HfS Blueprint Report. Salesforce Services 2015 Excerpt for Accenture. October 2015

Transcription

1 Thriving In The As-a-Service Economy HfS Blueprint Report Salesforce Services 2015 Excerpt for Accenture October 2015 Khalda De Souza Principal Analyst, Services Strategies Charles Sutherland Chief Research Officer

2 Table of Contents TOPIC PAGE Executive Summary 2 Research Methodology 12 Salesforce Services In The As-a-Service Economy 17 Service Provider Grid 20 Service Provider Profiles 24 Market Wrap-Up and Recommendations 27 About the Authors 33 Proprietary Page 1

3 Executive Summary

4 Introduction to the HfS Blueprint Report: Salesforce Services 2015 The 2015 HfS Salesforce Services Blueprint Report continues our theme of looking at the services sets around the planning, implementation, management and operations of leading Software-As-a-Service platforms. Unlike other quadrants and matrices, the HfS Blueprint identifies relevant differentials between service providers across a number of facets under two main categories: innovation and execution. HfS Blueprint Report ratings are dependent on a broad range of stakeholders with specific weightings based on 1,109 stakeholder interviews from the 2014 State of Outsourcing Survey that covered: Enterprise Service Buyers Service Providers Industry Influencers (sourcing advisors and management consultants) HfS Sourcing Executive Council Members HfS Research Analysts Proprietary Page 3

5 Salesforce Technologies Supported By Services HfS has defined the services set for this Blueprint to be built around all of the Salesforce technologies within the Customer Success Platform, including: Sales Cloud Service Cloud Marketing Cloud Salesforce 1 platform Wave Analytics Community Cloud App Cloud IoT Cloud platform: announced at Dreamforce 2015 The Customer Success Platform is Salesforce s complete CRM offering and represents the software provider s move away from individual products to an integrated end-to-end CRM offering for clients The vast majority of the client references discussions that were conducted for this Blueprint were based on services in support of the Sales, Service Clouds as well as Wave Analytics. The Marketing Cloud, Community Cloud and IoT Cloud will likely feature much more significantly in the next update to this Blueprint. Proprietary Page 4

6 Salesforce Services Market Growth Drivers Salesforce is one of the most established SaaS technologies in the market today. It remains a growth market with continued service opportunities driven by the current inter-linked focus of Salesforce, enterprises and Salesforce service providers. Enterprise focus on CRM: The increasingly competitive landscape across industry sectors, is forcing enterprises to refocus on CRM initiatives to identity, understand, and better serve their clients. Many enterprises who implemented at least one Salesforce technology several years ago are now revisiting their CRM strategy to ensure that they are receiving the maximum business benefits from their Salesforce investments. Salesforce focus on Platforms: Salesforce is increasingly focused on the platform sell with its Customer Success platform, encouraging clients to adopt an end-toend view of their CRM environment. Service providers focus on Digital: Service providers, especially large, global providers are focusing investment and marketing efforts on delivering Digital services to clients. CRM, including Salesforce initiatives, are often at the heart of Digital services, and for many service providers they are in the same organizational business unit. Proprietary Page 5

7 Salesforce Service Partner Ecosystem Huge partner ecosystem: As one of the earliest and most established SaaS products in the market, Salesforce has a vast consultant partner ecosystem. It consists of a mix of service providers that are either global, regional/in-country or Salesforce focused. This makes it a competitive space for service providers and a complicated provider selection exercise for clients. Salesforce Appexchange web site resource: This site provides information on Salesforce applications, tools and consultant partners, with top level profiles, statistics and client reviews available for the latter. While it is worth noting that the statistical information is not always upto-date on the site, it remains the key resource to find information on all the service partners in one place. This is a perfect first point of call for enterprises to find a suitable partner. For this reason, the partners must update Salesforce regularly to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. CSAT scores conducted and shared by Salesforce: Salesforce conducts customer satisfaction surveys of its service partners and shares the scores on the appexchange web site. This is one of the most useful criterion for clients to help drive differentiation between the service partners. Salesforce Success Community: An online resource of information, where clients can also collaborate and post questions to experts. This is a valuable tool for clients to get additional support and advice on their Salesforce deployments. Proprietary Page 6

