With Salesforce Connections\u00a0kicking off later today,\u00a0many customers are looking ahead to\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0next for the CRM giant, and how the marketing and CX landscape may evolve over the next 12 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to one Salesforce partner,\u00a0this\u00a0year\u2019s event is expected to mark a shift from AI ambition to real-world execution, with a strong focus on agentic marketing operations, composable architectures, and practical use cases that reduce day-to-day complexity for marketers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For marketers, Connections 2026 may signal the beginning of a more operational, less theoretical AI era.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking with CX Today,\u00a0Lauren Noonan, VP of Growth & Alliances, at\u00a0Sercante\u00a0|\u00a0Trilliad, a Salesforce Partner,\u00a0encapsulates the expected theme from Salesforce Connections, transitioning from AI hype to execution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not actually building proofs of concept or testing AI in the\u00a0day\u2011to\u2011day\u00a0now, you are unfortunately behind,\u201d she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the year where marketers move from talking about AI to actually shipping with it, and that\u2019s a very different conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agentic Marketing Operations Moves from Concept to Reality\u00a0<\/p>\n
At Salesforce Connections 2026, agentic marketing operations are expected to move from an emerging concept to a defining pillar of Salesforce\u2019s marketing vision.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rather than positioning AI as a collection of isolated features,\u00a0Salesforce\u00a0is expected to\u00a0showcase\u00a0how agentic AI can fundamentally reshape the way marketing teams\u00a0operate\u00a0day to day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why Marketing Ops Is Ripe for Agentic AI\u00a0<\/p>\n
Noonan predicts that one of the dominating themes at Salesforce Connections 2026 will be\u00a0agentic marketing operations, where AI agents take a far more active role in managing campaign execution from end to end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In fact, \u201cthere\u2019s likely going to be a lot of announcements about a new agentic console that marketers can use to support them across the campaign build lifecycle,\u201d Noonan argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The opportunity here is to automate the operational work that sits between strategy and launch,\u00a0where\u00a0agentic tools could orchestrate many of these tasks automatically,\u00a0enabling\u00a0teams to focus more on planning, creativity, and customer engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnywhere from two to six weeks is the average time I hear from the moment a campaign brief is written to when it\u2019s deployed,\u201d\u00a0Noonan continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just insane when you break down how manual every step still is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite advances in marketing technology, many organizations continue to rely on\u00a0manual-intensive workflows that slow execution and limit agility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fixing the Usability Gap in Marketing Cloud\u00a0<\/p>\n
Salesforce\u2019s growing emphasis on agentic workflows could also help address the\u00a0ease of use\u00a0challenge for marketers, with many finding it difficult to navigate and manage the\u00a0platform\u00a0efficiently as campaign execution processes become\u00a0more\u00a0complex.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest gaps Marketing Cloud has had over the last two years has been ease of use, so\u00a0innovating through the lens of the marketer is going to win over some hearts and minds,\u201d explained\u00a0Noonan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a result, agentic functionality could simplify complex workflows, reduce\u00a0manual work to\u00a0execute campaigns, and make\u00a0complex\u00a0capabilities more accessible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Furthermore,\u00a0teams\u00a0will often\u00a0spend\u00a0extra time\u00a0managing campaign production and deployment, leaving\u00a0little time\u00a0to\u00a0analyze\u00a0results and refine\u00a0next steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore a campaign even launches, marketers are already onto the next brief,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0argues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no time left to analyze what worked, what didn\u2019t, and how to optimize. We have to break that cycle to unlock the next era of value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Automating administrative and operational tasks\u00a0could therefore\u00a0free marketers to focus on performance improvement,\u00a0helping\u00a0organizations\u00a0gain greater\u00a0value from\u00a0marketing investments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From AI Hype to Proof-of-Concept Execution\u00a0<\/p>\n
Noonan also expects Salesforce Connections 2026 to highlight a broader shift in how\u00a0organizations\u00a0are approaching artificial intelligence, seeing the conversation move from questioning\u00a0its\u00a0importance\u00a0to\u00a0demonstrating\u00a0tangible progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even today, many\u00a0organizations\u00a0are continuing to\u00a0explore\u00a0AI\u2019s potential\u00a0by\u00a0developing strategies and discussing future\u00a0applications, but\u00a0not moving toward implementation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a result,\u00a0customers are increasingly being judged by their ability to translate those\u00a0AI\u00a0ambitions into practical use cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How the Customer Conversation Has Changed\u00a0<\/p>\n
