Salesforce Ecosystem Offshoring Updates for 2025 : Tom M
by: Tom M
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### Summary of Offshoring Trends in the Salesforce Job Market **Key Details:** - **Offshoring Growth:** Offshoring has become a significant trend in the Salesforce job market, evolving from a trend to a sustainable business model. - **Job Market Conditions:** The Salesforce job market is recovering from a post-COVID slump, but there remains a high supply of professionals (up 19%) compared to a drop in demand (down 37%). - **Impact of Offshoring:** Offshoring creates competition for Western professionals, particularly entry-level workers, as jobs are increasingly moved to regions like India, where labor is cheaper. - **Economic Benefits:** While Western job markets may suffer, regions receiving offshored jobs benefit economically, potentially boosting local economies. - **Salesforce Investments:** Salesforce has announced significant investments in Singapore ($1B), Saudi Arabia ($500M), and Australia ($2.5B) to support local workforce development and AI initiatives. - **Cost Efficiency:** Offshoring allows companies to reduce costs while accessing a broader talent pool. For example, salaries for Salesforce professionals in India are significantly lower than in Singapore. - **AI Integration:** Salesforce's focus on AI requires a skilled workforce, making offshoring a viable option to meet these demands efficiently. **Advice for Employers and Employees:** - **Employers:** Invest in skill development, ensure data security compliance, and create hybrid teams that combine onshore and offshore talent. - **Employees:** Adapt to AI and automation, enhance soft skills for remote collaboration, and build trust with onshore teams. **Final Thoughts:** Offshoring offers a cost-effective solution for companies looking to expand, but it poses challenges for professionals in Western markets. The future of the Salesforce ecosystem will depend on how it balances talent appreciation across global locations. ### Additional Context: Offshoring has been a controversial topic, as it can lead to job losses in higher-cost regions while benefiting lower-cost areas. Companies like Salesforce are leveraging this strategy to remain competitive in a rapidly changing tech landscape, especially with the rise of AI technologies. ### Hashtags for SEO: #Salesforce #Offshoring #JobMarket #AI #TechTrends #RemoteWork #EconomicImpact #WorkforceDevelopment #DataSecurity #TalentAcquisition
Offshoring has been one of the most notable trends witnessed in the Salesforce job market over the last couple of years. In fact, last August, we reported on this under-the-curtain movement in detail, but even just six months later, things are already looking much bigger than we first anticipated.
Now not just a trend but a growing business model, offshoring has solidified itself firmly within the ecosystem. But how sustainable is it, and what do we need to know about it? Let’s take a look.
Salesforce’s Job Market: The Biggest Factor at Play
When we last explored the Salesforce job market in detail, it was evident that, unfortunately, the market was still saturated.
Since 2023, the ecosystem has been going through what has been coined the “great Salesforce job market reset”, meaning that the market has been slowly recovering from the post-COVID dip that hit in 2022/2023.
Two years later, conditions definitely aren’t as bad, but the disparity between available jobs and professionals is still high, with a 19% rise in supply and a decrease in demand of 37% as of last year.
Hurting or Helping?
Important factors such as layoffs, economic struggles, and political unrest have all influenced a market that currently has more professionals than jobs available. Offshoring is also one of those factors, which is why it is difficult to conclude whether it is inherently good or bad.
On one side, it’s clear to see how offshoring negatively impacts the Western job market; if available jobs are predominantly being offered across the pond to regions such as India, then this means there are fewer jobs for professionals in Europe and the US.
For entry-level professionals who struggle to enter the market as is, the environment is now made even more difficult due to a wider scope of competition.
However, of course, the regions where these jobs are being offshored benefit heavily, especially if multiple organizations offshore there. This kind of economic uptick has the potential to boost and even restore local and regional economies, providing more jobs and making them more appealing to more organizations in the future.
The access to skills geographically cannot be ignored either, benefiting both the professionals in those regions and the organizations. Edward Foster, the COO of Mint Consulting, says that offshoring, for this reason, feels like “second nature” to them.
