Salesforce's AI Agents Drive $67B in Sales

0:00It's March 24th, I'm Cory with the story, and this is Durham News today, your AI-powered local news. Salesforce started back in 1999, when Mark Benioff and his team launched the first cloud-based customer relationship management system. Before that, companies struggled with scattered data and spreadsheets in separate databases, making it hard to track customers across sales and service teams. Sales force changed all that by centralizing everything in the cloud for a full view of customer interactions. Today, the company employs over 80,000 people across 93 cities worldwide, with a market value of $185 billion. It's a powerhouse in the S&P 500-in-dow Jones, and its stock has delivered nearly 20% average annual returns, invest $1,000 20 years ago, and it would be worth about $20,800 now. 90% of Fortune 500 companies rely on Salesforce to unify sales, marketing, and service data.

1:00Data analysts love it for building complete data sets and predictive models, especially through tools like Tableau, which Salesforce bought for $15.7 billion in August 2019. The big push now is Agent Force, Salesforce's advanced AI agents that go beyond chatbots. Powered by their Atlas engine, these agents handle tasks, like crafting personalized upsell emails, troubleshooting issues, and escalating service, tickets on their own. During Cyberweek 2025, they help drive $67 billion in sales, and boosted orders by 20% for brands like Pandora and Funko. Salesforce also snapped up Slack for $27 billion in December 2020 to power team collaboration alongside its core platform. This mix of AI, data tools, and communication keeps businesses ahead in a fast-changing