The success of Salesforce’s alliances and partner community was on full display at Dreamforce last week, where its local partners in Australia and New Zealand were recognised at the 2025 Salesforce Partner Innovation Awards. The awards honoured the achievements of Cognizant, Publicis Sapient, and IBM in driving business transformation through the Salesforce Platform.
Why it matters:
As the industry shifts towards supporting Agentic Enterprises – businesses where human employees and AI agents work together in a seamless, collaborative ecosystem – the partner community becomes increasingly vital. Salesforce consulting partners have been instrumental in 70% of all Agentforce activations globally, building over 18,000 agents for Salesforce customers. This milestone underscores the importance of partnerships in driving innovation and growth.
Driving the news:
The winning projects from this year’s awards demonstrate the depth of partner expertise in unlocking new levels of functionality and accelerating business growth. Some notable achievements include:
- Cognizant’s healthcare innovation: Cognizant won in the Healthcare & Life Sciences category for its work with mecwacare. The project modernised fragmented IT systems and enterprise applications, enabling a digital future powered by deep data, analytics, and AI. The mcare360 transformation program has created a more integrated and human experience of care.
- Publicis Sapient’s nonprofit transformation: Publicis Sapient won in the Nonprofit category for its comprehensive digital business transformation with Stride, a leading mental health charity. The project replaced three legacy systems and leveraged Salesforce Health Cloud, OmniStudio, and MuleSoft to integrate the customer journey and financial reconciliation. This digital overhaul as freed up over 15,000 hours of staff time per year.
- IBM’s energy sector achievement: IBM secured an award in the Energy category with AusNet, demonstrating its ability to translate unique customer challenges into customised realities on the Salesforce Platform.
Industry recognition: This month, the success of Salesforce’s engagement with local partners was further recognised in New Zealand, where Salesforce won the Software Vendor award at the Reseller News Innovation Awards. This achievement showcases Salesforce’s commitment to the local ICT industry.
“The success of local partners in these global awards clearly demonstrates that Australia’s partner ecosystem is world-leading,” said Erin Williams, RVP Alliances & Channels ANZ, Salesforce. “The impact that our customers have been able to see as a result of this work proves that localised expertise, combined with the #1 AI CRM, can deliver tangible, transformative outcomes, regardless of sector, segment or industry.”
What the winners are saying:
“It has been inspiring to work with Salesforce in supporting Stride Mental Health. Seeing real impact recognised reminds us what’s possible when purpose and partnership come together to make a difference in people’s lives.” – Angela Robinson, Managing Director, Publicis Sapient
“This award is a powerful recognition of our shared commitment to innovation with purpose. For Cognizant, it highlights our ability to solve complex challenges through human-centred technology. For mecwacare, it affirms that compassionate care and digital transformation can coexist to improve lives. Most of all, it celebrates a true partnership grounded in trust, respect and a vision for what’s possible.” – Jessica Finn, Australian Market Lead, Public Sector, Education & Health, Cognizant
“This is not just an award, but recognition of a shared journey of innovation and a partnership grounded in curiosity, skill, respect and a determination to explore the art of the possible. Through ‘mcare360’, our digital transformation program, we are reimagining how care is delivered. Partnering with Cognizant and moving to Salesforce as our core platform has allowed us to focus our energy where it matters most: on people, their dignity, choice and wellbeing.” – Anne McCormack, CEO, mecwacare
Learn more:
- Find out more about the Salesforce partner community
- Learn more about how Agentforce is boosting partner support
- Catch up on the most recent ANZ Partner of the Year awards
