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Apr 20, 2026 8:00 AM

Salesforce's Mark Benioff Counters 'Software Bears' With Agentforce's Impressive Performance: 'Opportunity Has Never Been Greater'

Mark Benioff, CEO of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM), refuted the “software bears” who predict a bleak future for the software industry.

Benioff’s rebuttal on X, on Monday, comes amid the impressive performance by Agentforce at Pearson and PenFed. At Pearson, Agentforce has been autonomously managing order statuses, refunds, and lost access codes, leading to a 40% increase in customer queries resolved without human intervention, as reported by Pearson’s VP, Gabriele Bauman.

The software bears are dead wrong.At @Pearson, #Agentforce autonomously handles order statuses, refunds & lost access codes, increasing the percentage of customer questions resolved without any human interaction by 40%, says VP Gabriele Bauman.At @PenFed, our Agentforce agent…

— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) April 20, 2026

Similarly, at PenFed, Agentforce has been instrumental in handling password resets and account unlocks for employees, resulting in a 40% reduction in total IT tickets, according to Shree Reddy, EVP & CIO at PenFed.

Benioff underscored ...