Customer Zero to Global Impact: Salesforce’s Playbook for Intelligent Enterprise Transformation

At Dreamforce 2025, Salesforce redefined the next phase of enterprise transformation — one powered by intelligent, context-aware AI agents designed to drive measurable business value. Srini Tallapragada, President and Chief Engineering Officer, Salesforce, and Arundhati Bhattacharya, President & CEO, Salesforce South Asia, shared their perspectives on how AI and contextual intelligence are reshaping the enterprise landscape, particularly across India and ASEAN. 

From Demos to Business Value

“Dreamforce is not just about showcasing technology,” said Srini. “It’s about articulating our vision for the industry and helping companies truly become agentic enterprises.”

Reflecting on his experience of working with thousands of customers over the past year, Srini emphasised that businesses are moving beyond pilot fatigue. “Every CEO I meet says the same thing — there are too many demos, too many pilots, but not enough business value. The question today is: how does this technology help my top line and bottom line?”

That shift in mindset, he explained, is driving Salesforce’s push toward Agentforce 360, a platform built around the principle of context engineering. “Large language models alone are not enough. Agents need context — data access across the enterprise, memory, and reinforcement loops. That’s what Agentforce 360 provides,” he said. “It moves us from prompt engineering to context engineering.”

Customer Zero: Proving AI Value from Within

To demonstrate tangible value, Salesforce adopted a Customer Zero approach — implementing Agentforce internally before taking it to market. “When we started, agents were solving zero cases. Humans handled three million. Today, agents solve 1.8 million,” Srini revealed. “That’s not just efficiency; it’s transformation. We’ve been able to redeploy teams into higher-value roles and expand multilingual support, adding seven languages and soon another 13 to 15.”

He added that AI-driven agents are now managing more than 50,000 leads autonomously, qualifying and curating potential opportunities that previously went unattended. “It’s about using AI to amplify human productivity and reach,” Srini said.

Across industries and regions, Salesforce is seeing growing adoption. “Some of the most forward-thinking customers are in ASEAN and India — major financial institutions, large retailers, and banks in the Philippines. They’re pushing us to innovate faster, not just for cost efficiency, but for growth,” he noted.

AI as an Economic and Social Multiplier

Arundhati Bhattacharya placed Salesforce’s vision in a broader economic context. “When you look at India and the ASEAN countries together, this region represents 25% of the world’s GDP and 26% of its population,” she said. “By 2030, India is expected to be the third-largest economy, and ASEAN collectively the fourth. We must prepare for that scale—and technology will be the foundation.”

She pointed out that while AI adoption in developed economies often addresses labour shortages, in regions like South Asia, it’s about expanding access and improving service quality. “In our part of the world, technology isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about empowerment,” she said.

Citing India’s financial inclusion journey, she drew parallels with the transformative potential of AI. “It took 14 years to achieve mass financial inclusion, but we succeeded only when technology came into play — through Aadhaar, digital KYC, and QR-based payments. AI is the next such enabler — whether in education, healthcare, or financial services — helping us deliver what citizens truly deserve.”

Empowering Organizations to Realize AI Value

Arundhati also emphasised that while individuals in the region are quick to adopt and understand emerging technologies, organisations often lag. “Many are still in the pilot stage. We tell them — list your pain points, and let us co-create use cases that deliver value.' Start small, but build continuously,” she advised.

Highlighting the pace of innovation in SaaS, she added, “Our software is upgraded every four months. If organisations can leverage that cadence, they’ll stay at the market — not behind it. Remaining current is critical now, given the speed of change.”

The Road Ahead

For Salesforce, the journey toward an agentic enterprise — where intelligent agents augment human potential — is not theoretical; it’s operational and measurable. “The goal”, Srini concluded, “is to translate AI’s promise into business value — enabling better service, smarter marketing, and stronger growth for our customers.”

As the region’s economies accelerate toward digital maturity, both leaders agree: AI, when built with context and deployed responsibly, will be the defining force driving inclusive growth and enterprise transformation in the decade ahead.

By Shipra Sinha, Lead Analyst, CyberMedia Research (CMR)