Four tiers collapsed into two. 170 credentials cut to 28. Expert status now demands 15 delivered projects at a 4.4 CSAT. Pick your route, score your readiness, and ship your plan in 90 days.
4 tiers → 2 tiers · outcome-based scoring
Three routes exist in the new program. Most teams pick wrong and waste six to nine months. Answer three questions and get the route, the economics, and the first three moves.
The first fork. Product vs. services determines everything about the program math that follows.
Press A, B, or C to choose
Expert status inside each competency requires 15+ delivered projects and a 4.4+ CSAT (per HFS Research). Adjust the inputs. We show your gap in real time.
You have real ground to make up before Q1 2027. Start specializing now; broad coverage is actively punished under the new scoring.
Close 9 more Agentforce or Data 360 projects before quarterly Expert evaluations kick in.
Lift average CSAT from 4.1 to 4.4+. Scope conservatively and over-serve the first cohort. CSAT discipline is the single biggest Summit lever.
Ship at least one production Agentforce deployment with outcome data inside 90 days. Pilots don't count under the new scoring.
Add 3 Agentforce / Data 360 certifications to your team. Certs don't earn tier alone anymore, but they're still the floor.
Two events, one strategy. Here's the compressed schedule from the December 2025 ISV opening through FY27 enforcement.
Salesforce opens Agentforce 360 to ISVs. AI-native teams can now embed and monetize the full stack: Agentforce, Data 360, Trusted Services, vertical clouds.
Biggest platform expansion since Force.com (18 years)170 credentials reduce to 28 competencies. Select and Summit replace Base / Ridge / Crest / Summit. Evaluation shifts from activity to outcomes, measured quarterly.
Expert bar: 15+ projects, 4.4+ CSAT (HFS Research)Badge equivalency mappings published. Agentforce certification becomes a Summit prerequisite. Partners begin documenting CSAT and picking target competencies.
You are here · April 2026Early Summit applicants get preferred AppExchange positioning and co-marketing priority. This is the early-mover bonus window; waiting until Q1 2027 costs placement.
~12 months to movePartners who have not migrated get default placement. Co-marketing queue deprioritized. Grandfathering from old badges closes. FY27 lifecycle incentives go live.
Late movers lose visibilitySalesforce opens Agentforce 360 to ISVs. AI-native teams can now embed and monetize the full stack: Agentforce, Data 360, Trusted Services, vertical clouds.
Biggest platform expansion since Force.com (18 years)170 credentials reduce to 28 competencies. Select and Summit replace Base / Ridge / Crest / Summit. Evaluation shifts from activity to outcomes, measured quarterly.
Expert bar: 15+ projects, 4.4+ CSAT (HFS Research)Badge equivalency mappings published. Agentforce certification becomes a Summit prerequisite. Partners begin documenting CSAT and picking target competencies.
You are here · April 2026Early Summit applicants get preferred AppExchange positioning and co-marketing priority. This is the early-mover bonus window; waiting until Q1 2027 costs placement.
~12 months to movePartners who have not migrated get default placement. Co-marketing queue deprioritized. Grandfathering from old badges closes. FY27 lifecycle incentives go live.
Late movers lose visibilityFewer hoops on paper. Higher hoops in practice. Every dimension that reshapes the partner math.
| Dimension | Pre-March 2026 | March 2026 onwards |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting tiers | Base, Ridge, Crest, Summit (4) | Select, Summit (2) |
| Required credentials | 170 certs, badges, specializations | 28 core competencies |
| Recognition per competency | Single tier | Accredited + Expert |
| Evaluation basis | Activity (certs, registrations, heads) | Outcomes (projects + CSAT) |
| Evaluation cadence | Annual | Quarterly |
| Expert bar (HFS) | N/A | 15+ projects, 4.4+ CSAT |
| Specialization focus | Broad coverage rewarded | Agentforce, Data 360, verticals |
| ISV access to Agentforce 360 | Closed | Open (Dec 10, 2025) |
| Agent marketplace | AppExchange only | AppExchange + AgentExchange |
| Agent pricing model | $2 / conversation | $0.10 / action (20 Flex Credits) |
| ISV revenue share | N/A | ~85% kept, 1.5% renewal fee |
Sources: Salesforce press release (Mar 10, 2026), Salesforce press release (Dec 10, 2025), HFS Research, Salesforce Ben.
Four numbers do most of the work. Flex Credits, the AgentExchange fee, the HFS Expert bar, and the included-capacity floor every customer already has.
20 Flex Credits per action. Credits sell in 100,000-credit packs for $500. Each customer already has 200,000 Flex Credits + 250,000 Data Service Credits included.
Platform fee on ISV renewals. Partners keep roughly 85% after the full Salesforce take. Listings pass AppExchange Security Review (6-10 weeks typical).
Projects delivered and average CSAT to earn Expert recognition inside any of the 28 competencies. Industry CSAT averages sit at 3.8-4.1, so this bar is real.
Every Salesforce customer has included Agentforce capacity before buying any add-on. Design for this included-capacity window as your organic onboarding runway.
Pulled from Partner Community threads, Salesforce Ben comments, and conversations with AI-native founders working through the new program.
On March 10, 2026, Salesforce collapsed four consulting tiers (Base, Ridge, Crest, Summit) into two (Select, Summit), reduced required credentials from 170 to 28 core competencies, and shifted evaluation from activity-based to outcome-based. Partners are now scored quarterly on projects delivered and customer satisfaction. Expert status inside each competency requires 15+ delivered projects and a 4.4+ CSAT, per HFS Research.
Co-Founder & CTO, Clientell AI · 150+ implementations · 10,000+ newsletter subscribers
Neil Sarkar is the Co-Founder and CTO of Clientell, where he builds AI agents that execute Salesforce admin tasks from plain English. With 6+ years building on the Salesforce platform across deployments, automation, and org architecture and 150+ implementations, Neil has architected solutions saving 15,000+ admin hours annually. He writes about Salesforce + AI at The Flow State, his weekly newsletter with 10,000+ subscribers.
Clientell is the AI admin agent you talk to in plain English. It ships the org cleanup, flow rewiring, and permission fixes Agentforce needs before you can hit a 4.4 CSAT.