Cloud computing titan Salesforce has established a Philippine office as it moves to strengthen its footprint in one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing digital markets.
The new hub, located at Ayala Triangle Gardens Tower 2 in Makati City, marks the company’s first physical presence in the country after more than a decade of supporting local enterprises remotely or through partners. The expansion will be led by Abraham Cuevas, newly appointed regional vice president and country manager for the Philippines.
Salesforce executives said the company’s entry comes at a time of surging enterprise adoption of AI and CRM platforms. Citing economic forecasts, they noted that artificial intelligence could add as much as ₱2.8 trillion ($50.7 billion) to the Philippine economy by 2030.
“We’ve been serving customers here for the last 10 to 15 years through partners and regional teams, but now we see the potential to develop not just the Philippine market but also to serve the wider region,” said Gavin Barfield, CTO and vice president for solutions at Salesforce Asean. “This is Salesforce giving our final vote of confidence in the Philippines.”
While the company declined to disclose employee numbers or growth rankings, it described the Philippines as “one of the highest-growing markets” in Asean and confirmed ongoing hiring.
On questions about data sovereignty and emerging Philippine rules on data localization, Barfield said Salesforce’s ongoing migration to Hyperforce — its public-cloud-based architecture — equips it to meet data residency requirements when needed.
“Hyperforce is what enables us to offer data sovereignty. Through Hyperforce, we’re able to isolate and ensure that data remains within the country,” he said.
However, Salesforce noted that it is still monitoring developments on sovereign data policies and has not committed to building a local cloud region. Barfield added that data sovereignty extends beyond storage.
“You’re looking not just at where the data is, but where it is processed, transferred, and the security mechanisms around it,” he said. “There’s also the classification of that data — from high-grade military data to non-identifiable general data.”
Cuevas said the strong adoption of public cloud among banks, utilities, telecom firms, and other regulated industries has allowed Salesforce to operate in the Philippines even without local infrastructure.
Executives said Filipino tech professionals are well-positioned to help drive AI-powered transformation, noting the large pool of Salesforce-certified workers employed by systems integrators and offshore development centers.
Cuevas said the company’s customer base may soon expand to government, a segment it has not yet served. “We don’t have clients yet in government. That’s an area of potential and a high priority for us next year,” he said.
Salesforce also emphasized its ability to support businesses of all sizes. Barfield noted that the platform used by clients like BPI and PLDT is the same one available to small enterprises.
“The same technology we offer to the likes of BPI is exactly what we can offer to a bakery with three people or a flower shop with one person. There’s no cheaper or weaker version,” he said.
The company confirmed that Agentforce for Service and Employee Agent now supports Tagalog, enabling local organizations to deploy AI-driven workflows in the national language.
Salesforce also pledged to train 12,000 Filipinos in CRM and AI skills over the next five years. To date, it has trained more than 53,000 individuals through its Trailhead programs and partnerships with Asia Pacific College, Bulacan State University, National University, and the Ayala Foundation.
