| Constellation Research

Salesforce heads into Dreamforce 2025: A look at the big themes

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights at Constellation Research, where he leads editorial coverage focused on enterprise technology, digital transformation, and emerging trends shaping the future of business. He oversees research-driven news, analysis, interviews, and event coverage designed to help technology buyers and vendors navigate complex markets with clarity and context. ...

Salesforce is going to launch IT service management at Dreamforce 2025 as well as Agentforce 4, outline its take on the future of enterprise software and lay the groundwork to get from pilot to scale on agentic AI.

On Salesforce's second quarter earnings call, CEO Marc Benioff previewed the big themes that'll emerge at Dreamforce 2025 with a few tangents worth noting on the future of enterprise software. Here's a look:

Agentforce to production and scale with a hefty dose of Agentforce 4.

If Dreamforce 2024 was about how easy it is to set up an Agentforce pilot, 2025 will have to be about production and scale. Agentforce launched three quarters ago and it has 6,000 paid deals and 12,500 overall. "We've seen a 60% increase in quarter-over-quarter in customers who've gone from pilot to production and they're expanding use cases and scaling production," said Benioff.

Getting those customers to scale Agentforce and show value will be an overarching theme of Dreamforce sessions.

Srinivas Tallapragada, Salesforce's President, Chief Engineering & Customer Success Officer, said the company has been working with customers using forward deployed engineers to scale pilots. Salesforce is working with customers on "a series of tactical, practical features with a very closed-loop with our customers and hardening, deep integration with our Data Cloud and platform, really increasing the scale, and then just some engineering, customer success, cycle and the product adoption cycle."

My take: If Salesforce's growth is going to accelerate practical tools and features in Agentforce 4 will be needed. Dreamforce sessions will need to get into the weeds of data management, lessons learned so far, engineering value and best practices.

It's worth noting the Agentforce wish list, which was highlighted in a recent interview with Certinia.

Customer zero and beyond.

Salesforce will talk about customer zero a lot at Dreamforce. The idea here is to show Agentforce can scale and provide examples of how customers can implement it. Note the Benioff quotes from the second quarter earnings call:

"Our Sales Cloud for years has been an app that thousands or millions of salespeople use to manage their sales every single day. But now riding alongside every salesperson is an agentic salesperson. And that agentic salesperson is calling every single person back. And how that relates to Salesforce, well, let me tell you that, well, maybe somewhere between 20 million and 100 million people who have contacted Salesforce in the last 26 years haven't been called back. It's just because we didn't have enough people. But now with our new agentic sales, everybody is getting called back. It's a huge breakthrough and something that every company is going to benefit from."
"And in service, we've been talking about that now for months, you can see our agents are handling millions of conversations while humans are delivering the empathy and expertise."
"These agents are operating across apps, departments, silos, all running off of our Data Cloud, all running off of Agentforce. It's an incredible transformation of our product line, but really of our company. Not just of our company, but of our customers, too."

My take: Customer zero case studies can be handy, but lining up enterprises from multiple industries will be more imperative. It would also be good to know how many Agentforce implementations needed integrators, forward deployed engineers and other extras.

Let customers do the talking.

Benioff on the earnings conference call cited DirectTV, Under Armour, Reddit, Pandora, Williams Sonoma and others as customers adopting Agentforce. Benioff also touted a push into US government accounts such as the US Army.

Benioff quipped that his keynote should just be a dozen customers on stage talking Agentforce in his annual "rip up the script" theme. I'd say go for it.

My take: Not surprisingly, Salesforce noted Data Cloud's growth, up 140% from a year ago to become a $7 billion business. What we want to hear from Salesforce customers is whether Agentforce was scaled not using Data Cloud completely or across multiple data stores. After all, your data is never going to be in one place.

Salesforce vs. ServiceNow.

ServiceNow did CRM. Salesforce will launch ITSM at Dreamforce. "We're launching our own agentic IT service platform. A lot of our existing customers have been asking for this. We're bringing a whole new level of capability. It's agent-first and it's Slack-first, that is right inside Slack, you're going to be using our agentic IT service capability," said Benioff. "It's natively embedded where employees already work with zero learning curve. And with agentic IT service, well, every request is becoming a conversation where agents work hand-in-hand with IT teams proactively fixing their problems."

Benioff said Salesforce's ITSM will appeal to multiple enterprises, not just the largest.

My take: It's so easy to fall into the Salesforce vs. ServiceNow storyline. I'm going to refrain. Yes, the two companies are on a collision course to become the AI agent platform of choice. But here's the reality: ServiceNow can expand in CRM and never bump into Salesforce. ServiceNow is going after the "other" part of the CRM pie. ITSM is a similar story. Salesforce's ITSM efforts aren't going to upend ServiceNow as much as be a threat to a vendor like Freshworks.

Overall, the Salesforce vs. ServiceNow theme rhymes with SAP vs. Oracle. Both seem to do fine and neither company really poaches from the other one.

The future of SaaS.

Benioff was asked about the future of SaaS and whether agentic AI would upend the industry. Benioff said AI is "the fundamental extension of SaaS." Here are a few choice quotes:

"There's this strange narrative that's out there that somehow enterprise SaaS or apps or something are going away. I guess nothing lasts forever. But I just look at how I'm running my own business and the business of our customers, I don't understand what the replacement is."
"To hear some of this nonsense that's out there in social media or in other places, people say the craziest things, but it's not grounded in any customer truth."
"You got to separate the forest from the trees or for those of us who are kind of Bible readers, maybe we separate the wheat from the chaff. And I'll just tell you, as we separate the wheat from the chaff, just know there is truth out there, and you have to go out there and really find it. And the truth is always with the customers and also right here at Customer Zero. And I plan to like lay it all out for you at Dreamforce as well on October 14."

Benioff said that the future of software will play out with large enterprises that are "being pitched a lot of different technology right now. And a lot of it is fantasy land."

My take: The debate on the future of enterprise software is only going to pick up. Benioff does have a point that a lot of what's being pitched is fantasy. The divergence to watch is going to be how AI natives scale enterprise software.

SMB and midmarket.

Benioff said AI agents aren't just for large companies. AI may be the enabler to accelerate smaller company growth as well as the midmarket.

On SMBs, Benioff said:

"Those companies need real software, too, but they don't have CIOs. They don't have DIY. They need prepackaged software and they're not really dealing with the hyperscalers or the large-scale SIs. They're dealing with us. We are their hyperscaler. We are their software hyperscaler."

On the midmarket, Benioff said:

"This mid-market and general business is growing super-fast. And when I talk to my friends who run the large SIs, I've been encouraging them to move their business downstream to serve these companies (with) 1,000 to 10,000 employees."

Salesforce President and Chief Revenue Officer Miquel Milano said:

"AI is creating more small and medium companies. So that opportunity is huge and that's why we're investing significantly. We're investing significantly more in the mid and low end of the market."

My take: Enterprise software giants looking for growth always pay homage to smaller enterprises. The issue is that SMBs and midsized companies are forgotten once vendors get their growth game back. That’s why enterprise vendors that actually stay focused on the midmarket have a lot of customer loyalty.

Data to Decisions Future of Work Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity salesforce ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Robotics AI Analytics Automation Quantum Computing Cloud Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain Leadership VR Chief Information Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief AI Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Analytics Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Product Officer

Read more about Salesforce heads into Dreamforce 2025: A look at the big themes

Salesforce Q2 solid, outlook light with expansion into ITSM on deck

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

Salesforce said more than 40% of Data Cloud and Agentforce bookings in the second quarter came from existing customers. The company also said it will expand into ITSM in a move to compete with ServiceNow.

Since Agentforce's launch, Salesforce has closed more than 12,500 deals and nearly half of them are paid.

The company reported second quarter earnings of $1.89 billion, or $1.96 a share, on revenue of $10.24 billion, up 10% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were $2.91 a share.

Wall Street was expecting Salesforce to deliver non-GAAP second quarter earnings of $2.78 a share on revenue of $10.14 billion.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the company remains "on track for fiscal 2026 to be a record year with nearly $15 billion in operating cash flow." However, Wall Street is looking for more growth from Salesforce. Benioff said that Salesforce plans to expand into IT service management in a move that counters ServiceNow's move into CRM.

Speaking on a conference call, Benioff said:

"ITSM is an application area that we just haven't gone to before. But I'm very excited. A lot of our customers have been asking for this. We're bringing a whole new level of capability. We know how to do this because our own first customer is us. We are customer zero over the last six months."

By the numbers:

Data Cloud and AI annual recurring revenue topped $1.2 billion, up 120% from a year ago.
Salesforce closed more than 60 deals worth more than $1 million in the second quarter that included Data Cloud and AI.
Platform revenue in the second quarter was up 16% with sales and service revenue up 8% each. Integration and analytics revenue was up 12%. Marketing and commerce revenue was the laggard in the quarter with revenue growth of 3% in the second quarter.

On a conference call, Benioff outlined Agentforce use cases. He said:

"I spent weeks on the road this summer, CEOs, CIOs, one thing is extremely clear to me, every single one of our customers is becoming it's a good vision for the future. It's a good vision for the future of business, and really it's a good vision for the future of Salesforce."
Agentic AI is "a shift from traditional hierarchies to moving a company from busy work into natural conversations."
"We are adding these native capabilities into every single one of our products. In sales, every prospect is getting a callback. We didn't have enough peole to call everyone back. With agentic sales everyone is getting called back."
Salesforce will launch a new email platform that will turn messages into two-way conversations with AI agents.

As for the outlook, Salesforce came in lighter than expected. The company said third quarter revenue will be between $10.24 billion to $10.29 billion, up 8% to 9%. Non-GAAP earnings for the third quarter will be between $2.84 a share to $2.86 a share.

For fiscal 2026, Salesforce is projecting revenue of $41.1 billion to $41.3 billion, up about 9%, with non-GAAP earnings of $11.33 a share to $11.37 a share. GAAP earnings will be between $6.99 a share to $7.03 a share.

Data to Decisions Future of Work Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce Next-Generation Customer Experience Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity salesforce ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Robotics AI Analytics Automation Quantum Computing Cloud Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain Leadership VR Chief Customer Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief Revenue Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief AI Officer Chief Analytics Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Product Officer

Read more about Salesforce Q2 solid, outlook light with expansion into ITSM on deck

Figma Q2 revenue growth hits 41%

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

In its first quarter as a public company, Figma reported a second quarter profit with revenue growth of 41%.

The company, which launched its IPO priced at $33 in July, reported second quarter net income of $28.2 million on revenue of $249.6 million, up 41% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings in the quarter checked in at $19.8 million.

Figma ended the quarter with cash and equivalents of $1.6 billion.

CEO Dylan Field said Figma's record revenue in the second quarter was powered by the launch of four new products including Figma Make, Figma Draw, Figma Sites and Figma Buzz. "Looking ahead, we’re excited to keep building for our customers and help define the next era of digital products and experiences. Design is more important than ever, and we have so much more to build," said Field.

By the numbers:

Figma had 11,906 paid customers with more than $10,000 in annual recurring revenue.
There were 1,119 paid customers with more than $100,000 in ARR.
More than 80% of Figma customers used two or more products. Two-thirds of customers used three or more products.

As for the outlook, Figma projected third quarter revenue between $263 million and $265 million, up 33% from a year ago. For 2025, Figma is projecting revenue growth of 37% to $1.021 billion and $1.025 billion. Non-GAAP operating income for the year will be between $88 million and $98 million.

Data to Decisions Marketing Transformation Next-Generation Customer Experience Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer

Read more about Figma Q2 revenue growth hits 41%

HPE reports strong Q3 with Juniper Networks in the fold

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

HPE, reporting earnings for the first time since it closed the acquisition of Juniper Networks, delivered better-than-expected fiscal third quarter results with a fourth quarter outlook that was a bit light.

The company reported third quarter earnings of 21 cents a share on revenue of $9.1 billion, up 19% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were 44 cents a share.

Wall Street was looking for non-GAAP earnings of 42 cents a share in the third quarter on revenue of $8.83 billion.

CEO Antonio Neri said "customer demand stretched broadly across our portfolio and was particularly strong in our server and networking segments." CFO Marie Myers said Juniper Networks added to results with "with more profit accretion expected."

By the numbers:

AI revenue in the third quarter was $1.6 billion with AI backlog of $3.7 billion.
Sequential AI orders nearly doubled in exiting the third quarter.
Sovereign AI orders were up 250% sequentially.
Server revenue was $4.9 billion in the third quarter, up 16% from a year ago. Operating profit for the server unit was $317 million.
Networking revenue in the third quarter was $1.7 billion, up 54% from a year ago due to the Juniper Networks acquisition. Operating profit in the quarter was $360 million.
Hybrid cloud revenue was $1.5 billion, up 12% from a year ago. Operating profit was $87 million.

For the fourth quarter, HPE projected non-GAAP earnings of 56 cents a share to 60 cents a share with revenue between $9.7 billion to $10.1 billion. Wall Street was expecting non-GAAP earnings of 59 cents a share on revenue of $10.1 billion.

HPE said fiscal 2025 revenue growth will be between 14% to 16% with non-GAAP earnings between $1.88 a share to $1.92 a share.
On a conference call, Neri said:

"We significantly lowered our inventory driven by higher AI backlog conversion to revenue and strong supply chain execution. We continue to transform our business through Catalyst, the structural cost-saving program we announced last quarter, including enhancing operational efficiency, simplifying our portfolio, adopting AI and optimizing our workforce."
"On the demand front, the networking market recovery continues. In enterprise, we continue to see robust demand in campus and branch, driven by the wire and wireless refresh, SASE and data center switching. Wi-Fi 7 demand is ramping with orders up triple digits sequentially. In cloud, we see strong demand for networking for AI, particularly in data center switching and Juniper PTX routing."
"Server operating margin improved sequentially, benefiting from the changes we made in pricing and discounting early in the year, which returned traditional server product margins to historical levels. This was partially offset by higher AI mix, including a large deal."

Data to Decisions Tech Optimization HPE Big Data Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer

Read more about HPE reports strong Q3 with Juniper Networks in the fold

C3 AI names new CEO, cuts outlook

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

C3 AI named Salesforce veteran Stephen Ehikian CEO as the company cut its outlook for the fiscal second quarter and pulled full year guidance.

The company warned that its first quarter results would fall short of expectations and said Thomas Siebel would step down as CEO due to health issues.

Ehikian most recently was the Acting Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Siebel will remain as Executive Chairman of C3 AI. Ehikian was CEO of RelateIQ and Airkit.ai, two companies that were acquired by Salesforce. RelateIQ turned into Salesforce Einstein and Airkit became the precusor to Agentforce.

The first chore for Ehikian is to stabilize sales. "I am confident that we will be able to capture an increasing share of the immense market opportunity in Enterprise AI," he said.

C3 AI reported a first quarter net loss of $116.8 million, or 86 cents a share, on revenue of $70.3 million, down from $87.2 million a year ago. The non-GAAP loss was 37 cents a share.

Siebel said C3 AI has restructured its sales and services organization and the company can accelerate growth from this base.

As for the outlook, C3 AI projected second quarter revenue of $72 million to $80 million with a non-GAAP loss from operations of $49.5 million to $57.5 million.

Data to Decisions Chief Information Officer

Read more about C3 AI names new CEO, cuts outlook

US v. Google ruling: GenAI will do our work for us

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

A federal judge ruling in the Google antitrust trial is more damning than you'd think. Yes, Google won't have to divest Chrome or Android, but the ruling is basically a bet that generative AI is going to erode the company's search dominance.

In other words, the LLMs are coming for Google search.

The coverage of the ruling basically boils down to this:

Google gets the win and won't have to divest Chrome or Android.
Apple still will get paid for using Google search.
Google has to share its search data with "qualified competitors," but the remedy is manageable.
The remedies fall short say some observers.
And Google will continue to rake in dough.

However, I can't ignore the generative AI comments in the ruling.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote:

“Much has changed since the end of the liability trial, though some things have not. Google is still the dominant firm in the relevant product markets. No existing rival has wrested market share from Google. And no new competitor has entered the market. But artificial intelligence technologies, particularly generative AI (“GenAI”), may yet prove to be game changers. Today, tens of millions of people use GenAI chatbots, like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude, to gather information that they previously sought through internet search. These GenAI chatbots are not yet close to replacing general search engines (GSEs), but the industry expects that developers will continue to add features to GenAI products to perform more like GSEs."
"The emergence of GenAI changed the course of this case...These remedies proceedings thus have been as much about promoting competition among GSEs as ensuring that Google’s dominance in search does not carry over into the GenAI space."
And finally, the court defined a qualified competitor in a way that ensures search data is shared with OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity. As defined in the ruling a qualified competitor is (1) a provider or potential entrant in search, search ads, or GenAI; (2) that meets strict data security/privacy standards; (3) agrees to oversight by the Technical Committee; (4) shows a credible plan to invest and compete in/with Google’s monopolized markets; and (5) poses no national security risk.

In the long run, sharing search and user interaction data may hamper Google and give genAI rivals a fast-forward button to compete.

Constellation Research analyst Holger Mueller said:

"In this landmark case, a government moved forward with no parties showing damages and asked for massive market changes with the sale of Chrome. Judge Mehta prevailed with this rationale: Exclusive deals always have the potential to lock out the competition. We will now see how enterprises will revisit thousands of these deals, fearing that antitrust authorities may potentially prosecute them."

Marketing Transformation Google Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer

Read more about US v. Google ruling: GenAI will do our work for us

Zscaler delivers strong Q4, fiscal 2026 outlook

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

Zscaler reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results and delivered a strong outlook for the fiscal year ahead.

The security vendor reported a fourth quarter net loss of $17.6 million, or 11 cents a share, on revenue of $719.2 million, up 21% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings in the fourth quarter were 89 cents a share.

Wall Street was expecting Zscaler to report non-GAAP earnings of 80 cents a share on revenue of $707.14 million.

Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler, said the company topped $3 billion in annual recurring revenue with record operating margin. "We are rapidly expanding our AI security portfolio to address the emerging risks of AI models and applications," said Chaudhry.

Zscaler's master plan: Combine Zero Trust, data fabric and agentic AI

Chaudhry added:

“We are seeing significant customer interest in our powerful AI security solutions, including our new AI Guard and GenAI security offerings. An increasing number of enterprises are choosing Zscaler because of our technology leadership and platform scale. I’m pleased to share that our platform now secures nearly 40% of the Global 2000 and over 45% of the Fortune 500 companies.”

Zscaler’s report landed after strong quarters from CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks and SentinelOne. Fortinet’s latest quarter was ahead of estimates, but the outlook was light due to the firewall refresh cycle.

For fiscal 2025, the company reported a net loss of $41.5 million, or 27 cents a share, on revenue of $2.67 billion, up 23% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were $3.28 a share for the fiscal year.

As for the outlook, Zscaler projected first quarter non-GAAP earnings of 85 cents a share to 86 cents a share on revenue of $772 million to $774 million. For fiscal 2026, Zscaler projected non-GAAP earnings of $3.64 a share to $3.68 a share on revenue of $3.68 billion to $3.7 billion.

Zscaler’s plan is to grow via agentic security operations.

Data to Decisions Innovation & Product-led Growth Future of Work Tech Optimization Next-Generation Customer Experience Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity AI GenerativeAI ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Analytics Automation Disruptive Technology cybersecurity Chief Information Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Privacy Officer Chief AI Officer Chief Experience Officer

Read more about Zscaler delivers strong Q4, fiscal 2026 outlook

OpenAI acquires Statsig, adds CTO of applications

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

OpenAI will acquire Statsig, a startup focused on product testing, in a deal that highlights how the company is building out applications around ChatGPT. Statsig CEO Vijave Raji will become OpenAI's CTO of applications.

In a blog post, OpenAI outlined the deal. Statsig's platform focuses on A/B testing, feature flagging and feedback loops that move products into production. Fidji Simo, CEO of OpenAI's applications unit, said Raji will head product engineering for ChatGPT and Codex, one of OpenAI's first applications.

According to Simo, Raji will have responsibilities "that span core systems and product lines including infrastructure and integrity."

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but reports put the deal at $1.1 billion.

Raji said Statsig will continue to provide its services and invest in its core products.

For OpenAI, Statsig brings a platform that already counts Atlassian, Notion, Brex and Bloomberg as customers. OpenAI is also a customer. Statsig will complement OpenAI's ChatGPT Business and Enterprise plans as well as its API Platform.

Like Anthropic, OpenAI is building an application stack and ecosystem that can complement and extend ChatGPT. Anthropic is more focused on the enterprise while OpenAI is also looking at the consumer market too. As LLM capabilities all converge to be good enough, it'll be critical to create applications and ecosystems for staying power.

Statsig is a big step toward building out OpenAI's application lineup.

Data to Decisions Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Next-Generation Customer Experience Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity openai ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Robotics AI Analytics Automation Quantum Computing Cloud Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain Leadership VR Chief Information Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief AI Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Analytics Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Product Officer

Read more about OpenAI acquires Statsig, adds CTO of applications

Protecting AI Workloads: Microsoft's Vision for Cybersecurity

Chirag Mehta

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Chirag Mehta is Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on cybersecurity, next-gen application development, and product-led growth. With over 25 years of experience, he has built, shipped, marketed, and sold successful enterprise SaaS products and solutions across startups, mid-size, and large companies. As a product leader overseeing engineering, product management, and design, he has consistently driven revenue growth and product innovation. He also held key leadership roles in product marketing, corporate strategy, ecosystem partnerships, and business development, leveraging his expertise to make a significant impact on various aspects of product success. His holistic research approach on cybersecurity is grounded in the reality that as sophisticated AI-led attacks become…...

Join Constellation analyst Chirag Mehta as he sits down with Efim Hudis, VP of Security at Microsoft, for an in-depth conversation on the transformative impact of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity. Read the full recap below:

Balancing Adoption and Risk

As AI adoption accelerates, organizations face a unique challenge: implementing non-deterministic systems while ensuring security. This creates a dilemma for CSOs and CIOs, who must balance innovation with risk management. Business leaders are under increasing pressure to integrate AI into their operations. While AI offers significant potential, it also introduces new security considerations. Organizations must develop strategies that leverage AI's benefits while mitigating associated risks.

By addressing these key areas, organizations can position themselves to harness AI's potential while maintaining a strong security posture.

AI's adoption in enterprises is inevitable and accelerating. This shift necessitates a focus on securing AI systems effectively, rather than debating adoption. As AI transforms cybersecurity, it's crucial to understand its impact. AI is altering the economics of cyberattacks, presenting new challenges. Malicious actors are early AI adopters, using it to enhance existing attack methods, reduce operational costs, and expand their reach. This trend demands a proactive approach to cybersecurity.

AI's Evolving Impact on Cybersecurity

AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape, presenting both challenges and opportunities. The economics of attacks are shifting, with AI-powered spear phishing becoming more accessible and cost-effective for malicious actors. To address this evolving threat landscape, organizations must adapt their cybersecurity strategies. Three key areas require attention:

AI-Enhanced Defense: Leveraging AI to bolster security measures and detect sophisticated threats.
AI System Protection: Addressing the unique vulnerabilities associated with AI workloads and infrastructure.
Countering AI-Driven Attacks: Developing strategies to mitigate the impact of AI-powered cyber threats.

By focusing on these areas, businesses can proactively safeguard their digital assets and stay ahead of emerging risks.

AI-Enhanced Security: Balancing Innovation and Protection

As AI reshapes the threat landscape, organizations must adapt their defenses. Hackers now leverage AI to refine their strategies, necessitating a proactive approach from security teams.

This duality of AI underscores both its potential and inherent risks. Protecting AI workloads is now crucial. These systems introduce unique weaknesses and create new enterprise risks that demand specialized safeguards.

"AI workloads present distinct security challenges. We must identify and mitigate these vulnerabilities while managing the associated organizational risks."

As AI integrates deeper into business processes, a forward-thinking security approach is crucial. Organizations must anticipate and address potential vulnerabilities in AI systems, particularly as autonomous agents become more prevalent.