“We do quite a lot of work remotely. We’re a friendly, professional, and diverse team, so it feels very natural to have a geographically spread team where the skills are more important than location. We’ve been very successful in delivering this way.”
As aforementioned, organizations benefit from perhaps the most momentous benefit of cost reductions, and in both our current economy and current tech landscape, it can be easy to understand why offshoring expansions are well underway.
Recent Expansions
This very play-by-play can be observed in the ecosystem, as in just the last few months, Salesforce has invested or plans to invest a combined $3B into Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.
Earlier this month, Salesforce announced a plan to invest $1B in Singapore over the next five years, aiming to accelerate digital transformation and the adoption of Agentforce.
A month before that, Salesforce revealed plans to invest $500 million in Saudi Arabia for AI-related projects as well, in hopes of upskilling 30,000 Saudi citizens by 2030.
Salesforce’s plans for Australia were also announced in the same month, with the cloud giant promising to invest a staggering $2.5B into the continent over five years to support AI innovation, workforce development, and sustainability initiatives.
How Is This Connected to Offshoring?
While this financial injection is going to be extremely beneficial for these regions, Salesforce also needs workforces in these areas to sell more of their product. We know how expensive that can be, especially if consultancies need to be set up or expanded, but what if you have a region like India that you could utilize?
According to data from our latest salary survey, the average salary for a Salesforce professional in Singapore is S$105K, which equates roughly to $93K. This is considered a relatively high salary in Singapore, which means that hiring an entirely Singaporean team will be expensive. However, across the pond, the average developer salary in India is ₹2,588,718, which equates to around S$40.4K or just over $35K – a much cheaper alternative.
Zack Varela, a freelance Salesforce Administrator, says that we should definitely expect a rise in offshoring from these regions that Salesforce is pumping investments into.
“Take the big investments in Singapore – they’re going to be training people over there around the clock with the $1B,” he said. “Let’s not think for one second that those professional jobs aren’t somehow going to end up over there.”
It is likely that we’ll certainly see a rise in offshoring in these invested regions, and if the current status of the Salesforce job market, as well as socioeconomic trends, are anything to go by, then it likely won’t be limited to those regions either.
Why Is the Salesforce Ecosystem Doubling Down?
Cutting costs and access to a wider labor pool have been cited as the main reasons behind offshoring since the movement’s conception, but never have the two been as important as a combined force until now.
Since late 2022, tech companies have been under pressure from investors to focus on margins after years of prioritizing revenue growth, and Salesforce is no different. We have observed how tumultuous Salesforce’s stock movements have been due to shifting financial results, and the pressure for ever-impressive achievements is as high as ever.
Combine this with Salesforce’s and their ecosystem’s global expansion goals, and it’s clear to see that the efforts needed to accomplish this are nothing short of ruthless.
Not only that, but according to Forbes, the average IT department allocates 13.6% of its budget to offshored roles, and roughly 37% of IT tasks are outsourced – and this is just for IT departments.
In fact, according to a report by Growth Market Reports, the IT Services outsourcing market was valued at $525B in 2022 and is reportedly likely to reach $1.6T by 2031.
We are also past the consulting boom of the 2010s, where consultancies and other similar companies were focused on the “growth at all costs” mentality, and this isn’t sustainable long-term, as Gary Pisano, professor at Harvard Business School, explained.
“You don’t want growth to kill the company,” he said. “I’ve seen too many organizations where growth, in and of itself, is what damages the very things that made the company special and actually contributed to its initial growth.”
“If you can grow profitably, you’re going to make your shareholders happy, you’re going to create more opportunities for employees, you’re going to be able to pay better wages, you’re going to have a bigger tax base.”
Now, profitable growth is the most important factor, especially if companies are interested in M&A. Companies that get acquired want to be bought out on profit rather than revenue, which makes nailing down a profitable growth strategy more important now than ever.
