Today, global market intelligence firm IDC published a new whitepaper about the impact and global opportunity of the Salesforce Economy, our vast ecosystem of customers and partners. According to the study, the Salesforce Economy is expected to create 4.2 million jobs and $1.18 trillion in new business revenues by 2024.*
While the opportunity to learn and work with Salesforce technology has given millions of people access to new opportunities and businesses access to increased revenues, we are perhaps most proud of how Salesforce partners have extended our corporate values of trust, customer success, innovation, and equality around the world.
Torrent Consulting, a platinum-tier Salesforce consulting partner, is doing just that by putting their commitment to social impact and workforce development at the forefront of their company. With offices in Ann Arbor, Washington D.C., Kansas City, and Charlotte, Torrent took a bold step in 2017 to open an international hub in Antigua, Guatemala.
Two years later, their Antigua office is home to 25% of the company’s employees, including McCollum. They have trained people from local communities to become Salesforce consultants, developers, and architects and offered workshops and mentorship to students in the area. In many cases, these resources are helping bring remote villages into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
 Creating new futures through workforce development
Torrent’s first hires in Antigua were two native Mayan women who had recently graduated high school. In the first nine months, they learned the Salesforce platform through a number of product-, role-, and industry-specific learning paths on Trailhead. They were quickly able to contribute to Torrent’s business by working with customers to build effective Salesforce solutions. This work also eventually led to their enrollment in university, something typically unheard of for women in their community.
“Whether you were born in a village or you went to a major university, it doesn’t matter,” said McCollum. “We’re trying to level the playing field and extend that opportunity at a faster pace. There are now a ton of free resources like Trailhead that weren’t available a few years ago.”
Apprentices, like the two women mentioned above, deliver amazing, world-class work, according to Torrent’s managing director Austin Rawlings. They are part of the teams that have helped Torrent achieve an 80.1% net promoter score (NPS) from all customer engagements across their global team.
“Committing to an integrated social impact model is really good for business,” said Rawlings. “When you provide passionate people with an opportunity, they run through walls. It translates into the work we do for customers, and there’s no shortage of success.”
When you provide passionate people with an opportunity, they run through walls … there is no shortage of success.” Austin Rawlings | Managing Director, Torrent Consulting
Making the world a better place by building the next generation of talent
McCollum says the tech space is one of the most unequal industries in the world. With experience living in Antigua and Malawi, Africa, as well as other parts of the world, he’s gained a broader perspective and has used it to change the conversation on global business.
“This is why I started the company,” he said. “We have a responsibility to help those in need and create opportunity.”
For all Torrent employees, both domestic and worldwide, the goal is to create a meaningful opportunity that promotes well-being and growth. By valuing the individual, Torrent not only realizes great business potential but helps to build the next generation of talent.
“Someone has to take a risk,” said Rawlings. “If we don’t do it, who will?”
How have you cultivated a values-based culture at your company? Click to share your answer on social.
If you’re interested in learning more about what the future of work will look like as companies tap into technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning to augment the human workforce, read our article, “What is the Future of Work?”
Source: IDC white paper sponsored by Salesforce, The Salesforce Economic Impact: 4.2 Million New Jobs, $1.2 Trillion of New Business Revenues from 2019 to 2024, October 2019
