Podcast
Salesforce Admins Podcast
Hosted by Mike Gerholdt · EN
The Salesforce Admins podcast features real-life Salesforce Admins, product managers, and community leaders who transform businesses, careers, and community with clicks, not code. This 20min (sometimes a bit more) weekly podcast hosted by Mike Gerholdt feature episodes to empower Salesforce Admins who are implementing Enterprise CRM solutions. There may be some (digital) confetti. For more than our most recent episodes, go to https://admin.salesforce.com/salesforce-admin-podcast.
29episodes
Episodes
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Why Pattern Recognition Matters for Salesforce Admins
1w ago00:32:38Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Adam Stark, CRM Systems Administrator at Belmont University. Join us as we chat about how his experience as a musician with learning and pattern recognition has set him up for success as a Salesforce Admin. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Adam Stark. From the stage to the Salesforce Admin chair I met Adam Stark at TDX, and he had such an interesting path to becoming a Salesforce Admin that I had to bring him on the show. Based out of Nashville, he's been a professional touring musician for twenty years. But when everything shut down during COVID, he spent his days on Zoom making an album, and his nights on Trailhead working towards his admin certification. Adam's experience in the studio made it surprisingly easy to jump into automations on Salesforce—they made sense to him. "As a music producer, one of the things I got really good at doing was accomplishing signal flow, like trying to get a sound source to a final, presentable stage," he says, "and that sort of signal flow process is the same with flows." Whether it's building tracks in a DAW or building solutions in Salesforce, Adam discovered that it's still the same underlying logic. How pattern recognition makes learning Salesforce easier Starting out in Salesforce can feel overwhelming because the platform is robust. But, as Adam explains, the same could be said for learning guitar, and he realized that he could draw on his experience as a music teacher and performer. A part of learning any instrument is pattern recognition. You practice scales or licks in isolation so that it's easy to find them and play them when you're performing. "The more you do it, the more familiar you get, the more you begin to recognize patterns," Adam says, "and once you see the patterns, things start to feel smaller." Over time, something that seems very big, like learning a piece of music or trying to use campaigns in Salesforce, becomes more manageable. Acing your job interview with honesty I also wanted to hear how Adam got through the interview process and landed his first job as a Salesforce Admin. His experience as a musician helped here, too, because he was already used to doing interviews with radio stations while on tour. But nerves aside, Adam feels the key to his success was honesty. "I don't know everything," he says, "but if I don't know it, I'll figure it out, and we'll find a solution." For the folks out there who are still breaking into the ecosystem, Adam encourages you to get out there and meet working Salesforce professionals as soon as you can. Go to a community group, or even TDX, and pick someone's brain. It can help you piece together what you're learning in Trailhead by understanding what Salesforce looks like in action. There's so much more great stuff from Adam about how he learned Salesforce and landed his first admin role, so make sure to listen to the full episode. And as always, make sure you're subscribed to the Salesforce Admins Podcast, and we'll see you next time. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Salesforce Admins Podcast Episode: How Do I Transition Into a Salesforce Admin Career? Salesforce Admins Podcast Episode: Building Salesforce Projects To Land Your Next Role Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Adam on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript Mike: This week on the Salesforce Admins podcast, Adam Stark didn't start in Salesforce. He started on a stage, building songs and touring as a professional musician. In this episode, he's going to share how that same mindset of thinking and systems, sequencing steps, and designing outcomes translated into building solutions with data, automation, and now AI. In this episode, we're going to dig into how admins aren't just learning tools anymore. They're designing how work actually gets done across people and technology. Adam's going to walk us through his journey from Trailhead to his very first admin role and what it really takes to connect those dots when you're building something bigger than just features. So if you've ever wondered how your past experience shapes the way you architect solutions today, this episode's for you. So with that, let's get Adam on the podcast. So Adam, welcome to the podcast. Adam Stark: Happy to be here, man. This is awesome. Mike: I'm glad we got connected through our architect friends. You are at TDX this year. So let's just give people an overview of who Adam Stark is and how you got started at Salesforce. Adam Stark: Yeah, absolutely. So I work down in Nashville, Tennessee. I work at Belmont University. And my journey into Salesforce is quite a unique journey. I actually was a professional musician for a long time. I was a touring artist, a professional songwriter, producer, and did that for many, many years. And then a thing called COVID hit in 2020 and really put a damper on the touring side of things, as you can imagine. So during COVID, I went through my own personal little existential crisis moment of, are we ever going to play shows ever again? This was a huge part of my income stream to provide for my family. And so I'm going through this crisis moment of what's next, what should I be doing? And a really good friend of mine who is a Salesforce developer, he told me, he's like, "Man, you should look into Salesforce. Just go on Trailhead and just poke around." And this is me not knowing anything about it. I didn't even know what a CRM was, but went on Trailhead and shout out to the Trailhead team because what an incredible resource, like unbelievable resource for people to learn the platform. Just really, really impressive. But yeah, I would spend my days working on music with my... I was a duo, if you will. I was in a band with another guy and he and I produced our records and we wrote all of our songs. And we're doing that virtually during the day during COVID where we're songwriting over Zoom, which is a complete interesting exercise to try to be creative over Zoom. And then we're recording audio files and sending them back and forth and compiling them into a record, which was wild. Doing that during the day. And then at night, I would just get on Trailhead and just start learning. And the more that I learned, the more interesting it got to me. And yeah, I got hooked and was really fascinated with what Salesforce as a platform was capable of doing and honestly how beneficial it is to businesses and organizations. Mike: Wow. Adam Stark: So yeah, I started learning. I was really determined to get an admin certification just to have in my back pocket. And then the world opened back up. And we did what artists called revenge touring because so many people were starved for entertainment at that point in time. It'd been a year, year and a half of no real public entertainment. So we got busy, went back out on the road, and I put Salesforce on the back burner for a little bit and then had more kids and talked to my wife and we just decided we're at a spot in life where being home is really, really nice. And I was pretty invested into the Salesforce journey at that point. So I went ahead and finished up, got my admin certification and I saw that Belmont was looking to implement Salesforce and went ahead and filled out an application and landed the job. Mike: So I've shown Salesforce to people. I've taken good friends of mine to user groups and I've had friends of mine even get up to Ranger status, which is a hundred badges and still be like, "Meh, it doesn't make sense to me or nothing's clicking." Something clicked for you that was like you got it and it's hard to describe, but I know what you're feeling, but what was it for you? Adam Stark: As a music producer, one of the things that I got really good at doing was accomplishing signal flow, like trying to get a sound source from one stage to a final stage, final presentable stage, if you will. And what I found was when I really started to get into some of the automation ...
