5 Predictions for the Salesforce Ecosystem in 2025 : Tom M
by: Tom M
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### Summary of Predictions for the Salesforce Ecosystem in 2025 As we enter a new year, there's hope for growth in the Salesforce ecosystem after a challenging previous year marked by slow growth and layoffs. Key predictions for 2025 include: 1. **Increased Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)**: Salesforce has a significant cash reserve of around $10 billion, allowing it to pursue strategic acquisitions again. Historically, Salesforce has grown through M&A, and this trend is expected to continue with potential targets that complement its offerings. 2. **Gradual Growth of Agentforce**: Although Agentforce is gaining attention and has secured numerous deals, it won’t immediately replicate past growth figures. Its adoption will require time as it’s a complex product needing full operational deployment by customers to be effective. 3. **Resurgence in Overall Growth**: After a decline in growth to below 10%, Salesforce is poised for recovery. Investment in core technology and the integration of AI are anticipated to contribute to this rebound. 4. **Stabilized Job Market**: The tech job market remains cautious after extensive layoffs in previous years. Recent hiring trends suggest companies prefer a leaner workforce, which may hinder significant job market recovery in 2025. 5. **Revived M&A Activity in the Ecosystem**: With enhanced focus on AI and the Salesforce ecosystem’s growth, there is an expectation for more M&A activities within this sector. Overall, while 2025 may present challenges, the combination of strategic moves and recovery in economic conditions could lead to positive developments for Salesforce. ### Additional Context Salesforce has historically been a leader in cloud computing and customer relationship management (CRM). The company's ability to adapt to changing market dynamics—especially in the wake of economic pressures—will be crucial for its success in 2025 and beyond. ### Hashtags for SEO #Salesforce2025 #MergersAndAcquisitions #Agentforce #SalesforceJobs #TechGrowth #SalesforceEcosystem #CRM #AIInTech #BusinessPredictions #TechMarketTrends
It’s a new year in the Salesforce ecosystem, filled with renewed anticipation and optimism. Whilst many of us traditionally usher in the year on an optimistic note, many may have felt disappointed following last year’s slow growth, layoffs, and generally uncertain future.
However, we hope that this year will be different. Macroeconomic growth is improving, interest rates are down, and Salesforce have a robust plan for the future in Agentforce. So with this in mind, let’s explore a few of my predictions for this year…
1. Salesforce Will Go Big on M&A
Due to Salesforce’s focus on profitability and efficiency, they are sitting on around $10B in cash stockpiles.
Salesforce has grown into the behemoth it is today through M&A. Some of their most successful product lines have come through acquisitions such as MuleSoft, Service Cloud, Tableau, and Marketing Cloud.
Even though their core M&A committee was disbanded in 2023, Salesforce still managed to acquire PredictSpring, TENYX, Own Company, and Zoomin. But with this Cash stockpile, I foresee Salesforce going back to its glory days and going on a shopping spree.
We are just at the beginning of the agentic revolution, and one of the fastest ways to “innovate” is to acquire. Otherwise, Salesforce may look at companies like Own Company, which perfectly complements Salesforce’s existing customer base and can be turbocharged with Salesforce’s army of Account Executives.
2. Agentforce Will Be a Slow Burner
What Salesforce has done over the past few months with Agentforce is nothing short of remarkable. Marc Benioff’s legendary vision, leadership, and marketing prowess are back for the world to see.
But let’s not kid ourselves; Agentforce isn’t a silver bullet that is going to bring back the 25% growth of the good old days, or the crazy job market in 2022 – at least not straight away.
Brand-new, implementation-heavy products like Agentforce aren’t likely to match the rapid adoption that ChatGPT enjoyed in November 2023. Although Salesforce secured over 1,000 deals by mid-December, Agentforce is usage-based, customers must have it fully operational to realize its value. Unless it’s been pre-paid, Salesforce can’t bill until that happens.
However, Agentforce is already bringing significant attention to Salesforce. Their marketing strategy to give away free AI certifications and premium training is bringing the conversation back to Salesforce. Marc Benioff has also been on a podcast spree (including ours!) to talk about the agentic future he sees.
Salesforce was one of the first movers when it came to its agent strategy, and I believe 2025 will lay the groundwork for the years ahead.
3. Salesforce Growth Will Increase on All Fronts
The past couple of years have been tough for Salesforce. Growth has declined from a consistent 25% over the past 24-odd years, to just under 10% over the past few quarters. Generally, most agree that this kind of growth is still impressive for a company of Salesforce’s size, but I doubt Marc Benioff is satisfied.
All of Salesforce’s products have been affected but this stunted growth; Sales, Service, Slack, Tableau, and more. MuleSoft even saw their quarterly growth go from 26% to 1% over the course of seven quarters.
All of Salesforce’s products are relevant and have been mostly affected by the macroeconomic environment rather than a loss of relevancy or market share to competitors.
This is why I predict that Salesforce will see a resurgence in growth across the board. Companies will go back to investing in their core tech, and whilst AI will no doubt play a core role throughout 2025, so will the fundamental products that most companies still require.
4. The Job Market Will Remain Steady
Most jobs in the technology sector over the past couple of years have been at risk. No matter your niche or specialization, companies have been struggling, which has resulted in nearly 500,000 layoffs over the past two years.
This has resulted in “The Great Salesforce Job Market Reset”, as covered by my colleague Sasha last month.
Whilst many will hope that 2025 will bring the glory days back to the technology world, I doubt it will happen. It was only two years ago that companies started laying off huge chunks of their workforce, citing that they “hired too many people” during the pandemic. I doubt the pain of this has worn off, and I doubt they will be making the same mistake twice.
In addition, companies have gotten used to operating in a leaner fashion. All the huge technology giants that laid off thousands of their employees are still growing, and are now more profitable than ever (Salesforce being a case in point).
Artificial intelligence, agents, and offshoring may also affect the Salesforce job market’s ability to see meaningful growth again.
5. Salesforce Ecosystem M&A Activity
Salesforce has always been one of the most exciting technology ecosystems, leaving companies scrambling to get a piece of the mothership’s growth. This has resulted in hundreds of M&A deals within the Salesforce ecosystem, with Salesforce, Private Equity firms, GSIs, and ISVs all buying up.
The market has been fairly subdued over the past couple of years as companies focused on weathering the economic storm. But with the renewed focus on AI, agents, and hopefully more growth, I predict we will see a lot more M&A activity in the Salesforce ecosystem.
As we analyzed in our M&A trends post, the market goes through various cycles. With Salesforce, we went through one cycle of a few years with huge mergers and acquisitions such as Apttus/Conga, Certinia, and Bluewolf, among others.
With interest rates lowering, growth on the horizon, and more attention shining on the Salesforce ecosystem, this could be another bumper year.
Final Thoughts
2025 promises to be an eventful year for Salesforce. It will be interesting how Agentforce performs in the long run, and if we will see Salesforce complete another billion-dollar acquisition like we saw in 2024.
What are your 2025 Salesforce predictions? Make sure to leave them in the comments below.
The post 5 Predictions for the Salesforce Ecosystem in 2025 appeared first on Salesforce Ben.
January 03, 2025 at 07:52PM
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