Recently IDC published a study on the Salesforce Ecosystem Economy and shared that worldwide in 2021 for every $1 in Salesforce revenue, the the ecosystem will generate $4.96. In the United States this works out to an estimated business revenue of $144.9B in 2021 growing to over $269B by 2026 which over five years equals a 13% CAGR. This beats the last five years CAGR of the S&P 500 with dividends included which is 10.8%. We have not seen a software company grow this large at this scale ever in history. So how can companies take advantage of the scale and growth in the Salesforce ecosystem economy? Read below to learn the basics of The Ecosystem Flywheel....
The Ecosystem Flywheel
The Ecosystem Flywheel Model is represented below as series of circles that build on each other with the key processes of Establish, Grow and Scale in a circular pattern as they are always evolving. The model is built on Sell which is represented as the first circle as in the graphic. This is the first step in building mindshare and aligning on accounts. After successful account mapping and field success has built initial momentum, Co-Marketing will have the justification to start to work with the partner on joint campaigns, messaging and webinars to build momentum. Co-Innovation is at the top of the build as this is the last and often timewise the longest process.
We introduced the ecosystem flywheel model in our company announcement. Here we will look at the model in more detail. To understand what the Ecosystem Flywheel is we will start with definitions:
Ecosystem - a complex network or interconnected system
The Salesforce ecosystem consists of three stakeholders.
- Customers
- Salesforce
- Partners (SIs or Systems Integrators and ISVs Independent Software Vendors)
Flywheel - a self reinforcing loop
In building a great company or social sector enterprise, there is no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembles relentlessly pushing a giant, heavy flywheel, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.
What it is
The Ecosystem Flywheel Model is the basis for building a repeatable growth strategy. The unique representation of the lifecycle of partnerships from Establish to Grow to Flywheel is circular to illustrate the fact that the comes a point when it is time to re-establish as the partnership matures. The middle circles of sales, marketing and innovation are present in some form at every stage of maturity and as your partnership continues to develop and moves back to establishing and changing the partnership
What it is not
The ecosystem flywheel is not created by one person - you cannot have one person working your alliance and expect to achieve exponential growth impact. The companies that have achieved the acceleration effect of the flywheel have stakeholders participating at every level of the business and executive support and oversight of the partnership.
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