Data 360
Data 360 (now Data 360) is Salesforce's real-time CDP and data layer that unifies customer data into one profile to power AI.
Quick answer
What is Data 360?
Data 360 (now Data 360) is Salesforce's real-time CDP and data layer that unifies customer data into one profile to power AI.
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Data 360 (formerly Data Cloud) (rebranded Data 360 in 2026) is Salesforce's real-time customer data platform (CDP) and underlying data layer. It ingests data from Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, external warehouses, and data lakes, then resolves it into a single unified customer profile that the rest of the Salesforce platform (and its AI) can act on.
How it works
Data 360 connects to sources, harmonizes them into a common data model, and runs identity resolution to stitch duplicate records into one profile. A key 2026 capability is its zero-copy architecture: it can query data sitting in Snowflake, Databricks, or BigQuery in place, without physically copying it into Salesforce. On top of unified profiles, teams build segments, calculated insights, and real-time triggers that activate across channels.
How it applies in Salesforce and a GPTfy BYOM context
For Salesforce teams, Data 360 is positioned as the data foundation for Agentforce: Salesforce's autonomous agents lean on it for grounding. That dependency is exactly where GPTfy differs. GPTfy is a Bring Your Own Model (BYOM) layer that runs your chosen LLM (Claude, GPT, Gemini) directly inside Salesforce, grounding prompts on standard Salesforce records (Accounts, Opportunities, Cases) without requiring Data 360.
Concrete example: A RevOps team wants AI to draft renewal-risk summaries from Opportunity and Case history. With GPTfy, that runs on existing org data with PII masking applied, no Data 360 license, ingestion pipeline, or separate data model to stand up first.
Related terms
Browse all terms- BYOM (Bring Your Own Model)An architecture letting enterprises plug their preferred LLM (Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, Llama) into Salesforce instead of being locked to the vendor's default.
- AgentforceSalesforce's autonomous AI agent platform, launched in 2024 on the Atlas Reasoning Engine, taking actions across Sales, Service, and other Salesforce Clouds.
- GroundingSupplying an LLM with authoritative, current, customer-specific data inside the prompt so its response is anchored in real information, not training data.
Frequently asked
Data 360, common questions
Is Data 360 the same as a CDP?
It functions as a CDP but is broader. It unifies data for sales, service, commerce, and AI across the whole platform, not just marketing activation.What is zero-copy in Data 360?
Zero-copy lets Data 360 query data in external warehouses and lakes in place, so records aren't duplicated into Salesforce storage.Do I need Data 360 to use AI in Salesforce?
Full answer: [Does Agentforce require Data Cloud?](/does-agentforce-require-data-cloud/)
See it in your Salesforce org
See Data 360 running in GPTfy
Book 30 minutes with a GPTfy engineer to see how Data 360 actually works inside a Salesforce org like yours.
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