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Agentforce Grid Enables Next-Gen Admins to Scale AI Workflows
2w ago00:25:06Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Avi Shah, Senior Director of Product Management for Salesforce AI. Join us as we chat about Agentforce Grid, a new way to coordinate data, automation, and AI agents. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Avi Shah. Spreadsheet-style AI workflows to simplify complex automation Salesforce Admins deal with data, automations, and AI every day. But how do you make everything work together in a way that makes sense? That's why I sat down with Avi Shah to talk about Agentforce Grid, a spreadsheet-like tool for creating AI workflows. "Agentforce Grid is, in our opinion, the fastest and easiest way to build AI workflows," Avi says. "You have columns for your data and the actions you want to take with it." Some columns are AI-based, enabling you to run prompts or agents you've built, and others are action-based, allowing you to update records or call an invokable action to send an email. Put it all together, and you can build complex AI automations that can transform your organization's workflows. Combining data and actions As Avi explains, Agentforce Grid gives you a simple, spreadsheet UI to perform powerful transformations on your data. You can pull things from Data Cloud, uploads, or even the web into a data column. Action columns give you a way to act. You can run prompt templates, agents you've already built, or inline prompts. Not everything needs to be an AI step, however—you can also perform more deterministic actions like formulas, updating records, or invoking flows. AI and non-AI actions work together in workflows All of this makes more sense when we talk about actual use cases. For example, you can use Agentforce Grid to assist with case categorization, working with a list of cases, a prompt column to analyze them, and another prompt column to look at those analyses and categorize them based on theme, priority, or issue. Avi has also seen customers take advantage of Agentforce Grid for transcript and session analysis for customer-facing agents. You can use the prompt column to analyze, classify, and extract information from transcripts to make sure that everything is working the way you want it to work. Be sure to listen to the full conversation for more from Avi on Agentforce Grid. And don't forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you never miss an episode. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Salesforce Admins Blog Post: How Salesforce Admins Can Streamline AI Workflows With Agentforce Grid Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Avi on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript
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How Agent Script Is Redefining the Admin Role
3w ago00:17:17Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Joshua Birk, Senior Director of Admin Evangelism at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about how Agent Script helps admins build more predictable and reliable AI solutions. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Joshua Birk. How Agent Script expands the admin toolkit The new Agentforce Builder gives admins new tools to create effective AI agents to help their orgs. Chief among them is Agent Script, which gives you more control than ever before over how your agents operate and behave. I sat down with Josh Birk to find out how it all works and why Agent Script redefines the admin role. Agent Script is a simple, high-level scripting language that lets you create complex instructions and actions for your agent to follow. You can step in as the human in the loop and create a framework for agent behavior and context, helping you build more predictable and reliable AI solutions. Redefining the admin role In simple terms, Agent Script lets you look under the hood at how your agents function. If you're comfortable with coding, Script view allows you to make fast, precise changes and analyze error messages. Canvas view, meanwhile, uses visual blocks to make it easy to understand what's going on with your agent. And of course, the Agentforce assistant is always available with suggestions if you get stuck. With so much more control over agentic behavior, Agent Script puts admins in the driver's seat for how their organization will evolve with AI. You're not just building a solution—you're designing interactions between humans and agents. In the big picture, the role of the admin starts to look less like traditional system configuration and more like experience design, governance, and operational strategy. Getting started with Agent Script All of this requires a great deal of thought in terms of how you're building new agentic solutions and rolling them out to your organization. Josh's biggest piece of advice is to take it slow: "Don't panic, learn Agent Script," he says. Your existing agents will continue to work, so take your time to experiment with Agent Script to get a better understanding of what's possible. Build some new agents and take it one step at a time. Listen to the full episode for more from Josh about what admins can do with Agent Script. And subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast to catch us in your feed every Thursday. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Salesforce Admins Blog: Build With Confidence: Inside the New Agentforce Builder Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Josh on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript Mike Gerholdt: This week on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, if you've ever been wondering why you can't just copy and paste your old agents into the new version, this episode is for you. I'm joined by Josh Burke, who recently walked our admin relations team through what's really changing with Agent Builder and Agentforce. And more importantly, why it matters. We're going to unpack a little bit of hybrid reasoning, what determinism really means for admins, and how Agent Script gives you even more control without losing all of that magic. So with that, let's get Josh on the podcast. So Josh, welcome back to the podcast. Josh Birk: Thanks for having me, Mike. Mike Gerholdt: Well, we know that a few people are vibing now because of the dulcent tones of Josh Burke. So in all honesty, you were in a team meeting last week and you were kind of updating the team on stuff that's coming out for new products and beta products. And the biggest thing that you always explain is like, so why is this important? Josh Birk: Yeah. Mike Gerholdt: And of course, every now and then you end your little skit with, "Thanks for attending my TED Talk." Josh Birk: Yeah. Mike Gerholdt: And I remember last week's meeting, I was like, "Oh man, that's a podcast. I need to do that." Josh Birk: Yeah. Mike Gerholdt: Because the way that you would explained what was new with Agent Builder and Agentforce, I was just like, "Oh, that totally makes sense to me." So this is where we're at and this is what I was hoping we would talk about. Josh Birk: Yeah. And I'll have to try because I kind of remember getting into a very weird, almost like conspiracy theory level stream of consciousness. Mike Gerholdt: Oh, okay. Well, it didn't feel that way. Josh Birk: Good. I think that's years of experience of thinking in streams of consciousnesses, whatever the plural of that is. So yeah, so I think to kind of recap a little bit, so there were two things that I think are kind of important to consider about the new Agent Builder. One is what we mean by hybrid reasoning and what we mean by determinism. And then the second thing is, where does Agent Script fit into that? So the question we were kind of tackling was, why didn't we just go back and revise the old builder? Why can't we just reiterate on it? Why are we starting completely new? Mike Gerholdt: And I think you even said, not to interrupt you, but to interrupt you, why can't I just move my stuff over? Why do I have to rebuild it? Josh Birk: And why can't I just move my stuff over? Why isn't it just copy and paste? And Agent Script is part of that. So the original engine wasn't hybrid, is I think the easiest way to put it. So this came with a conversation with product management where I was trying to describe the differences between the old builder and the new builder. And they're like, well, let's ... The old builder wasn't doing anything wrong, so much is that the new builder's doing something more. And what the new builder's doing that is more is that when we say hybrid, when we think of AI, we think of AI being autonomous, making its own decisions. So we had the Atlas reasoning engine that's like, "Oh, Mike is looking to find a description on a certain account. I'm going to take these actions. I'm going to put them together into a plan and then I'm going to try to make that work." What we didn't have was the human in the loop portion of that. And where Agent Script really comes into play is it allows users to basically be like, "In this scenario, I want you to behave like this." So when we say hybrid, we mean, yeah, we're letting the engine kind of do its own magic. But then we're also applying almost ... I don't want to say flow because that's such a loaded term for a Salesforce community. Mike Gerholdt: Yeah. Josh Birk: But well, let's go to the name, right? A script, right? A script that a human can actually control personality, control tone, control behavior. When you see this, do this, when you need to call it human. So kind of giving this very human-friendly dialogue that you can then apply to the agent. And so that's how we provide more determinism. So the reason you can't just copy and paste your old agent into the new agent is the old agent doesn't have that connection to Agent Script. And so it's literally missing a piece of the puzzle to run the engine kind of thing. Mike Gerholdt: Right. No, I think ... I mean, hearing you explain it, sometimes, at least as an admin, I was always like, "Oh, so they just came out with another version because they had to stick another layer of something on." Josh Birk: Yeah. Mike Gerholdt: Or like a car analogy, they changed the fuzzy dice. But this is, no, no, no, no. We're really moving ...
