At Bangalore’s TrailheaDX 2019, Salesforce promises to create more jobs and train 250,000 students by 2022

Bangalore was host to India’s maiden Salesforce TrailheaDX India 2019, which was a congregation of one of its kind on December 19th and 20^th, 2019. The event got oversubscribed with the very enthusiastic software community of India, who gathered to teach, learn, and network under one roof. The conference had two days of learning, connecting, giving back for the Trailblazers from across the nation and other parts of the world.

The event gave developers a chance to get a first look at the latest and greatest Salesforce products and innovations, with back to back workshops, conferences, keynote speeches, and live hands-on-experience. The participants were super excited to share their architect mindset and also learn to design cross-cloud customer solutions.

Salesforce says it believes in giving back to the community, which is in its DNA. So, the TrailheaDX at Bangalore got luminary speakers like Saina Nehwal, who was roped in to inspire the Salesforce community.

Speaking to Charles Woodall, Vice President, Partner Sales Industries and Strategic Alliances APAC – Salesforce, at the event, he said, “Trailhead is Salesforce’s free online learning platform that empowers anyone to skill up for the future. Trailhead reduces barriers to entry for all - regardless of gender, ethnicity, education level or socioeconomic background - to join the workforce of the future with access to over 700 badges covering business, tech, Salesforce, and soft skills. More than 1.8 million learners today are skilling up and earning resume-worthy credentials on Trailhead, and India, after the US, has one of the largest employee bases of Salesforce with its partner community growing by the day.”

Salesforce inks MoU with ICT Academy, TASK and ICTAK

At TailheaDX Bangalore, Salesforce committed to training 250,000 students for the technology jobs of tomorrow by 2022. In separate partnerships, Salesforce signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the ICT Academy; the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) and ICT Academy of Kerala (ICTAK).

Through these partnerships, Salesforce wants to bring Trailhead, its free online learning platform, into the classroom – empowering students to skill up through gamified learning content and hands-on challenges.

Commenting on the partnerships, Sunil Jose, Senior Vice President and Country Leader, Salesforce India, said, “Embracing India’s enviable workforce, we believe it is our responsibility to create jobs, reskill workers and help them succeed. As India becomes one of the youngest countries in the world, rapid innovation and adoption of emerging technologies such as IoT and AI are changing the ways we live and work. While companies embrace this change, there is a constant need for a savvy workforce that is prepared to tackle challenges unique to our digital age. We believe Trailhead can transform lives, nurture careers and make an impact on the growing Salesforce economy.”

According to a recent study by IDC, the Salesforce economy will create 548,400 direct jobs and $67 billion in new business revenues in India, between 2019 and 2024.

• In partnership with the ICT Academy, a government of India initiative, Salesforce will train over 500 educators using Trailhead. In turn, the educators will train over 150,000 students in the next three years, from 200 member institutes across the country. The partnership will also create and nurture 20 student groups.
• Through the existing partnership with the ICT Academy of Kerala, Salesforce and Skills Delivery Platform Kerala (SDPK) will focus on establishing a state-of-the-art e-learning network. In a pilot initiative, Salesforce will reach out to engineering students from 75 colleges impacting over 25,000 students in one year.
• The partnership with TASK is expected to reach out to 50 institutions in the state of Telangana and 100 educators training 75,000 students over the next three years while creating and promoting over 20 student groups to be a part of the Trailblazer community.

At the event, Kris Lande, VP of Trailhead Marketing and Trailblazer Relations, Salesforce, said, “Trailhead’s mission is to democratize education and make learning accessible to all. With more than 1.8 million Trailblazers already skilling up on our platform, we’re excited to partner with ICT Academy, ICT Academy of Kerala, and the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge to empower even more learners with the tools to skill up for the jobs of tomorrow.”

Lande has said that Salesforce will plan, create and execute each of these programs for students, providing the support required to its partners for training to meet the program objectives. In addition, she said that the ‘train the trainer’ program will support educators with relevant content to drive effective training, while also empowering them by building a strong networking group of industry experts. Lande says that Salesforce is also committed to bring job recruitment opportunities to students trained on Salesforce to increase their employment opportunities.

Reacting to the MoU, M Sivakumar, Chief Executive Officer, ICT Academy said, “The opportunity that Salesforce offers is immense, the community is huge and growing exponentially. Needless to say, ICT Academy has been the pioneer and leader in developing the skills of students in emerging technologies among its 800+ member institutions across India. Additionally, the interest we’ve seen from students has been phenomenal, the fun and ease of using the Trailhead platform have students keen to learn more. We are delighted to extend our relationship with Salesforce providing access to all our member institutes through this partnership.”