Marketing is evolving at breakneck speed—and luckily, our tools are keeping pace. On Thursday, March 26, 2025, I attended the Salesforce Partner Day in Munich on behalf of diva-e conclusion as Salesforce SUMMIT Partner. The roadmap they showed us for Marketing Cloud Next (Agentforce Marketing) convinced me once again: the new era of AI has officially arrived in marketing, taking our capabilities to an entirely new level.
Marketing Cloud Next isn't just an update; it's a strategic milestone. It brings the power of AI directly into our daily workflows, making much of what we already do well even more intuitive and seamless. Here are my top takeaways from Munich.
Data is the Deciding Factor: Data360 at the Core
The new Marketing Cloud Next is built entirely on Data360 (formerly Data Cloud). From now on, we're working with a central customer profile (the "Unified Individual") that bundles all interactions across a wide variety of channels.
After all, smart and successful AI only works with an absolutely clean data foundation. Data360 is the perfect bedrock for this, and it wasn't named the leading CDP on the market by Gartner last year for nothing.
In our projects, we consistently see how crucial clean, connected data is for success. With Data360, we leverage every customer interaction across different systems to tie your target audience to your products in the best possible way.
The End of "No-Reply": 2-Way Communication with AI
By using AI agents (Agentforce), communication finally becomes bidirectional. Automated yet highly personalized dialogues are replacing the classic one-way street.
The major advantage: Every direct customer interaction—like replying to a newsletter or a marketing email—can be captured and meaningfully processed by AI. Salesforce is officially ending "no-reply" marketing, enabling us to engage in direct, effective, and automated exchanges via AI agents.
For us, this is the most exciting shift. AI here isn't just a buzzword for content creation; it's an interactive digital colleague that massively boosts campaign scalability.
Next-Level Efficiency: Smart Upgrades for MCAE and MCE Users
The UX for marketers has been modernized from the ground up. Instead of using the tried-and-true Engagement Studio or the Journey Builder, we can now directly access native Flow capabilities (just like in the CRM) for our marketing processes.
For MCAE customers, the workflow becomes noticeably more intuitive. Complex use cases that used to require a bit of creative conceptualization and custom workarounds can now be mapped out seamlessly and out-of-the-box. A huge plus: Existing assets can continue to be used in Next (the CMS Workspace really shines here), and there is full support for Forms and Form Handlers. The extremely low barrier to entry when navigating the new system is what excites me the most personally.
For MCE customers, the native "on-core" architecture primarily brings massive architectural simplification. Data exchange no longer requires error-prone connectors or rigid Data Extensions, as everything takes place natively on the same platform landscape. It is simply the most well-thought-out and seamless marketing product Salesforce has ever offered.
Free for Existing Customers: Key Considerations
For companies already using MCE or MCAE, there’s great news: Access to Marketing Cloud Next and all Agentforce features is completely free for you.
An important note on the licensing model: The switch means transitioning to a Consumption-Based Billing Model. What your starting volume of credits looks like depends heavily on your specific contract and model. If you have questions about the exact structure and your future credit needs, it's best to reach out directly to your Salesforce Account Executive.
Our Approach: Step-by-Step Transition Instead of a Hard Cut
We definitely do not recommend a hard cut! Transferring everything from the old cloud all at once will only cause stress in your daily operations. Our Diva-e approach is pragmatic: we start the transition step by step. Instead of a classic "migration," we prefer to talk about a continuous transition—because Marketing Cloud Next is undoubtedly the way to the future.
The best way to start is with a single Business Unit or a specific, newly planned campaign. This allows you to adapt to the system and the new UI at your own pace and execute the transition in the best possible way.
Marketing Cloud Next is intelligent, natively connected, and finally puts the marketer back in the center. It has never been easier to actively leverage the benefits of the new AI era for your own growth.
Are you ready to take your marketing to the next level? Let's have a casual chat and show you in a demo what the transition could look like for your company.
