Q&A: Sarah Franklin and Tyler Prince on the Salesforce Economy and the Trailblazers Who Drive it
Rapid innovation in emerging technologies such as IoT and AI are changing the ways we live and work, creating the need for a savvy workforce that is prepared to tackle challenges unique to our digital age.
Salesforce is at the forefront of this innovation—and we just announced that, together with our ecosystem of partners, we will grow the ‘Salesforce Economy’ to create 4.2 million new jobs and $1.2 trillion in new business revenues worldwide by 2024.1
In an era of unprecedented technological change, we’re excited to not only be a source of tomorrow’s jobs, but equally importantly, be a source of learning and development opportunities that are key to empowering today’s workforce with tomorrow’s skills.
We sat down with Sarah Franklin, EVP and GM of Platform, Trailhead and Developers and Tyler Prince, EVP of Partners and Industries, to discuss this thriving ‘Salesforce Economy’, the jobs of the future, and how our Trailhead platform empowers the workforce to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Q: How is the Salesforce Economy changing and growing? And how do your roles feed into that growth?
Sarah Franklin: The Salesforce Economy is creating millions of jobs at top companies around the world. Many of these roles have six-figure salaries; in fact, the role of “Salesforce Developer” is ranked by Indeed.com as a top job worldwide.
As the demand for Salesforce skills explodes, it’s our mission – through our free online learning platform Trailhead – to empower anyone, regardless of socioeconomic status or ethnic background, to skill up and take advantage of these opportunities within the Salesforce ecosystem and beyond.
The Salesforce ecosystem in 2019 is more than four times larger than Salesforce itself and will grow to almost six times larger by 2024.
As the GM of Trailhead, I’m proud to be playing a part in a movement that’s defining the future of technology. Trailblazers around the world are innovating to drive customer success by delivering new experiences and accelerating productivity across every line of business.
Tyler Prince: I’m seeing the same thing when I look out at our community of consulting and ISV partners: it’s growing like crazy. In fact, the Salesforce ecosystem in 2019 is more than four times larger than Salesforce itself and will grow to almost six times larger by 2024!
Our partner ecosystem is a key growth driver of the Salesforce Economy – they extend the functionality of our platform with customized apps, and they help customers implement our technology, giving Salesforce scale and specialized expertise. We could not have reached this milestone without our amazing community of customers, partners and developers.
Q: Why is Salesforce different from other tech companies when it comes to growing our worldwide ecosystem?
Sarah: No one offers a platform like Trailhead. Trailhead provides anyone—no matter their gender, background, socio-economic status or walk of life—with a free platform to skill up for a rewarding career in technology. Since launching in 2014, Trailhead has become a game changer for more than 1.7 million Trailblazers looking to develop new skills and land top jobs.
Whether you’re new to the field of technology, re-entering the workforce or reinventing your career, there’s a place for you here. All are welcome on Trailhead and in the Trailblazer Community.
Tyler: Take a look at our partnership with Accenture on the Vetforce Alliance. Vetforce is a Salesforce program that gives military service members and their spouses access to a community of fellow learners and self-paced technical training with Trailhead. Since its launch in 2014, 15,000 members of the military community have joined Vetforce to gain valuable skills, earn certifications, and land meaningful careers in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Through its participation in the Vetforce Alliance, Accenture Federal Services will guarantee interviews in Washington, D.C. and San Antonio for both veterans and military wives who complete the Vetforce program with a Salesforce certification. When we bring our Trailblazers and partners together like this we can make magic.
Q: Looking into the future, what are you most excited about?
Sarah: Earlier this year, Salesforce pledged to train 1 million Americans as part of the Pledge to America’s Workers. With nearly 35% of the skills required for jobs changing across every industry, Trailhead will be pivotal in achieving that goal; no other online learning platform has our combination of community and guided, hands-on challenges. And we’re continuing to push the envelope through initiatives like our partnership with South New Hampshire University – empowering any Trailblazer to trade badges for credit towards an accredited degree.
Empowering our Trailblazers and ecosystem of partners to grow is creating jobs, reskilling workers and helping them to succeed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
That’s our secret sauce for reskilling an entire generation to keep pace in areas like AI and mobile app development – and not take on a crushing amount of student debt while doing so. It’s game changing.
Tyler: We want to keep our ecosystem growing, as we need to create jobs that our Trailblazers will eventually fill. We’re working tirelessly to recruit new consulting partners to join the Salesforce Ohana to help extend our platform even more into our customer base. We’re also expanding our current consulting ecosystem, working closely with partners like Accenture, Deloitte and Slalom to grow their Salesforce practices, providing even more opportunities. And finally, through our Salesforce Ventures arm and our SI Trailblazer Fund, we’re investing in countless startups that are building innovative products on our platform, growing the need for Salesforce-related jobs even more.
We’re proud of what we’ve built so far but see this as only the beginning. Empowering our Trailblazers and ecosystem of partners to grow is creating jobs, reskilling workers and helping them to succeed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
1 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
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Skill up with Trailhead
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Skill up with Trailhead
