Summer has officially rolled in and so has the Salesforce Summer ’25 release. While most of the ecosystem rushed to hit “publish” on hot takes and feature rundowns, we hit pause. We dug in, tested things, and waited to see how these updates actually perform before giving you our take. At Lane Four, we focus on what matters: what’s genuinely useful, what’s quietly clever, and what’s… still earning a skeptical look from our first-hand perspective.
This time around, we’re diving into the areas that have been shaping daily admin work and strategic GTM execution alike. What’s evolved? What’s giving half-baked or not as useful at the moment? And where can you actually start gaining traction today? Let’s get into it.
Salesforce Core & Flows
Flow Builder Auto‑Layout → Salesforce reworked the auto‑layout usability elements in Summer ’25 so now, you see element cards instead of the old icons. These cards pop up clean action menus with just a click, and hovering shows quick info tooltips. This means fewer page reloads and faster understanding of your flow layout.
Impact? You’re spending less time hunting for the right element and more time building actual logic, speeding up flow construction in a tangible way.
Debugging → Remember slogging through endless debug logs, scanning line-by-line? Summer ’25 gives Flow debugging a much-needed overhaul. The new card-based UI is clean and layered with each Flow element now showing as its own card, with top-level summaries for instant context. There’s also an expandable sidebar for quick navigation and in-panel search to help you skip to the section that’s actually broken.
And a small but mighty upgrade: you can now export debug logs as plain text. That means no more screenshotting giant scrolls of logs to explain to your team what went wrong. Drop them into GitHub, Slack, or even Notepad; whatever gets the job done.
In addition, Flow tests can now assert that fault paths execute correctly. So yes, you can finally automate tests for your failure cases.
Impact? Troubleshooting flows feels… pleasant? At least faster, cleaner, and way easier to collaborate on.
Change Management → Salesforce has introduced org-wide metadata change tracking in Developer Edition orgs (currently in beta), enabling visibility into configuration shifts as they happen. This enhancement can be directly connected to DevOps Center workflows, helping teams tie tracked changes to deployments and release planning with greater precision.
Impact? You’re no longer diffing raw XML or playing “guess what changed” across environments. This update brings traceability and clarity to pipeline management—especially valuable when navigating complex change sets or coordinating across multiple sandboxes.
Other Neat Callouts…
Screen Actions Are Now GA → After several previews, automatically triggered screen actions are now generally available. This means subflows can run from a screen without forcing the user to click “Next.” It might seem small, but this decouples screen interaction from flow progression and that unlocks cleaner, more reactive UIs.
Impact? Admins and developers can build more seamless, less interruptive experiences. Again, you get tighter UX and more flexibility in guiding user input through flows without arbitrary navigation steps.
Auto‑Layout XML → Auto-layout Flows no longer store node positioning data in the underlying XML. Why does that matter? Because previously, even minor layout tweaks, such as dragging a node, would dirty the version control diff, making collaboration unnecessarily noisy.
Impact? Versioning Flows in source control is now more meaningful. Layout-only changes won’t flood your Git diffs, making it easier to isolate actual logic changes. It’s still not perfect, but it’s a welcomed improvement for teams working in hybrid builder/dev environments.
Run All Flow Tests via CLI → Salesforce now allows all defined flow tests to be executed through the CLI, supporting full test runs as part of automated CI/CD pipelines. This moves Flow closer to parity with Apex testing when it comes to deployment workflows.
Impact? DevOps teams can now bake Flow testing directly into release cycles, catching logic errors early, enforcing consistency, and scaling flow quality checks without relying solely on manual QA. This is a huge step forward for teams treating automation like real code.
And Some Changes Causing Some Raised Eyebrows…
Find More Resources with Expanded Search (Beta) → Salesforce resurrected org‑wide search in Flow Builder—this time as a beta called Find More Resources with Expanded Search. The idea is sound: type a keyword, surface variables, actions, elements from across your flow.
Impact? The execution still feels half-baked. Results often feel noisy or out of context, and it’s not intuitive enough to meaningfully speed up building. We’ll keep watching this one, but for now, the benefit feels minimal.
Get Related Records in a Single “Get” Element → This one made waves, then a few ripples of confusion. You can now retrieve related records (e.g., Opportunities and their Products) using a single Get element. That’s slick…except that once retrieved, the related data is mostly unusable. It can’t be used in loops, transforms, or assignments in most cases.
Impact? Technically interesting, but practically frustrating. It feels like the groundwork for something more powerful down the line, but right now, it’s hard to justify using it in production flows without workarounds.
Data Cloud
Experience Cloud Engagement Events Feed into Data Cloud → Salesforce now captures Experience Cloud interaction events (page views, clicks, form submissions) directly into Data Cloud, enabling real‑time aggregation of community behaviour alongside core CRM data
Impact? You can connect user engagement across Experience Cloud to unified customer profiles instantly. No more manual data stitching or delayed insights—it’s engagement intelligence fused right into your analytics engine.
