Ahead of a meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff in California, the company has made a major announcement about the future of its Canadian business.
Salesforce, a global CRM company based in San Francisco, Calif., has revealed that it will be investing $2 billion over the next five years to fuel the growth of its business in the great white north. The software giant plans to hire new employees as well as increase its real estate footprint and data centre capacity as part of its investments to support the rapidly-growing customer base in Canada. Salesforce boasts more than 1,300 local employees already.
Market research firm IDC predicts that Salesforce’s ecosystem of customers and partners in Canada could create more than 28,000 new jobs and $17 billion USD in new business revenue by 2022.
CEO Benioff calls the country “one of the most exciting investment opportunities for Salesforce” in a Feb. 8 press release, adding that he is “thrilled” about the company’s latest commitment.
“As the world’s fastest growing top five software company, we look forward to a great partnership and to expanding our employees, customers and innovation in Canada,” he continues.
"Canada is one of the most exciting investment opportunities for Salesforce and we are thrilled to commit $2 billion over the next five years to fuel future growth," – Marc Benioff @Benioff pic.twitter.com/XgA7lQocYy
— SalesforceCA (@SalesforceCA) February 8, 2018
According to Gartner Inc.’s latest worldwide All Software Markets report based on 2016 total software revenue, Salesforce is among the three largest enterprise software vendors in Canada. More than 6,000 Canadian companies – including Air Canada, Husky Energy, Loblaws, Manulife, Roots, TD Bank, and Telus – use Salesforce technology in their day-to-day sales, service, marketing, and commerce activities.
In addition to the $2 billion investment announcement, Salesforce employees have also committed to volunteering 45,000 hours in their local communities this year, after spending more than 34,000 hours volunteering in 2017. The company has donated more than $1 million to local communities, and has given its technology for free or at a discount to various non-profits such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and MS Society of Canada.