Salesforce and Accenture join forces to address shortage of Salesforce skills

The Situation: The talent crisis threatens to derail growth among software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors and their transformation partners. Accenture and Salesforce have come together to build a unique, specific solution.

Service providers creating a talent hub for recruiting and training is nothing to write home about. But when that hub is wholly and specifically dedicated to servicing one SaaS vendor, it’s time to take a closer look.

In this case, two giants combined to create The Accenture Talent Hub for Salesforce, based at Accenture’s Albany, New York offices. With the intent to create 100 new jobs this year and upskill and retrain many employees, the hub responds to a widening gap between demand and supply of relevant skills.

Accenture is Salesforce’s number one global partner, with a dedicated Accenture Salesforce Business Group—reportedly one of the fastest-growing platforms in Accenture.

We must deal with four more years of the talent crisis

HFS CEO and Chief Analyst Phil Fersht believes we are entering the most critical phase for services in 20 years, where the convergence of SaaS, services, and automation becomes critical as demand outstrips supply. A recent conversation with Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat reflected growing concerns among leading systems integrators and service providers. He told HFS he expects to be in a talent crisis for the next three to four years.

In this context, The Accenture Talent Hub for Salesforce would seem both wise and likely only the first of many similar responses.

Already, we have seen Infosys blazing a trail with its education center in Indiana, a new focus on hiring those without degrees, and partnering with clients to embed skills. “Reskilling-as-a-service” is set to boom in 2022, Infosys predicts.

As HFS highlighted in December, demand for digital skills in the US is higher than ever seen before: There are 10.4 million open jobs but just 7.4 million looking for work. And, in even worse news for enterprise leaders, there is a mismatch between the digital skills demanded and those available in the job market. More tech roles are available in non-technology businesses than in technology businesses, indicating a demand for digital skills, such as data analysis, design thinking, coding, UX, and UI design, never seen before.

Every business must build its muscle for upgrading talent and exploring new pools

The Albany hub will do more than train and upskill current talent; it will also offer paid internships to college students and apprenticeships to those changing or launching their careers.

Becoming good at upgrading existing talent and exploring new talent pools will be business-critical for the coming years. Responding quickly to specific needs, such as demonstrated by the Accenture Talent Hub for Salesforce, will test the strength and resolve of partnerships with success going to those working closest to the needs of their customers.

The Bottom Line: The Accenture Talent Hub for Salesforce is a win-win-win for SaaS vendors, systems integrators, and enterprise partners.

As recovery accelerates, enterprises need to be confident their suppliers will keep up. The Accenture–Salesforce collaboration responds to that, recognizing specific challenges and growing the skills base to respond. Since this should result in a win-win-win for SaaS vendors, systems integrators, and enterprises, we expect to see more of the same from other industry players.