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How Salesforce Built a Scalable AI Puzzle App in Six Weeks
Apr 1600:16:58Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Jagan Nathan, Senior AI Architect at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about how he built a Slack app for Salesforce's "Million Dollar Puzzle" ad, where millions of concurrent users raced to solve riddles by chatting with Slackbots. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Jagan Nathan. The tech behind the "Million Dollar Puzzle" contest If you were watching the big game, you might have seen Salesforce's "Million Dollar Puzzle". As soon as the ad aired, the race was on for contestants to solve puzzles by chatting with Slackbots to discover the location of a secret vault. My guest this week, Jagan Nathan, built the Agentforce-powered Slack app that made everything possible. They needed Slackbots that could act as a conversational gateway for millions of concurrent users. And with a million dollars on the line, they needed to be sure it couldn't be tricked into giving away the answer. Even more incredibly, Jagan pulled all of this off in only six weeks. I sat down with him to find out how he did it and what he learned along the way. Using AI to build quickly at scale Just like with any project, the first step was to gather requirements—though it's more fun when your stakeholder is the "Puzzle Master." Jagan and his team needed a thorough understanding of what they were dealing with and how they could translate those gaming mechanics into the application. The clock was ticking, and AI was pivotal for accelerating the development timeline. Jagan and his team used Salesforce Vibes for quick prototypes and wireframes to help them decide what to build. But the development team still needed to take these ideas the rest of the way. "AI cannot help us solve all of the architecture problems," Jagan explains, "we have to have a human in the loop." With millions of concurrent users, they needed to do thorough testing—and quickly. Luckily, they could use Salesforce Scale Center to stress-test for performance issues and identify bottlenecks so they could be sure that when the ad ran, the app would work flawlessly. Designing for security with a million dollars on the line I know this might be shocking, but when you're holding a contest with a million-dollar prize, some people will try to cheat. So Jagan and his team needed to make sure there were plenty of guardrails in place to make sure someone could win it fair and square. They needed to start with a security mindset and think through any security vulnerabilities as they designed the application. Einstein Trust Layer was crucial for toxicity detection and monitoring for anything malicious, like prompt injections. Most importantly, they were very careful with what information the Slackbot knew and what it didn't. It didn't have the solutions to the puzzles, so even if someone managed to crack it, they wouldn't be able to get very far. Instead, puzzle answers were always validated by humans. There's a lot more from Jagan about building for scale quickly, so make sure to take a listen. And don't forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you never miss an episode. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more MrBeast + Salesforce Behind the Scenes The Million-Dollar Puzzle: How Slackbot and MrBeast are Rewriting the Super Bowl Playbook Salesforce Admins Blog Post: Empowering Admins: Build Org Scalability With New Scale Center Features True to the Core Deep Dive: What's New in Lightning Experience Performance and Agentforce Vibes Salesforce Admins Blog Post: Build With Confidence: Inside the New Agentforce Builder Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Jagan on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript Mike Gerholdt: When you think about building on Salesforce, it's easy to focus on features. But today's admins aren't just implementing features. They're designing systems that have to perform, scale, and hold up under real world pressure. In today's episode, I'm going to sit down with Jagan, an architect who helped deliver a high stakes, high scale experience serving millions of users through a custom Slack-based AI system. We're going to unpack what it actually takes to compress months of work into weeks and how to design for trust and guardrails from day one, and where human judgment still matters in an AI-driven architecture. So if you've ever wondered how your role evolves from building flows to orchestrating full systems, this is the conversation because this just isn't about speed. It's about responsibility at scale. Now if you enjoy this episode, hit Subscribe, share it with a fellow admin and let's get Jagan on the podcast. So Jagan, welcome to the podcast. Jagan Nathan: Hi, Mike. Thank you for having me. Mike Gerholdt: Yeah. Well, I was excited when you sent me the Slack DM about some of the projects that you've worked on here at Salesforce. But for people that don't know you or maybe didn't listen to the episode of the Developer Podcast you were on, could you tell us a little bit about what you do at Salesforce and the fun project you got to work on recently? Jagan Nathan: Sure. Hey everyone. I'm Jaganir. I'm architect part of our AA practice team here at Salesforce, building agents for our customers. This is my third podcast on our channel. My previous episodes were focused on event monitoring and threat detection. Mike Gerholdt: Wow. Let's talk about some of the stuff that you got to work on around the big football game that happens in February that Salesforce had an ad on. Jagan Nathan: Yeah, sure. Very excited. This is our first ever online puzzle app, which was built entirely on our Salesforce platform. Mike Gerholdt: So you got to be a part of that. I'd love to know from a Salesforce admin listening to this, we used the platform for the puzzle. Can you give me a little insight into that? Jagan Nathan: Yeah, so let's unpack this. So what we did is we didn't just build a chatbot. We deployed our custom Slackbot, of course, powered by our Agentforce, which acted as a conversation gate for millions of participants grounded in real-time data. So we just collapsed a nine-month roadmap into just six weeks, which is 42 days. Within that, we designed iterator and we went live on day of February 8th. Mike Gerholdt: Wow. Nine-month roadmap. Holy cow. That's insane. I mean, can you talk a little bit about the architecture problem solving and how you moved so fast so quickly? Jagan Nathan: Yeah, sure. Of course, we are a customer zero company. So we leverage our internal tools and the external tools, what we have developed. So for this entire application, we use our Agentforce Vibes to accelerate the development. We quickly do a lot of wireframes and the prototypes, and then we figure out what sort of user experience and what sort of applications we need to build using the power of Agentforce Vibes that accelerated our development timeframe to start with. Mike Gerholdt: Oh, that's nice. I...
