In today’s episode of How We Got There, I talk with Bethany Blackwell, who is a VP at Carahsoft. Bethany runs the Salesforce channel for Carahsoft, which includes Salesforce, Slack, Mulesoft, Tableau, ISVs, and SIs. Carahsoft has worked with Salesforce for the past 15 years as a Value-Added Reseller and got there start on the GSA schedule to help Salesforce sell to the public sector here in the US. They help with sales, marketing, and contracting for Salesforce and it’s partners to federal, state, and local government organizations.
If you have public sector demand for your application that includes interest from a customer, it’s a good time to reach out to Carahsoft who will get you set up on the correct contract vehicle. This will expedite the purchasing process, sometimes even avoiding the need to take it to RFP. The earlier you call them the better, even before pricing is discussed. As your public sector gtm becomes more intentional with at least one FTE focused on this industry, Carahsoft will work with partners add value to your sales and marketing efforts. Top examples are Nintex, Copado, Ownbackup, and many more.
Recent legislation in the US has caused even more opportunity for the Salesforce platform and ISV partners to help deliver value to it’s citizens. During the pandemic, Bethany recalls all of the amazing solutions that the ecosystem helped to create with 20+ states using the Salesforce platform for contact tracing and vaccine rollouts.
We discuss FedRamp, which is a set of standards put in place for security standards for software offerings. The program is great for buyers but takes significant money and time for an ISV but is required for companies looking to go “all-in” for public sector. A common misconception for ISVs that are native to Salesforce is that because they are built on the Salesforce platform and they are FedRamp/SOC 2 Type 2 certified, you as an ISV inherit that. It’s true it makes it easier but it involves (much more) than just that.
If you’re interested in exploring this channel, reach out to them at salesforce@carahsoft.com for an introductory meeting. A tip for your conversations is to ask them how they purchase today, do they leverage Carahsoft? Carahsoft can help partners with their gtm approach for public sector!
Here’s a closer look at the episode:
Resources: