We covered the Salesforce services partner ecosystem last year (https://alten.capital/blog/salesforce-consulting-and-services-partner-ecosystem-analysis). We ran an update in 2024 in preparation for Dreamforce. Key highlights below.
Salesforce has several products, from CRM, sales, and revenue-support software solutions to integration platforms like MuleSoft and communication tools like Slack. The company has recently introduced a Data Cloud product to get closer to other cloud data warehouse products.
We found approximately 3,000 consulting and services partners in the AppExchange, a 20% increase from last year. As we cleaned and deduped the data for acquired businesses, we ended up with 2,750 consulting partners we could analyze.
North America has almost half of all worldwide services partners. India has the highest headcount among all partners, with North America coming next at 16% of all headcount. This pattern is seen across IT services after decades of offshoring. Almost two-thirds of partners have fewer than 50 employees and almost 90% of partners have fewer than 500 employees overall, showing a strong fragmentation in this ecosystem.
Africa grew the most relative to where they were in 2023, with South America and Asia coming next. Interesting to see that large SIs of more than 10,000 employees were the group that grew the most (becoming partners either by acquiring a smaller player or organically).
The AppExchange lists the number of experts that each consulting and services company has. As team members get certified, their credentials are tracked within the partner portal.
Similarly, partners are motivated to report the projects they complete to earn points towards their partner status (Base, Ridge, Crest, and Summit).
At Alten Capital we invest in technology services businesses. Please reach out to explore potential partnerships.