Salesforce is hoping to foster its ecosystem with a new, free-of-charge online training program called Trailhead, in a move that could help customers of all sizes cut Salesforce-related costs while increasing their rate of innovation on the vendor's platform. Here are the details from Adam Seligman, Salesforce VP of developer relations and GM for Trailhead:
In an industry known for boot camps that charge a premium for practical training, we think we have something special. Starting today, job seekers and employees worldwide can accelerate their careers through Trailhead, a fun, easy and free way to learn Salesforce skills online. Available on desktop or mobile — and languages including German, Japanese and French — Trailhead rewards learners with badges to market in-demand skills to prospective and current employers alike; integration with Linkedin will also make it easy for recruiters to search for qualified candidates.
Trailhead is now generally available after a beta launch last year. Salesforce was surprised by the rate of response to the beta, with users passing more than 1 million challenges and earning more than a quarter-million badges, according to Seligman. There is much more to come, he says:
Today’s global launch is the first step in a long journey. Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll continue to add trails for our users – expanding into sales, service, marketing, analytics, apps, IoT and more — so they can learn Salesforce and do great things with their careers.
There is ample opportunity for those workers. Salesforce and its ecosystem is expected to create a million jobs by 2018, the company says, citing research by IDC.
POV: Trailhead is "a brilliant move that opens up opportunities for new jobs and also drives down the cost of administering Salesforce," says Constellation Research founder and CEO R "Ray" Wang.
In addition, Trailhead helps create Salesforce users who want to be seen as leaders among their peers, much like those who participate in SAP's Mentor program, Wang adds.
However, earning badges and completing challenges on Salesforce isn't the same thing as successfully passing expert certification exams, and it still costs money to take those tests. However, users who want to become certified experts could certainly use Trailhead for studying purposes.
At a minimum, Trailhead seems like a way for companies to develop power users that can help fellow workers navigate the system and solve problems, saving time for core Salesforce administration teams, who can instead focus more on new innovations. In turn, Salesforce benefits from customers' expanded use of the system and a more engaged, educated user community.
