Salesforce is expanding connections between its AI agents and external data and cloud platforms such as Databricks and Google Cloud. As it steps up its AI agent business, it is positioning zero-copy and data governance as differentiators by linking to corporate data without moving it.

On Aug. 11, the industry said Salesforce is expanding cooperation with major data and cloud providers including Databricks, Google Cloud, Snowflake and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is building an environment in which Agentforce can use corporate data scattered across multiple systems.

The core is a zero-copy method that uses data in place without physically replicating or moving it. The structure allows agents to access the data and work context they need while companies keep their existing data storage environments.

Salesforce also acquired data management company Informatica last year for about $8 billion, or about 11.3 trillion won. It is combining Informatica’s data catalog, quality management, master data management (MDM) and governance functions with Agentforce to improve the reliability of corporate data used by AI.

An industry official said, "For companies to apply AI agents to real work, what matters as much as model performance is data connectivity and governance." The official added, "Competition is shifting toward safely linking the necessary data and work context while keeping existing environments, rather than moving data to one place."

Integration with external data platforms is also widening. Salesforce said it expanded cooperation with Databricks in June and agreed to support a "federated search" that lets users search data across both companies. It also applied federated authentication, ID mapping and metadata-based access controls so companies can use external data while maintaining their existing permission structures.

With Google Cloud, Salesforce linked Agentforce with Gemini Enterprise. This enables AI agents to be used in Slack and Google Workspace and allows information spread across Google Docs, Sheets and Slides to be pulled into workflows.

This expansion of Salesforce’s data ecosystem is tied to the growth of its AI agent business. Salesforce said Agentforce annual recurring revenue (ARR) rose to $1.2 billion in the first quarter, more than tripling from a year earlier. The company is expanding investment related to AI agents, including a plan in June to acquire AI customer support platform Fin for about $3.6 billion, or about 5.0 trillion won.

Informatica is also connecting MCP-based data management functions to agent workflows across Snowflake, Databricks, Google Cloud and AWS. Salesforce plans to continue expanding its partner ecosystem so AI agents can use data across multiple corporate systems without being tied to a specific data repository.