To choose an Agentforce implementation partner, check three things yourself before you compare prices: the partner's tier and reviews on its AppExchange listing, the Trailhead certifications of the named people who will do the work, and evidence that the partner has taken an agent into production and monitors it. Then score each proposal on data readiness, testing, trust controls and post-launch support.
This guide is a checklist, not a ranking. We do not publish a list of "top partners", because a list written by one partner is not independent. Use the questions and the scoring table below on every firm you speak to, including us.
What changed in Salesforce's partner program in 2026?
On 2 March 2026 Salesforce announced a new partner program. For consulting partners it has two tiers, Summit and Select, and it turns 170 legacy distinctions into 28 core competencies, with added emphasis on Agentforce and Data 360. Salesforce says success is now measured by customer results, not manual checklists.
The announcement names the measures: CSAT scores, specializations and competency certifications, with competency recognition tied to project outcomes, CSAT and certifications. It also says partners must prove capability through hands-on validation in a sandbox, not only knowledge tests, and that an updated AppExchange helps customers find delivery-ready experts based on verified industry results rather than company size.
| Area | What Salesforce announced | What it means for a buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Tiers | Two consulting tiers: Summit and Select | Fewer labels to decode; read the tier on the partner's listing |
| Expertise | 28 core competencies in place of 170 legacy distinctions, with emphasis on Agentforce and Data 360 | Ask which competencies the partner holds that match your project |
| How success is measured | Customer results: CSAT, specializations and competency certifications | Customer satisfaction now counts directly; read the reviews behind it |
| Proof of skill | Hands-on validation in a sandbox, not only knowledge tests | Certifications are a floor; still ask for delivered work |
| Finding partners | An updated AppExchange to find delivery-ready experts by verified industry results | Start your shortlist on AppExchange, not on a vendor's own list |
The announcement does not publish numeric thresholds for either tier. You may see exact figures quoted elsewhere; treat them as unofficial unless Salesforce publishes them.
What does a partner tier tell you, and what doesn't it?
A tier tells you how Salesforce recognizes a partner across all of its customers, based on results, specializations and certifications. It does not tell you who will staff your project, whether they have built an agent like yours, or how the partner handles problems after launch. Use the tier to build a shortlist, then judge the team and the plan.
Two partners in the same tier can be very different for your project. One may have deep service-agent experience in a contact centre; another may be strongest in sales or industry clouds. The competencies a partner holds, and the references it can give, matter more than the tier label.
How do you verify a partner on AppExchange?
Look the partner up yourself on AppExchange rather than relying on badges in a sales deck. Salesforce's consulting partners page points buyers to AppExchange Partner Finder and says the right partner depends on your goals, industry, deployment timeline and where you are in your AI journey.
- Find the listing. Search for the firm in the AppExchange consultants directory. Salesforce's AppExchange guide to finding consultants (2019) describes filters by product and industry specialization, location and practice size. The layout may have changed since, so check the current page.
- Read the summary. The same guide says a listing shows the consultant's rating, completed projects, certified employees and tier. Confirm the tier matches what the partner told you.
- Open the expertise detail. It lists product and industry specializations and Salesforce certifications. Look for Agentforce and Data 360 and for your industry.
- Read the reviews, not just the score. Note how many reviews there are, how recent they are and whether any describe agent or AI work. An average from a handful of reviews tells you less than one from many.
How do you verify a consultant's Salesforce certifications?
Ask for the names of the people proposed for your project and check them on Trailhead's credential verification page. Company certification totals tell you about the firm; the named team's certifications tell you about your project. Ask for the architect and lead consultant by name before you sign.
Salesforce Help says certifications are visible to others only if the holder's profile is public, and that status changes can take up to one business day to appear. So a missing result is a reason to ask, not proof that a claim is false. Ask the person to share their Trailblazer profile, and confirm that their certifications are current, since Salesforce certifications have maintenance requirements.
What should you ask about data readiness?
An agent is only as good as the data and knowledge it is grounded in. Ask how the partner will assess your data before it builds anything, and what it will hand you at the end of that assessment. A strong answer names specific objects, knowledge articles, owners and gaps, not a general promise to "clean the data".
- Which records, fields and knowledge articles will the first agent use, and who owns each one?
- How will you check that the knowledge content is accurate and current?
- Do we need Data 360 for this use case, or is the CRM data enough to start?
- Which actions may the agent take, and which must stay with a person?
- What will you produce from the assessment, and can we keep it if we choose another partner?
Our Agentforce readiness checklist lists what to have in place before a pilot.
What should you ask about testing?
Ask to see the test plan before the build starts. It should include a set of realistic test conversations, edge cases, attempts to misuse the agent, pass criteria agreed with your business owner, and a sandbox to run them in. A partner that plans to "test in production with a small group" first has skipped a step.
Salesforce's Trailhead module on agent testing says the Agentforce Testing Center supports automated batch testing, and warns that testing agents can modify CRM data, so tests should run only in a sandbox. It also notes that test runs consume credits, even in a sandbox, which is worth budgeting for. Ask:
- How many test conversations will you write, and who approves them?
- How will you re-run the tests after each change and after each Salesforce release?
- What pass rate do we need before go-live, and who signs it off?
What should you ask about the Einstein Trust Layer and security?
Ask the partner to explain, in your terms, which Einstein Trust Layer safeguards apply to your agent and which controls you still configure yourself. Trailhead lists secure data retrieval, dynamic grounding, data masking, zero data retention, toxicity detection and an audit trail as parts of the Trust Layer.
