While studies suggest that a high number of AI projects fail — potentially as many as 95% — many experts argue that it’s not the model’s fault, it’s the data behind it, which can be fragmented, inadequate, or of poor quality.

Salesforce aims to tackle this problem with the integration of its newest acquisition, Informatica. The cloud data management company’s intelligent data management cloud (IDMC) will be integrated into Salesforce’s Agentforce 360, Data 360, and Mulesoft platforms.

Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of tech analyst firm Valoir.com, called the integration “really critical” for the customer relations management (CRM) giant.

“This really shores up their data piece,” she said. “What Informatica particularly brings to the mix is this rich metadata layer, and also the perception for the market that Agentforce is not limited by CRM data.”

Goal to provide ‘enterprise understanding’

Salesforce’s new unified AI platform, Agentforce 360, is designed to connect humans, AI agents, apps, and data to provide what it calls a 360-degree view. Data 360 (formerly Data Cloud) serves as its foundational layer.

Now, with Informatica incorporated into Agentforce 360, the goal is to provide full ‘enterprise understanding’ by giving agents access to core business data and its intricate relationships.

“We’re combining Salesforce’s metadata model and catalog with Informatica’s enterprise-wide catalog to build a complete data index,” Rahul Auradkar, Salesforce’s EVP and GM of unified data services, Data 360 and AI foundations, said in a briefing.

Enterprise master data management (MDM), powered by Informatica, will provide a “golden record” for data across assets, products, suppliers, and other areas, he explained. Agents will get a map of assets across systems, whether on premises or in data lakes or other repositories. Data lineage capabilities will also trace data journeys, from origin to ingestion. Further, ‘zero copy’ capabilities mean data doesn’t have to be moved around, thus lowering storage costs.

Informatica’s IDMC “replaces guessing” by focusing on the entire data chain, discovering, cleaning, protecting, and unifying; this reflects Informatica’s mission of “data without boundaries,” Krish Vitaldevara, Informatica chief product officer, said during the briefing.

“It’s the governed power plant that feeds the rest of the enterprise,” he said. “We are going to be the Switzerland of data and the Switzerland of AI.”

To bolster this, Salesforce’s MuleSoft provides real-world operational signals, such as inventory changes or shipment delays. This real-time working memory is critical, said Auradkar. “An agent needs to know what is happening right now.”

Agentforce 360 is built on four layers: The first combines Data 360, Informatica, and MuleSoft to support context; the second is access to 20 years of business logic and workflows (sales, service, marketing, commerce) built into Salesforce; the third, a ‘command center where enterprises can build, govern and orchestrate specialist agents (such as ‘campaign agent’ or ‘supply chain agent’); and the fourth is where enterprises actually deploy agents.

The platform was built to be open and extensible, so enterprises are not limited to the Salesforce ecosystem. They can use third-party agents, such as those built on OpenAI, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Oracle, or hybrid environments, Auradkar explained.

AI can be ‘stupid’

Informatica’s Vitaldevara emphasized the importance of quality, consistency, and context around data, noting that this is what delivers full value. But different systems have their own languages, rules, and truth, and AI can’t always see the full picture because data is scattered, stale, or inconsistent.

“We all know data alone is not enough, and context is a new currency in the world of agentic AI and agentic enterprise,” said Vitaldevara. Lineage, relationships, governance — these all tell AI what a product is, how a process works, where data comes from, and whether it can be trusted.

“Context is this digital equivalent of AI’s working memory and situational awareness,” said Vitaldevara.

Salesforce’s Auradkar agreed that current AI agents just see “fragments”; without shared understanding, they are forced to guess. “The models are incredibly intelligent, but they tend to be stupid,” he said. “They know almost everything about the world, but very little about your businesses.”

But when every system, workflow, and agent operates within the same context, decision-making can be sped up dramatically. “AI becomes more accurate and automation becomes more reliable,” said Vitaldevara.

Going beyond CRM data

Whether building specialized AI agents (for sales, marketing, or customer service), or more general agents intended for broader scenarios, enterprises must go beyond CRM data, Valoir’s Wettemann emphasized. Further, to get to any “reasonable degree of accuracy” with AI, data must be in context and supported by a “real metadata fabric,” she said.

“The kind of data lineage that Informatica provides really lowers both the learning curve and the technology curve,” said Wettemann.

More generally, when it comes to AI agents, she noted that enterprises have moved beyond the fear of missing out (FOMO) to the fear of messing up (FOMU).

They worry: “How do I even conceptualize bringing in ERP data to inform an agent and make sure that A) it’s the right data, B) that it’s not too much, and C) that I’m not overwhelming my infrastructure folks? And, finally, and maybe even most importantly, that I’m not spending a ridiculous amount of money,” she said.

Indeed, pricing continues to be top of mind for enterprises, particularly as Salesforce has discussed raising prices for its AI agent platforms, “monetizing” new AI contracts, and returning to seat-based and usage-based contracts.

“So it’s the pricing, but it’s also the visibility into pricing and the predictability of pricing that people are really paying attention to,” said Wettemann.

To address concerns from Informatica customers about what this integration might mean for them, Wettemann pointed to other recent acquisitions (like Tableau) where Salesforce offered a clear roadmap and strong support mechanisms.

“Judging by the way Salesforce integrated Tableau and Tableau customers into Salesforce, Informatica customers don’t have anything to worry about,” she noted.

During the briefing, however, Salesforce and Informatica did not reveal any details on licensing or pricing for the new integrated platform, nor did they explain how existing Informatica customers would be accommodated.