Dreamforce 2026 Takeaways: Q&A with Paul Chesek
Every year, Dreamforce sets the tone for what's next in the Salesforce ecosystem, and this year was no exception. Now that the dust has settled, we caught up with Paul Chesek, GM, Salesforce Practice at Thunder, for his take on the conference, the conversations that stood out, and how Thunder is turning this year's momentum into real results for customers.
Q. Now that you've had a few weeks to reflect, what were your biggest takeaways from Dreamforce 2026?
A. My biggest takeaways from Dreamforce are all the Agentic world that we are creating for organizations and employees. It starts with your/our people. Enabling them with the tools which create greater productivity, efficiency which lead to business outcomes such as greater customer satisfaction, improved speed to market for new products and services, and providing a better platform that meets our people and customers where they are at the moment.
Q. What was Thunder's presence like at the event this year? Any moments or conversations that stood out?
A. We had an incredible group of people represent Thunder. Having Entrust and DigiCert on a panel with Meredith Schmidt from Salesforce talking all things Revenue Transformation.
Q. What were customers and prospects most curious or concerned about when they stopped by to talk with the team?
A. The big question was how does consumption impact my business. How do we bring agents in a way that allows us to consume the change? Is the technology ready for primetime? How are Claude and OpenAI going to impact the Salesforce platform?
Q. Was there an announcement or product update from Salesforce that you think will change how organizations approach their Salesforce strategy over the next year?
A. I think the entire Claude, headless announcement!
Q. Coming out of Dreamforce, what are you most excited to bring to Thunder customers?
A. Helping them understand their agentic readiness and what an agentic program means for their business. Also helping them understand the organizational change needed to bring the outcomes to life.
Ready to put this year's Dreamforce innovations to work for your business? Let's talk about what's next for your Salesforce org.
Connect with the Thunder team: https://www.thundersf.com/contact-us
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