Deloitte Digital's Salesforce Academy adds virtual training for college students
Deloitte has introduced a virtual opportunity for college students to build Salesforce customer relationship management and consulting skills.
The Deloitte Digital Salesforce Academy program began in 2018, and has thus far trained hundreds of college students on the popular CRM platform through campus bootcamps. Deloitte has now added a virtual training offering.
"The vast majority of universities do not have Salesforce education as a course offering," said Jeff Powrie, principal, Deloitte Consulting and US Salesforce talent lead. "According to a recent IDC report from October 2019, Salesforce will drive the creation of 4.2 million new jobs and more than $1.2 trillion in business revenues worldwide by 2025. This is a great opportunity for students to learn Salesforce basics and gain experience that could open doors in the future."
Salesforce is the largest player in the global CRM market, occupying a 19.5% market share in 2018 – more than double that of closest competitor SAP (8.3%). CRM – which provides functionality for customer service and support, digital commerce, marketing, and sales – is the largest and fastest growing enterprise software category.
The virtual training will include live webinars and newsletters from Deloitte and Salesforce professionals. Participants can learn the basics of Salesforce, see what CRM consulting at Deloitte is like, and gain experience using the platform. The program is open to all university students based in the US.
As companies continue to struggle with filling necessary technology talent, school systems are increasingly tilting to a more tech-focused curriculum suited to the “future of work.” Deloitte’s initiative is a nearer-term project to fill entry-level positions in high-demand areas before revamped school programs can pump out the necessary amount of tech workers.
Deloitte aims to provide on-campus Salesforce and consulting training to 1,000 college students by the end of 2021.
Past participants of the on-campus bootcamps and competitions point to the program helping to jumpstart their career. "In the first 100 days, I was certified as a Salesforce Administrator and contributed to the development of a Salesforce Accelerator that was shown at Dreamforce 2019. I'd encourage any student considering the opportunity to sign up," said Annelise Morgan, analyst, Deloitte Consulting and Washington University in St. Louis 2018 bootcamp participant.
High demand for Salesforce consulting has driven a number of acquisitions of specialist firms in recent months. February saw tech consultancy Infosys acquire Salesforce consulting firm Simplus, while Cognizant bought Salesforce specialist Code Zero.