Related‑List Enrichments: Direct DMO ↔ Salesforce Objects (No Identity Resolution Required) → Data Cloud now supports direct relationships between DMOs (Data Model Objects) and Salesforce objects like Accounts, Cases, Contracts, Orders, Products, and Quotes without requiring identity resolution. Copy‑field enrichments, previously limited to Leads and Accounts, are now available for those additional objects too.
Impact? You can enrich those core records with Data Cloud data in real time (reports, workflows, segmentations) all without the complexity of full identity stitching. It’s a productivity win for cross‑object insights and customization.
Revenue Cloud
Conversational Quoting Agent → Salesforce now has an out-of-the-box Quoting Topic via Agentforce that enables users to create and update quotes conversationally—just type or talk, and the system takes care of the rest.
Impact? Sales and RevOps teams can generate quotes faster with fewer clicks, accelerating deal velocity and reducing quote errors across channels.
Smart Approvals → With Smart Approvals, users can resume approval processes at the exact step they paused, rather than restarting from scratch.
Impact? Significantly smoother approval cycles with less frustration, more continuity, and better user compliance during revisions or re-submissions.
Non‑Monetary Units as Consumption Charges → Summer ’25 adds support for usage charging based on non-monetary units like credits, tokens, or API calls. Second, Apex logic can now be applied to Pricing Procedures Plans (Apex hooks and unhooks).
Impact? Product teams gain creative freedom in how value is priced, while technical teams can fine-tune pricing accuracy with dynamic, scenario-aware simulations. It’s a potent combo for teams managing high-volume or complex quoting.
Revenue Cloud Advance (RCA)
Dynamic Revenue Orchestrator (DRO) → DRO now supports fulfillment plans from any object; not just Orders, but also Quotes, Cases, Service Requests, and even custom objects. Plus, there’s a new Decomposition Rules Workspace, offering a visual UI for rule configuration instead of record pages.
Impact? Fulfillment logic can be designed dynamically across business scenarios, with intuitive assembly tools and lower setup friction which fits perfectly for complex order ecosystems.
Advanced Product Configurator (GA) → The new GA Constraint Builder replaces old rule records with a flow-style interface for defining dynamic product logic.
Impact? Admins can model constraints visually, update bundles in real-time, manage errors or dependencies more cleanly, and enable high-volume quoting—all without the risk of rule sprawl or hidden logic loops.
RCA Billing
Dedicated Billing App & Operations Console → This release introduced a purpose-built Billing App and Console, offering centralized visibility into invoices, draft documents, credit memos, and schedule automation. You can now monitor invoice batches, spot failed runs, retry document generation, and manage invoice schedules all from one place.
Impact? Fewer tabs, fewer delays. RevOps teams gain a focused control panel to troubleshoot and manage billing cycles efficiently without needing to bounce between records or guess at failure points.
Customer Billing Profiles → Admins can now define billing profiles for each customer—capturing preferred billing days, addresses, and other recurring details.
Impact? This adds predictability and personalization to invoicing logic, aligning Salesforce Billing more closely with real-world customer preferences.
Complete Account Billing Information → Summer ’25 also introduces a complete billing view at the Account level with aggregating invoices, billing schedules, profiles, and payments in one consolidated snapshot.
Impact? When support teams need to answer a billing question, or finance needs a quick reference, everything’s there without needing to dig through object trees or chasing related lists.
New Button to Generate Invoice Preview → A simple but powerful addition: users can now generate invoice previews and download PDFs right from the Account, Order, or Billing Schedule Group. Salesforce Billing also now integrates directly with Salesforce Payments, allowing payments to be applied at both the invoice and line-item levels. In tandem, this release introduced automated dunning and collection management: you can define Collection Plans and send personalized balance reminders using Marketing Cloud-powered emails.
Impact? From invoice creation to follow-up and payment, the entire lifecycle is now trackable and actionable, reducing manual intervention and tightening financial operations across the board.
Agentforce
Our Highlights
Omni‑Studio Supervisor → The new Omni‑Studio Supervisor empowers supervisors with real-time visibility into agent interactions across channels. They can monitor conversations, filter by agent, and spot trouble early.
Impact? It adds a layer of operational oversight. Leaders can coach in real time, ensure SLAs are met, and quickly step in when complex threads pop up.
Enriched Responses with Agentforce Connections → Agentforce now supports Agent Connections, enabling adaptive, context-rich responses like rich links (titles with thumbnails) tailored to each channel or interface.
Impact? Agents (and automation) can deliver visually engaging, contextual replies that better guide users toward answers or next steps, enhancing both clarity and trust
Custom Lightning Types → With Custom Lightning Types, developers can define how Agentforce responses are rendered in the UI, using Lightning Web Components for custom formats like carousels, rich cards, or multi-step prompts.
Impact? This brings UI-level flexibility, letting teams design conversational flows that match brand voice and UX patterns without resorting to UI hacks.