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How Admins Can Get the Most Out of TDX 2026
Apr 900:21:21Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Jennifer Lee, Lead Admin Evangelist, and Eliza Riley, Content Manager for Admin Marketing at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about what's coming at TDX and how to get the most out of your visit. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Jennifer Lee and Eliza Riley. Connect with product leaders at TDX TDX is around the corner, and I sat down with Eliza and Jen to talk about must-see content for admins and how to get the most out of your visit. One thing you won't want to miss out on this year is Sneak Peeks, a special experience in the theater where you'll be able to see new features in action. We'll be showcasing things like the new App Studio and Setup with Agentforce so you can get an idea of what's coming. There will also be a Q&A with the product teams so you can give feedback and better understand the roadmap. There will also be True to the Core Deep Dives covering flow and automation, reporting and analytics, Agentforce, and low-code and pro-code development. These extended Q&As offer you a chance to connect with product leaders and ask all of your burning questions. Finally, if you have a thorny problem that needs solving, you can sign up for a 1-on-1 Ask the Expert session with a Salesforce engineer or product leader. See the sights We've been talking a lot on the pod about Agentforce Vibes, so maybe it's time to see it for yourself. In the Agentforce Vibes Zone, you'll be able to get hands-on with how you can build using natural language. There will be demos, a guided project, and sessions to help you get started. You'll also want to check out the Hackathon Showcase in the keynote room, where the three finalists will pitch their builds live to the judges. As Jen says, it's always interesting to see how different people solve problems and get some inspiration for what you're building in your org. If you're coming alone, make sure to stop by the Community Cove. It's the spot for networking with other admins and other folks in the ecosystem, and a great jumping-off point for exploring TDX. How to plan for TDX As you're getting ready for TDX, it's important to remember to balance planning with flexibility. "You're going to be connecting with people," Eliza says, "you might see a cool activation that catches your eye, or a robot you might want to stop and grab a picture with." Wear comfortable shoes, bring water and snacks, remember that some sessions require headphones, and make sure you have a swag bag. Most importantly, come find us and say hi. Make sure to listen to the full episode for more on what's coming at TDX. And don't forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast to catch us every Thursday. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Salesforce Admins Blog Post: The Salesforce Admin's Guide to TDX 2026 Salesforce Admins Podcast Episode: What Are True to the Core Deep Dives at TDX? Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Jen on LinkedIn Eliza on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Love our podcasts? Subscribe today or review us on iTunes! Full show transcript Mike: If you're heading into TDX thinking it's just another event, this episode might change how you show up entirely. Today, I'm joined by Jennifer and Eliza to break down how to actually get the most out of TDX26, not just attend it. We're going to talk about everything from Sneak Peeks and Ask the Expert zones to hands-on Agentforce experiences and so much more. Most importantly, how these moments are going to help you design better systems, not just learn new features, because this isn't about collecting swag or just session notes. It's about connecting with the people building the platform and shaping how your organization runs. So, if you're serious about evolving from admin to orchestrator, we got your game plan. So, let's get Jen and Eliza on the podcast. So, Jen, Eliza, welcome to the podcast. Jennifer: Thanks for having us. Eliza: Super happy to be here. Mike: It's going to be fun. So, Jen, you're a veteran of the podcast and in the community. Tell us a little bit about what you do at Salesforce, and then, we're going to get into what we do for TDX. Jennifer: Sure. I'm one of a few admin evangelists on the team. So, some of the things that I do on a daily basis is write blogs, create video content, and present to all of you admins out there. Mike: Just a few. Eliza, you're like our secret Alfred in the bat cave. I feel like all of us evangelists come back with torn suits, and our Batmobiles have a flat tire and you fix everything up. But you also did a whole bunch of stuff at TDX last year, but what do you do on the admin team? Eliza: Yeah, I know you guys are really on the front lines. So, I'm a content manager on admin relations, and I focus on creating resources and storytelling to help admins grow into more strategic roles. And I also lead our admin blog. So, really helping to translate just everything that's happening across Salesforce into what actually matters day-to-day. And that includes a lot of coverage on TDX, which I'm really excited about. Mike: Yeah, we have a lot planned. To be fair, you also did a showdown last year at TDX, if I recall. Isn't that right, Eliza? Eliza: Yes, we did. That was super fun. We had a few members of the community come and showcase their best Agentforce use cases. We had some prizes, and it was just a really great time. Mike: Right. It was. You had one vivacious MC. Should hire him back. Let's talk about this year though, because Eliza, you wrote a blog post to help admins get ready and write down their list of stuff they can't miss for TDX. And the first thing is the Sneak Peeks area, which you and Jennifer are working on. So, let's hear a little bit about that first. Eliza: Yeah. So, Sneak Peeks is this really special interactive theater experience. And these are really building on the success that we saw at Dreamforce. So, if any of you attended Dreamforce last year, Jen did an incredible job in the Admin Meadow creating this special exclusive look at what's coming next for Salesforce products. So, we're building on the success of that this year, and we're going to be showing you quick demos of all of our in-progress innovations, and then, opening it up for live Q&A with the product teams. And so, what's really cool about this for those of you attending in person is that you might be some of the first people to actually see these developments in action. And then, if you're not able to join us and you're watching from home or tuning in later, we'll be covering some of these on the admin blog as well. So, you definitely won't be missing out on any of the fun. Mike: Oh, nice. Jen, you got to peel back a layer. Tell me, give me something. Give me a sneak at the Sneak Peek. Jennifer: Well, first I want to say that as a former customer, when I went to TDX, one of the things that I look forward to was seeing the roadmap and interacting with the PMs. So, I'm really excited to be able to bring this to all our technical audiences. But a couple of things that you will be able to peek into, we'll be introducing the new App Studio. There's also Salesforce Release Manager. So, think of this as being able to say, for these releases, "I want to enable these things in my org." That's the idea behind that. And then, we're just bringing on a lot of... We have three sessions on flow, like thinking about new flow design or what's coming up with screen flows or how to manage your flows. We're also bringing in set up with Agentforce, not only in Salesforce itself, but also in Slack. So, there's just a lot of cool things, but I'm just going to tease a few. Mike: Yeah. No, thanks. You got to show up,...
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What Is My Trust Center and How Does It Help Admins?