Customer attitudes toward AI have evolved\u00a0over the past three years, from where many\u00a0organizations\u00a0were concerned about whether they were falling behind competitors to customers now shifting their attention toward developing formal AI strategies and roadmaps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2024, customers were asking, \u2018If I\u2019m not doing something with AI, am I behind?\u2019 In 2025 it became, \u2018If I don\u2019t have a plan, am I behind?\u2019,\u201d said Noonan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow the reality is, if you\u2019re not testing or building proofs of concept, you are behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, customers are looking to leadership teams and stakeholders\u00a0to move\u00a0AI initiatives\u00a0beyond strategic planning and\u00a0toward\u00a0delivering measurable outcomes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Urgency Without Panic\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, many businesses still have a meaningful window of opportunity to\u00a0establish\u00a0their AI capabilities, provided they begin\u00a0taking action\u00a0now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf teams start putting plans in place now and are testing by the end of 2026, they\u2019ll still be in a good position. But going into 2027 without anything live genuinely worries me,\u201d she notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As AI continues to be associated with competitive advantage, organisations that begin testing now can build real practical experience and\u00a0identify\u00a0high-value use cases before large-scale adoption becomes a standard\u00a0industry expectation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0media narratives and industry hype\u00a0can\u00a0distort\u00a0perceptions\u00a0of progress,\u00a0exposed to headlines about AI breakthroughs and high-profile success stories.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone feels one step behind the hype because they read about what others are\u00a0doing,\u201d\u00a0she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn reality, most organizations are still catching up in the day-to-day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connections 2026\u00a0may therefore\u00a0serve as a reality check\u00a0for many organizations\u00a0as they work to move AI from experimentation into everyday operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Simplifying Personalization, Composability, and the Human Role\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thirdly, Salesforce Connections 2026 is expected\u00a0to place a strong emphasis on simplifying the customer journey, as Noonan believes Salesforce will help\u00a0make AI and personalisation more practical and accessible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This includes supporting composable technology architectures\u00a0and ensuring that AI serves as a tool that enhances human\u00a0agent\u00a0capabilities, as\u00a0the next stage of marketing innovation\u00a0focuses on\u00a0making advanced capabilities easier for everyday marketing teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Salesforce Embraces Composable, Real-World Tech Stacks\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of these expectations includes a greater acknowledgement of modern marketing realities,\u00a0likely seeing\u00a0an embrace of composable architectures that enable\u00a0organizations\u00a0to combine technologies\u00a0in line with\u00a0needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second thing I think we\u2019re going to see is Salesforce finally leaning into the concept of headless and composable,\u00a0not necessarily pigeonholing their customers into using all things Salesforce,\u201d she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCustomers are using a compilation of different technologies, and Salesforce needs to make sure those tools can be picked and chosen and still play nicely together.\u201d<\/p>\n
As organizations\u00a0build\u00a0technology stacks\u00a0with solutions\u00a0from multiple vendors\u00a0rather\u00a0a\u00a0single\u00a0provider, interoperability, flexibility, and integration become more important than\u00a0maintaining\u00a0platform exclusivity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
If\u00a0Salesforce\u00a0responds\u00a0to this\u00a0enterprise\u00a0reality,\u00a0customers\u00a0will be able\u00a0to connect and orchestrate technologies more effectively while preserving the freedom to choose the tools that fit their\u00a0environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why \u2018Hyper-Personalization\u2019 Is Becoming a Barrier\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0industry\u2019s focus on \u201chyper-personalization\u201d has unintentionally created barriers to adoption, despite the practice\u00a0remaining\u00a0a core\u00a0objective\u00a0in marketing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This level of\u00a0complexity\u00a0can, in fact, often\u00a0discourage organizations from pursuing personalization initiatives\u00a0at all.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In fact, current advancements within Marketing Cloud and related Salesforce technologies are reducing many of these obstacles by embedding decisioning capabilities into the platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as you say hyper-personalization, people think they need a data science team, expensive models, and months of work,\u00a0and they actually don\u2019t anymore,\u201d\u00a0notes Noonan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need a whole data science team building models that are stale by the time they go live, the capability to identify the segment, message, and tactic already exists now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Personalization should therefore be positioned\u00a0as\u00a0accessible and operationally achievable, allowing marketers to deliver relevant experiences without the heavy technical burden\u00a0from\u00a0previous\u00a0personalization\u00a0programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Keeping Humans at the Centre\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, despite expectations for expanded AI capabilities and automation, Noonan does not believe the future of marketing is centred on replacing human\u00a0expertise,\u00a0expecting\u00a0Salesforce to reinforce the\u00a0view\u00a0that AI should act as a support mechanism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This includes\u00a0removing\u00a0low-value administrative work and allow\u00a0marketers to focus on activities where human judgement\u00a0remains\u00a0essential.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAI should take people out of the admin work so they can focus on value-add,\u201d she\u00a0argues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strategy, the ideas, and the optimization that actually move the brand forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allowing\u00a0AI\u00a0to\u00a0create more opportunities for marketers\u00a0will enable them\u00a0to concentrate on strategic planning\u00a0and\u00a0customer understanding\u00a0and\u00a0help\u00a0organizations\u00a0extract greater value from both technology investments and\u00a0teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Salesforce Connections\u00a0kicking off later today,\u00a0many customers are looking ahead to\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0next for the CRM giant, and how the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[179,7493,25,34918,34919,8240,23956],"class_list":["post-60668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-agentic-ai","tag-agentic-ai","tag-agentic-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-hyper-personalization","tag-marketing-analytics-software","tag-marketing-automation","tag-personalization-software"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}