2021: Salesforce Partners See Accelerating M&A Interest

With just over one month into the new year, at least three major Salesforce partners have been acquired. Owing to the rise in interest by IT consulting firms, professional services firms, and even private equity players in the Salesforce ecosystem, its partners have been seeing a spate of mergers and funding rounds.

The compelling driver for such investments is accelerating the adoption of cloud and multi-cloud technologies to fuel digital transformation, where Salesforce continues to be a dominant force.

While Salesforce, with its evolving platform and functionalities, is one of the most popular choices for organizations to transform and grow their businesses by increasing efficiency and productivity, business leaders suggest the real challenge lies in implementing it. Therefore, companies have been investing in the services of specialized Salesforce partners to leverage their expertise and experience.

Earlier this month, consulting and outsourcing services provider Accenture acquired Businet Systems, a Salesforce commerce cloud-based e-commerce sites developer. Businet’s e-commerce expertise, which it builds with larger ERP systems such as Salesforce Commerce Cloud, is expected to enhance Accenture Interactive’s ability to accelerate customer-based digital transformation.

By investing in Salesforce partners, companies get access to recognized Salesforce expertise, industry knowledge, solution assets, deep ecosystem relationships, and a broad clientele.

These partners help companies realise their strategic vision, improve performance, maximize their customer interactions, and provide them the means to add more value while also improving customer satisfaction.

James Roth, CEO of professional services firm Huron Consulting Group which acquired Salesforce cloud partner ForceIQ last year, said, “Businesses are being forced to rethink how they engage with their customers and reassess how they get work done as a result of the disruption in today’s economic environment. This acquisition accelerates Huron’s commitment to helping our clients better compete in disruptive and highly competitive markets.”

At a time when the pandemic has given birth to many firsts at both offices and homes, including remote working culture and changes in consumer behaviours, companies have been trying to keep up with the times. This has contributed to a further rise in demand for cloud modernization and IT automation, leading companies to increase investments in the space. The case for building digital transformation capabilities quickly has led to a rise in demand for the expertise the Salesforce partners possess.

“At any time, but especially during a crisis like this one, our partners are a critical part of leveraging the full power of the Salesforce platform to ensure that information is flowing across the entire organization in a way that enables business agility and delivers on customer expectations,” - Cindy Bolt, Senior Vice President, Salesforce Industries.
Propel, aimed at helping manufacturers create, commercialize and correct their products, is one Salesforce partner which has helped manufacturers navigate the COVID-19 crisis.

Dario Ambrosini, Chief Marketing Officer for Propel, cited how one manufacturing customer relied on Propel to implement safety training remotely as a strategy to minimize factory downtime. With the entire workforce sent home, the company used Propel to remotely train their manufacturing floor team on new state and local regulations with regard to COVID-19, according to Salesforce’s insights page.

These Salesforce partners get their hands on more sophisticated resources, geographies, and larger global clients to take growth to the next level through strategic investments. Mergers and acquisitions, if done right, offer unparalleled opportunities to achieve transformational growth.

Such investments also expedite product innovation, thus reducing product development costs and creating a continuous market for affordable and customizable cloud SAAS capabilities. Empowering client-ready enterprises with market-ready Salesforce SAAS is an accelerated inorganic growth strategy that secures long-term profitability for both in this era of increasing customer-driven capabilities adoption fueling greater demand. Companies have limited internal Corp Dev or Investment resources and teams to identify and build the right strategic relationships to bolster their portfolio with complementary Salesforce Cloud Capabilities.