Admins in the Agentic Era is a series exploring how Salesforce Administrators are evolving in the era of AI, automation, and autonomous systems. We spotlight leaders who are experimenting, advising, and redefining how modern systems are built, governed, and scaled.
Katie Villanueva is a Salesforce Admin, Golden Hoodie recipient, and speaker who thrives at the intersection of technology, education, and community advocacy. She has presented at Dreamforce and TDX, on Salesforce+, and at community conferences while championing mental health awareness and uplifting LatinX voices in the Salesforce ecosystem.
There’s a lot of noise around AI and what it means for everyone. It can be overwhelming. As a Salesforce Admin, I wonder, “Am I learning fast enough?” or “Are the data and my org ready for it?” If I blink, I feel like I missed some critical information because it’s going so fast. Sometimes I get stressed about keeping up with AI, being prepared for it, or learning it at breakneck speed. I think a lot of us are uncomfortable because things are changing so quickly, but that discomfort is growth. Don’t get me wrong, it’s exciting too — the Salesforce Admin role feels fluid right now. We’re growing and changing, and that’s not a bad thing.
While the role is evolving quickly, the core objective remains the same: to run healthy and secure orgs that help move the business forward. Right now, we’re figuring out a new “how,” but the “why” behind what we do remains the same. A great admin isn’t just someone who maintains a system — they protect, organize, optimize, and guide an organization’s data, users, tools, insights, and security practices, just as we did before AI. Despite all the change, the core responsibilities ground me during a time when everything feels in flux.
At work, I’m looking to understand the art of the possible so I can make knowledgeable pitches to leadership when the right use case arises. For example, how could AI help explain complex, inherited flows, turning a workday’s worth of reverse-engineering into a minute-long task? How far can I stretch Setup With Agentforce to do what I need? What are the repeatable or time-intensive tasks where Agentforce can serve me?
It’s about finding use cases to save time. I like to start with the most important use case, pull that thread, and then slowly start thinking on a much bigger scale. I take a beat and wonder how this tool can help me deliver on my User Management, Product Management, Data Management, Analytics, and Security responsibilities. What superpower can I unlock with this?
What excites me: Cutting down on our backlog. If we can master these tools and apply them thoughtfully to our work with best practices in mind, I believe we can finally make a meaningful dent in the massive backlog every org seems to carry. There will always be a backlog, but I’m hopeful it becomes far more manageable in the Agentic Era.
As an admin, I’m constantly wishing for more time — whether it’s finishing something important or circling back to a fast follow that slipped through the cracks. Agentforce can help reduce repetitive tasks and surface information that would normally require digging through every nook and cranny of the org.
What concerns me: Technology typically moves through an adoption lifecycle before reaching widespread acceptance. With AI, however, it feels like we skipped many of those early phases and accelerated straight into adoption, driven largely by the fear of being left behind. That pace concerns me because it may put our orgs at risk. It reminds me of a butterfly in the cocoon. Transformation takes time. Organizations need time to evolve their processes, security models, governance, and data readiness so they can emerge stronger on the other side.
Salesforce Admins will play a critical role in implementing AI responsibly and recognizing when an organization or its data is not yet ready. We have a responsibility to help guide executive leadership through those decisions, balancing innovation with governance, security, and long-term sustainability when implementing it.
This might not be the answer everyone wants, but Automated Flow Testing.
I’m digging into flow testing right now because I think it’s one of the most important skills admins need to build for what comes next. Salesforce is releasing a lot of new testing features that will significantly strengthen the tool this year, and I want more admins to understand why this matters.
If you don’t have a developer background, you might not realize that testing flows is what keeps the system clean and safe. A poorly tested flow can be just as damaging as poorly written Apex. Flow is powerful, but power without proper validation creates risk.
A lot of flow testing is written in Apex, but we can test flow with declarative tools, and I’m not talking about just debugging. It’s time to dig in and understand how to do it and why we do it — and get the testing coverage we need to release a successful automation into Salesforce.
A lot of critical business processes will soon have some sort of agentic experience involved in them. Agentforce is built off of flows. We want our flows to perform exactly as the business expects. As we move toward autonomous agents, if you can’t test your logic effectively, you’re going to have a mess on your hands. Testing is a flagship skill for the next generation.
To me, embracing AI as an admin means realizing that even as you progress into this new Agentic Era, you keep the admin at your core. The technology is changing at lightspeed, but the admin principles stay the same.
We’re all “drinking from a fire hose” right now. I’m learning on Trailhead, I’ve jumped into the betas, and I even volunteered to be in a pilot! I’m doing what I can to participate in learning opportunities, like going to conferences or attending the workshops and webinars put on by the Salesforce Admins team. I’m actively participating in the change happening around me. I’ve never felt a more urgent need to learn AI than I do now.
To succeed in the AI era, we need to level up, but we already have the skill set on how to do that. As admins, we’re always learning the latest innovation and bringing that to our users. This is nothing new. We need to remember that our learner’s mindset is what will help us succeed in this moment of change, but also we’re not alone in this journey. Salesforce is with us doing its part to equip us with the enablement, so that we have the resources to be successful admins in this next generation of AI.
This journey isn’t about ditching the basics; it’s about applying those timeless principles to the most advanced tools we’ve ever had while never losing sight of the best practices that keep an org healthy, reliable, and safely guarded.
The role of admins in the Agentic Era is still being defined — and your voice matters. What skills are you building? What questions are you wrestling with? Join the conversation.
Admins in the Agentic Era is a series exploring how Salesforce Administrators are evolving in the era of AI, automation, and autonomous systems. We spotlight leaders who are experimenting, advising, and redefining how modern systems are built, governed, and scaled. In Conversation with Nicole Pomponio Nicole is a Delivery & Operations Leader at SaltClick and […]
Salesforce Administrators have always been at the center of how organizations run their most critical systems. But as AI, automation, and agents reshape the way work gets done, the admin role is evolving faster than ever. “Admins in the Agentic Era” is a series exploring how Salesforce Administrators are evolving to run the Agentic Enterprise. […]
Salesforce Administrators have always been at the center of how organizations run their most critical systems. But as AI, automation, and agents reshape the way work gets done, the admin role is evolving faster than ever. “Admins in the Agentic Era” is a series exploring how Salesforce Admins are evolving to run the Agentic Enterprise. […]