8 Salesforce Certifications Are Important To This Market Partner Levels Solution Architect Global Strategic Platinum Gold Silver Registered Fullforce Master Certification* Fullforce Industry Solution Certification** Technical Architect*** Domain Architect Domain Specialist * Mastery of specific Salesforce product ** Best-of-breed industry solutions *** The highest level with a very demanding examination process. At Dreamforce 15 Salesforce announced plans to now allow for product and capability specific version of the Technical Architect approvals which should result in a significant increase in certifications in the coming year. Proprietary Page 7

9 HfS Salesforce Services Value Chain PLAN IMPLEMENT MANAGE OPERATE OPTIMIZE Business case development for SaaS deployment Cloud advisory services, including cloud readiness assessment Compliance and risk assessment Security implications CRM strategy Salesforce process design and configuration support Change management Governance model/ structure Project management Business process execution Data migration Custom development services to comply with industry, geography or other business requirements Integration services Extensions, tools or custom development to fill functional gaps of Salesforce Testing Initial user training Change management execution Initial implementation hand-off plans Governance management Upgrade support Salesforce help desk On-going integration On-going testing On-going training Salesforce uptime, data accuracy, and access interface responsibility On-going employee adoption support Just in time usability content/aides Periodic solution and service delivery reviews Identify any required changes in Salesforce or process to account for changing business requirements: M&A, divestment, new investments in IT Business process outsourcing (BPO), e.g. CRM BPO, Marketing BPO New Salesforce module value identification and benefit analysis On-going Salesforce module adds/upgrades, migrations, and consolidation On-going CRM strategy and system alignment CRM analytics and measurement Best practice content curation User community facilitation Proprietary Page 8

10 Key Highlights State of the Salesforce Services Market - Services Plan: Opportunities to offer general SaaS readiness services as well as Salesforce specific consulting services. It is paramount to be able to link technical advice and client business objectives, with a holistic view of CRM Percentage of Employees Engaged Across Different Types of Services* Implement: Implementation services remain the biggest chunk of the Salesforce service market Optimize, 11% Plan, 16% Manage and Optimize: Management services demand is growing as enterprises recognize the need for ongoing support services. Proactivity is key here helping clients to understand new releases and ensuring they remain consistent with dynamic business objectives Operate: Only service providers with BPO skills in general have some Salesforce BPO business, but this remains a small market today. Operate, 12% Manage, 16% Implement, 45% * Aggregate responses of service providers in this Blueprint Proprietary Page 9

11 Key Highlights State of the Salesforce Services Market Technologies Majority of business in Sales Cloud implementation services: For many service providers this remains the bulk of their Salesforce service business. There are still many green-field opportunities in the market and enterprises often implement Sales Cloud as the first step on their Salesforce journey. For the service providers in this Blueprint, an average of 50% of employees are working in Sales Cloud engagements with clients. Service Cloud implementations second largest business: Service Cloud implementations represent the second largest business segment for most service providers. Interest in Marketing Cloud but fewer capabilities in the market. Clients are increasingly interested in Marketing Cloud but there are fewer service providers with the experience of large-scale implementations at this level, as many are still building out these practices, including establishing the relevant partnerships to deliver the solution to clients. Platform development is rife: Salesforce s increasing focus on the platform has led to a flurry of customised development work on the platform by service providers. This includes industry-specific proprietary solution development that drives differentiation between service partners. For the service providers in this Blueprint, an average of just under one third of employees are working with clients to develop platform solutions. Proprietary Page 10

12 Research Methodology

13 Research Methodology Data Summary The data for this Blueprint was collected in Q2 and Q3 2015, covering services buyers, service providers, and advisors/influencers of Salesforce services. This report was concluded prior to the closure of the acqisition of Cloud Sherpas by Accenture and so they are reviewed independently. This Report Is Based On: Tales from the Trenches: Interviews were conducted with buyers who have evaluated service providers and experienced their services. Some were supplied by service providers, but many interviews were conducted by HfS Executive Council members and participants in our extensive market research. Sell-Side Executive Briefings: Structured discussions with service providers were intended to collect data necessary to evaluate their innovation, execution and market share, and deal counts. HfS State of Outsourcing Survey: The industry s largest quantitative survey, conducted with the support of KPMG, covering the views, intentions, and dynamics of 1,100+ buyers, providers, and influencers of outsourcing. Publicly Available Information: Financial data, website information, presentations given by senior executives, and other marketing collateral were evaluated. Participating Service Providers Additional Mini Profiles Proprietary Page 12