The detail matters. The same Trailhead unit notes that data masking is disabled for agents, though it is available for some embedded features. A partner who says "the Trust Layer masks everything" has not read the documentation closely. Good partners also cover the controls that sit in your org, not the Trust Layer: the agent user's permissions, which actions it can call, and how it verifies a customer before acting on an account. Our post on Agentforce governance, security and testing goes deeper.
What should you ask about monitoring after launch?
Ask who will watch the agent after go-live, what they will look at, how often, and what happens when something goes wrong. An Agentforce project does not end at launch: instructions, knowledge and actions need adjusting as real conversations arrive, and every Salesforce release is a reason to re-test.
- Which measures will we review, such as resolution, escalations and customer feedback, and how often?
- Who reviews conversations that went wrong, and how quickly are fixes made?
- Is post-launch support part of this contract, or a separate managed service?
- How do changes to the agent go through test and approval?
How should you check references for live agents?
Ask for at least one reference call with a customer whose agent is in live use, not one still in a pilot. On the call, ask what the agent does, how long it took to reach production, what went wrong in the first weeks, and how the partner responded. A reference about a general Salesforce project is useful, but it is not evidence of agent work.
If clients cannot be named, ask the partner to walk you through a delivered agent in detail: the use case, the actions, the test set and the measures after launch. Vague answers here are more telling than a short client list.
What are the red flags?
- No named team. The proposal lists company totals but not the people who will work on your project.
- Tier claims that do not match AppExchange. The tier or rating in the deck differs from the listing.
- Promised results before discovery. Fixed percentages for deflection or savings before anyone has looked at your data.
- No test plan. Testing is described as "user acceptance" at the end, with no test set and no sandbox.
- Loose security answers. The Trust Layer is presented as covering everything, with no mention of permissions or actions in your org.
- Nothing after launch. No monitoring plan, no owner and no route for fixes.
- Only pilot references. No one who runs an agent in production will talk to you.
How do you score and compare partner proposals?
Score each partner from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong) on each criterion, multiply by the weight, and add the totals. The weights below are a starting point; change them to match your risks. Score from evidence you have checked, not from claims in the proposal.
| Criterion | Strong evidence looks like | Weight | Score (1–5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verified listing | Tier, rating and reviews checked on AppExchange; Agentforce and your industry in the expertise detail | 2 | |
| Named team | Architect and lead consultant named; certifications checked on Trailhead and current | 3 | |
| Live agent experience | At least one reference call about an agent in production | 3 | |
| Data readiness approach | A written assessment with named objects, knowledge, owners and gaps | 3 | |
| Testing | A test set, pass criteria and sandbox runs agreed before the build | 3 | |
| Trust and security | Clear split between Trust Layer safeguards and the permissions and actions in your org | 2 | |
| Post-launch monitoring | Named owner, review rhythm and a change process for the agent | 2 | |
| Commercial clarity | Scope, assumptions, change process and what you own at the end are in writing | 2 |
A partner that scores well on the named team, live experience and testing is usually a safer choice than one with a better tier and a weaker plan.
Where does Techila fit?
Techila Global Services is a Salesforce Summit partner, headquartered in Frisco, Texas, with its main delivery centre in Pune, India. Our AppExchange listing showed a 4.82 rating from 19 reviews when we read it on 10 November 2026. We expect you to check those facts and to score us with the table above, the same as anyone else. See our Agentforce implementation services for how we run a project.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a Summit and a Select Salesforce partner?
Summit and Select are the two consulting tiers in the partner program Salesforce announced on 2 March 2026. Salesforce says success in the program is measured by customer results such as CSAT, specializations and competency certifications. Salesforce's announcement does not publish numeric thresholds for either tier, so ask a partner to show its tier on its AppExchange listing.
How can I check that a Salesforce partner's consultants are certified?
Ask for the names of the people proposed for your project and look them up on Trailhead's credential verification page. A holder's certifications appear there only if their Trailblazer profile allows it, so a missing result is a reason to ask, not proof of a false claim. Check the people, not only the company total.
Does a higher partner tier guarantee a better Agentforce project?
No. A tier tells you how Salesforce recognizes a partner across its customers. It does not tell you who will work on your project or whether they have taken an agent like yours into production. Weigh the named team, references for live agents and the testing and monitoring plan more heavily than the tier.
What should an Agentforce partner do before building an agent?
Check whether your data and processes are ready: which records and knowledge articles the agent will use, who owns them, how clean they are and which actions it may take. A good partner writes this down, agrees a narrow first use case with you and sets success measures before configuration starts.
How should an Agentforce agent be tested before launch?
Against an agreed set of test conversations, including edge cases and attempts to misuse the agent, run in a sandbox. Salesforce's Agentforce Testing Center supports batch tests, and Trailhead warns that agent tests can modify CRM data, so they should run only in a sandbox. Ask the partner to share test results before sign-off.
Is it a red flag if a partner has no live Agentforce references?
Not always, because Agentforce is new and some clients do not allow references. It is a red flag if the partner cannot describe in detail an agent it has taken to production, or cannot let you speak to anyone who runs one. Ask for at least one reference call about an agent in live use.
Next steps
Build a shortlist on AppExchange, send each partner the questions above, and score the answers. If you want us on that list, book a discovery call and we will answer every question in writing.