AI: The Motivator and the Boot
We can’t forget Salesforce’s AI goals either, which the cloud giant has been fixated on ever since Marc Benioff announced that they would be “hard pivoting” in their AI approach to focus on AI agents. For an effort this large, a substantial workforce is needed, and in order to meet all sides of the triangle – cost effectiveness, expansion, and talent – offshoring is a more than suitable option for organizations.
Not only that, but AI can also be used to make workforces more efficient, no matter where they are in the world. If an AI like Agentforce can make employees 40% more productive, for example, then this makes those said employees much more cost-effective. If offshore employees were utilizing a technology such as Agentforce, then they would suddenly be much more affordable than they already are to Western organizations.
“CEOs are buying into this left and right,” Zack said. “I’m not saying AI is bad, and I’m not saying offshoring is bad – those things have a place in the market – but when people are just looking for a silver bullet because they know something’s coming – that’s a different discussion.”
Offshoring Advice for Employers and Employees
Offshoring is definitely not a trend that is going away, so, very much like AI, it will be a case of getting stuck in or getting left behind. That’s why this advice should be a great initial stepping stone for employers and employees alike to make the most out of offshoring in the future.
Advice for Employers
- Invest in Skill Development and AI Integration: As Salesforce products evolve, particularly in AI, upskilling offshore teams in new Salesforce capabilities will be essential. Employers should offer continuous learning opportunities through certifications, training, and hands-on projects.
- Focus on Data Security and Compliance: Given the sensitive nature of customer data, employers should ensure offshore teams comply with data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA. Setting up data security protocols and encrypting sensitive data is crucial. A strong focus should also be placed on local data compliance and setting up data centers in the regions where offshore teams operate to comply with specific regulations.
- Build a Strategic Offshoring Model: The future of offshoring in Salesforce will likely see hybrid teams composed of both onshore and offshore talent. Enhance these teams with communication tools like Slack and project management tools like Asana to make sure everyone is on the same wavelength, no matter where they are.
This is something that Louise Niven, Head of PMO at Mint Consulting, considers highly important.
“We emphasize strong communication and ensure everyone involved is clear on who does what,” she said. “We sometimes need to encourage offshore resources to be more vocal and express their thoughts – people can be shy working with a new team, but it’s important to ask questions and challenge sometimes.”
Onshore teams can handle high-touch customer relationships, strategy, and consulting, while offshore teams can focus on development, customization, and system integration.
Advice for Employees
- Adapt to AI and Automation: As Salesforce transitions towards AI-powered solutions, employees – especially offshore teams – should embrace that. The pace of technological change means that offshore employees must stay agile by adopting new tools and technologies quickly. Seek out training programs that cover Salesforce’s AI-powered products, DevOps practices, and emerging areas like Salesforce Data Cloud skills.
- Build Soft Skills for Remote Collaboration: Strong communication and collaboration skills are essential in remote work environments. Offshore employees should master tools like Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams and embrace asynchronous communication when needed.
- Build Trust and Accountability in Offshore Roles: Offshore employees should work on being transparent about timelines, blockers, and challenges. Providing status updates and demonstrating accountability in offshore roles will help build trust with onshore teams. Also, demonstrating an understanding of the local context of the business is key; understanding specific industry verticals (finance, healthcare, etc.) where Salesforce implementations are happening can improve the quality and relevance of work.
Final Thoughts
For the Salesforce job market and ecosystem, offshoring provides a dynamic, cost-effective solution for organizations looking to scale overseas without going over budget.
However, for professionals in the Western job market who are currently struggling to land roles and are afraid of AI job displacement, offshoring could just be seen as another threat or competitive force to have to reckon with.
The way Salesforce navigates the advances and develops in the future will be key in assuring the community that talent is appreciated no matter where it is located. Whether this occurs or not is another story.
The post Salesforce Ecosystem Offshoring Updates for 2025 appeared first on Salesforce Ben.
March 26, 2025 at 09:18PM
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