Global customer relationship management company Salesforce’s South African ecosystem is on track to become seven times larger than Salesforce itself by 2024, contributing significantly to revenue generation and job creation locally.

New research from global market intelligence firm IDC finds that Salesforce and its ecosystem of partners and customers will create $2.1-billion in new business revenues and 5 240 new direct jobs in South Africa by 2024.

Another 6 900 indirect jobs will emerge on the back of opportunities and jobs created in the supply and distribution chains serving those Salesforce customers.

IDC estimates that, for every dollar Salesforce made in South Africa in 2019, the ecosystem made $4.75, an amount expected to grow to $7.03 by 2024, as organisations that spend on cloud computing subscriptions also spend on ancillary products and services.

Growing Exponentially

Cloud computing is growing exponentially, driving economic benefits in South Africa and generating incremental value for companies through enabling lower investments in information technology (IT) maintenance and improvements, which currently comprise 70% of IT spend, says Salesforce Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) emerging markets GM and senior VP Petra Jenner.

Cloud computing subscriptions in South Africa will grow 29% a year, from $370-million in 2018 to $1.7-billion in 2024, while spending on noncloud software will decrease 4% a year over the same period.

He highlights IDC research that shows the products and services provided by the Salesforce ecosystem in South Africa are dominated by professional services at 64%, while add-on cloud subscriptions account for 17% and on-premise software, hardware and networking account for 19%.

“Salesforce’s rapidly growing economic impact in South Africa, with $2.1-billion in revenue and 12 140 jobs by 2024, shows that organisations and channel partners are delivering innovative digital business models to foster new levels of employee and customer experience and business competitiveness,” he says.

“We expect South Africa’s digital economic growth and job creation to be strong across financial services, high-technology, professional services and telecommunications,” adds Salesforce EMEA emerging markets senior area VP Robin Fisher.

He adds that the Covid-19 pandemic is accelerating local uptake of cloud services, as it enables companies to be agile and save on capital expenditure, while also delivering great customer experiences and helping them bring new products to new markets rapidly.