2024 has brought a wave of changes across Salesforce’s global ecosystem, marked by unexpected ups and downs across the globe. As per 10K’s Salesforce Ecosystem Report, certain regions – such as the US – have faced a significant decline in demand for Salesforce talent, while regions like South America have enjoyed a surge in both the supply of talent and the need for specific roles.
For Salesforce, one region that seems to be thriving is India – a country that is experiencing a significant bounceback for both talent and supply compared with last year. After a tough 2023, which saw a 23% drop in demand, India has seen a 13% YoY increase in demand for Salesforce talent this year, with the need for admins, consultants, developers, and business analysts all seeing an increase. Alongside this, Salesforce in India has seen a 36% total revenue increase compared to last year, crossing $1B in revenue in 2024.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently declared that Salesforce is entering an “Indian era” – a nod to India’s rapid growth and increasing significance in Salesforce’s global strategy. This shift is marked by the exciting news of Salesforce opening its first tower in Bengaluru, which will include training spaces to facilitate upskilling opportunities for employees and the wider Salesforce community.
We were eager to gain some insight from someone at the heart of Salesforce’s growing ecosystem in India. We had the chance to speak to Piyusha Pilania, a Salesforce Consulting Manager and a Trailblazer in every sense of the word, who shared her thoughts on the sudden growth, the factors driving this market surge, and what it means to be entering an “Indian era” for Salesforce.
Who Is Piyusha Pilania?
Based in Vadodara, India, Piyusha leads Horizontal Digital’s Salesforce team as a consulting manager and embodies a deep commitment to advancing the Salesforce community in India. A five-star Ranger with 8x Salesforce certifications, Piyusha is a respected community group leader for Salesforce Marketers in Vadodara, a Trailblazer community forum ambassador, and Vadodara Slack Chapter Leader.
Beyond her professional pursuits, Piyusha is passionate about empowering women from rural, traditional Indian backgrounds, offering one-on-one chat sessions in Rajasthan villages to inspire and support career growth. Recognized for her volunteering efforts with The Bharat Scouts and Guides, and her award-winning driving skills, Piyusha is also a multilingual, adventure-loving traveler with ambitions to become a pilot!
Why Is Salesforce’s Indian Market Growing?
Piyusha’s extensive experience and enthusiasm was clear during our chat, providing us with valuable insights into why India has a more focused spotlight on their market growth.
For Piyusha, Salesforce’s growth in India is due to a number of important factors – from all-around affordability and an increase in affordable offshoring, to more educational programs being provided in the region to help people begin their Salesforce journeys.
The Rise of the “Admineloper”
In an age when Salesforce is becoming more complex, businesses are placing more value on those who can wear multiple hats and harness some extra skills. This is especially relevant for admins who, according to 10K, are facing a global decline in demand across the globe and need new ways to differentiate themselves in the Salesforce job market.
This in turn has sparked a wave of adminelopers – an unofficial blend of admin and developer that bridges the gap between these two traditional roles to create a powerhouse of skill and expertise.
“If you look at the Indian Salesforce ecosystem, you’ll find a lot of people who have both admin and developer skills. The majority of the people you’ll find in India actually can do both. They get the work from the United States and they get that done as an admineloper. This role has been helped with Salesforce moving towards low-code.” Piyusha Pilania
As Piyusha mentions, Salesforce’s low-code approach is a real game changer for aspiring adminelopers. Low-code options are being used more and more by developers who can now leverage these tools, such as a drag-and-drop interface, and combine them with their existing coding skills.
Our recent Salesforce Developer survey underscores this trend, highlighting that most developers use a balanced mix of programmatic and declarative approaches to enable versatility when it comes to workflows, data integrations, and full applications.
How Affordable Is Salesforce?
Another key aspect of Salesforce’s growth in India is affordability. For example, offshore remote staffing website Virtual Employee advertises Indian-based Salesforce Developer roles that start from as little as $10 per hour. Although this might be on the lower side of outsourced offerings in terms of price, salaries for Salesforce professionals in India remain significantly more budget-friendly than in countries like the United States.
With the US having some of the highest Salesforce salaries in the world, India offers businesses a cost-effective alternative without compromising access to a large pool of skilled professionals.
Offshoring has been a familiar strategy for Salesforce users this year; the likes of Deloitte, Accenture, and Pracedo have all turned to India for experienced, affordable workers:
“Salesforce has grown significantly in India primarily because most of the companies actually outsource their development services to India. If you look at Deloitte and Accenture, the majority of their workforce is in India. They get the work done by these people because it’s cost-effective for them, thus easier for them to support that ecosystem.”
On the other side of things, Salesforce is also making its software a lot more affordable in India, especially on the sales front. Piyusha believes that expensive licenses are a thing of the past thanks to Salesforce India CEO Arundhati Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya joined Salesforce in 2020 and has grown Salesforce India from 2,500 to 13,000 employees.
Lowering the costs of licenses has provided more opportunities for the Indian Salesforce ecosystem and has created growth in business operations:
“Initially, licenses were very expensive. Then Bhattacharya joined and now license costs are cheaper in India compared to other countries. People are able to buy these licenses and they’re able to actually afford Salesforce.
“If you look at the real estate market in India, they have adopted Salesforce pretty quickly. The majority of the big real estate companies are using Salesforce now, as well as automobile companies, commerce, big companies, and even smaller businesses.”
The use of Salesforce across different business operations is great news for the ecosystem in India, and explains why there has been such an increase in demand for a number of Salesforce jobs in the region, as companies of all sizes are looking to quickly adapt to the CRM platform.
The “Journey to Salesforce” Program and Salesforce in Education
Piyusha also shared some valuable insights into how Salesforce is being taught to young aspiring professionals in India, and how this is also filtering down into the education system. The “Journey to Salesforce” program is an initiative currently making waves in India, providing the next generation of Trailblazers with all the skills and knowledge they need to succeed as developers in the ecosystem.
Learners are given the opportunity to build confidence and expertise by tackling real-world projects and connecting with Salesforce mentors for personalized guidance. A dedicated Slack community also provides ongoing peer support, resources, and a space for questions, creating a collaborative learning experience.
“It’s a program which is designed specifically for this region and was initially started to provide in-person admin and developer trails. They send some people from Salesforce to actually showcase what Salesforce is and how Trailhead works, how big is the ecosystem, how you can get a job in Salesforce – basics about the technology and stuff like that. The students who are interested can then enroll in the program and complete it.”
This program has been a massive success since its introduction in 2020; according to Business Standard, there were over 20,000 registered participants from across the country that year – with the program continuing to grow in popularity, the current number of participants is likely significantly higher today. Many successful participants have gone on to secure employment, making this an ideal gateway for those taking their first steps into Salesforce.
Consulting companies in India have benefited massively from this program, which has enabled them to be in direct contact with individuals who have completed their training:
“People who have completed the Journey to Salesforce Trails can then be in instant contact with consulting companies. These consulting companies actually get a notification that someone has completed the program, and the applicants can directly apply to these companies and be interviewed through a portal.”
“I’m really excited about all this and I am actually going to organize a Journey to Salesforce program workshop next month!”
Alongside this, Piyusha explained how Salesforce is being introduced in education, with many university degrees and college courses now factoring in Salesforce as an important topic to cover and teach.
“AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) is the biggest board for all the engineering colleges in India and has started to work with a lot of universities and colleges to add Salesforce as a subject or at least train it as a subsidiary part of the course.
“With a lot of different universities, you can see that they actually use Salesforce as a subject in [the] computer science engineering degree.”
While the Salesforce ecosystem in India is already thriving, Salesforce’s commitment to education and skill development underscores its ambition for a lasting investment in the Indian market.
Intern Opportunities
Once you have completed your Journey to Salesforce program or learned the ins and outs of Salesforce at university, a common next step is to find an internship opportunity and start your Salesforce career.
Bhattacharya spoke at this year’s Dreamforce conference to promote the significant internship opportunities that Salesforce has created in India. This year alone, the company has offered 65,000 internships, with plans to expand this to over 200,000. These internships last for three months, with the first half virtual and the second half taking place on-site.
Piyusha explained how her own company, Horizontal Digital, is providing intern opportunities, with Piyusha herself working directly with new professionals.
“I myself have actually hired three interns this year for Horizontal. We generally hire a team of about 15 interns every year in India and then we usually convert those people to full-time. We want to help the community by nurturing fresh talent.”
As mentioned, the gateway into the Salesforce ecosystem in India couldn’t be any clearer, with plenty of opportunities now available to help people break through. With Salesforce’s commitment to creating 200,000 intern spots, it’s clear that more Salesforce jobs are on the horizon in India.
Final Thoughts
To round up our brilliant discussion with Piyusha, we asked what her advice would be for aspiring Salesforce professionals in India:
“Firstly, get started with Trailhead and all its resources. The quicker you start, the easier it will be for you to get up to speed.
“Secondly, start looking for these internship opportunities straight away. Looking at the very beginning of your career is going to help you a lot more than actually trying to look for volunteering opportunities.
“And lastly, try to learn as much as possible, so by the time you’re in a position where you need a job, you’ll already be a level ahead of your peers!”
A huge thank you to Piyusha for taking the time to speak to us and for giving us a genuine insight into how Salesforce is cementing its “Indian era”. Be sure to follow/connect with Piyusha on LinkedIn, and share your thoughts in the comments below.