14 Key Factors Driving the HfS Blueprint Two major factors: EVALUATION CRITERIA Execution represents service providers ability to deliver services. It includes: Solutions in the Real World Quality of Customer Relationships Market Share Innovation represents service providers ability to improve services. It includes: Concrete Plans to Deliver Value Beyond Cost Experience Delivering Industry- Specific Solutions Partnership Strategy Investment in Proprietary Technologies CRITERIA WEIGHTING Criteria are weighed by crowdsourcing weightings from the four groups that matter most: Enterprise Buyers [$5B+] (20%) Buyers (20%) Service Providers (30%) HfS Research Analysts Team (20%) Advisors, Consultants, and Industry Stakeholders (10%) Weightings from this report come from HfS s July 2014 State of Outsourcing Study Proprietary Page 13

15 HfS Blueprint Scoring Percentage Breakdown EXECUTION 52.69% Quality of Customer Relationships 22.70% Quality of Account Management Team 11.30% How Service Providers Engage Clients and Develop Communities Around Salesforce 4.66% How Service Providers Incorporate Client Feedback 6.74% Real-World Delivery Solutions 26.47% Actual Delivery of Services for Each Sub-Process 10.80% Plan 2.16% Implement 2.16% Manage 2.16% Operate 2.16% Optimize 2.16% Scale of Design, Implementation and Management Capabilities 6.18% Usefulness of Services to Specific Client Needs of All Sizes 9.49% Flexibility to Deliver End-to-End Solutions and Point Solutions 4.20% Experience Delivering Industry-Specific Solutions 5.29% Flexible Pricing Models to Meet Client Needs 3.52% INNOVATION 47.31% Vision for Value Delivery 13.10% Concrete Plans to Deliver Value Beyond Cost 4.17% Partnership Strategy 8.93% Vision for Salesforce Effectiveness in Clients 16.86% Ability to Leverage Value Drivers 17.35% Integration of Third Party Capabilities Into Salesforce Solutions 8.58% Investment in Proprietary Tools, Accelerators and Solutions 8.77% TOTAL % Proprietary Page 14

16 Blueprint Scoring Definitions: Execution EXECUTION Quality of Customer Relationships Quality of Account Management Team How Service Providers Engage Clients and Develop Communities Around Salesforce How Service Providers Incorporate Client Feedback Real-World Delivery Solutions Actual Delivery of Services for Each Sub- Process How well does the provider execute on its contractual agreement and how well does the provider manage the client/provider relationship? How engaged are providers in managing the client relationship based on the following metrics: quality of account management, service provider / client engagement, and incorporation of feedback? What is the quality level of professional skills in the account management team? How well does the service provider engage clients and develop client communities around Salesforce? How have service providers taken feedback and incorporated that feedback into their services? Does the solution provided compare favorably to the service agreed upon when taking into account delivery of services for each sub-process and geographic footprint and scale? Taking into account each sub-process and the entire macro process, does each sub-process sum to successful delivery of the service being provided? Scale of Plan, Implement, Management Capabilities Usefulness of Services to Specific Client Needs of All Sizes Flexibility to Deliver End-to-End Solutions and Point Solutions Experience Delivering Industry-Specific Solutions Flexible Pricing Models to Meet Customer Needs Does the service provider have scale in Planning, Implementation and Management Capabilities around Salesforce including the availability of certifications at all levels? How flexible and experienced are providers when tailoring solutions based on client size, location, and type of solution (end-to-end and single point)? How flexible are providers with delivering multi-process end-to-end solutions versus single point solutions? How well does the provider deliver industry based solutions including Fullforce (for example, depth in verticals such as insurance, retail) How flexible are providers when determining the pricing of contracts? Are they willing to make investments into the client s firm for long-term growth? Proprietary Page 15

