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A futuristic, neon-lit digital highway made of glowing API connections stretches into the distance. However, some parts of the highway are under construction or blocked by barriers labeled "Legacy Systems" and "Integration Challenges."

MuleSoft’s New Connectivity Benchmark Report: A Mixed Bag for Salesforce’s Data Vision

Salesforce has released its latest 2025 MuleSoft Connectivity Benchmark Report, offering insights into the persistent integration challenges faced by enterprises and the role of MuleSoft in addressing them. The report underscores the importance of integration in achieving data centralization and AI-driven business outcomes, but the findings also raise questions about Salesforce’s ability to execute its ambitious Data Cloud strategy in support of its new digital worker platform Agentforce. This analysis explores the key highlights of the report while weaving in a critical perspective on the challenges facing Salesforce and MuleSoft.

Key Findings from the 2025 MuleSoft Connectivity Benchmark Report

The report reveals familiar pain points and opportunities in enterprise integration:

  • Persistent Integration Challenges: 80% of organizations say data silos are the biggest barrier to achieving automation and AI goals. The lack of connected systems continues to hinder innovation.
  • API Adoption Trends: The report notes that 58% of IT leaders have adopted API-led integration strategies, a slight uptick from 2024 but still far from comprehensive adoption.
  • The Cost of Poor Integration: Organizations estimate that integration challenges cost them an average of $6.8 million annually in lost productivity and delayed projects.

Andrew Comstock, SVP and GM of MuleSoft, emphasized the role of integration in unlocking enterprise data for AI-driven transformations. “The key to any successful digital strategy is breaking down silos and enabling seamless access to data across the enterprise,” said Comstock. “MuleSoft’s API-led approach is the foundation of that connectivity.”

What’s Missing: The Growth Story

While the report highlights the critical role of integration, it’s hard to ignore the broader context: MuleSoft’s growth has stagnated. Once a rising star in Salesforce’s ecosystem, and despite analyst accolades, MuleSoft has struggled to sustain momentum, even as Salesforce increasingly relies on it as the backbone for its Data Cloud and Agentforce initiatives.

  • Flatlining Revenue Growth: Over the past year, MuleSoft’s growth has slowed dramatically, raising questions about its ability to execute on Salesforce’s broader ambitions.
  • Impact on Data Cloud: MuleSoft’s struggles suggest significant challenges ahead for Salesforce’s vision of unifying customer data on the Data Cloud platform. If MuleSoft can’t gain traction in addressing integration pain points, how will enterprises trust Salesforce to deliver on the promise of centralized data for CDP and AI applications?

Compared to other Salesforce clouds, MuleSoft’s revenue trajectory has been notably weaker. While Sales Cloud and Service Cloud have maintained steady single-digit to low double-digit growth, and Marketing and Commerce Cloud have continued expanding due to digital transformation trends, MuleSoft and Tableau have seen their revenue growth slow significantly; down to only 5% year-over-year growth in the last Salesforce quarterly financial report. This contrast suggests that while Salesforce has successfully expanded its core CRM and customer engagement platforms, its broader data and analytics strategy—of which MuleSoft is a key component—has struggled to gain the same level of enterprise traction.

The Data Cloud Dilemma

Salesforce’s Data Cloud aims to serve as the centralized hub for enterprise data, enabling real-time insights, advanced analytics, and a data foundation for AI orchestration which directly supports Agentforce applications. However, the issues highlighted in the Connectivity Benchmark Report cast doubt on whether Salesforce can overcome the hurdles of integration and data unification.

Comstock acknowledged the challenges, stating, “While the demand for integration has never been greater, enterprises need comprehensive solutions that go beyond connectivity. MuleSoft’s role in Salesforce’s broader ecosystem is about delivering that complete vision—one API at a time.”

However, the market reality is less optimistic:

  1. Data Centralization Resistance: Enterprises are hesitant to fully centralize data due to legacy systems, compliance concerns, and the cost of migration—issues MuleSoft has yet to resolve effectively at scale.
  2. Competition: Salesforce faces stiff competition from platforms like Snowflake, AWS, and Google Cloud, which offer mature data lake and integration solutions.
  3. Execution Gap: While the narrative around MuleSoft is strong, its revenue trends and limited success in breaking down silos suggest an execution gap that could undermine Salesforce’s Data Cloud goals.

Strategic Insights and Recommendations

For Salesforce to deliver on its Data Cloud ambitions, it must address foundational challenges with MuleSoft and its broader integration strategy:

  • Rebuild Confidence in MuleSoft: Salesforce needs to demonstrate tangible successes with MuleSoft. This includes publishing detailed case studies with measurable outcomes that show how integration drives AI readiness and business value.
  • Bundle Integration with Data Cloud: Position MuleSoft as an indispensable part of the Data Cloud offering, ensuring seamless integration pipelines for customers adopting centralized data strategies.
  • Tackle the Perception Problem: MuleSoft must move beyond its current reputation as a costly and complex integration tool and highlight its role as a critical enabler of AI and data-driven transformation.
  • Drive Innovation in APIs: Investing in AI-powered APIs and simplifying integration workflows will make MuleSoft more accessible and attractive to a broader audience of enterprises.

Conclusion

The 2025 MuleSoft Connectivity Benchmark Report reinforces the importance of integration for achieving enterprise AI and automation goals, but it also highlights the persistent barriers to success. For Salesforce, these challenges are compounded by MuleSoft’s sluggish growth and the competitive pressures of the data management market.

While Salesforce’s ambitions with Data Cloud are visionary, their execution relies heavily on MuleSoft’s ability to deliver at scale. Without significant improvements in integration adoption and customer success stories, Salesforce’s ability to centralize enterprise data on the Data Cloud platform remains uncertain.

Andrew Comstock’s optimism for the future of integration is clear but turning that vision into reality will require a renewed focus on execution, innovation, and customer trust.

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