The Salesforce app ecosystem has a growing footprint in the global economy.
In mid-September, the number of times AppExchange apps installed exceeded 4 million. And according to a Salesforce internal partner survey, 88% of Fortune 100 companies have at least one Salesforce app, while 65 percent of all customers have multiple apps.
A new study from the IDC looked at a 2015 survey of 1,142 cloud-using organizations in eight countries, in addition to forecasts of job creation and a proprietary economic middle.
The white paper forecasts the economic contribution of Salesforce and its ecosystem to the global marketplace. We summarized seven of the most noteworthy Salesforce app ecosystem findings.
7 Stats on the Salesforce App Economy:
1. “Despite its small share of the $2 trillion IT market, cloud computing has been a major contributor to growth in IT spending, growing at 4.5 times the rate of IT spending since 2009.”
Cloud computing’s share of the market accounts for less than 5 percent of IT spending and 15 percent of software spending. But that’s up from 1 percent in 2009, and it’s expected to grow at more than 6 times the rate of IT spending from 2015 through 2020.
The study defines services offered through cloud computing as software as a service (SaaS) applications, SaaS system infrastructure, platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
2. “So much of traditional IT is tied up with maintenance of legacy systems and routine upgrades – in fact, 71 percent of IT spending in a survey conducted by IDC in 2015.”
Research from IDC and others reveals that the economic impact of cloud computing goes beyond IT efficiency. When routine tasks and applications are moved to the cloud, businesses reallocate budget and employees to new initiatives, driving revenue.
3. “From the end of 2015 to the end of 2020, the use of cloud computing will add $389 billion in revenue to Salesforce customers’ ongoing revenue streams.”
That’s almost $80 billion a year globally. Out of the regions studied, IDC estimates the United States will see the greatest gain of $269 million, followed by the United Kingdom with $36 million and Japan with $20 million.
4. “IDC estimates a net increase of 1.9 million jobs produced in the ‘Salesforce economy’ between the end of 2015 and the end of 2020.”
In 2015, there were 1.1 million cloud-related jobs. The new revenue for the Salesforce economy generates higher employment. Regionally, IDC estimates approximately 323,000 jobs for the U.S., 109,000 jobs for Japan and 86,000 for the U.K.
5. “IDC estimates that 2.9 million of these jobs, called indirect or induced jobs, will be created by the 1.9 million direct jobs.”
These are additional jobs created to serve the Salesforce ecosystem because of the increased revenue. IDC also accounted for job creation due to company employees spending more money in the economy.
6. “Respondents to the 2015 survey conducted by IDC reported that their average payback for Salesforce cloud investment was 13 months or less.”
According to the IDC Salesforce Economic Impact Model, the ROI over a four-year timeframe can be four to five times the initial investment.
Over the next four years, IDC expects that the benefits of cloud computing will come largely from increased revenue for Salesforce customers, followed by lower costs and increased productivity.
7. “By 2020, for every dollar Salesforce makes, the ecosystem is projected to make $4.14.”
Because of the many products and services surrounding Salesforce implementations, IDC says the ecosystem is larger than Salesforce, itself. For every dollar the company made in 2015, the ecosystem made $2.82. Implementations will only continue to grow in complexity, and IDC predicts this will make the ecosystem grow faster than Salesforce.
There’s plenty more from the IDC on the economic contribution of Salesforce and its ecosystem to jobs and gross domestic product. Download the full study here.
