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IDC Study Shows Dramatic Productivity Boost With Salesforce-Skilled and Credentialed Employees

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IDC study, The Impact of Salesforce Training and Credentials, reveals companies with skilled and credentialed employees are more agile and efficient.

According to IDC, organizations saw greater agility, efficiency, and employee value when they had Salesforce-skilled and credentialed employees.

It’s no secret that companies all over the globe are racing to keep up with the rapidly changing technology landscape. Companies are also identifying a significant gap between their employees’ current digital skill sets and the skills needed to be successful. The more the world of work changes, the larger the digital skills gap becomes. That’s why Salesforce commissioned a study on the impact of Salesforce training and credentials.

The impact of Salesforce training and credentials, measured by IDC

IDC is a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology (IT), telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. Salesforce commissioned IDC to survey more than 2,400 professionals who administer Salesforce applications or develop on the Salesforce Platform.

Their study, The Impact of Salesforce Training and Credentials, revealed that companies with skilled and credentialed employees were more agile and efficient while benefiting from increased employee impact.

With Trailhead Academy’s expert-led learning programs, companies can accelerate learning and validate expertise to drive significant impact across their organizations. Additionally, with Trailhead, Salesforce’s free online learning platform, we support companies to build and grow their employees’ skill sets.

Trailhead Academy

Accelerate learning across your organization with expert-led classes.

The key to an agile and efficient workforce

If you want a more agile and efficient business, you need a team of Salesforce-skilled experts who continuously grow their Salesforce knowledge.

Employees must be able to configure dashboards and reports quickly, visualize available data for deeper insights, leverage declarative functionality to create programmatic solutions and automate business processes.

What we learned about the impact of Salesforce training and credentials from the IDC study:

  • 68% greater efficiency — Salesforce-certified professionals with additional training showed 68% more efficiency, leading to faster time to value.
  • 30% greater speed — Salesforce-certified professionals with additional training could map process requirements 30% faster, leading to faster solution development and quicker time-to-business value.

An investment in Salesforce Certifications has a positive effect on both the business as a whole and its employees.

How credentials create more impactful employees

You’ve got an experienced team, and Salesforce credentials are a great way to prove it! Superbadges, super sets, and certifications are appropriate ways for employees to demonstrate skill proficiency. These credentials are also a powerful resource because they translate to greater productivity and faster time-to-value for your business.

According to the IDC study, 75% of Salesforce Partners surveyed said employees who completed superbadges or super sets were more productive and impactful at work. Employees who completed the Administrator Super Set hands-on assessment are faster at building reports, dashboards, and workflows. 

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Salesforce Certified Administrators are also faster. They’re:

  • 15% faster when building reports, dashboards, and workflows.
  • 15% faster when troubleshooting user account issues.

And speaking of being more productive and efficient, employees who completed the Developer Super Set hands-on assessment are faster at mapping process requirements and more effective at building and reusing code. Salesforce Certified Developers also showed a dramatic impact on businesses in both areas. 

Salesforce Certified Developers:

  • Develop code three times faster.
  • Make 10% fewer coding errors.
  • Show 60% more efficiency at reusing code.
  • Are 90% more productive when building code.

Admin Super Set

Complete the capstone assessment to earn the Admin Super Set.

Ready to get more agile and efficient?

Addressing the skills gap in your organization and keeping up with the pace of technology isn’t always easy. But there are two important steps you can take today to help your business succeed as you evolve.

  1. Use Trailhead and Trailhead Academy to build a culture of continuous learning to help your employees skill up.
  2. Invest in your team with Salesforce Certifications.

Your team can start learning for free on Trailhead or register for a Trailblazer Virtual Bootcamp or expert-led class for insights and best practices from Salesforce experts.

Then, check out Salesforce Certifications and superbadges to discover all the ways you can validate your teams’ expertise.

*Source: IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by Salesforce Trailhead Academy, Increase Organizational Efficiency, Agility, and Employee Influence: The Impact of Salesforce Training and Credentials, doc #US50998123, September 2023

Anna Le
Anna Le Senior Vice President, Customer Success

Anna Le is a technology industry veteran who has spent the last 25 years in various executive leadership positions across the semiconductor, hardware, software, and services industries. She has led large-scale, global organizations, with responsibilities ranging from product strategy and development to large-scale field operations. Anna currently serves as a Senior Vice President for the Customer Success Group at Salesforce, leading a multi-billion dollar Success portfolio with functional responsibilities for Customer Education, Sales, Product Management, Program Management, Competitive & Market Research, Pricing, and Analytics.

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