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CloudSmiths achieves Salesforce platinum partner status

Regina Pazvakavambwa
By Regina Pazvakavambwa, ITWeb portals journalist.
Johannesburg, 23 Aug 2016
The requirements to be a platinum partner are not easy to achieve, says CloudSmiths' Derek Hughes.
The requirements to be a platinum partner are not easy to achieve, says CloudSmiths' Derek Hughes.

Local Salesforce Partner CloudSmiths has announced it has achieved platinum partner status.

CloudSmiths specialises in the deployment of Salesforce solutions and the integration of the Salesforce platform into third-party applications.

Salesforce is the world's No 1 CRM and cloud computing platform, but as an organisation it does not have a local presence in Africa, says Derek Hughes, CEO of CloudSmiths.

"Companies wanting to use Salesforce solutions require local expertise and knowledge to assist them with implementation, customisation, development, training and support. Our team of nearly 40 provides on the ground, face-to-face services to our clients."

Therefore, being named Platinum Partner gives CloudSmiths the credibility of being able to deliver solutions that its clients need, says Hughes.

"The requirements to be a platinum partner are not easy to achieve and include having certified consultants and developers, a track record of successful projects and significant volume of licence sales."

Salesforce partners are tiered based on partner value scores which assess partners on three key criteria: expertise measured by number of certifications, number of sales, and number of customer success stories measured by satisfaction surveys.

CloudSmiths was forged from three independent Salesforce specialists, Vistar, SFD and Ideas Incorporated.

Although CloudSmiths was launched in 2014, it previously merged with another long-standing Cape Town-based Salesforce specialist, SFD Consulting. The company became a Salesforce Gold Consulting Partner in under a year.

In March 2016, CloudSmiths merged with Ideas Incorporated and took three months to achieve its new status, says CloudSmiths.

According to Salesforce, the merger created a strong reseller for Salesforce in Africa and thus supports the cloud company's strategy of having a local partner ecosystem in rapidly growing emerging markets.

"As one of only four independent Salesforce implementation partners in southern Africa, to be named a Platinum Partner is an excellent achievement and one that we are proud of. We are also deeply grateful to our clients for their ongoing support."

According to Hughes, since the merger, the company has focused on cultivating Salesforce implementation, support, and expertise, and on upskilling employees.

This has made a key contribution to its esteemed Platinum partner status which, in turn, gives CloudSmiths greater credibility in the market and the opportunity to grow its customer base even further, he adds.

"This appointment is an objective testament to what CloudSmiths has already achieved in terms of skills development and customer success. "This positions us to be able to tackle larger and more complicated projects in the future and will help us with recruitment."

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