Salesforce: Heroku's Strategic Refresh Signals Renewed Investment from Salesforce

Heroku has launched a flurry of platform updates that represent more than routine enhancements; they mark a clear move to make the platform relevant for the next wave of cloud-native, AI-integrated application development. This directly challenges the persistent perception that Salesforce has sidelined Heroku. On the contrary, what's emerging is a platform being retooled to align tightly with Salesforce's AI-first, metadata-driven ecosystem. A Strategic Reset Anchored in AI and Cloud-Native Foundations At the heart of this evolution is Heroku Fir, a next-generation architecture rebuilt on Kubernetes and open standards like OpenTelemetry. By modernizing its core infrastructure, Heroku addresses long-standing technical debt and prepares to support global, scalable workloads with native observability and resilience. This isn't just a technical boost; it's a strategic reset to regain credibility with modern developers and DevOps teams. Further validating this strategic intent are new features like AppLink and Eventing, which knit Heroku more closely into Salesforce's AI narrative. AppLink allows developers to use Salesforce-native tools like Flows and Apex to embed custom logic into Agentforce agents. This creates a bidirectional integration path where Heroku is no longer just a standalone platform as a service, but a programmable back-end extension to Salesforce's flagship AI tooling. Eventing facilitates richer data synchronization and orchestration, key for building responsive, AI-powered applications across cloud platforms. Broadening Developer Appeal and Workflow Integration Support for .NET and Jupyter notebooks with persistent storage reflects Heroku's ambition to widen its attractiveness. Supporting .NET targets enterprise developers, traditionally underserved in the Heroku ecosystem, and the Jupyter integration caters to data scientists and educators, acknowledging the interdisciplinary nature of modern application teams. These updates go beyond developer ergonomics; they position Heroku as a converging point for application and data workflows, aligning with Salesforce's Data Cloud ambitions. Security and compliance also received attention with tightened GitHub Actions integration, allowing for automation workflows that operate securely in Heroku's environment. This is critical for regulated industries and large teams that need compliance without sacrificing speed - a long-standing gap in Heroku's story. Another point centred on the developer community is integration of Visual Studio Code, offering developers a familiar and widely adopted interface to build, deploy and manage apps on Heroku more seamlessly. This lowers the barrier to entry and embeds Heroku more natively into day-to-day workflows, which is critical for driving adoption across full-stack teams. A Developer On-Ramp to Salesforce's AI-Driven Vision Taken together, these enhancements indicate deliberate and substantial investment. They are not stopgap measures; they're platform-defining updates aimed at future-proofing Heroku and restoring its relevance in Salesforce's AI and developer platform narrative. The strategic cohesion between Heroku's updates and Salesforce's broader priorities is particularly notable. The shift toward cloud-native architectures, tighter integration with Agentforce and emphasis on data and event-driven models mirror Salesforce's product direction. Rather than being treated as a "legacy asset", Heroku is being reorientated to serve as the developer on-ramp for Salesforce's generative AI ecosystem. It's a logical evolution: Salesforce handles the metadata and business intelligence; Heroku provides the programmable substrate for custom logic, pipelines and real-time responsiveness. This direction validates a broader trend outlined in CCS Insight's Predictions for 2022 and Beyond . We predicted that platforms like Salesforce, ServiceNow and Microsoft 365 would emerge as digital transformation engines, displacing the dominance of traditional enterprise resource planning systems. Their widespread adoption, ease of use and centrality in operational workflows would make them the de facto infrastructure for enterprise productivity and innovation. Heroku's reinvention supports this thesis; it becomes a programmable layer extending Salesforce's reach into modern app development, similar to Microsoft's Azure Functions and ServiceNow's App Engine. Reclaiming Relevance in a Shifting Platform Landscape However, Heroku still faces a reputational challenge. Years of minimal investment and quiet sidelining have affected developer trust and ecosystem momentum. These recent announcements are impressive, but must be followed by visible execution, active community engagement and clearer messaging about Heroku's role in the Salesforce stack. If Salesforce is serious about regaining developer mindshare, Heroku must be marketed as a strategic platform with a new purpose. In short, these aren't just updates but signals of realignment. Heroku is positioned as a bridge between open, developer-friendly tooling and Salesforce's enterprise-grade, AI-driven ecosystem. For critics who have written Heroku off, this platform transformation suggests it may be one of Salesforce's most quietly strategic plays in the AI era. Although Heroku's repositioning is significant, the platform enters a competitive landscape that has evolved rapidly. Platforms like Vercel and Fly.io have captured mindshare by emphasizing edge performance, developer experience and modern deployment workflows. Google's Cloud Run and Microsoft Azure's Container Apps offer scalable, managed compute tightly integrated into broader cloud ecosystems. Heroku's advantage now lies in its renewed focus on AI extensibility and deep integration with Salesforce's enterprise backbone - something its rivals can't easily replicate. If successful, Heroku could carve out a distinct position as the programmable layer powering AI-native business applications.