Microsoft's AI-Focused Security Solutions

Microsoft's Defender suite is evolving to meet the unique challenges of AI security. New features are being introduced across the product line to:

Discover and inventory AI models
Monitor AI-specific threats
Manage security posture for AI systems

These enhancements aim to provide comprehensive protection for AI applications, enabling businesses to innovate safely and confidently in the AI era.

The rise of "agentic AI" presents a new frontier in enterprise productivity. These AI teammates, capable of reasoning and acting autonomously, offer immense potential but introduce novel security considerations. As AI agents become integral team members, traditional security models must evolve. These systems require unique identities and carefully managed access rights to ensure they operate safely within enterprise environments.

The key challenge lies in harnessing the efficiency of AI agents while maintaining robust security measures. Organizations must develop strategies that enable these digital teammates to thrive without compromising data integrity or system safety.

AI's Impact on Identity and Access Management

As AI agents become more sophisticated, they'll require identities similar to humans, revolutionizing identity management. This shift demands a new approach to access control and risk assessment for security teams.

Managing AI agents may resemble human resource practices, with robust role-based access controls governing their capabilities. This approach ensures appropriate limitations on AI actions while maximizing their potential.

AI Reshapes Cybersecurity: Rapid AI adoption brings both opportunities and challenges. Enterprises must prioritize securing AI systems alongside implementation.
Identity Evolution: AI agents will need human-like identities, necessitating new identity management strategies.
Access Control Adaptation: Security teams must develop innovative approaches to manage AI agent access and permissions.

AI's Dual Role in Cybersecurity

AI-Enhanced Cyber Risks: Attackers now use AI to amplify and innovate threats cost-effectively, pushing defenders to adapt quickly.
Safeguarding AI Systems: Novel approaches are essential to protect AI applications, addressing their specific vulnerabilities.
Microsoft's Security Advancements: The Defender suite leads in integrating tools to monitor and secure AI systems in business settings.
Autonomous Agents and Identity: As AI becomes more independent, we need identity management strategies similar to those used for humans.

The conversation explores both the opportunities and risks AI introduces — from securing AI systems themselves to countering AI-powered threats. With leading tech companies driving innovation, organizations now have new tools to build safer, AI-driven environments.

Watch the full discussion for practical insights enterprise leaders can use to prepare for what’s next in AI and security.

Data to Decisions Future of Work Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Chief Information Officer Chief Procurement Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Privacy Officer Chief Product Officer

Read more about Protecting AI Workloads: Microsoft's Vision for Cybersecurity

On <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kiZKVa27vQ4?si=93Q3Z8bwpo3JTg8t" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Anthropic lands $183 billion valuation, hits $5 billion annual revenue run rate

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief of Constellation Insights
Constellation Research

Anthropic has raised $13 billion in Series F funding to give the company a $183 billion valuation.

The funding round for Anthropic landed days after Databricks was valued at $100 billion in its latest funding round.

In a blog post, Anthropic said the funding round was led by ICONIQ with Fidelity Management & Research Co. and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Other investors in the round included Altimeter, BlackRock, Blackstone, General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs, Insight Partners and T. Rowe Price among others.

Anthropic said the funding reflects its "position as the leading intelligence platform for enterprises, developers, and power users."

Indeed, Anthropic annual revenue run rate was $1 billion at the beginning of 2025 and now tops $5 billion. Anthropic, which is more enterprise focused than rival OpenAI, said it has more than 300,000 business customers.

Key points:

Anthropic added that customers with more than $100,000 in run-rate revenue has grown 7x in the past year.
Claude Code has more than $500 million in annual run rate revenue with usage growing 10x in three months.
Anthropic is focused on industry-specific products.

Anthropic said that the Series F investment will help it invest to meet enterprise demand, safety research and support international expansion.

More LLMs

Data to Decisions Future of Work Chief Information Officer

Read more about Anthropic lands $183 billion valuation, hits $5 billion annual revenue run rate

Subscribe to

Salesforce heads into Dreamforce 2025: A look at the big themes

Salesforce heads into Dreamforce 2025: A look at the big themes