Presented by Salesforce
In 2025, Salesforce conducted a series of C-suite research studies to find out whether top decision-makers are building an agentic AI strategy. While research shows positive signs such as agent adoption expected to increase by 327% over the next two years, the key takeaway is clear: leaders are racing to deploy AI agents, but unlocking the real value depends on trust in data, systems, employees and, above all, leadership guiding the change.
Trust is the connective tissue that determines whether companies can truly scale AI agents and unlock the value they predict.
In Salesforce, this trust imperative is driven through AgentForce. The AgentForce 360 platform, the foundational layer of the company’s agentic platform, builds trust directly into the way agents reason, act, and collaborate with humans. This ensures that leaders can implement agentic AI at scale.
"As organizations scale AI agents, trust becomes an accelerator," says Joe Inzerillo, chief digital officer at Salesforce. “When leaders trust their data, their systems, and their governance, AI moves from experimentation to enterprise impact. Trust is not a barrier; it is the foundation that allows companies to move faster, align teams, and unlock the full value of the agentic enterprise.”
Trust is an accelerator – and also a hindrance
According to research from hundreds of CIOs, CFOs, and CHROs, quality data, security, and employee adoption are pillars of trust:
- One of the top two fears of CIOs regarding AI implementation is a lack of reliable data
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66% of CFOs say security or privacy threats keep them up at night regarding their AI strategy
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Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) view trust through the lens of their people: 73% say their employees are unaware of how AI agents will impact their work
“What’s surprising is how united leaders have become around belief,” Inzerillo says. “Whether CIOs are struggling with data quality, CFOs investigating security risks, or CHROs focused on employee adoption, the message is the same. Agent AI only works when end-to-end trust is built technically, operationally, and culturally.”
The good news is that an IDC study found that preparation is key. CEOs prepared to implement AI agents/digital labor invest nearly twice as much in ethics, governance, and guardrails than those who are not prepared.
To help leaders accelerate agentic AI value, the AgentForce 360 platform embeds these key pillars of trust – data quality, security, and employee adoption – directly into its architecture. The Einstein Trust Layer ensures data security and accuracy through real-time grounding, while prioritizing employee adoption by embedding autonomous agents directly into the natural flow of work. With AgentForce, humans and agents are ready to work together.
CIO: Trusted data and context must be incorporated into work flow
CIOs are turning agentic AI ambition into action – A Salesforce study found that AI budgets nearly doubled among this audience, with CIOs saying they are dedicating 30% of this budget to agentic AI. But the fear of data looms large and only 23% of CIOs are completely confident they are investing in AI with built-in data governance.
‘Embedded’ is the key: 93% of CIOs say successful adoption of AI agents in the workplace depends on its integration within everyday work flow. As Salesforce CIO Daniel Schmidt explains, “Incorporating AI into work flows and building trust at every step helps everyone move forward faster and with more confidence.”
CFO: Budget depends on trust
Today, CFOs are completely dependent on agentic AI. Five years ago, 70% stuck to conservative AI strategies. That number has now dropped to just 4%, while a third have taken an aggressive stance. But the nervousness persists; 66% say security and privacy threats are their top concern, showing that trust directly impacts whether they approve the budget.
“The introduction of digital labor is not just a technological upgrade – it represents a decisive and strategic shift for CFOs,” said Robin Washington, president and chief operating and financial officer of Salesforce. “With AI agents, we are not only changing the business model; we are fundamentally reshaping the entire scope of the CFO function. This demands a new mindset as we expand beyond financial managers to become architects of agent enterprise value as well.”
CHRO: Organizational flexibility is essential
Meanwhile, chief human resources officers (CHROs) are working to build trust between teams so that employees feel confident working with agents and given opportunities to re-skill and grow. In fact, 86% of CHROs say that integrating AI agents/digital labor with their existing workforce will be an important part of their job and 81% of HR heads plan to re-skill their workforce for better job opportunities in the era of agentic AI. HR leaders are critical to ensuring organizational resiliency as 73% say their employees do not yet understand how AI agents/digital labor will impact their work.
“We are in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime transformation of work with digital labor that is unlocking new levels of productivity, autonomy, and agency at a pace never before thought possible,” says Nathalie Scardino, president and chief people officer of Salesforce. “Every industry will have to redesign jobs, re-skill and redeploy talent – and every employee will need to learn new human, agent and business skills to thrive in the digital labor revolution.”
Establishing Trust in AI Technology
“A trusted AI foundation gives companies the confidence to move forward faster and responsibly scale AI into every workflow to power the agentic enterprise,” says Inzerillo. “Once trust is built in the platform, teams can continuously experiment in production, with humans making decisions and providing agents at scale.”
The Salesforce Trusted AI Foundation provides three core capabilities that make the AgentForce 360 platform accurate, explainable, and secure, including:
- Context and accuracy, ensuring that outputs are based on integrated business data and knowledge.
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Built-in trust, security and compliance to embed visibility, control and compliance into every workflow.
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Developing an open and integrated platform by connecting agents, data and semantics across the ecosystem to avoid lock-in and ensure sustainability.
“If we were building this technology ourselves, we would have to shoulder the burden of its cybersecurity, maintenance, upkeep, and scalability,” says Josiah Bryan, CTO and principal AI researcher at Presina. “Salesforce invests in cybersecurity so beautifully and at such scale that we can trust Salesforce to take care of its patients’ data the same way we take care of ours.”
“The agency enterprise won’t be won by the fastest model or the most engaging demo,” Inzerillo says. “It will be won by companies that earn trust with their board, their employees, and their customers, and can translate that trust into velocity, quality, and measurable business value through platforms like the AgentForce 360 platform.”
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