17 Blueprint Scoring Definitions: Innovation INNOVATION Innovation is the combination of improving both services and business outcomes. Vision for Value Delivery The strategy for delivery of services to each part of the value chain of processes. Concrete Plans to Deliver Value Beyond Cost What are the plans of the service provider to deliver value beyond cost savings alone? Partnership Strategy Vision for Salesforce Effectiveness in Clients How does the service provider integrate with other parties in the Salesforce ecosystem (including Salesforce itself) to deliver value for clients? What is the vision of the service provider for the evolution of its Salesforce services offering and how will it contribute over time to client effectiveness and value creation? Ability to Leverage Value Drivers How well have providers integrated value drivers into their services? Examples include third party solutions, internal investments and more? Integration of Third Party Capabilities into Salesforce Solutions Investment in Proprietary Tools, Accelerators and Solutions How well does the provider leverage new technologies / enhancements, mobility functionality, and cloud capabilities into their solutions? What is the provider doing to invest in proprietary capabilities, tools, accelerators and other solutions to enhance the value of Salesforce for clients? Proprietary Page 16

18 Salesforce Services In The As-a-Service Economy

19 Salesforce Services are Based on Realizing the Eight Ideals of the Asa-Service Economy LEGACY OUTSOURCING Simplification AS-A-SERVICE ECONOMY Legacy technology investments which limit agility and create masses of exceptions addressed through adding internal and external FTEs Resolving problems by looking first at the process as the source of the solution Focusing governance staff on managing to the letter of the contract and the decimal points of service levels Evaluating relationships on baselines of cost, effort, and labor Operating fragmented processes across multiple technologies with significant manual interventions Performing ad-hoc analysis on unstructured data with little integration or business context Responding with post-event fixes. Little focus on end-to-end process value chains. Undertaking complex, painful technology transitions to reach steady state 1. Write off Legacy 2. Design Thinking 3. Brokers of Capability 4. Collaborative Engagement 5. Intelligent Automation 6. Actionable & Accessible Data 7. Holistic Security 8. Plug & Play Digital Business Services Using platform based solutions, DevOps, and API ecosystems for more agile, less exception oriented systems Understanding the business context to reimagine processes aligned with meeting client needs Orienting governance to source expertise from all available sources, both internally and externally, to address capability gaps Ensuring relationships are contracted to drive sustained expertise and defined outcomes Using of automation and cognitive computing to blend analytics, talent, and technology Applying analytics models, techniques and insights from big data, real-time Proactively managing digital data across service chain of people, systems & processes Plugging into ready to go business-outcome focused, people / process / technology solutions with security measures Proprietary Page 18

20 Salesforce Services Incorporate the Ideals of the As-a-Service Economy IDEAL AS-A-SERVICE IDEAL DEFINITION NON EXISTENT INITIAL EXPANSIVE EXTENSIVE ALL PERVASIVE Write Off Legacy Using platform based solutions, DevOps, and API ecosystems for more agile, less exception oriented systems 2015 Design Thinking Brokers of Capability Understanding the business context to reimagine processes aligned with meeting client needs 2015 Orienting governance to source expertise from all available sources, both internally and externally, to address capability gaps 2015 Collaborative Engagement Ensuring relationships are contracted to drive sustained expertise and defined outcomes 2015 Intelligent Automation Using of automation and cognitive computing to blend analytics, talent, and technology 2015 Accessible & Actionable Data Applying analytics models, techniques and insights from big data, real-time 2015 Holistic Security Proactively managing digital data across service chain of people, systems & processes 2015 Plug and Play Digital Business Services Plugging into ready to go business-outcome focused, people / process / technology solutions with security measures 2015 Proprietary Page 19

21 Service Provider Grid

22 Winner s Circle and High Performers Methodology To distinguish providers that have gone above and beyond within a particular line of delivery, HfS awards these providers a Winner s Circle or High Performer designation. The below provides a brief description of the general characteristics of each designation: WINNER'S CIRCLE: Organizations that demonstrate excellence in both execution and innovation. From an execution perspective, providers have developed strong relationships with clients, execute services beyond the scope of hitting green lights, and are highly flexible when meeting clients needs. From an innovation perspective, providers have a strong vision, concrete plans to invest in future capabilities, a healthy cross-section of vertical capabilities, and have illustrated a strong ability to leverage external drivers to increase value for their clients. HIGH PERFORMERS: Organizations that demonstrate strong capabilities in both execution and innovation but are lacking in an innovative vision or execution against their vision. From an execution perspective, providers execute some of the following areas with excellence, but not all areas: high performers have developed worthwhile relationships with clients, execute their services and hit all of the green lights, and are very flexible when meeting clients needs. From an innovation perspective, providers typically execute some of the following areas with excellence, but not all areas: have a vision and demonstrated plans to invest in future capabilities, have experience delivering services over multiple vertical capabilities, and have illustrated a good ability to leverage external drivers to increase value for their clients. Proprietary Page 21

