Salesforce, the US software-as-a-service (SaaS) customer relationship management specialist, has seen strong growth in South Africa in recent years. Now it sees an investment in training initiatives as key to its growth strategy in South Africa and the rest of Africa.

With the incorporation of generative AI into Salesforce software, global research firm International Data Corporation has predicted that US$5.8-billion will be generated by the Salesforce ecosystem between 2022 and 2028, coinciding with the creation of 33 000 new jobs that will require the upskilling or reskilling of the people who will occupy those roles.

“Through our training initiatives, we aim to impart ‘fit for purpose’ skills,” said Ursula Fear, senior talent programme manager at Saleforce South Africa. “The reality is, you don’t need a degree to come into the world of Salesforce, but one of our biggest challenges is to solve for workplace experience for people to supplement their training with work-integrated skills.”

At the core of the Salesforce training strategy are its freely available courses – or “trails” – via Trailhead, a self-paced, gamified learning platform that offers Salesforce-specific training along with auxiliary business and management courses.

Each learning path has certification exams that help give trainees the credentials they need to advance in the workplace. Those with no prior work experience, however, are challenged when it comes to finding employment.

According to Fear, Salesforce is pursuing industry partnerships with large-scale institutions such as Standard Bank and Absa to funnel newly certified individuals into internship-type roles that will help them build the workplace skills needed to supplement the theoretical and practical foundation laid by their Trailhead certification path.

Mismatch

Fear said advancements in AI are going to exacerbate the mismatch between the skills that students learn in a four-year degree programme and what is required to bring value to the workplace. One way Salesforce is addressing this problem is by creating relationships with high schools and participating in career days where high school pupils are shown how technology is being used in industry.

“You have to create that link between training and industry usage early on, so that students are informed by the time they decide what course of study they are going to pursue,” said Fear.

Other initiatives are focused on qualified individuals who are either struggling to find work in their chosen vocation or those simply looking to make a career change. The Dundee Digital Skills Hub is a pilot programme that combines Salesforce training with workplace experience. The participants have varying backgrounds including computer science, marine biology, criminology and public administration.

“The fact that there are not enough jobs in the economy is only part of the problem; there are many jobs for which the skills required are lacking,” said Fear.

Along with industry partners, Salesforce has joined forces with training institutions such as WeThinkCode and ALX to drive its training agenda forward, many of whom were present at its World Tour Essentials event held in Johannesburg last week. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media