, an AI sous-chef named Olive helps customers plan dinner parties online, recommending recipes and products based on what they’ve recently bought. CEO Laura Alber said the AI was built “in just 30 days” using Agentforce 360 and has already changed how customers shop.

“My gift to you is the gift of time,” Alber told the audience. “Because we’re going to answer your questions faster, and you’ll get to go back and enjoy the holidays with your family and friends.”

Meanwhile, jewellery brand Pandora has rolled out its own AI personal shopper, Gemma, to bring the same magic of its in-store experience to its website. Chief digital officer David Walmsley said this was “not a new project — it’s the future.”

“This is the internet again. This is electricity. It’s that important to us. But change has to start at the top,” he said

PepsiCo’s transformation boss Athina Kanioura revealed the company’s goal to be “agentic AI-first” by 2026, with AI connecting everything from strategy to operations. “We are all about profitable growth,” she said.

Even Dell is using Agentforce to automate its massive supply chain, cutting its supplier onboarding time from 60 days to just 20. CEO Michael Dell warned other businesses not to wait around: “If we don’t really get on this, a new company is going to come along and put us out of business.”

Lessons for your business

While the keynote was full of Fortune 500 names, the lessons apply just as much to small businesses.

The main takeaway? AI isn’t about replacing people, it’s about elevating them.

“AI isn’t here to replace people. It’s here to make every employee a multiplier,” confirmed Benioff.

For small business owners juggling marketing, customer service and admin, this kind of AI could mean huge time savings. Imagine a digital assistant that writes your customer follow-up emails, helps quote jobs faster or gives you insights into where your best leads are coming from.

Agentforce 360 also puts a big focus on data and trust, an area many small businesses struggle with. Salesforce says its platform keeps all your customer and business data connected in one place, which means the AI can give better, more accurate answers without risking privacy or compliance headaches.

Warning: Don’t get left behind

Benioff’s message contained a clear warning: the AI race is already on, and businesses that drag their feet risk missing out.

“This is the moment where technology innovation is outstripping customer adoption. Our job is to get those customers into adoption mode,” he said.

For small businesses, that means it’s time to start experimenting, whether that’s testing out AI tools for customer service, automating invoicing, or using chat assistants to handle basic admin.

The point is to give your team more time to do the stuff humans are great at: connecting with customers, building relationships and coming up with big ideas.

Summing up the theme of Dreamforce 2025, Benioff concluded:

“We’re in a moment in AI where we can’t believe the rate of change and innovation. But the answers remain with the customers, and that’s who’s guiding us.”

The author was a guest of Salesforce at Dreamforce 2025

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