Which Salesforce consulting partners are best positioned to assist customers with cloud application deployments? A Forrester Wave report for Q2 2019 strives to answer that question.
First, some background. Forrester has made some changes to this particular Wave report since ChannelE2E gave an earlier edition a look in 2017. For instance, the 2019 report is now based on a 21-criterion evaluation of Salesforce implementation partners, down from 35 criteria in 2017. Also, it focuses on partners that generate at least $100 million in annual Salesforce services revenue, up from $50 million in 2017.
Admittedly, those revenue figures disqualify hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of boutique partners that are Salesforce deployment masters.
For those keeping score, the report features 11 Salesforce partners (one more than the figure promised in the ChannelE2E headline) plus Salesforce itself. Now, a closer look at each firm.
Note: Originally published December 31, 2019. Updated September 21, 2020, with additional M&A information, as reported by ChannelE2E.
A Closer Look: Salesforce Consulting Partners
For the sake of simplicity, we've sorted the partners alphabetically. For an in-depth look at Forrester's actual rankings (sorted by leaders, strong performers and more) check out the actual report from Forrester.
The comments featured below are ChannelE2E's perspectives rather that Forrester's analysis. And again, we've sorted the companies alphabetically.
1. Accenture: The company in 2020 formed the Accenture Cloud First initiative, featuring 70,000 employees who are working to accelerate customers' digital transformation initiatives. Salesforce-related partner acquisitions span a consulting practice from Sierra-Cedar (Jan 2020) and Phase One (2017), an Arlington, Virginia-based government IT consulting firm.
2. Capgemini: Key moves include acquiring Lyons Consulting Group in September 2017, ChannelE2E notes. Capgemini outlines its Salesforce partnership in this video:
3. Cognizant: The global IT consulting firm has acquired at least three Salesforce partners. The acquisitions include (1) digital marketing agency Lev, (2) the French operations of El-Technologies; and (3) SaaSFocus for Asia-Pacific regional expansion.
4. Deloitte: The consulting firm acquired Salesforce partner CloudinIT in 2018. Deloitte's global digital Salesforce solutions and services are outlined here.
5. IBM: The company acquired Bluewolf Group - a top Salesforce partner -- in April 2016. Much of IBM's work has involved integrating IBM Watson with Salesforce's cloud.
6. Infosys: The company in February 2020 acquired Simplus -- a Salesforce cloud consulting partner in the United States and Australia. And in September 2018, Infosys acquired acquired Fluido, a Salesforce cloud consulting, implementation and training partner with reach across Europe. Earlier in 2018, Fluido had acquired Softhouse Nordic AB’s Salesforce consulting business.
7. Isobar is the only pure agency featured in the Forrester Wave and thus is the most specialized around B2C, Commerce Cloud, and Marketing Cloud, the researcher says.
8. NTT Data: In a separate report from NelsonHall, NTT Data was recognized for its Salesforce-related IP and accelerators, particularly in vertical markets including telecoms, logistics, manufacturing, healthcare, insurance and others.
9. PwC: The company has worked closely with Salesforce since 2012. And in 2019, Salesforce named PwC its partner of the year in three categories spanning Asia, India and the UK.
10. Tata Consultancy Services: Tata earned "Best in Class" honors for Salesforce implementation and integration services in Europe for 2018, according to Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), but Tata hasn't made any major Salesforce announcements since that time.
11. Wipro: Known for its Appirio brand in the Salesforce market, Wipro also acquired Salesforce cloud partner 4C of Belgium in July 2020. 4C, founded in 1997, is one of the largest Salesforce partners in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East. The company works across a number of Salesforce clouds including Sales, Marketing, Field Services, and more. 4C boasts more than 350 employees spread across offices in London, Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, and Dubai.
Additional Salesforce Partners
Thousands of additional Salesforce partners manage cloud strategy and migrations for end-customers. Among the players to watch are these Salesforce partners engaged in mergers and acquisitions.