Apr 200:22:54Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to John Maxey, Senior Product Manager at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about how My Trust Center can help admins communicate incidents, plan releases, and operate with transparency. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with John Maxey. From static status pages to personalized trust When I was early in my admin career in 2008, keeping track of status updates was as simple as loading up Salesforce Trust. These days, with so many different products and services, it's gotten a lot more complicated. That's why I was so excited to sit down with John Maxey. He's working on My Trust Center, a personalized, authenticated experience that only shows you information that's relevant to your org. Reducing noise and creating clarity for admins With the new My Trust Center, you'll be able to get more specific information about upcoming maintenance and how it affects your org. Everything is tailored to what products and services you're actually using, instead of having to sift through unrelated incidents and interpret whether or not they apply to you. As John explains, Salesforce can be much more granular about any specific maintenance or updates and how they will affect you. And that makes it easier to make decisions like when to promote new features, when you need to do testing, or when there might be downtime. You can coordinate better with your team and avoid surprises. Greater transparency through targeted communication At its core, My Trust Center is about improving transparency both internally and externally. For admins, it will provide more visibility into what's going on when something doesn't work and when a particular service will be back online. If there's an incident, you won't need to ask your CSM or contact customer support to figure out what happened. RCAs will be attached to each incident, so the entire process is self-serve. And you can configure notifications via SMS, Slack, or email to keep your entire team up to speed. Make sure to listen to the full episode for more from John about what's coming with My Trust Center. And make sure you're subscribed to the Salesforce Admins Podcast to catch us every Thursday. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Salesforce Admins Blog Post: Jen's Top Spring '26 Features for Admins Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social John on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Love our podcasts? Subscribe today or review us on iTunes! Full show transcript Mike Gerholdt: This week on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, I am joined by John Maxey to unpack the evolution of the Trust Center into something far more than a status page. That's right. It's becoming a personalized command center for how you run your org. I mean, let's be honest, it's not just about uptime anymore. It's about how you design systems that balance data, automation, and AI while keeping your stakeholders informed and confident. We're going to dig into what My Trust Center means for how you communicate incidences, plan releases, and operate with clarity across increasingly complex environments. So if you're the person everyone turns to when something breaks or when they just think something's broke, this episode's for you. Let's get John on the podcast. So John, welcome to the podcast. John Maxey: Thanks, Mike. Thanks for having me. Mike Gerholdt: Well, this is exciting. So I like it when I can have a podcast and a blog post on the same subject in the same day. And all of this stuff around trust and security, I feel like admins are right there, we're the Sentinels every day. But before we talk about some of the cool stuff that you're working on, let's learn a little bit about John Maxey. So John, how did you get to Salesforce and what is the cool thing that you oversee? John Maxey: Oh, well, thank you for that. So I came to Salesforce in late 2007. I joined as a customer support rep in CSG in our customer success group. I had just come from the FinTech, and if folks remembered, FinTech was kind of not doing well at that time in 2007. So it was an opportunity to switch industries and come to Salesforce. And that was pretty exciting being the ... At the time, our moniker was no software, sort of breaking the mold of traditional software and sort of moving to the cloud. Mike Gerholdt: Yeah. We were talking before I hit record. I think if you do the math, our Salesforce experience is definitely in high school at some point. John Maxey: Seems that way. Mike Gerholdt: They graduated from high school, which is kind of scary at some point. John Maxey: I wish. Mike Gerholdt: I know. Well, it's about to head off to college and make questionable decisions and maybe be a paleontology as a major. Who knows? But we're going to talk about ... So the blog post that went up today on admin.salesforce.com is the same topic as this podcast, which is My Trust Center, which I can't tell you how excited I am for this. Because I remember back to my days early admin, like '08, just going to having to pay. It never dawned on me until one of my users couldn't log into Salesforce a long, long, long, long time ago. And I was like, oh, I wonder why that is. But I never thought about like, oh, cloud services can go offline. I need to pay attention to this. And at the time, trust.salesforce.com was literally just like a handful of blinky lights. That's all it was because there was a handful of pods that you paid attention to and you just checked to see if yours was up and that was it. And then over the years, I mean, there's so much more to pay attention to. Everything that goes into trust.salesforce.com. So can you kind of take us on that journey of like Mike from 2008, just having to remember if NA1 is up to everything that the new My Trust Center is going to give us? John Maxey: Sure. Yeah. I remember using the Trust site when I first joined Salesforce as well way back in 2007, and it has changed a lot. So if you think about it, in 2007, Salesforce was really sort of selling one product, CRM, Salesforce automation. We had, like you say, we had just a handful of instances where we had customer installations. So even the field of boxes that we had there was small enough for folks to be able to find out what was going on with their stuff. And even in the URL of their application, it would say which instance you were on. So fast-forward 18 years and we've acquired companies, we've developed new technologies and new products. Some of them are on the platform and others are what we call off core or they're not directly in our application. They're separate different types of architecture. And then we've also moved into the public cloud. We've also been selling to enterprise customers and we think about an enterprise customer and their implementations are far more complicated, multi-cloud. So they may have marketing and commerce, as well as sales and service. And then we have all our industries. So in talking to customers when I became the product manager of the trust site in 2018, just sort of realized that their experience, especially for our larger customers was harder to deal with. When you look at, I mean, I think we have 950 some odd instances in our sales service industry, we have over a thousand DBs in marketing cloud engagement. It's just kind of daunting to try and figure out where you are. And so at the time we were figuring out tools to make it easier to find that. But really the answer was to get personal and to create an authenticated site. So then we know our customers. I believe that's like CRM 101, know your customer. And then when we know who they are, when you log in, we can present you with what you have with the things you already purchased, the products and services. So in this first release, we're starting that path, that journey to true personalization. And so there's still some gaps here and there, but one of them is the support for all our products. So we have requests out to all of our different products like MuleSoft and Tableau to do a little bit of work to get them ready for the My Trust Center. But yeah, so that's, I mean, it'...
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How Salesforce Admins Are Evolving to Run the Agentic Enterprise
Mar 2600:27:39Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Rebecca Saar, Senior Director of Admin Relations at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about governance, productivity, and why Salesforce Admins are more essential than ever in the agentic enterprise. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Rebecca Saar. Admins are becoming the guardians of trust As AI becomes an ever bigger part of our day-to-day lives, I wanted to bring Rebecca Saar on the pod to talk about what changes and what stays the same. One thing she emphasizes is that admins are here to look at the big picture for their organizations. While it might be easier to build the solution, you still need to figure out what to build in the first place. "It's a shift in mindset and understanding where the work is happening," Rebecca says, "because we now can leverage these super powerful tools." Skills like gathering requirements, talking with stakeholders, and bridging the gap between departments are only going to be amplified by AI—not replaced. Admins act as translators across systems and teams Admins are a crucial intermediary for their organization, connecting the dots between multiple departments to understand what's really going on with a business process. In other words, admins are the ones who understand who to talk to in order to get something done. In my experience as an admin, each business unit only knows their own siloed data. They know where it comes from and who they ship it off to, but they don't know if there are better options, or where there might be a snag in the process. That's where admins need to step in and find a solution that individual business units might not be able to figure out on their own. Strong foundations still matter in an AI world Despite new tools, core admin skills remain essential. In a way, we've moved from problem solver to sense maker. You might not have to spend as much time figuring out who has what permissions, but you'll still be called on to have a conversation about how it should be handled. Just like with everything else, AI can save time on the busywork so you can focus on what matters. At the end of the day, it's even more important to lean into the foundational admin skills to find solutions that work for everyone in your organization. Make sure to listen to the full episode for more from Rebecca Saar about what's coming at TDX, and don't forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you never miss an episode. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Salesforce Admins Blog Post: How the Salesforce Administrator Role Is Evolving in the Agentic AI Era Salesforce Admins Blog Post: The Next-Gen Admin: In Conversation With Ishrat Bhatti Salesforce Admins Blog Post: The Next-Gen Admin: In Conversation With Tony Nguyen Salesforce Admins Podcast Episode: Why Agentforce Is a Game Changer for Small Businesses Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Rebecca on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript Mike: This week on the Salesforce Admins podcast, I sit down with Rebecca Saar, the Senior Director of Admin Relations for Salesforce, to talk about how the admin role is changing as AI and agents become really part of our everyday life. Now, we're going to dig into why Salesforce admins are becoming the guardians of trust, how strong fundamentals still matter, and where human judgment fits in when automation gets smarter. I like to think this is a very thoughtful conversation about governance, productivity, and why Salesforce admins are more essential than ever. So with that, let's get Rebecca on the podcast. So Rebecca, welcome to the podcast. Rebecca: Hi, Mike. Thanks for having me. Mike: It's been a while. Last time you were on, we did an entire episode in German because international podcasts are fun. Rebecca: Yeah. What a ride. How many years ago was that? Mike: Just a few. It's like one or two in Salesforce admin years, which translate differently to the rest of the world. Rebecca: Right. And then I also say we've had a pandemic in between, so that has made time fly. Mike: Yep. Rebecca: And I think that was a pre-pandemic thing. Mike: It was. 100% pre-pandemic. Yep, absolutely. And then since then, you've been on stage quite a few times for the admin keynote. And doing a whole bunch of stuff with the admin relations team. You and I have both been on stage too. Rebecca: I know. Yes, we have been championing admins since 2014? Mike: Since forever. Rebecca: Yes. Dedicating over a decade and celebrating that big decade 10-year anniversary was a couple of years ago. And that was a big highlight for me, being able to share that with everyone on stage at Dreamforce. But yeah, since last time I was on the pod, I have now become the lead of admin relations and kind of leading this amazing team of evangelists and marketers on our mission to enable and empower and inspire all of our Salesforce admins out there. Mike: And we're doing that as a transition to talk about... Literally right before I pressed record on this podcast, I was listening to NPR talk through AI and how AI is affecting something. They quoted 60 to 80% of the people in the workplace now use AI for some sort of task. And it kind of flashed back to me because it was interesting listening to them talk. They were describing, so when you tell AI to do something, that's a prompt. And listening to people walk through the understanding that I think a lot of Salesforce admins went through two or three years ago, I remember having people on the podcast to talk about prompt engineering, and I'm listening to them now, I'm like, "How do you not know this already? What world are you living in? You should already know about prompts and prompt engineering." But leading admins now as we're not just working with AI, but AI's working with us, right? Rebecca: Yeah. AI is everywhere. I think just in the last few years, it's accelerated so, so much. Yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot because not only are our admins and our whole Trailblazer community thinking about the impact of AI. But it really is across at least tech industry, but corporate world where everyone is kind of thinking about how are we incorporating AI into our workplace. Mike: So I was thinking of the article that you published, How the Salesforce Administrator Role is Evolving in the Agentic Era. And the first kind of big bullet point or the first subhead under there is The New Mandate, The Guardian of Trust. And working on that article with you, I happened to think of the very first thing that I did when I was a Salesforce administrator. Well, the second thing I did. The first thing I did was I updated my profile. The second thing I did was I got certified and I was one of the first 500 Salesforce admins certified. And I remember posting that to... We had a local kind of intranet at the company that I was at. And I remember posting that just out of pride for myself that I had passed, but also really wanting my users and my executives to know like, "Hey, when I suggest something, it's because I'm knowledgeable about it, so you should trust me." And I think it's interesting that almost 15 years later, when AI comes around, this is the very first thing that we're talking about with admins as being the guardians of trust. Rebecca: Yeah. Trust, it's our number one value. And it's, I think, the most important thing our admins can do for their company and their users. You manage the data, you manage security, you manage automation. And these are the pieces of the system that need to come together in ...
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How Can Agentforce Help Manage a Salesforce Backlog?
Mar 1900:27:25Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Neil Foglio, Solution Architect at Arkus. Join us as we chat about how to use a backlog to prioritize requests in your Salesforce org, and how Agentforce can help improve transparency and trust. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Neil Foglio. Why Salesforce Admins need a backlog We talk a lot about forward-looking statements on this podcast, but what about that thing trailing along behind you? That's right, it's your technical debt. If you're facing a mountain of requests, this episode is for you. That's why I sat down with Neil Foglio. He explains how your backlog can be a tool to streamline your Salesforce org and help it evolve with your business. "It's not a to-do list and it's not a task list," Neil says, "it's a commitment that something will be prioritized amongst everything else that you have on your plate." It's a central place to capture all requests, improvements, and ideas, and then evaluate them so you can figure out what to work on and when. Writing better backlog items For Neil, the key to making a backlog that works for you is to write better action items. Make sure that every item starts with an action verb. Instead of "create a new fundraising homepage," be more specific: "design a new Lightning page so gift officers can see donation history." The other key step is to evaluate and prioritize your action items. There are several different systems you can use, but you're generally looking at value, effort, and risk. How much impact will making this change have? What resources will you need to get it done? And finally, what data do you have to support what you believe? For many organizations, there will also be custom dimensions that have their own score. For example, an educational institution may evaluate everything in terms of how it improves student learning. What's important is to establish a clear process and get buy-in from leadership over how things are prioritized. How Agentforce can help with backlogs Managing your Salesforce backlog is even easier with Agentforce. As Neil explains, getting a clear and specific user story is crucial to creating useful action items. You can set up an agent to take requests, and go through the granular details with the user of every action they're taking in a business process so you can get to the why behind their request. Agentforce can also help you improve transparency by explaining the why behind your prioritization decisions. You can have a helper explain what you're working on and when you expect to deliver it. Be sure to listen to the full episode for more from Neil and hear his upright bass playing. And don't forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast to catch us every Thursday. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Salesforce Admins Blog Post: Why Every Admin Needs a Backlog (and How To Use One) Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Neil on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript Mike: Welcome to the Salesforce Admins podcast. And hey, you know what? That intro music you hear today, that's actually our guest, Neil Foglio, playing the upright bass. Neil is a solution architect at Arkus. And in this episode, we're talking about something every admin eventually runs into the backlog. Neil shares how thinking about your Salesforce org, more like a product than a project, can change how you manage requests, prioritize improvements, and make sure the right work gets done at the right time. We also dig into practical ways admins can evaluate ideas using simple frameworks like RICE so decisions feel fair and transparent. If you've ever wondered how to handle the constant flow of, "Hey, could we add this request?" This conversation's going to help. So with that, let's get Neil on the podcast. So Neil, welcome to the podcast. Neil Foglio: Hey, Mike, thanks for having me. Mike: I'm excited to talk about this because a lot of things on the podcast we always talk about are future-facing. And I feel like this topic is kind of future-facing, but it's also managing, well, I don't know how best to put it, the burden of debt that we somehow get ourselves into. And in that, it's backlogs, which doesn't sound interesting, but I promise you, you're going to be excited by the end of this podcast. So Neil, let's start off with introducing you to the world and kind of let people know what you do and how you got into the Salesforce ecosystem. Neil Foglio: Yeah, of course. Hello, everyone listening. My name is Neil and I'm a solution architect at Arcus, Inc, where I work with both