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Salesforce, the leading AI CRM, has completed its acquisition of Informatica, a company known for its cloud data management powered by AI. This acquisition adds Informatica’s tools for data cataloging, integration, governance, quality, privacy, managing metadata, and Master Data Management (MDM) to the Salesforce platform. This integration creates a strong data foundation for AI, allowing AI agents to work safely, responsibly, and effectively across modern businesses.
“To use AI effectively, you need the right data,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce. “Data and context fuel Agentforce. Without clean, reliable data, there is no real intelligence—only confusion. Informatica is the trusted platform that connects and organizes enterprise data, enabling every agent to think clearly, take action, and achieve results accurately. When companies have quality data, they can maximize their AI, making Agentforce incredibly powerful.”
An $8B Acquisition
Salesforce has acquired Informatica for $8 billion. This move aims to strengthen Salesforce’s data foundation to support its AI projects. Informatica is ideal for this purpose because it offers tools for data integration, quality, governance, and management. These tools help organizations gain better control over their data.
In today's world, data is essential. The saying “your AI output is only as good as your data input” has been popular since the launch of ChatGPT, and it is still true. With Informatica now part of Salesforce, it may be easier to unlock the value of data within the platform.
Why Salesforce Acquires Informatica?
Salesforce is investing heavily in AI, but AI is only effective if the underlying data is reliable. Informatica specializes in improving data integration, quality, governance, and metadata. It means Informatica ensures that the data is accurate, clean, and secure.
Salesforce needs robust data to support its AI tools, including Einstein, Data Cloud, MuleSoft, and Tableau. You can think of it this way: AI acts as the brain, while data serves as the fuel. Recently, Salesforce acquired a company that provides high-quality fuel.
Salesforce’s upcoming acquisition will improve its data infrastructure, which is vital for using agentic AI effectively and responsibly. By combining Informatica’s services in data cataloging, integration, governance, quality, privacy, and Master Data Management (MDM) with the Salesforce platform, we will build a strong system for agentic AI. This integration will help AI agents operate securely, responsibly, and efficiently in today’s businesses.
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Data Transparency: Informatica has advanced tools that help you track data. These tools show where data comes from, how it has changed, and how it is used. This information is essential for audits and meeting regulations.
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Data Understanding: Informatica's detailed metadata, combined with Salesforce's simple data model, will help AI agents understand, connect, and use enterprise data in a meaningful way.
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Data Governance: Built-in tools for managing data, ensuring its quality, and enforcing policies help keep all data used for AI standardized, accurate, consistent, and secure.
Strengthening the Entire Agentforce 360
The acquisition significantly enhances Salesforce’s platform by:
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Achieving Data Clarity with Data 360: Informatica will enhance Data 360 to ensure that data from different organizations is unified, transparent, trustworthy, and valuable.
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Delivering Complete Integration with MuleSoft: MuleSoft is a leader in connecting applications and managing APIs. When combined with Informatica’s strong data integration and governance tools, they will offer a complete solution. It will help customers access all their enterprise data and systems for the AI era.
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Elevating the Agentforce 360 Platform: Informatica and Salesforce will create an essential data foundation that enables autonomous AI agents to understand and use trusted data.
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Context-Rich Insights for Tableau: Tableau users will receive better, context-driven insights because the data landscape will be easier to understand and access.
Salesforce is acquiring a company to enhance its metadata advantage. This advantage includes the objects, fields, and relationships that comprise the Salesforce ecosystem, enabling Agentforce to deliver accurate, context-aware AI responses. Informatica adds to this by offering a broader view of metadata that includes context and lineage across all systems, not just Salesforce. With this unified metadata foundation, customers can expect even more accurate, explainable, and trusted AI responses. It will help them confidently scale AI throughout their business.
