AMY WEAVER: You know, In FY '24, we just had a fantastic quarter. I'm sure you saw, we hit it out of the park, revenue, operating margin, cash flow. We were also able to raise on all of those points in our guidance. So we've raised our revenue for the year, raised our margin, raised our cash flow.

Now, artificial intelligence, we're excited about that. But as I said on the earnings call, it's not part of our guide for this year. That's going to be more of a future event.

BRIAN SOZZI: Of course, you sit on that McDonald's board of directors as well. What's your view on the economy heading into next year as seen through the prism from a company like that but also big tech budgets?

AMY WEAVER: You know, it's really interesting for Salesforce. For about the last year, we have seen a more measured buying environment. And I think it's true across the tech industry. There have been elongated sales cycles, deal compression, additional approvals. And we're continuing to see that.

But looking to the future, you can feel the buzz. You can feel the excitement. I think we've got good times ahead.

BRIAN SOZZI: You had a-- I think it was you that made a really important point on the earnings call. And the earnings call just happened, just to be very clear. You said 30% operating margins are the floor for your business. Then what's the ceiling? I'm not trying-- I'm trying to get a little guidance. I mean, you are the CFO of Salesforce. I have to ask these things.

AMY WEAVER: Well, going back, we've had incredible operating margin this year. For the second quarter in a row, we increased our operating margin more than 1,000 basis points year-on-year, pretty much unheard of for a company. I'm really excited about that. I was able to raise our guidance to 30% for the fiscal year, which is really a milestone amount for the company. And I have commented several times, I think 30%, we need to treat that as the floor, not the ceiling.

BRIAN SOZZI: So how are you driving these operating margins? I know you've had to make some tough decisions on the business. Where are the biggest gains coming from?

AMY WEAVER: Right now, the gains are coming primarily from the decisions we made last January. We made some tough, tough decisions around headcount, tough decisions about real estate. But we're also bringing a new discipline around spending. And you're seeing that pay off in our margins.

BRIAN SOZZI: Is Salesforce being reborn? There's a different vibe to this conference. And I told my team back at home, I don't know what it is. I can't put my fingers on it. But how do you-- do you feel that? Do you see it?

AMY WEAVER: I do. I do. Salesforce and Dreamforce, it has all the same energy, all the same excitement. But there's a new maturity. I think there's a maturity in our processes. There's a maturity in our product. There's a real sophistication in terms of what we're doing with AI. And I think you can feel our customers really leaning into that.

BRIAN SOZZI: What has it been like leading Salesforce really through so much transformation of the past year? You've really dealt with situations that I have not experienced from someone who covers Salesforce, and you have not experienced-- the activists and headcount reductions. And what has it been like for you?

AMY WEAVER: We have had quite a year, but I'm incredibly proud of the company. Our employees have risen to the occasion. They have rallied. And there is not one person at the company who has not been involved in this transformation and bringing us through this.

BRIAN SOZZI: Marc and I, CEO Marc Benioff, co-founder chairman, we talked about boomerang employees. People coming that were used to work at Salesforce, they left for whatever reason, they're coming back to your company to, I guess, drive this AI revolution. How important have those employees been to this rebirth we're seeing here?

AMY WEAVER: You know, we've had some incredible boomerang employees. Steve Fisher is a terrific example. He left back in 2014, went off to eBay, other experiences. He's comeback, has been really instrumental in terms of our engineering and our artificial intelligence.

We've had many others come back. And what I love is they know the company, and yet they've had this outside experience. And it brings it all together, they hit the ground running. But I also want to give credit to our employees who have been here throughout. They are the engine at Salesforce. And they have brought us through this year.

BRIAN SOZZI: Before I let you go, you know, I mentioned to Marc, too, that all this AI, I would imagine you have to retrain workforces around the country to learn a lot of these new products. But I think it also starts in the schools. I was thinking back, I learned really no computers, no computer skills in school whatsoever. I think I started working on the Commodore, like, which is just wild, like playing Pac-Man or some weird game. But how are people going to get the skills to put some of these new AI applications to work?

AMY WEAVER: Well, I think it's a perfect question. Salesforce is incredibly dedicated to public education. Probably the most fun thing I have done at Salesforce-- sorry, at Dreamforce is I went across the city yesterday to George Washington High School, where we announced another $20 million donation from Salesforce to public schools. And in this case, it was particularly for artificial intelligence. How do we get the technology, how do we get the in and the hands of our students?

And you're right, this is not something that we've dealt with before. But we need this. And it's not entirely altruistic from Salesforce. These are our future employees. We need these students to have the best skills, the best technology, and the best future.

BRIAN SOZZI: So this money that you unveiled, these children are going to learn how to code, how to use AI?

AMY WEAVER: Absolutely. And this was just a small part of the investment. Over the years, we've given $72 million to the San Francisco Unified School Board, $52 million to Oakland, and more around the world. But today, really focusing on that AI.

And one thing that was really fun. We had the George Washington High School Robotics Club here for the keynote. They are going around now. They are hitting all the booths. They're hitting the different sessions. They are just going to be cutting-edge. And about half of them were girls, and I was particularly thrilled to see that.

BRIAN SOZZI: That is really cool to see. I'll let you go. I know this is Dreamforce is your event. You're a very high demand. I also know you don't do a lot of interviews. So thank you for coming on Yahoo Finance. We greatly appreciate your time.

AMY WEAVER: It was a pleasure. Thank you.

BRIAN SOZZI: Amy Weaver, Salesforce CFO, we'll talk to you soon.