nonprofits and enterprises implementing Salesforce. Most of my work lately has been helping organizations treat their CRM more like a product than a project, and to rethink how they steer their Salesforce org with their evolving businesses, where governance kind of comes into the picture, and that's where this topic of the backlog fits in. Mike: Yeah. Wow. That's interesting because I'm looking at the core responsibilities we have for admins, and project and product management are both core responsibilities. Neil Foglio: Yeah. I feel like a lot of admins now are really acting more like product managers, steering their Salesforce org, figuring out what elements have the most value and where you can produce the most ROI. And this is where you want to have systems that prioritize those things, and that's exactly what the backlog is. Mike: Okay. So I will confess this, that when I started as an admin a long time ago before the iPhone, we'll just say that as a date, I had no concept of some of the technical things that my developer friends knew. I didn't know about change management. I didn't know about backlogs or managing technical debt. For newer admins that are just getting started in the ecosystem and at their organizations, how do you define what a backlog is and how do you define what gets on a backlog? Neil Foglio: Yeah, absolutely. And I was in that same boat. So I started my tech career coming from healthcare. And so the first time I heard the word backlog, I thought it was a terrible thing, that something wasn't happening, work wasn't getting done, patients weren't being cared for. But when we think back to starting in a Salesforce org, you might have been in a position where you inherit an org or your company gets some new leadership that wants to make a bunch of improvements to the org and you find yourself questioning, "Well, where do I start and how do I prioritize all of these questions and features coming at me?" Without a system to rate them all, the things that typically will get done are those asked by the person with the most seniority in the room or the person that's emailing you three times a week. Mike: Right. Sometimes it's the same person. Neil Foglio: Could be. And sometimes it is especially when there is new leadership or a disruptive factor happens in the business that we need to respond to. And what the backlog is it's a tool that creates a level playing field for all of these ideas and their stakeholders. So it's a central place to do two things. Number one, to capture all of these requests and improvements and ideas, and number two, to rate them against each other using the same evaluative criteria so you can figure out which ones have the most value at this moment when you have capacity to build something new. Mike: That makes sense. I mean, to be fair, when I first started, the requests would... I would manage them basically in the order that they were received. And I very quickly had to learn, "Oh wait, creating a list view is way less effort than creating a contract management application," for example. And just because the list view is the third one down doesn't mean I can't just bump it up and knock out a whole bunch of half hour jobs as opposed to, "Well, it's going to have to wait until I get this monster of a contract application created." Neil Foglio: I mean, those little things tend to add up too, right? So if you're spending a lot of your time in a reactive mode and you're doing these requests as they're coming in, you might not really have a lot to show for it at the end of the day. Mike: You can. Yeah, absolutely....
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The Future of Salesforce Setup Is Agent-Driven
Mar 1200:27:57Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Cheryl Feldman, Senior Director of Product Management at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about how Agentforce is reshaping the Setup experience. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Cheryl Feldman. From 1,300 pages to one conversation Let's be honest. Setup has always been where the real admin magic happens. But it can be surprisingly complicated to answer a simple question, like, "Why can't my user edit this record?" As Cheryl Feldman explains, it's because Setup has slowly grown in complexity over time. As new products and features were added to Salesforce, Setup pages multiplied. And while that level of complexity will always be necessary, it doesn't need to be so hard for admins to navigate. That's where Setup with Agentforce comes in. Whether it's troubleshooting permissions, understanding formulas, or finding the right configuration page, you can do it all with conversational AI instead of wading through 1,300 pages. How to try Setup with Agentforce right now Setup with Agentforce is currently available in open beta, so you can give it a try in production, a sandbox, or a developer org. Cheryl and her team would love to get your feedback. "We want to hear from admins," she says, "Does it help you? And what do you want us to solve next?" Right now, Setup with Agentforce can handle common use cases, like user access, formulas, data model, and Flow. And for questions it can't cover, the agent will pull answers from Salesforce's help and training documentation and point you to the correct Setup pages to get the job done. A simpler, agent-driven future for Setup Right now, Setup with Agentforce focuses on high-impact, everyday Setup tasks. But Cheryl and her team have big plans for the future. One area they're looking at is multi-step orchestration, which will give admins the ability to create objects or fields, grant users access to them, and add them to a layout in one guided process. Instead of jumping between pages, you'll be able to complete related tasks in a single conversational experience. Most importantly, we need your feedback to shape what comes next. Jump on the open beta, reach out to Cheryl and her team, and let's make some admin magic. Check out the full episode for more from Cheryl Feldman. And remember to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you never miss an episode. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Trailblazer Community Group: Setup With Agentforce (Beta) Salesforce Admins Podcast Episode: How Do I Understand a Complex Salesforce Formula Quickly? Salesforce Admins Blog: Introducing Setup with Agentforce (Beta): Your New Admin Superpower Dreamforce '25 on Salesforce+: The Future of Setup Powered by Agentforce Dreamforce '25 on Salesforce+: Setup Now with Agentforce: Simplifying the Complex Dreamforce '25 on Salesforce+: Setup with Agentforce: New Superpower for Salesforce Admins Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Cheryl on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Love our podcasts? Subscribe today or review us on iTunes! Full show transcript Mike Gerholdt: This week on the Salesforce Admins podcast, well, let's be honest, setup has always been where the real admin magic happens. On this episode, I am talking to Cheryl Feldman, Product Management Senior Director at Salesforce, and longtime admin advocate to unpack how Agentforce is reshaping the way we build, troubleshoot, and think through configuration. From solving tricky user access questions to helping us with formulas and beyond, this is about making setup smarter and more intuitive. With that, let's get Cheryl on the podcast. So Cheryl, welcome to the podcast. Cheryl Feldman: Thanks so much, Mike. I'm excited to be back. Mike Gerholdt : I'm excited to have you back. You were a rockstar at Dreamforce this year, and you're probably going to be a rockstar this whole year. I know in the admin keynote, we demoed Agentforce for Setup. I think I'm using that term right, right? Cheryl Feldman: Setup with Agentforce, but thank you. Yes. Mike Gerholdt : Okay. See, I'm always backwards. Cheryl Feldman: Yes. I was so excited to see that work in the keynote and to see the exciting admin response and excited that we went to beta today. Mike Gerholdt : Oh my God. I feel like I feel as much joy for this as I do when we could customize the homepage. Cheryl Feldman: Yes. Mike Gerholdt : It sounds so small. We're getting in super knee-deep. Let's zoom out for a second because I'm sure there's a lot of new admins that are like, "What are they talking about?" Cheryl, for people that haven't met you and heard you in some of the True to the Core, and some of the Q&A sessions where I feel like Parker just calls on you constantly, could you do a little bit of an introduction of what you do and the fun stuff you get to work on at Salesforce? Cheryl Feldman: Sure. My name is Cheryl Feldman, and I'm a Product Manager in platform. Been at Salesforce about four and a half years now. Prior to joining Salesforce, I was actually a customer for just over 18 years in, starting out as an admin, moved into more leadership and management roles, was running a COE at a very large bank before I joined Salesforce. And when I joined Salesforce, I started in the user access area, specifically managing the authorization side of things, and then started to really advocate that we improve admin experiences. That led me to my role now where I act as the product domain lead for Setup with Agentforce, and improving experiences for admins and really addressing a lot of the issues that admins have in setup because speaking of True to the Core, setup has come up pretty much every True to the Core has ever existed. And that's what I do here at Salesforce. Mike Gerholdt : Which is a lot to say the least. I will fan out a little bit because I remember when Cheryl, you were a customer, you always had questions I couldn't answer, which challenged me. And now to see you on the inside, I mean, it's one thing to hang an identity and say admin developer architect, but that kind of core identity that people have that you made your name on of configuring one of the most complex CRMs to meet business needs without deploying code is just so empowering. And I just, for me, on behalf of all the people like me, I'm just so appreciative to have you inside the PM org championing for people that want to be in tech that don't understand or know how to write code. I had to say that early just because- Cheryl Feldman: Thank you. Thank you for saying that. Mike Gerhold...
