Salesforce’s financial recovery is stronger than expected earnings. The company delivered its strongest AI-driven quarter to date, raising guidance on the back of surging Agentforce and Data 360 adoption, expanding data scale, and early momentum from its Informatica acquisition. The Informatica acquisition added a data catalog, integration, governance, and MDM layer to Salesforce’s platform as it continues shifting toward consumption-based pricing for AI agents.
On December 3, Salesforce posted adjusted Q3 earnings of $3.25 per share, up 35% and beating expectations of $2.86. Revenue grew 9% to $10.3 billion, in line with estimates. CRPO bookings rose 11% to $29.4 billion, part of a broader RPO base of $59.5 billion, up 12% year over year. GAAP operating margin reached 21.3% and non-GAAP margin hit 35.5%. Operating cash flow climbed 17% to $2.3 billion, with free cash flow up 22%.
Agentforce and Data 360 were the standout growth engines. Combined ARR reached roughly $1.4 billion, up 114% year over year. Agentforce alone surpassed half a billion dollars in ARR after rising 330%, while processing 3.2 trillion tokens through Salesforce’s LLM gateway. The company closed more than 18,500 Agentforce deals since launch, with 9,500 paid deals, up 50% quarter over quarter. Data 360 ingested 32 trillion records, including 15 trillion via Zero Copy and rapid expansion in unstructured data processing.
Salesforce returned $4.2 billion to shareholders in the quarter. It raised full year revenue guidance to $41.45–41.55 billion, signaling 9% to 10% growth. Following the results, its share price climbed more than 5% in extended trading.
The company projected $11.18 billion in Q4 revenue at the midpoint, above expectations, with Informatica providing about a 3% lift. Agentforce’s momentum supports the company’s projected path toward more than $60 billion in organic revenue by fiscal 2030.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
AI scale is redefining platform power. Salesforce’s disclosure of 3.2 trillion tokens processed and nearly $1.4 billion in combined AI and data ARR shows how quickly platform value is shifting toward AI throughput, data gravity, and autonomous capability layers. This trajectory signals that ERP providers will face rising expectations for measurable AI production workloads and quantifiable ARR tied to agentic automation.
Strong data architecture means a competitive advantage. Data 360’s ingestion of 32 trillion records, rapid Zero Copy growth, and rising unstructured data processing show how providers are consolidating data governance, integration, and activation under a single architecture. Enterprise stacks must include strong data foundations and metadata automation to remain viable in AI-centric operating models.
AI-driven economics are reshaping cloud strategy and growth. Salesforce’s accelerated ARR, upgraded outlook, and strong operating cash flow present a model in which AI adoption translates directly into financial leverage. ERP vendors, GSIs, and enterprise architects should expect future competitiveness to depend on aligning platform roadmaps, pricing structures, and partner motions around scalable AI driven economics rather than traditional application-led growth.
