Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Jennifer Lee, Joshua Birk, and Kate Lessard from the Admin Evangelist team at Salesforce.

Join us as we look at what's next for admins and Agentforce in 2026 and revisit our predictions from last year.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Jennifer Lee, Joshua Birk, and Kate Lessard.

Revisiting our predictions for 2025

Happy New Year! Last January, I asked the Admin Evangelist team to make predictions for 2025. So let's check in on those and see how we did.

Josh Birk promised that admins would find building with Agentforce to be easier than they expected. I think that's turned out to be true, especially with resources from Salesforce like Agentforce NOW to help you get started. However, building agents is only part of AI adoption. There's still plenty of work to be done to get organizational buy-in and get the most out of Agentforce.

Jennifer Lee was excited about the potential of Setup with Agentforce. And while these new features didn't make it out of pilot in 2025, she's still excited about how much easier things will be when it goes live. And if you want to see it in action, check out the Admin Keynote from Dreamforce '25.

Finally, Kate Lessard was all about security for 2025 and how important it will be for AI adoption. Time and again, what she's found is that getting Agentforce buy-in at your organization starts with a clear governance story. Dreamforce '25 featured our first-ever Security Keynote, so this is a topic that will continue to be top-of-mind for admins.

What's on the 2026 Roadmap for Salesforce Admins?

Next, I wanted to ask the team to make predictions for 2026.

For Josh, it's not just about the agents that admins can build. It's about the agents that help you get more things done on the backend. With tools like Setup powered by Agentforce, Agentforce for Security, and Agentforce Vibes, there are more and more ways to amplify your skills with AI. In other words, it's agents all the way down.

Jen, as always, is all about automation. As she puts it, "Without any type of automation, how good are your agents?" In 2026, she sees admins building with smaller, simpler flows that leave the heavy lifting to AI agents. With your Agentforce skills amplifying your automation skills, you can simplify complicated processes without breaking a sweat.

Meanwhile, for Kate, 2026 will be all about finding new partners in the organization. Admins will need a seat at the table with security teams, legal teams, and business leadership to ensure a trusted AI implementation.

In 2026, admins will have the agency to do what?

Finally, on the theme of agents and agency, I asked the team: "In 2026, admins will have the agency to do… what?"

For Jen, it's bringing innovation into your company by being at the forefront of everything that's going on with Salesforce. Trying new tools, looking for new ways to simplify business processes, and becoming the AI expert at your organization.

Josh gives some examples of that expertise in action. He predicts that admins will feel more empowered to jump in and build Lightning Web Components or even an Apex class with the help of AI. It's not about replacing developers, but expanding the potential for collaboration.

Obviously, Kate is focused on the importance of proactive AI governance. "When governance is reactive, admins get forced into cleanup mode," she says. So Salesforce Admins need to build strong partnerships with their stakeholders to make sure any AI implementation is safe and secure.

Be sure to listen to the full episode for insights from Kate, Josh, and Jen. And don't forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast to catch us every Thursday. Happy New Year!

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Full show transcript

Mike: Happy New Year and welcome to 2026 and the Salesforce Admins Podcast. Well, this year, we're going to kick things off by revisiting a tradition we started last year, which was future-gazing, with Josh Birk, Jennifer Lee and Kate Lessard on the Admin Evangelist team. Now, in this episode, we're going to get you started for 2026 by revisiting all of our predictions from 2025, and then exploring what lies ahead for Salesforce admins in this new year. From Agentforce breakthroughs to proactive governance, everybody brought some very sharp insights and a few surprises. And because it's the new year, it's a fresh start and the perfect time to plan your roadmap ahead for this year. So with that, let's get everybody back on the podcast. Okay. So welcome back everyone to the podcast.

Jennifer Lee: Hello.

Josh Birk: Oh, hi.

Mike: Great. I didn't call you out specifically. It's always like I've heard the story of you put 10 people in a room, one person will emerge as the leader. So I like to say intros like that and then just see who's going to speak first, because it's like, "Oh, you're going to go. No, you're going to go. No, you're going to go."

Josh Birk: It's a very bold interview strategy, to actually ask a question and just wait for the silence to break itself.

Mike: Yeah. It also is bold interview strategy of here's a podcast and a welcome and silence.

Kate Lessard: Oh, I was on mute. I apparently still haven't figured that out.

Mike: Goals for 2026.

Kate Lessard: Aiming high.

Mike: I still feel like they sell those shirts that say, "You're on mute."

Kate Lessard: Well, maybe my Secret Santa will get one for me.

Mike: One can hope, right? All right. So I will link to in the show notes, we did this podcast in what sounds weird of like a hundred years ago, 2024 for 2025. And I thought it would be fun to revisit that, because we've replayed it, but also revisit each of your predictions, and then have you break out the crystal ball, or Johnny Carson used to use an envelope, that shows how old I am, and look to the future of 2026. So Josh, we're going to start with you.

Josh Birk: Okay.

Mike: You said last year that admins would find Agentforce easier than expected. Did that hold up? Dun, dun, dun.

Josh Birk: Dun, dun, dun. First of all, I think that was almost like a cheat strategy there, because I think when we recorded this, everybody thought building agents was going to be pretty hard. So anything we've done to make that easier, I think the predictions come pretty true. I don't have the numbers on hand, on me right now, but we've had a lot of success with the Agentforce NOW, the virtual workshops that this team has helped host and present. I don't know, Mike, what was your biggest audience number? It was like a few hundred, right?

Mike: Oh, easily. But that aside, I think it's more of people aren't afraid.

Josh Birk: Yeah, yeah. I think people aren't afraid, and I think the tooling... First of all, the tooling has gotten really good and the tooling looks like, if we're moving into the prediction phase, the tooling looks like it's getting better too. So I think that one held true. I feel like people are... It's n...