Salesforce celebrates partner growth and success in Middle East

Salesforce, the global CRM brand, has announced the winners of its annual Middle East Partner Awards 2023 across 10 categories.

The Middle East Partner Awards event, which was held at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai as part of Salesforce World Tour Essentials Dubai, gathered more than 1,500 attendees across Salesforce’s regional ecosystem.

Salesforce’s partner network experienced robust growth of 46% year-on-year by the end of Q1 2024 (January 31, 2023). Over the same time, the total number of Salesforce certifications rose by 51.5% to reach 3,673.

“The spectacular growth of our partner network is a reflection of both the success of our partner program and the surging demand for solutions that help organizations put their customers at the center of everything they do,” Mukesh Kumar, Regional Vice President for Salesforce Alliance & Channels Middle East, said. “This level of growth made the 2023 awards a truly special occasion, with an eclectic mix of regional partners and global system integrators, and partners covering newly represented sectors including telco and financial services competing for awards.

“What these awards really demonstrate is that we value our partners as extensions of our organization: We are members of one family and share similar core values. This is vital to ensure we work as one unified team, focused on our customers’ transformation journey and success in the Middle East.”

Awards were handed out as follows:

1 Customer Success Partner (Implementation – CSAT) – recognizes partners who share Salesforce’s commitment to customer success through the development of product, industry, and service expertise, as demonstrated by Salesforce specializations. Building a strong track record of successful implementations and maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. Winner: Coberg

2 Outstanding Knowledge Partner (Innovation – Credentials) – recognizes partners who have a laser focus on expanding their Salesforce Practice. By utilizing all available enablement tools, they have increased their total number of certifications, certified individuals, and use of partner learning camps. Winner: Smaartt

3 Sales Excellence Partner (Engagement – ACV) – this award celebrates partners who are committed to growing the Salesforce footprint across the commercial and enterprise markets. They have demonstrated this through increased sales and marketing engagement reflected in being the Top influenced Annual Contract Value (ACV) contributor. Winner: CloudzLab

4 Community Impact Partner – recognizes partners who have dedicated their time, money, and resources to have a positive impact on the local community. This is measured through their enrollment in Salesforce’s Talent Alliance, Pledge 1% and sustainability programs, and their demonstrated corporate responsibility. 

Winner: Deloitte

5 One A&C Cloud Solution Partner – this category recognizes partners across the One A&C cloud solutions, which includes Mulesoft, Tableau and Slack. The partner must demonstrate great product knowledge which helps to address customer challenges.

Winner: Capgemini

6 Marketing/Commerce Cloud Partner – recognizes partners who excelled in using Salesforce marketing and commerce cloud solutions to drive transformation programs and build a niche set of skills that are relevant for customers.  

Winner: Horizontal Digital

7 New Cloud (NetZero, Data Cloud, Whatsapp, CDP, Industry Clouds) – partners who invest resources to understand Salesforce’s latest product offerings or industry solutions. Building on the incredible salesforce knowledge and taking this further to truly leverage the maximum value from the salesforce platform.

Winner: Publicis Sapient

8 Outstanding New Logo – This award celebrates the partner who positioned Salesforce to help solve unique and complex business challenges for new customers across the Middle East.

Winner: Sirocco

9 Rising Star Partner – celebrates the partner with the most growth based on program pillars: Customer success (Navigator + CSAT), Innovation (Credentials & Practice Growth), Growth (Influenced ACV) and Lead (Equality and Sustainable Development).

Winner: Conx Digital

10 Overall Partner of the Year – recognizes a partner that has gone above and beyond in their commitment to building a world class Salesforce practice. They have excelled across all of the consulting program pillars, built a strong alignment with Salesforce’s sales team and dedicated marketing to ensure pipeline creation and progression. These partners are a true extension of Salesforce.

Winner: EI-Technologies MENA