Partner numbers and investment up at Salesforce

Salesforce is expecting more investment from its top channel partners as more get trained up and put more resources behind their relationships with the CRM giant.

The firm provided an update on its progress with its Q4 earnings with Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block telling analysts that it has seen an increase in activity on the partner front.

"In Q4, the total number of global partner certifications increased 41% year-over-year. And in FY ‘19, net new partners grew 79% in APAC and 110% in EMEA compared to last year," he said.

"I have met with the leaders of our top 5 consulting partners in the last month. And they have all said they are doubling their Salesforce practices over the next few years," he added.

Those top five partners have included the likes of Accenture, Cap Gemini and Deloitte in the past and the firm has been on a drive to get more engagement with the channel as part of its plans to increase enterprise sales.

The firm was able to share some positive numbers with analysts with revenues in Q4 increasing by 27% to reach $3.6bn for the three months ended 31 January.

The firm quoted IDC numbers that put its market share at 20%, the largest by some considerable margin, and the ongoing move by customers to go through the digital transformation process has been seen as a further spur for growth and the vendor is also looking to partners to help it unlock more business.

"We continue to grow internationally, expand across industries, and leverage our partner ecosystem as we drive toward our new revenue target of $26 billion to $28 billion in FY ‘23," said Block.

"I recently spoke with the head of one of the largest consulting firms who said that roughly 85% of their top 50 customers are just getting started on their digital transformations. So clearly, that’s an indication that we have tremendous runway ahead of us. And this opportunity is global," he added.