23 INNOVATION Salesforce Services Service Provider Matrix 2015 High Performers CSC Winner s Circle Accenture Deloitte Capgemini Bluewolf Cognizant PwC NTT DATA Cloud Sherpas Wipro IBM Tech Mahindra Dell Services EXECUTION Proprietary Page 22

24 Major Service Provider Dynamics: Highlights EXECUTION Account Management: SaaS deployments are no different from other projects in that success for clients often comes down to the contribution from and the comfort with the service provider s account team. Clients interviewed for this Blueprint were especially enthusiastic about Accenture, Deloitte, Cloud Sherpas, Cognizant, NTT DATA, PwC and Wipro. Scale of Design, Implementation and Management Capabilities: Salesforce services is no a market that benefits overwhelmingly from economies of scale from service providers but scale is still important. Its important in access to people, in allowing clients to retain key personnel in a growing, high demand market and in securing the investment $s for industry solutions as well as tools and accelerators. Accenture, Capgemini, Deloitte, and Cognizant have the current lead but with additional acquisition activity being likely this could change soon. Industry Specific Solutions: One of the major trends that we see at the moment around Salesforce services is the interest around investments being made to develop comprehensive industry solutions that wrap around many of the different Salesforce Clouds. During this Blueprint we saw significant efforts being made by Accenture, Deloitte, PwC and CSC already with the other service providers making current investments to bring additional solutions on line in INNOVATION Partnership Strategy: Creating value for clients from Salesforce can be highly dependent on understanding the different third party solution partners who can be added to the capabilities. Accenture, Deloitte, Cloud Sherpas and NTT DATA led the way in our assessment with regards to the depth of their partnership strategy around Salesforce. Vision for Salesforce Effectiveness: Having a vision for where the processes supported by Salesforce are headed in the future is an important element of Innovation. We saw this vision come out particularly clear from Accenture, Bluewolf, Cognizant, and PwC. Investment in Proprietary Tools, Accelerator and Solutions: It s not enough today to just build your capabilities around the Salesforce Customer Success Platform alone. Implementing and managing Salesforce deployments for clients is enhanced by having a suite of unique tools, accelerators and other solutions to maximize the attainment of benefits for both clients and service providers. In our review of the investments in these capabilities we saw particular focus here from all of the Winner s Circle service providers: Accenture, Bluewolf, Capgemini and Deloitte. Proprietary Page 23

25 Service Provider Profile

26 HfS Salesforce Services Value Chain: Key to Profiles Value Chain coverage is indicated by blue shading. Grey shading indicates that the service provider does not offer these services. For Example: Full Value Chain offered Operate not offered PLAN PLAN IMPLEMENT IMPLEMENT MANAGE MANAGE OPERATE OPERATE OPTIMIZE OPTIMIZE Each profile also includes an Operations box where we list service provider statistics. N/A indicates that the service provider does not have this today. It should be noted that in many cases the service provider may have these certification applications in progress. Proprietary Page 25

