Architects are the masterminds behind every successful enterprise Salesforce implementation. 

Because they constantly bridge the gap between ambitious business objectives and complex technical realities, their perspectives offer the clearest window into the future of the ecosystem.

To capture the pulse of these technical leaders, Odaseva again partnered with Salesforce Ben to survey the architect community. The goal was to uncover how Salesforce architects are tackling today's most urgent challenges—from preparing data foundations for AI, to securing critical data in sprawling multi-Org environments.

What the 2026 Salesforce Architect Survey results reveal

This year's survey findings depict an ecosystem that’s at a critical turning point as AI continues to dominate everything from data security, to pricing, to vendor selection. Architects are actively looking to extract strategic value from their Salesforce data while implementing the right tools to keep it secure, scalable, and protected.

For the team at Odaseva, the responses strongly validate what we hear from our customers every day: as AI initiatives accelerate, the stakes for data quality, security, and independence from vendor lock-in have never been higher.

Let’s jump into Odaseva’s five key highlights from the survey results:

1. Data security and data quality are top concerns for AI

Survey question: "What is your biggest concern regarding your Salesforce data foundation?"

Response summary: More than half of the respondents stated two major concerns regarding their data foundation in preparation for AI: data security (58.2%) and data quality (57.7%). Additionally, 39.9% of respondents cited scale as a major concern.

What it means: As companies race to adopt AI in a meaningful way, architects (unsurprisingly) understand that an accurate and secure Salesforce data foundation is non-negotiable. 

Feeding AI models outdated or inaccurate Salesforce data leads to poor outcomes. Exposing restricted or sensitive data to LLMs poses major security risks. Neither technical or business teams benefit from such scenarios.

Large organizations leveraging AI need enterprise-grade data security and management solutions to ensure their Salesforce data is secure, high quality, and highly-scalable before feeding it into AI tools.

2. Organizations are unlocking the strategic value of backup data

Survey question: "Are you currently reusing your backup data for other purposes?"

Response summary: Just over half (52%) of respondents said they are using their backup data for other purposes too. This includes using backup data for strategic initiatives like AI and analytics (20.1%), and sharing data across systems (17.4%). Conversely, roughly one third of respondents (33.5%) use their backup data for backup purposes alone.

What it means: The market is increasingly recognizing that backup data shouldn't just sit idle. Companies are realizing that what was once only a data protection asset can become a trusted source of business data capable of powering analytics, machine learning, business intelligence, data science, and AI initiatives. Gartner describes this emerging trend as Backup Reuse.

However, many organizations are likely missing out on such opportunities, as underscored by the one third of respondents who aren’t reusing their backup data. More awareness is needed for such organizations to understand that Backup Reuse creates an opportunity to extract substantially more value from an investment that organizations are already required to make. What was historically viewed as an insurance policy can begin generating measurable business outcomes by serving as a trusted data source for AI, analytics, and machine learning initiatives.

Learn more about Backup Reuse in our eBook, “The Hidden AI Infrastructure Sitting Inside Your Salesforce Backup”

3. Backups are more secure when stored independently from Salesforce

Survey question: "Do you believe your Salesforce data backups are more secure when stored separately from Salesforce?"

Response summary: Almost half (48%) of respondents believe their backup data is more secure when stored independently from Salesforce using an independent backup provider. A deeper look at the data highlights an interesting trend: 37% of the respondents who responded that their data is more secure when stored independently from Salesforce are employees of Salesforce. Also, advanced and intermediate architects were more likely to value independent backups than junior architects. 

What it means: The numbers are up from last year. In 2025, 41.9% of respondents answered the same question with a “yes” compared to 48% this year. This nearly 15% increase in one year demonstrates that the market is becoming more aware of the critical importance of selecting an independent Salesforce backup vendor to achieve stronger protection against ransomware, social engineering attacks, outages, and other threats to Salesforce data. If both production data and backup data are lost or corrupted, data can’t be restored from a backup. If the backup provider fails or becomes compromised — whether by cyberattack, outage, or misconfiguration — organizations risk losing both their original data and backup simultaneously. 

Preference for independent storage grows with seniority, demonstrating that the more experienced the architect, the more likely they are to realize its importance. 

Even employees of Salesforce see the importance of storing backups independently from the platform.

4. Purpose-built solutions are necessary for complex Salesforce environments

Survey question: "Do you believe purpose-built data security and management solutions are necessary when dealing with Large Data Volumes, multi-Org environments, or other complex factors?"

Response summary: Almost three-quarters (74.4%) of respondents believed that purpose-built data security and management solutions are required for large and/or complex Salesforce Orgs. Only 11.6% felt that data security and management solutions are one-size-fits-all.

What it means: Most architects recognize the reality - that Salesforce data security and management solutions aren’t one-size-fits-all. They clearly understand that handling Large Data Volumes (LDV), complex data models, and multi-Org environments requires purpose-built enterprise solutions designed to navigate this specific complexity. Choosing the right vendor tailored to an organization’s size and complexity is critically important.

5. Consumption-based pricing offers long-term flexibility

Survey question: "In your experience architecting data solutions, which pricing model best aligns with your long-term plans?"

Response summary: 76.7% of respondents indicated they had a preference for pricing models (the rest were unsure or not involved in pricing). Of those, 53.68% said they preferred a consumption-based model as opposed to a fixed price model. But when broken down by company size, the data reveals that more than 40% of respondents working in large organizations (1,000 or more employees) preferred a fixed pricing model, compared to 31% who said they prefer consumption-based pricing.

What it means: Respondents working for large organizations were more likely to prefer fixed pricing models. This aligns with Odaseva’s earlier prediction: that consumption-based pricing, where finance teams can't predict pricing, isn't suitable for large enterprises. This model was relevant in the past, when companies wanted to explore new technologies like AI without a high initial investment, but now large enterprises prefer fixed pricing to streamline budget forecasting, especially for AI-related costs.

Key Takeaways:

1. Architects understand that an accurate and secure Salesforce data foundation is non-negotiable, especially as AI adoption ramps up.
2. Companies are realizing the value of Backup Reuse - turning backups into a trusted source of business data capable of powering analytics, AI initiatives and more.
3. More and more architects are realizing the value of storing their backups separately from Salesforce - including Salesforce employees.
4. Most architects recognize that Salesforce data security and management solutions aren’t one-size-fits-all - that handling LDV, complex data models, and multi-Org environments requires purpose-built enterprise solutions. 
5. Large organizations prefer fixed pricing models to help predict costs.

Odaseva was built by Salesforce experts to solve the challenges enterprises face when securing and managing Salesforce data. The Odaseva Enterprise Data Platform helps customers ensure business continuity, protect sensitive data, and unlock their data's full potential for AI and analytics so enterprises can scale and innovate securely.

For more information, request a demo today. To read the full 2026 SF Ben Salesforce Architect Survey Results, click here.

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