You might remember a few months ago when we walked through what to expect from Salesforce’s Winter ’26 Release: how to prep, test, and make the most of Salesforce’s seasonal updates.
And if your Salesforce dashboard looks a little “off” lately—missing buttons, cranky Flows, or users frantically pinging you—you’re not imagining things. That’s what happens when a big release lands before you’ve had your morning coffee.
Salesforce’s seasonal updates always come with exciting innovations (and sometimes, a few surprises). The good news: Winter ’26 is packed with improvements to AI, automation, and data handling. The tricky news? Some of those changes might have shaken up your carefully tuned setup.
So, if your org feels a little frosty right now, don’t panic. Let’s talk about how to melt the chaos, recover your rhythm, and turn this release into a Salesforce optimization opportunity.
Winter ’26 is not a minor update. It’s a full-feature rollout that affects workflows, permissions, and user experience across your Salesforce CRM.
Here’s what’s live now, and how to fix (or finesse) the fallout.
Salesforce’s new AI-powered account research helps teams plan smarter with one-click data updates, though this feature may only be available in supported orgs or with Agentforce and Industry Cloud add-ons. It’s a huge win for productivity, especially when streamlining Salesforce onboarding for new team members, but it can also disrupt custom automations that depended on manual field edits.
Best Practice: Review your Flow automations and validation rules for dependencies, and make sure your new users are trained on AI-assisted workflows. (If the feature isn’t enabled in your org yet, note it for future rollout planning.) This is also a great moment to revisit how you train and onboard users across your org.
Instant AI-generated summaries on Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, and Leads are here—and they’re changing how users engage with data. That’s great news for Salesforce adoption, but it may also mean that your page layouts or custom components need adjustments.
Best Practice: Review layouts and visibility rules to make sure these summaries enhance, not overwhelm, your user experience. If your team is struggling with adoption or consistency, there are ways to design for more intuitive engagement.
Best Practice: Update your internal training materials to highlight these updates — and consider how small UX improvements can drive better adoption across departments.
Einstein Activity Capture emails now sync as Salesforce Activities—Tasks and EmailMessages—which means your email data finally plays nicely with your reports. It’s a big win for visibility and accuracy, but be careful of field mismatches or duplicated data.
Best Practice: Review your reporting filters and integrations. Clean, well-governed data is key to sustained ROI and healthy reporting—and it’s one of those quiet, yet crucial, backend optimizations that pays off in the long term.
Admins, rejoice! Step-by-step Flow debugging, version comparisons, and custom Screen Flow themes are here (in most supported orgs and sandbox previews). But if you haven’t maintained your older Flows, the upgrade might’ve introduced a few hiccups.
Best Practice: Audit your automations and ensure that your Salesforce best practices include sandbox testing before making any changes in production. If you’re still balancing legacy automations and modern Flows, it might be time to rethink your automation architecture.
Winter ’26 enforces stricter permissions: Apex actions in Flows now honor user access levels, Maintenance Plans rely on new Work Rules, and FlowSites permission is deprecated in supported orgs (implementation timing may vary). It’s a major step forward for data protection and compliance, but it also means some users have lost access to automations they rely on.
Best Practice: Review user permissions, profiles, and sharing rules to ensure optimal security and functionality. Security hardening is one of those things that separates a stable org from a fragile one — and it’s where working with a Salesforce Partner really pays off.
If your org is already feeling the effects, here’s how to get back on track fast:
You’d be surprised how often a quick audit uncovers not just fixes, but opportunities to simplify, optimize, and get more out of Salesforce overall.
Even as you stabilize, it’s worth thinking about the big picture. Salesforce’s roadmap continues to evolve with: Zero Trust Security, Expanding Agentforce capabilities, Deeper Data Cloud + Informatica integration, and Smarter Service Cloud AI. These are emerging focus areas Salesforce is investing in, though some are not yet fully GA or may be in a pilot phase.
The best way to future-proof your org is to stay proactive—not reactive—when it comes to updates and change management.
So, Winter ’26 is here. The buttons shifted, Flows evolved, and Einstein AI showed up with some fresh capabilities—and now your users are either excited or a little unsure what just happened.
Welcome to post-release reality.
Even the best Salesforce optimization plans can stumble when new updates change how users work. But here’s the upside: this is also one of the best times to rebuild engagement and strengthen Salesforce adoption across your team.
Here’s how to turn that release-day confusion into real momentum:
Treat Winter ’26 as a reset moment. Whether your users are brand new or seasoned pros, everyone benefits from a quick refresher on what’s changed, like the new Einstein Record Summary component (available in supported orgs and licenses), updated list view capabilities, or Flow enhancements.
A short, focused “What’s New” session—recorded or live—helps your team see the benefits early and feel confident using them. It’s not just training; it’s reassurance that you’ve got their back.
Not every improvement needs a big announcement. Your sales reps save five minutes a day using multi-column sorting, or your managers finally get accurate reporting now that synced emails (via Einstein Activity Capture) are visible as Activities.
Highlight those quick wins. When users see Salesforce ROI in action—even in small ways—adoption goes from “another system update” to “this actually makes my job easier.”
People resist what they don’t understand, but explore what sparks interest. Instead of mandatory training sessions, share short “Feature Spotlights” that showcase one improvement at a time, like AI-powered account research (if enabled in your org) or the new Flow debugging tools.
That kind of guided exploration drives Salesforce adoption naturally and helps users stay curious rather than cautious.
Your Salesforce Partner isn’t just for implementation projects. They can also support ongoing enablement, automation reviews, and user adoption strategies.
A partner’s external perspective helps you identify where users may be struggling, align your configuration with Salesforce best practices, and make sure your org stays ready for the next release cycle.
Bottom line: Post-release adoption doesn’t require perfection; just a clear plan, steady communication, and the proper support. Each new release is really a chance to fine-tune your org, empower your users, and build toward long-term Salesforce ROI.
Note: Feature availability and functionality may vary by Salesforce edition, license type, or org configuration.
The truth? If this release broke something, it probably needed attention anyway. Think of this as your signal to revisit your processes, tighten data governance, and refresh your Salesforce optimization plan.
A little structure, some updated best practices, and ongoing adoption support can transform a stressful update into a measurable ROI win.
The teams that thrive after a big release like Winter ’26 share a few simple but powerful habits:
Bottom line: Winter ’26 isn’t just another update. It’s a checkpoint. Use it to test smarter, document better, and collaborate strategically. That’s how high-performing teams turn every release into measurable Salesforce ROI.
At Dynamic Specialties Group, we’ve seen every kind of Salesforce storm—and we’ve guided clients through all of them. As a certified Salesforce Partner, we specialize in turning updates like Winter ’26 into opportunities for smarter automation, cleaner data, and stronger Salesforce optimization. Whether you need to stabilize post-release hiccups, fine-tune your Flows, or train your team on new AI features, our experts can help you get there—fast. We specialize in:
Our approach blends hands-on strategy with Salesforce best practices that drive real, measurable Salesforce ROI. And we don’t just focus on the quick fixes—we help you build long-term habits that keep your org healthy, adaptable, and ready for whatever Salesforce rolls out next.
So before the next update sneaks up on you, let’s make sure this one delivers everything it should.
Talk to DSG today and turn your Salesforce release challenges into your next big win.