27 Accenture Winner s Circle PLAN Salesforce s largest partner, first to market, and now in a leading position to support the Salesforce Customer Success Platform Strengths Challenges IMPLEMENT MANAGE OPERATE OPTIMIZE Blueprint Leading Highlights Quality of Account Management Team Scale of Capabilities Experience Delivering Industry-Specific Solutions Partnership Strategy Vision for Salesforce Effectiveness Investment in Proprietary Tools Account Management and In-House Skills: Clients cite Accenture s strength as a true business partner and its excellent account management capabilities. Accenture has the highest number of certified Salesforce professionals, 2,700. Clients appreciate the quality of the technical and business understanding, and availability in many geographies. Investment in Proprietary Tools and Accelerators: Accenture has an impressive list of proprietary industry and cross-industry tools and accelerators. Four of its industry solutions: pharmaceuticals, insurance, communications and retail, have achieved Fullforce status. Strong Business Partner Ecosystem: This includes Accenture s ability to work effectively with other service and software suppliers to meet the customer s overall business objectives such as its digital transformation journey. In addition to organic growth, Accenture invests in partnerships with service and software providers to enhance its Salesforce services capabilities. Most notable is Accenture s recent equity investment with Salesforce in industry solution provider, Vlocity. Disciplined Yet Flexible Approach: Clients are impressed with Accenture s disciplined methodology, frameworks, processes and overall project management capabilities. However clients also highlight the fact that Accenture listens to their specific needs, starting with the RFP process and throughout the engagement. Acquisitions: Accenture has made several smart acquisitions in the last 24 months to close gaps in skill availability and to extend the scale of the Salesforce practice. Managing Skills Turn-Over: Consistent with most global service providers, Accenture has to manage skills turn-over and its impact on customer projects. This is particularly true of the offshore skills. Clients rate Accenture highly for its ability to blend onshore and offshore resources, but they are equally frustrated when resources leave the project. Effective Resource Planning: Clients mention that sometimes Accenture could improve its workforce planning. This is true for resources moving between clients and also between projects on the same client. Ramping Up to Increasing Demand: Despite Accenture s large numbers of Salesforce certified consultants, it needs to still ensure that it can keep up with the market demand. It has opportunities to offset this by adopting the training culture and methodologies of recently acquired Cloud Sherpas. Relevant Acquisitions/Partnerships Key Clients Operations Technology Tools and Platforms Acquisitions include: Cloud Sherpas (2015) although this profile was completed prior to the closure of this acquisition and therefore does not include Cloud Sherpas data. Tquila (2015) ClientHouse GMBH (2014) Joint equity with Salesforce in Vlocity for industry specific solutions Partnerships include: Apttus, CipherCloud, Callidus Cloud, ClickSoftware, Cloud Sense, Informatica, Kinaxis, Kronos, ServiceNow, PROS, Vlocity, Zuora Accenture works with clients across industry sectors. Over 75% of Salesforce services work won in the last fiscal year was with repeat clients. Industry Coverage: in order of Salesforce services revenues: Communications, Media and Technology Products Financial Services Resources Health and Public Services Some publicly disclosed clients include: DHL HP Maserati Shell VSP Wells Fargo Partner Level: Global Strategic Fullforce Master Certifications: 6 Fullforce Industry Solutions: 5 Salesforce Certified Consultants: 2,700 Certified Technical Architects: 7 Total number in practice: 6,000+ Number of projects completed: 850+ Customer satisfaction score: 9.43/10 Key delivery locations for Salesforce practice: USA Canada Latin America Philippines Australia/New Zealand Nordics Gallia UK Ireland Fullforce Master Certification: Comms & Media, Financial Services, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Salesforce1 Platform Fullforce Industry Solutions: Connected Physician Solution for Healthcare; Effectiveness Platform for Insurance; Connected Patient Platform for Life Sciences; Accenture SaaS Reference Architecture for Communications Service Providers; Retail Personalization Platform Accenture SFDC Partner Relationship Management Quick Start Tool: cross-industry tool Accenture Quick Start Tool for Salesforce Service Cloud Accenture Automated Framework for Testing (AAFT) for Salesforce Accenture System Diagnostics for Salesforce: for visibility of current customizations Proprietary Page 26

28 Market Wrap-Up & Recommendations

29 Buyer Challenges To Consider Around Salesforce Services Lack of Understanding of Salesforce and the Implications of Using SaaS in General: How can we achieve a consistent CRM environment? What are the benefits and pitfalls of using SaaS? How can we leverage Salesforce technologies and platform to meet our specific business objectives? What ongoing support services are required to ensure continued success and do we have sufficient in-house resources to meet this requirement? Lack of Collaboration Between IT and Business: How do we collaborate better internally to ensure that our Salesforce investment is consistent with our overall CRM strategy? How do we ensure that we have centralized purchase decisions and guaranteed support services? Lack of skills to integrate Salesforce across the enterprise: How do we integrate Salesforce technologies with other on premise and cloud applications? How do we stay abreast of all new developments in Salesforce technology and service solutions that are relevant to our enterprise? Proprietary Page 28

