Cognizant: The EMEA Salesforce practice, from 5 to 200

Context

Cognizant's EMEA Salesforce practice started from five consultants, and client demand was growing.

Hiring experienced Salesforce people could not keep up on its own: there were not enough of them. The practice had to make consultants as well as hire them.

Role

I owned pre-sales and delivery of Salesforce programmes in EMEA, as team leader and programme manager. The TotalEnergies and Sanofi programmes on this site were Cognizant work.

What happened

My part of the growth was people and bids. I worked on the competency levels that said what a consultant should master at each stage, and on the curriculum that took graduates to consultant level.

On the bid side, I supported pre-sales with the sales leadership, so that what we sold matched what the team could deliver.

Outcome

The practice grew from 5 to 200 consultants during those four years. I contributed to that growth. I did not do it alone.

What I teach from it

This is where I learned to write exercises. A graduate needs one objective per exercise, a starting point that works, and a check that shows the result.

Every course I teach today, from BSX101 to ADX261, is built that way. I run each exercise myself before the session, then live in front of the group, and I stay with whoever gets stuck.