The Salesforce Winter ’26 Release is here. Starting in October 2025, updates will roll out to Salesforce customers across the globe. While Salesforce continues to invest heavily in AI and automation, there are also important improvements for sales, service, data, and day-to-day administration.
In this post, we’ll cut through the noise and highlight the features that matter most to your business.
Why This Release Matters
Salesforce pushes out three major releases each year. Each release brings new tools, enhancements, and sometimes retirements of older features. For Winter ’26, the focus is clear: AI, automation, and making Salesforce easier to use.
For your business, that means new opportunities to save time, improve accuracy, and give your teams better insights. It also means a few changes that you will want to prepare for.
Top Highlights of Winter ’26
1. Smarter AI Assistants (Agentforce)
Salesforce is expanding Agentforce, its digital assistant platform. Think of Agentforce as an “AI helper” that can:
- Answer customer questions on your website
- Help your IT team resolve support requests faster
- Suggest next steps for your sales team
The new Agentforce Grid lets you connect tasks together, such as updating data, sending emails, or booking meetings, in one flow.
What this means for you: If you are looking for ways to bring AI into your business, Agentforce provides practical options that can be customized and scaled to your needs.
2. Easier Data Connections
Salesforce is making it simpler to bring outside data into your CRM. With new connectors, you can link Salesforce to tools like Google Drive or SharePoint without heavy migrations.
There is also a new feature called Data Clean Rooms, which lets businesses share insights without actually sharing raw data. This is an important step for privacy and compliance.
What this means for you: Expect fewer data silos and better insights across your systems. If your team struggles with duplicate or outdated data, this could be a big improvement.
3. Better Sales Guidance
Sales reps will see more pipeline guidance built directly into Salesforce. The system will flag next steps, highlight deals at risk, and even surface tips in Slack.
What this means for you:Less guesswork for your sellers and more consistency across your sales team.
4. Improvements for Admins and Everyday Users
Not everything is about AI. Winter ’26 includes small but useful updates like:
- More flexible reports and dashboards
- Easier list views
- Stronger field history tracking
What this means for you: Day-to-day tasks get a little easier. Your admins (the folks who manage Salesforce behind the scenes) will thank you.
5. Security and Integration Changes
One technical note: Salesforce is retiring an older way of logging in called SOAP login(). If you have older integrations (connections between Salesforce and another tool), these may need to be updated.
What this means for you: If your Salesforce connects to other systems, ask your IT team or partner to review them. It is better to fix things now than risk a broken connection later.How to Prepare
Here’s a simple checklist to keep your org running smoothly:
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Rithom’s Take
The Winter ’26 release offers something for everyone: AI innovation for the early adopters, quality-of-life improvements for admins, and security updates for IT teams. At Rithom, we recommend approaching this release in phases:
- Start with simple wins like reports, dashboards, and list view improvements
- Plan ahead for integration updates
- Explore AI and automation once you are comfortable with the basics
Resources
If you want to explore further, here are the most helpful resources from Salesforce:
Note: Salesforce updates its release documentation gradually. If a link looks incomplete today, check back as the release gets closer.
Need Help?
Not sure where to start? Our team at Rithom Consulting can help you review the release, test features in your environment, and roll out changes safely.
Contact us to set up a release readiness check.