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How Does Agent Script Give Admins More Control?
Mar 500:17:17Tap to summarizeToday on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Joshua Birk, Senior Director of Admin Evangelism at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about how to get started with Agent Script and how it helps admins build better AI agents. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Joshua Birk. What is Agent Script? Big changes are coming to how admins build AI agents with Salesforce, and so I've brought Josh Birk on the pod to help us understand what's going on with the new Agentforce Builder. There are backend updates to the Atlas Reasoning Engine, but Agent Script is where the rubber meets the road for admins. It's a simple, high-level scripting language that lets you create complex instructions and actions for your agent to follow. Agent Script puts the human in the loop for all the little decisions an AI makes, helping you build more predictable and reliable agentic solutions. If you're comfortable with coding, you can pop open the hood with Script view, but there's also a visual Canvas view to help you see how things fit together and make the changes you want. And as always, you can just tell the Agentforce assistant what you want your agent to be able to do, and it'll list out suggestions for you to accept or decline. Why can't I copy my agents into the new Agent Builder? The biggest question most admins have about the new Agent Builder is why they can't just copy and paste their old agents into the new system. The answer is that the new version uses a completely different engine: hybrid reasoning. Josh uses the example of the transition to Lightning Web Components from Aura and Visualforce. LWC was created to align with modern web standards that simply didn't exist when these older frameworks were developed. The same principle applies to the new Agentforce Builder and the addition of Agent Script. The control that it gives you is a result of the hybrid reasoning engine it's built around. Don't panic, learn Agent Script Josh's biggest piece of advice is to take things slowly. The agents you've built in classic will still work fine, and just like with Visualforce, they're not going to be sunsetted anytime soon. "Salesforce does not like taking away people's toys," Josh says, "you don't need to be in a rush to go and recreate your existing agents in the new Agentforce Builder." Instead, try building new agents with Agent Script. It'll give you a better idea of just how much more control and reliability is possible. And once you've gotten your feet wet, you'll have a better idea of what you'll get when you update your existing agents. As Josh says, "Don't panic, learn Agent Script." There's more great stuff from my conversation with Josh about Agent Script and the new Agentforce Builder, so be sure to take a listen. And make sure you're subscribed to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you never miss an episode. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Salesforce Admins Blog: Build With Confidence: Inside the New Agentforce Builder Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Josh on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Love our podcasts? Subscribe today or review us on iTunes! Full show transcript Mike Gerholdt: This week on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, if you've ever been wondering why you can't just copy and paste your old agents into the new version, this episode is for you. I'm joined by Josh Birk, who recently walked our admin relations team through what's really changing with Agent Builder and Agentforce. And more importantly, why it matters. We're going to unpack a little bit of hybrid reasoning, what determinism really means for admins, and how Agent Script gives you even more control without losing all of that magic. So with that, let's get Josh on the podcast. So Josh, welcome back to the podcast. Josh Birk: Thanks for having me, Mike. Mike Gerholdt: Well, we know that a few people are vibing now because of the dulcet tones of Josh Birk. So in all honesty, you were in a team meeting last week and you were kind of updating the team on stuff that's coming out for new products and beta products. And the biggest thing that you always explain is like, so why is this important? Josh Birk: Yeah. Mike Gerholdt: And of course, every now and then you end your little skit with, "Thanks for attending my TED Talk." Josh Birk: Yeah. Mike Gerholdt: And I remember last week's meeting, I was like, "Oh man, that's a podcast. I need to do that." Josh Birk: Yeah. Mike Gerholdt: Because the way that you would explained what was new with Agent Builder and Agentforce, I was just like, "Oh, that totally makes sense to me." So this is where we're at and this is what I was hoping we would talk about. Josh Birk: Yeah. And I'll have to try because I kind of remember getting into a very weird, almost like conspiracy theory level stream of consciousness. Mike Gerholdt: Oh, okay. Well, it didn't feel that way. Josh Birk: Good. I think that's years of experience of thinking in streams of consciousnesses, whatever the plural of that is. So yeah, so I think to kind of recap a little bit, so there were two things that I think are kind of important to consider about the new Agent Builder. One is what we mean by hybrid reasoning and what we mean by determinism. And then the second thing is, where does Agent Script fit into that? So the question we were kind of tackling was, why didn't we just go back and revise the old builder? Why can't we just reiterate on it? Why are we starting completely new? Mike Gerholdt: And I think you even said, not to interrupt you, but to interrupt you, why can't I just move my stuff over? Why do I have to rebuild it? Josh Birk: And why can't I just move my stuff over? Why isn't it just copy and paste? And Agent Script is part of that. So the original engine wasn't hybrid, is I think the easiest way to put it. So this came with a conversation with product management where I was trying to describe the differences between the old builder and the new builder. And they're like, well, let's ... The old builder wasn't doing anything wrong, so much is that the new builder's doing something more. And what the new builder's doing that is more is that when we say hybrid, when we think of AI, we think of AI being autonomous, making its own decisions. So we had the Atlas reasoning engine that's like, "Oh, Mike is looking to find a description on a certain account. I'm going to take these actions. I'm going to put them together into a plan and then I'm going to try to make that work." What we didn't have was the human in the loop portion of that. And where Agent Script really comes into play is it allows users to basically be like, "In this scenario, I want you to behave like this." So when we say hybrid, we mean, yeah, we're letting the engine kind of do its own magic. But then we're also applying almost ... I don't want to say flow because that's such a loaded term for a Salesforce community. Mike Gerholdt: Yeah. Josh Birk: But well, let's go to the name, right? A script, right? A script that a human can actually control personality, control tone, control behavior. When you see this, do this, when you need to call it human. So kind of giving this very human-friendly dialogue that you can then apply to the agent. And so that's how we provide more determinism. So the reason you can't just copy and paste your old agent into the new agent is the old agent doesn't have that connection to Agent Script. And so it's literally missing a piece of the puzzle to run the engine kind of thing. Mike Gerholdt: Right. No, I think ... I mean, hearing you explain it, sometimes, at least as an admin, I was always like, "Oh, so they just came out with another version because they had to stick another layer of something on." Josh Birk: Yeah. Mike Gerholdt: Or like a car analogy, they changed the fuzzy dice. But this is, no, no, no, no. We're really moving from this version, which ran a certain way to an even better version. And that's the part that I feel like ... Because you ...
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