According to CRN, Salesforce’s new channel chief Phil Samenuk says the company “will not be a successful consumption company without our ecosystem and partners.” The enterprise vendor has over 16,000 partners and expects to hit about $41 billion in sales this fiscal year while targeting $60 billion by fiscal 2030. Samenuk became senior vice president of global alliances and channel revenue in February, replacing previous channel chief Steve Corfield who moved to a different role. Salesforce made its Agentforce 360 agentic AI platform generally available last month, and partners like Perficient have done more than 3,000 implementations over their 10-plus year partnership. The focus on consumption pricing represents a significant shift from Salesforce’s traditional seat-based pricing model.
The Partner Pivot Is Real
Here’s the thing: Salesforce has always been known for that aggressive direct sales culture. You know the one – the cloud software giant that built an empire by selling directly to enterprises. But now they’re admitting they can’t go it alone. That’s a pretty significant shift in thinking.
Basically, Salesforce is realizing that implementation and consumption work is where the real money is in the AI era. And partners are absolutely essential for that. Think about it – who’s going to help customers actually use all these new AI features? Who’s going to ensure they’re getting value from that consumption pricing? It’s not the Salesforce sales team – it’s the implementation partners.
The Consumption Pricing Challenge
Now, consumption pricing is a whole different ballgame from seat-based licensing. With traditional licensing, you sell the seats and you’re pretty much done. But consumption? That requires ongoing engagement to make sure customers are actually using the platform and finding value. Otherwise, they’ll just… stop consuming.
And that’s where partners become absolutely critical. They’re the ones doing the post-implementation work, helping customers optimize their usage, and ensuring they’re getting ROI. Without that hand-holding, consumption models can quickly fall apart. Samenuk seems to get this – he’s basically saying partners are the key to making this whole consumption thing work.
AI Implementation Gold Rush
Look, everyone’s talking about AI, but implementation is where the rubber meets the road. Partners like Perficient are already positioning themselves as the go-to experts for deploying Salesforce’s Agentforce 360 platform. They’re talking about “accelerated time-to-value with trusted AI” and deploying “intelligent agents and predictive models.”
But here’s the question: Is this just buzzword bingo, or is there real substance here? From what Perficient’s saying, they’re seeing genuine demand. They’ve done over 3,000 implementations and they’re still investing heavily in their Salesforce practice. That suggests there’s real money to be made in helping customers actually use this AI stuff.
What This Means for Everyone
For Salesforce customers, this partner focus could be really good news. More resources going to partners means better implementation and support. For the partners themselves, it’s a huge opportunity – but also pressure to deliver on these AI promises.
The market should watch this closely. If Salesforce can successfully pivot to a partner-led consumption model while hitting those aggressive revenue targets, it could reshape how enterprise software is sold and implemented. But that’s a big “if.” The transition from direct sales to partner-led consumption isn’t easy, and $60 billion by 2030 is an ambitious goal. Still, Samenuk’s comments suggest they’re at least recognizing which way the wind is blowing.
