Salesforce's Core Business Is 'Suffering' Due to Premature AI Push

In a recent CNBC appearance, analyst Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson stated that Salesforce’s core business has “suffered” because the company moved too quickly to launch its AI offerings.

Luria explained that while companies like ServiceNow continue to grow their core businesses, Salesforce “bet the farm on Agentforce before it was ready and neglected the core business,” leading to recent underperformance.

Luria further addressed customer readiness: “Companies aren’t ready because it’s really complicated to change your business software... there’s no tolerance for the numbers being wrong. … Salesforce bet on it before it was even nearly ready, which is why the core business suffered.”

The remarks highlight how Salesforce’s ambitious rollout of its Agentforce AI platform may have come at the expense of its established revenue engine.

Nonetheless, at Dreamforce 2025, Salesforce said its projected annual revenue would exceed $60 billion by 2030, surpassing Wall Street expectations, as it accelerates the rollout of AI-driven features across its cloud services.

Mixed Reactions From Customers

Salesforce customers The Left Shift has spoken to have shared mixed responses. While several large enterprises were optimistic and eager to explore Salesforce’s AI offerings, a number of large, mid-sized and smaller customers raised concerns about the high pricing, complex implementation requirements, and the additional costs tied to Data Cloud and integration services.

At the recent launch of ‘Agentforce for Public Sector’ in India, Salesforce India CEO Arundhati Bhattacharya told The Left Shift that while some customers have successfully scaled their GenAI initiatives, many are still in the experimentation phase.

Responding to a question about the MIT report claiming that 95% of GenAI projects fail to take off, she said that adoption varies widely — with a few organizations already realising tangible outcomes, while others continue to explore how best to integrate the technology into their operations.

Only 33% of Salesforce Projects Deliver ROI

Now, a new report by the IBM Institute for Business Value reveals that most Salesforce customers are struggling to turn that AI hype into results. The report states only 33% of AI initiatives among 1,200 Salesforce customers meet ROI goals, while a staggering 72% fail to scale.

The study highlights a widening gap between ambition and execution. While Salesforce’s new Agentforce platform and the rise of “agentic AI” offer optimism, the report notes that fragmented tech stacks, weak data foundations, and lack of governance continue to drag performance.

AI adoption costs extend well beyond software licenses — with implementation, retraining, and upskilling adding unpredictability. Moreover, governance is emerging as the next big differentiator. While 74% of Salesforce users believe AI heightens risk, only 21% have robust governance systems, and just 9% actively factor in risk when adopting AI.

The report also underscores the critical role of data integration, identifying poor data quality as the biggest roadblock to scaling AI. A Salesforce spokesperson previously told The Left Shift that to fully leverage Agentforce, customers need to be Data Cloud users — a requirement that adds significant cost to the overall AI investment.

Companies that connect Salesforce with platforms like Adobe or SAP have reported gains of up to $140 million, underscoring that in the AI era, data — not agents — drives real transformation.