As we launch our services in New Zealand, we’re excited to announce our first partnership with Merkle Aotearoa, the world-leading customer experience transformation business and Salesforce’s largest Digital Agency Partner. Through this partnership, Revolent and Merkle are trailblazing the way to address the growing digital skills gap in New Zealand while increasing diversity in the ecosystem.
Addressing the Salesforce skills gap
Working in tandem, Revolent and Merkle will create net-new Salesforce professionals, fueling New Zealand’s cloud ecosystem with innovation and diversity of thought, with the first cohort of candidates (or ‘Revols’) having already cross-trained and placed at Merkle’s Salesforce Practice. Further intakes have already been mapped out and their training will commence on an ongoing basis over the next 12 months.
Here is how the program works:
Stage 1: Sourcing diverse talent
As an Authorized Salesforce Training Provider and member of the Salesforce Talent Alliance, Revolent delivers high-quality specialist Salesforce training to IT professionals from a wide range of diverse backgrounds. Tapping into fresh pools of talent, Revolent hand-picks candidates for this competitive program through a 4-stage selection process. Revolent selects candidates with extensive prior industry experience, and the first cohort of Revols who have been placed at Merkle have an average of 6 years of prior commercial experience, including an average of 4 years in IT.
Stage 2: Cross-training into Salesforce
Revolent’s robust Salesforce Careers Program equips Revols with the knowledge and training needed to become delivery-ready Salesforce experts, including specialist skills, certifications, and practical experience. This includes tailored pathways for sought-after roles within the Salesforce ecosystem, including Salesforce developers and consultants as well as Salesforce Industries, nCino, MuleSoft, and Marketing Cloud professionals.
“What makes Revolent so different to other training providers is the strong focus on practical application, rather than certifications alone. By the time they join us, I know the Revols will have the skills to put their knowledge into practice and immediately deliver value, even as they’re still learning. This partnership with Revolent provides us with valuable flexibility and focus to build our talent pipeline,” added Gareth Reason, Chief Digital Transformation Officer at Merkle Aotearoa.
Stage 3: Work placement with Merkle Aotearoa
Upon completion of their initial training, the Revols are ready to hit the ground running, thanks to the program’s emphasis on practical application and exposure to real-life projects. As delivery-ready talent, the Revols progress on to a paid work placement with Merkle Aotearoa, where they continue to gain commercial experience as Salesforce specialists. The first cohort of Revols has already been placed at Merkle and successfully integrated into its delivery team.
“Our mission is to deliver unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices, and Salesforce is integral to this. But we wouldn’t be able to come up with out-of-the-box ideas that deliver success to our customers and implement cross-functional synergies without the right people. Having already worked with some of the Revols, I can’t wait to see the outstanding results they’ll produce for us and our customers in New Zealand,” commented Michel Mayor, Global Salesforce Practice Leader – SVP at Merkle.
Laureate of three Salesforce Partner Innovation Awards for its pioneering work with national and global brands, Merkle is a leading name in the ecosystem. Therefore, the experience the Revols will acquire while on placement with this market-leading company will be invaluable in helping them lead complex Salesforce projects in the future. What’s more, Revolent will continue to provide ongoing support while the Revols are on placement, equipping them with more advanced Salesforce certifications and professional development, tailored to Merkle’s business requirements.
A shared commitment to diversity
Working together with Merkle, we will create equitable opportunities for high-caliber individuals from underrepresented groups to launch exciting careers in the Salesforce ecosystem. As a result, we will fuel the region with experienced Salesforce professionals and bring more diverse talent into the ecosystem.
As an employer that strives to create an environment where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work, Merkle’s dedication to building more diversity, equity, and inclusion in its team and the wider ecosystem is tangible. Its recent diversity initiatives include mentorship circles for underrepresented groups, increased engagement and strategic partnerships with Historic Black Colleges and Universities, to name a few.
“Growing diverse talent for the Salesforce ecosystem is at the heart of what Merkle Aotearoa has been doing for over a decade. We’re excited to be able to work with a like-minded partner like Revolent on this mission. Salesforce developer and consultant skills are in high demand with New Zealand’s biggest and best organizations, and it’s wonderful to partner with Revolent to offer these skills to a new crop of amazing Trailblazing humans,” commented Alice Hopkinson, Head of Salesforce Growth & Capability at Merkle Aotearoa.
Building on the success of its Indigenous Tech Academy, launched in Australia last year to enable young adults from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background to build amazing careers in the world’s number #1 CRM, Revolent is fully committed to creating new opportunities in the cloud for groups currently underrepresented in New Zealand’s tech sector. This includes Māori technologists who still account for only 4% of the region’s tech workforce, according to a 2021 report by the New Zealand Digital Skills Forum.
“While entering New Zealand creates a great business opportunity for us, there’s also an incredible human opportunity to transform individual careers and even communities,” said Ian Clark, CEO of APAC and EMEA at Revolent.
Driven forth by a shared commitment and passion for bringing diverse perspectives and fresh ideas to the Salesforce ecosystem, Revolent and Merkle are excited to see the impact these trailblazing Revols will have on the region, helping to solve its growing cloud skills gap.
