My Experience at Salesforce Connections 2025: A Focus on AI, Agents, and Real-World Impact
My CNX25 experience kicked off a little earlier than most—on Tuesday, the day before the official event began. I spent the day at Stripe’s Chicago offices, participating in a hands-on workshop with Stripe and other partners. We explored new ways that Trifecta, Stripe and Salesforce can work together to benefit our customers and I walked away with plenty of ideas and inspiration. Stripe has a lot in the works, and it’s exciting to see the depth of opportunity for better, more integrated experiences.
That evening, I headed to the Commerce Crew Happy Hour which was hosted by Salesforce at the Godfrey Hotel rooftop. It was a great chance to reconnect in person with folks I usually only see virtually and to catch up on all things commerce—from projects we’re working on to where the industry’s headed.
That evening, I headed to the Commerce Crew Happy Hour which was hosted by Salesforce at the Godfrey Hotel rooftop. It was a great chance to reconnect in person with folks I usually only see virtually and to catch up on all things commerce—from projects we’re working on to where the industry’s headed.
Wednesday: A Live Demo, Agentforce Best Practices, and a Full House
With the official start of Connections on Wednesday, I dove right in. My morning included sessions focused on application lifecycle management—essentially development best practices—specific to Agentforce. It was clear that Salesforce is investing heavily in this space, and the tools and processes are maturing quickly.
The highlight of my day was doing a live demo of our Stripe Launchpad solution at Stripe’s booth on the expo floor. I walked attendees through a real customer implementation, showing how we’ve layered Agentforce capabilities on top of Launchpad to create a smart, seamless experience. The response was very positive and we received fantastic feedback on the UI/UX. Ultimately, what stood out to the audience—and to me—is just how much easier it is to implement an agent compared to a traditional chatbot. The time to value is drastically shorter, and the outcomes are often better.
We wrapped up the day with an exclusive happy hour, where I had the chance to talk with colleagues, partners, and new faces over some delicious food & drinks. The conversations were wide-ranging—from the evolving Salesforce roadmap to the real impact of AI in commerce—and it was refreshing to hear so many different perspectives.
Thursday: Agent-to-Agent Interactions and Energy Sector Innovation
Thursday was the last day of Connections, and I made sure to make the most of it. I attended a session on agentic self-service and had the chance to speak with a few folks afterward to walk them through a recent agent implementation we built for a customer. These one-on-one follow-ups often lead to the best conversations, and this was no exception.
One particularly eye-opening session focused on agent-to-agent (A2A) interactions—essentially, agents from different companies and contexts interacting with each other. This has big implications, and Salesforce made it clear that broad support is coming soon, with a full rollout targeted for Sept/Oct and initial capabilities already landing in June. We’re not far off from agents communicating cross-org, cross-industry, and potentially in ways we haven’t fully imagined yet.
Later in the day, I joined an industry roundtable on agentic use cases for energy and utilities. It was fascinating to hear where different companies are in their AI and Salesforce journeys. I shared a live example of an agent that Trifecta created for an energy company that runs on a Salesforce Digital Experience portal, and it really resonated. The combination of agent functionality and slick, user-friendly portals opens up powerful new engagement possibilities.
My Key Takeaway
Overall, CNX25 was an incredibly rewarding experience. I reconnected with coworkers from across the country, met a ton of new people, and came home with actionable ideas that Trifecta can bring directly to our clients and teams.
If there’s one overarching insight I left with, it’s this: every customer is at a different point in their agentic journey—and that’s okay. What matters most is that we’re thinking strategically about how to incorporate AI and intelligent agents into our digital experiences, because these tools are getting better—fast. They’re not just the future; they’re becoming a core part of how we deliver smarter, more human-centered customer experiences today.