Agentforce Quote Management → The Conversational Quoting Agent (an out-of-the-box feature expected “later in Summer 25”) allows users to generate and update quotes via natural language (“Make a quote for Acme Co…”), with full Agentforce and RCA integration.
Impact? This accelerates quoting workflows, reduces mistakes, and gives sellers a conversational interface that feels frictionless, especially beneficial for high-velocity or cross-sell quoting.
Additional Notable Agentforce Features We’re Keeping Our Eyes On…
- Knowledge Searches will now be able to filter by Data Category
- New and Changed Standard Agent Topics and Actions.
- Accelerate Case Resolution and Boost Service Efficiency with Einstein Follow-Up Emails
- Dedicated Agentforce extension for VSCode
- SDR Agents can now interact with Contacts and Person Accounts, on top of Leads
- Deal Agent for suggestions on Opportunities: Coming Soon
- Upload Video Calls to Einstein Conversation Insights
- Flex Credits !!!
Marketing Cloud
MC Core (Advanced Only)
Campaign Designer (Beta) → Salesforce debuts an AI-enhanced Campaign Designer where users fill out a brief—name it, select your audience, define the goal, tone, brand, and message—then let the wizard map out a multi-touch campaign for you.
Impact? Cuts campaign setup time dramatically. You provide the outline, the AI fills in the mission-critical components. Agentforce even automates asset creation, flow wiring, and campaign setup, letting RevOps focus on strategy, not setup.
MC Core (Advanced Only)
Einstein-Powered Flow Automation → A richer connection between Einstein predictive features and Flow Builder makes it easier to build smart journeys such as segmenting contacts based on predicted engagement or sending follow-ups with AI timing.
Impact? Non-technical users can embed AI directly into flows without needing external tools. This empowers smarter automation with less friction.
Custom HTML Emails & Repeaters → Email editors now let you switch to HTML mode, edit code directly, and embed repeater components, which is ideal for dynamic content blocks like product recommendations or event listings.
Impact? Offers granular control when clients demand precision with email design and repeaters make scalable personalization simpler than ever.
Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
WhatsApp Integration → Pardot grows up with native WhatsApp integration, allowing automated prospect messaging, chat starts from forms, and journey tracking directly within the account engagement canvas.
Impact? This taps into a high-engagement channel, offering you and your clients a rich, mobile-centric outreach option with built-in analytics.
Marketing Cloud Next (Connections ’25 Announcement)
Salesforce’s Connections ’25 spotlighted Marketing Cloud Next, a roadmap emphasizing AI-first strategy, seamless data flow with Data Cloud, and deeper core platform consolidation integration. We expect Agentforce-wired campaign creation, enhanced AI content tools, and unified cross-cloud journeys to roll out later this year. There’s a clear push to make marketing automation more autonomous, intelligence-driven, and accessible across teams.
That said, the current rollout still feels like groundwork; promising, but not fully formed. We suspect there’s more brewing behind the scenes, and we’ll be watching closely this fall to see how far Salesforce takes it.
And now for Lane Four’s Director of Architecture
To Weigh In On A Few More Callouts…
Enable ICU Locale Formats (JDK → ICU)
Salesforce is automatically switching to modern ICU locale formatting in Summer ’25 unless your org still has Apex classes, triggers, or Visualforce components built on API version older than 45.0 (pre-2018). Heads-up: If you’ve got legacy code lying around, it could break date, time, or currency formats when ICU kicks in. It might be time for a cleanup sprint.
Case Comments with Rich Text (Beta)
What changed? Case Comments now support rich text formatting (bold, lists, underline, even embedded media). Why it matters: This is a crucial step for moving Service Experience Sites away from Chatter. It gives agents a more expressive, clear channel for customer interactions.
Einstein Activity Capture Email Sync Delayed
What was planned: Setting captured emails from Einstein Activity Capture (EAC) as queryable Activity records so you could report on them, trigger flows/Apex, etc. This feature has been postponed to a later release; it didn’t make the Summer ’25 cut. This is still a high-priority update because when it lands, reporting and automation capabilities around Customer email interactions will be dramatically enhanced.
That’s a wrap on our Summer ’25 take…for now. As always, we’re watching these changes not just for what’s technically possible, but for what’s actually ready and usable from our client-ready perspective. There’s a lot to be excited about like Agentforce quoting, streamlined billing views, smarter Flow debugging, but some features, especially around Marketing Cloud Next, still feel like sketches of a bigger picture we’re hoping to dive into the deep end and share more about soon enough!
For admins, architects, and consultants, the job isn’t just staying current; it’s spotting what’s confidently production-ready versus what still needs road-testing. Salesforce is moving fast, but meaningful adoption still comes down to aligning changes with real processes, people, and pipeline priorities.
We’ll keep digging in and sharing what we find. In the meantime, wondering how these updates might shake out across your GTM stack or RevOps workflows? Let’s chat.
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