Salesforce spent much of 2025 promoting Agentforce, its initiative to turn generative AI into a functional layer across sales, service, marketing, and Slack. The company promised digital agents that could answer questions, resolve issues, and automate workflows without human intervention. It was the most ambitious AI platform push Salesforce has made since Einstein.
Behind the scenes, however, there was a problem. Agentforce struggled to reliably access the data it needed. Competitors were moving faster, customers were confused about what Agentforce actually did, and internal reporting suggested adoption was limited. Business Insider reported that fewer than half of customers testing the tools were paying for them, and less than 2 percent were using them at scale.
Salesforce’s acquisition of Doti, an Israel-based AI search and retrieval startup, addresses a key gap in its AI capabilities. While it may appear to be a routine M&A move, the deal is part of an effort to strengthen Salesforce’s AI stack ahead of potential slowdowns with Agentforce. Salesforce has not disclosed the financial terms of the acquisition.
Doti Strengthens the Missing Layer in Salesforce’s AI Stack
Doti’s technology focuses on quickly locating and connecting relevant information across multiple enterprise systems. Rather than returning lists of documents, it surfaces clear, actionable answers and shows where each piece of information originated.
For Salesforce, this solves a persistent problem. Agentforce operates across several products (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Slack, and Data Cloud) each with its own data format and storage. Without a unified access layer, AI agents often receive incomplete or outdated information, reducing their reliability.
Slack CEO Denise Dresser described the acquisition as critical for the company’s vision. “Doti’s expertise fast-tracks our vision to reinvent enterprise search across Salesforce,” she said.
She added that combining Slack’s conversational context with Doti’s technology would make it easier for employees to find and act on information across the company.
Doti CEO Matan Cohen emphasized the practical impact. “Our mission has always been to transform how knowledge workers interact with information, making enterprise data instantly accessible and actionable. Joining Salesforce allows us to deliver that vision at scale.”
By integrating Doti, Salesforce adds a central “data router” to Agentforce, ensuring that AI agents can reliably retrieve the right information when needed. This addresses a key weakness that had limited adoption and trust.
A Response to Competitive Pressure and Internal Hurdles
The acquisition also reflects the pressure Salesforce faces from rivals. Microsoft combines Copilot with Microsoft Graph and Fabric to give AI agents reliable access to corporate data. Google layers Gemini into Workspace for similar effect. Companies that control the data layer can deliver more consistent AI experiences.
Salesforce’s rollout has been uneven. Internal confusion about Agentforce capabilities and slow adoption among early users have limited traction. Additionally, concerns about Slack data policies have highlighted challenges around governance and access.
Salesforce’s M&A strategy this year underscores a systematic approach to fixing gaps in its AI stack. Acquisitions such as Regrello, Apromore, Spindle AI, Waii, and Doti address workflow automation, process intelligence, analytics, and natural-language data access.
The nearly $8 billion deal for Informatica further strengthens Salesforce’s ability to manage enterprise data with cataloging, lineage tracking, master data management, and governance: critical for reliable AI.
Investors see the logic behind the move. Jonathan Saacks of F2 Venture Capital described Doti as building “a transformative vision for the future of work, where people and AI collaborate seamlessly,” noting that Salesforce will now scale that vision globally.
Without this layer, Salesforce risks deploying AI that appears capable in demos but underperforms in real-world enterprise environments.
The Work That Determines AI Success
The Doti acquisition is a shift in Salesforce’s approach. After a year of high-profile launches and bold claims, the company is now investing in essential engineering work: retrieval, grounding, and data routing that ensure agents function reliably.
The real test will be how quickly Doti’s technology integrates into Slack, Data Cloud, and Agentforce. Key metrics include faster cross-system answers, fewer escalations, and clear information provenance. If these improve, enterprise adoption should follow.