30 Recommendations: Service Providers Invest in functional understanding and adopt a holistic approach to CRM: In order to be a true Salesforce business partner to clients, service providers must invest in more than technical implementation skills. Service providers must also have a wider understanding of CRM and the overall business objectives of clients. Leading service providers position CRM and Salesforce in particular at the heart of clients digital transformation journeys, rather than view it as discrete, tactical technology implementation projects. Stay abreast of Salesforce technology developments: Service providers must be upto-date on new and emerging Salesforce technologies to identify the key areas in which to invest in terms of skilling up and developing additional tailored solutions for target markets. Leading service providers are ahead of the curve here and always invest ahead of time so as to establish leadership positions with credibility in chosen markets. Keep the Salesforce appexchange profile up-to-date: Service providers should not assume that the information on the appexchange is always up-to-date or even accurate. In one case, we found that one of the provider s customer satisfaction score was erroneously entered as 0/10! Service providers should let Salesforce know of any mistakes immediately so as not to be mis-represented and miss potential client opportunities. Proprietary Page 29

31 Recommendations: Service Providers Invest in industry sector solution development: Many service providers have developed Salesforce industry specific solutions. However, there are only currently 38 Fullforce industry certified solutions in the market, which is disappointingly low given the size of the partner ecosystem. Moreover Dreamforce 15 focused more on horizontal rather than vertical industry solutions. Visionary service providers that continue to invest in industry specific solutions and strive for Fullforce industry certifications have opportunities to establish a leadership position in selected markets. Identify valuable partnerships: Leading service providers are able to identify valuable partnerships, including equity investments, that will enhance and tailor Salesforce solutions. This drives differentiation and client loyalty as the service provider is able to stay relevant to client business objectives. Some of the service providers in this Blueprint for example partner with Vlocity and Informatica for industry and analytics expertise respectively. Focus on resource acquisition, planning and management: Ongoing resource management is a challenge for all service providers in all service markets. Clients tell us that the Salesforce service market is no different in this respect and service providers must stay on top of this to maintain client relationships to ensure repeat business. Acquiring the right talent remains a big challenge as there is a shortage in the market. Allocating projects to consultants and managing their time in a way that provides transparency to clients and does not leave clients without support at critical times is the holy grail that all service providers need to aim for. Proprietary Page 30

32 Recommendations: Service Providers Be bold to stand out: Clients across IT services are demanding more innovation from their service provider and the Salesforce service market is no exception. Service providers should think out of the box, present innovative approaches and ideas to stand out from the crowded partner ecosystem. Strict methodologies remain important, but clients highlight that increased flexibility in engagements and approaches, as well as suggestions involving the latest technology such as IoT Cloud and Lightning are appreciated. Learning with the client is not always a weakness, rather it is true collaboration. Tell the market what you re doing! All of the service providers in this Blueprint have made significant investments in developing their Salesforce practices, including developing proprietary technologies. However, fewer have marketed this capability effectively to the market. Leading Salesforce service providers need to market their strengths to Salesforce so that it can recommend the relevant providers to enterprises, as well as to potential clients themselves. Too many times technical capabilities seem very similar across service provider so it is imperative to be able to effectively communicate differentiators to the market to remain competitive in this crowded market. Proprietary Page 31

33 Salesforce Services are Incorporating the Ideals of the As-a-Service Economy IDEAL AS-A-SERVICE IDEAL DEFINITION NON EXISTENT INITIAL EXPANSIVE EXTENSIVE ALL PERVASIVE Write Off Legacy Using platform based solutions, DevOps, and API ecosystems for more agile, less exception oriented systems Design Thinking Brokers of Capability Understanding the business context to reimagine processes aligned with meeting client needs Orienting governance to source expertise from all available sources, both internally and externally, to address capability gaps Collaborative Engagement Ensuring relationships are contracted to drive sustained expertise and defined outcomes Intelligent Automation Using of automation and cognitive computing to blend analytics, talent, and technology Accessible & Actionable Data Applying analytics models, techniques and insights from big data, real-time Holistic Security Proactively managing digital data across service chain of people, systems & processes Plug and Play Digital Business Services Plugging into ready to go business-outcome focused, people / process / technology solutions with security measures Proprietary Page 32