How Informatica Will Fit Into Salesforce’s Products
Salesforce plans to use Informatica across several platforms in its ecosystem. It will likely affect the following:
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Data Cloud: You will get cleaner and more reliable customer data with built-in data tracking and master data management (MDM). It makes it easier to create accurate customer profiles and reduces the need for manual checks between systems.
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Agentforce: Salesforce's AI agents can now access not only the data but also important context about how that data has been used and verified. It will help improve decision-making and lower risks.
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MuleSoft: Informatica's data validation and quality tools help ensure that data transferred through MuleSoft is accurate and follows rules.
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Tableau: Dashboards created in Tableau will have more transparent and consistent data structures. It will make reports easier to trust and act on.
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Customer 360: Teams using Salesforce CRM will have access to more reliable, real-time data. It will help them provide timely and relevant service during every customer interaction.
These improvements support Salesforce’s goal of creating a connected, innovative platform. Every product will work with the same data, ensuring that all decisions are based on accurate information, context, and trust.
What This Means for Financial Services, Healthcare, and Public Sector Clients
Being prepared for AI is critical in highly regulated industries like banking, healthcare, and government, and having clean, compliant, and context-rich data is essential. This acquisition demonstrates a greater emphasis on integrated data governance, which can facilitate more precise AI workflows and help comply with stringent regulations. Let's look at how data-sensitive industries will profit from Informatica:
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Financial Services: Better data tracking and removing duplicate records can make it easier to conduct Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, spot fraud, and assess risk in real time.
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Healthcare: Better data management and stronger privacy controls can help us meet HIPAA standards. It is essential when sharing patient data between doctors, insurance companies, and different systems.
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Public Sector: Better auditing and organized processes help resolve cases faster, keep citizen records clear, and make service delivery more transparent.
No matter the industry, the real value lies not just in collecting data but also in preparing it for responsible automation. This preparation, which transforms raw information into something useful, will determine if these tools improve results or add more confusion.
What are the results of this acquisition?
For a company like Salesforce to hesitate, withdraw, and then gradually return, the company they want to acquire must be valuable – and Informatica definitely is.
Salesforce is focusing heavily on its primary AI tool, Agentforce. While the tool is impressive, it requires significant data management to work well. Last year, we reported that Salesforce is building its product lineup to handle and process large amounts of data. This acquisition is simply the next step in that direction.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff spoke when the company announced the acquisition:
“Together, Salesforce and Informatica will create the most complete, agent-ready data platform in the industry. By uniting the power of Data Cloud, MuleSoft, and Tableau with Informatica’s industry-leading, advanced data management capabilities, we will enable autonomous agents to deliver smarter, safer, and more scalable outcomes for every company, and significantly strengthen our position in the $150B-plus enterprise data market.”
Now is the best time to tackle the challenges that AI-first organizations face. Informatica can help Salesforce in several ways.
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Achieving Data Clarity with Data Cloud: Informatica can enhance Data Cloud’s role as a Customer Data Platform (CDP). It helps make sure that data from all parts of the organization is unified, clear, trusted, and actionable.
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Elevating Agentforce: Informatica and Salesforce work together to help create intelligent AI agents that can understand and use complex business data. This combination builds a reliable system that makes information easier to understand and act upon.
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Augmenting the Customer 360: Salesforce CRM applications will improve, enabling teams to deliver more personalized, compelling customer experiences based on reliable data.
A Discount Deal
This deal is now finished, but it likely faced some challenges. According to Salesforce, "holders of Informatica’s Class A and Class B-1 common stock will receive $25 in cash per share." On April 12, the Wall Street Journal reported on last year’s acquisition talks when Informatica shares were priced at $38.48. It means there was a 34% discount.
Some analysts have noted that this is an interesting setup, especially since the organization currently has just under $2 billion in debt.
Summary
Salesforce has finally completed its acquisition of Informatica, a move many experts had been expecting. They believe this partnership will help Salesforce achieve its ambitious AI goals. It also highlights a key trend: 2025 is not just about AI agents; it is also a significant year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
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