How Brights Learning bridges the Salesforce gap

Businesses face a pressing need for certified Salesforce expertise, resulting in bottlenecks and reduced efficiency. To bridge this skill gap, Brights Learning has crafted a pilot project tailored for graduates.

There is an acute shortage of IT expertise in the business world. In response, Brights has been actively working to further educate people in IT and technology through their training initiatives since 2018 in Norway. Their latest initiative is to further narrow the skills gap by assisting Norwegian companies in offering comprehensive training in Salesforce, one of the largest IT platforms in the world, to their new hires. 

Brights has collaborated with several leading Norwegian companies, conducting studies and workshops, to pinpoint the competency challenges they face. They discovered that while universities and colleges excel in theoretical curriculum, many recent graduates lack the hands-on experience needed for IT and tech roles.

"We found that recent graduates typically spend between six months to a year to attain the essential skills and related certifications. Moreover, companies often must divert senior resources from client projects to facilitate this training. Addressing the skills gap in a different manner proves to be a more resource-efficient strategy", Johan Bäck Persson, Managing Director of Brights Learning Norway, states. 

Practical training is typically integrated into the onboarding process at a new employer. However, this form of training requires substantial resources. To tackle this, Brights introduced a set of training courses designed to make learning for recent graduates more structured and rigorous than what companies might offer in-house.

Brights seeks to enhance the Salesforce ecosystem

The individuals to be trained are selected by the clients. Based on needs, interest, and internal evaluation of suitability, these individuals are allocated to various departments such as data, security, ERP, and CRM. Typically, the internal onboarding process lasts between 6 to 12 months.

Brights partners with Fluido to ensure effective follow-up with the candidates. Fluido offers consultancy services related to the Salesforce platform, and they leverage their experienced senior members to mentor these candidates.

"We are of the belief that enhancing skills related to Salesforce is beneficial for all stakeholders in the market. Many companies face a bottleneck due to a lack of software expertise, and our aim is to uplift the entire Salesforce ecosystem", says Magnus-Andreas Sølvberg Aase, Country Manager for Fluido.

Christen Seeberg, who serves as the acting country manager for Salesforce in Norway, agrees. He underscores the benefits stemming from the systematic and holistic training approach of Brights.

"Brights has consistently shown itself to be an invaluable ally in catering to our clients' dynamic requirements. We recognize the advantages of furnishing candidates with both systematic and practical training. The training offered by Brights not only fulfills but often surpasses our client expectations", Seeberg remarks.

Bridging the skill gap is a priority for companies

Several leading Norwegian companies, including Orkla, Accenture, and Cognizant have participated in Brights pilot project tailored to meet their specific needs. After mastering the platform, participants were given opportunities to apply their newfound knowledge on simulated client scenarios requiring Salesforce implementation.

Crafted through collaborative workshops involving clients and Brights’ training partners, the goals focus on developing specialized Salesforce skills in “traditional” graduates - individuals holding a master’s degree in IT, marketing, or business. The aim is to speed up their readiness and ensure they have the essential skills to effectively handle tangible, client-related tasks.

Kvive Hansen, who is the Salesforce Delivery Lead at Accenture, highlights that one appealing aspect of the Brights course is the early certification it provides to its candidates.

"As we present offers to our prospective clients, we're essentially showcasing the qualifications, experience, and certifications detailed in the CVs. When our fresh graduates have undergone structured training and secured the necessary certifications, it facilitates their swift onboarding into profitable client projects", Hansen says.

Anne Cathrine Essebaggers, Head of Sales and Marketing at Orkla, shared that their primary interaction with Salesforce is internal. She is of the conviction that initiatives like the Brights training not only aid in recruiting the best candidate, but also retain them over time.

"Offering developmental opportunities to our workforce is important. Initiatives like this training solution not only foster professional growth but also significantly aid in retaining the top talent we possess", Essebaggers states.

Close follow up of participants’ progress

Victoria Fredheim started at Accenture in August 2023 and began her career with training at Brights Learning. She highlights that it has been a smooth transition from her master's program to a professional setting, thanks to the training provided by Brights.

"I'm used to acquiring theoretical knowledge, but this course has helped me apply that academic knowledge into real-world applications. We've learned to plan projects from A to Z and think in a much more comprehensive manner", says Fredheim.

Fredheim also commends the mentors she had during the course. The candidates received comprehensive follow-up, providing them the opportunity to seek support from both teachers and mentors.

"It's quite different from a regular teaching situation. The mentors resonated more as peers rather than instructors", says Fredheim.

Participant Svend Belter attended Bright Learning's six-week program from Denmark. He also expressed gratitude to the teachers for their close follow-up.

"These weeks have been very educational. It has not been an obstacle to carrying out the course digitally. On the contrary, it has been very useful considering that much of the work going forward is also remote work", says Belter.

He further states that he is grateful for the opportunity provided by Cognizant. Among other things, he will bring the experience of adapting Salesforce solutions to meet the evolving demands of demanding customers.

"It has been very useful to learn to prioritize the most important tasks first, and only promise what one can deliver", says Belter.

Orkla enlisted their recent graduate Andreas Ingemundsen to partake in the onboarding course arranged by Brights. He is looking forward to returning to his employer.

"Joining conversations with colleagues is much easier now that I have a solid understanding of the terminology. Since I have acquired technical skills and can combine them with the terminology at work, it makes me much more confident as I return to Orkla", says Ingemundsen.