34 About the Authors

35 Khalda De Souza Principal Analyst, Services Strategies, HfS Research United Kingdom Overview Khalda De Souza covers developments in IT and BPO across Europe for HfS and globally covers the emergence of services around software as a service (SaaS) offerings. She has extensive experience in providing strategic advice to both IT services providers and customer organisations globally. For providers, this includes, but is not limited to, channel strategies, product positioning, competitive intelligence, market trends and forecast analysis. For Clients, Khalda has provided insightful guidance on sourcing and vendor selection strategies. khalda.de-souza@hfsresearch.com Previous Experience Prior to HfS, Khalda has been a senior level IT services research analyst at Gartner for nearly 20 years. In that time, she has managed the European research for several areas including network and IT security and business applications. Khalda has led key research deliverables such as Magic Quadrants for both Europe and global markets at Gartner. Education Khalda has a BSc. from Aston University in International Business and French. Proprietary Page 34

36 Charles Sutherland Chief Research Officer, HfS Research Dallas, TX Overview Charles Sutherland is the Chief Research Officer at HfS. Charles is responsible for the overall research agenda for HfS across the as a service economy. He personally covers the areas of automation, business platforms, supply chain, procurement and various vertical processes. Since joining HfS in 2013, Charles has had the opportunity to speak at various industry forums including NASSCOM and has had his research covered widely in the business and outsourcing press as well. Charles.Sutherland@hfsresearch.com Previous Experience Charles has been in the business services market for 20 years including previous roles as the Chief Strategy Officer for a BPO service provider and the Managing Director, Growth & Strategy for Accenture s Operations Growth Platform. In these roles he has had a breadth of experience in thought leadership, strategy development, acquisitions, business development and long term investment planning in both BPO and ITO. Charles has also had Growth & Strategy roles for Accenture in Infrastructure Outsourcing and for the Communications, Media and High Tech Operating Group. Prior to that he was a Strategy Consultant in London for Accenture serving clients in the Media, Communications and Consumer Goods industries. If you go even further back in time he was also a Marketing Director for Olivetti in Canada and Europe. Education MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France Honors BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Toronto. Proprietary Page 35

37 About HfS Research HfS Research is the leading analyst authority and global network for IT and business services, with a specific focus on global business services, digital transformation, and outsourcing. HfS serves the research, governance, and services strategy needs of business operations and IT leaders across finance, supply chain, human resources, marketing, and core industry functions. The firm provides insightful and meaningful analyst coverage of best business practices and innovations that impact successful business outcomes, such as the digital transformation of operations, cloud-based business platforms, services talent development strategies, process automation and outsourcing, mobility, analytics, and social collaboration. HfS applies its acclaimed Blueprint Methodology to evaluate the performance of service and technology in terms of innovating and executing against those business outcomes. HfS educates and facilitates discussions among the world's largest knowledge community of enterprise services professionals, currently comprising 150,000 subscribers and members. HfS Research facilitates the HfS Sourcing Executive Council, the acclaimed elite group of sourcing practitioners from leading organizations that meets bi-annually to share the future direction of the global services industry and to discuss the future enterprise operations framework. HfS provides sourcing executive council members with the HfS Governance Academy and Certification Program to help its clients improve the governance of their global business services and vendor relationships. In 2010 and 2011, HfS Research's Founder and CEO, Phil Fersht, was named Analyst of the Year by the International Institute of Analyst Relations (IIAR), the premier body of analyst-facing professionals, and achieved the distinctive award of being voted the research analyst industry's Most Innovative Analyst Firm in In 2013, HfS was named first in rising influence among leading analyst firms, according to the 2013 Analyst Value Survey, and second out of the 44 leading industry analyst firms in the 2013 Analyst Value Index. Now in its seventh year of publication, HfS Research s acclaimed blog Horses for Sources is widely recognized as the most widely read and revered destination for unfettered collective insight, research, and open debate about sourcing industry issues and developments. Horses for Sources today receives over a million web visits a year. To learn more about HfS Research, please research@hfsresearch.com. Proprietary Page 36