The 2019 Fastest Growing Firms: Simplus

Consulting: What were the main factors that contributed to your firm's exceptional growth?

Lovell: Salesforce's mission is to empower companies to connect with their customers. Simplus aligned itself with Salesforce in that regard early on: we developed a niche expertise in quote-to-cash by partnering with SteelBrick CPQ. A few years later, Salesforce then acquired SteelBrick and it became Salesforce CPQ. Since then, it's been growing rapidly and the need for expert consultants has grown with it. Simplus has a proven background and expertise in CPQ to be those consultants. Additionally, we're also investing resources in the same regions and industries as Salesforce. Salesforce is investing in seven industries—financial services, manufacturing, media, healthcare, government, retail, and travel—and Simplus is following suit by focusing on the same industries. In fact, 88 percent of our opportunities are within those industries. Our recent acquisition of Square Peg was in part motivated by the recent rise of investment from Salesforce into the APAC region. There's a lot of potential there for the cloud computing space—over 26,000 direct jobs created by Salesforce alone—and we're excited to be part of it. Overall, we make a lot of our strategic moves based on the investments and focus of Salesforce.

Consulting: How is this year shaping up for your firm?

Lovell: Simplus is currently one of the largest CPQ (configure, price, quote) global technology service providers, with more than 1400 certifications and offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Philippines. Simplus has emerged as a strong leader in Salesforce quote-to-cash innovation, introducing intellectual property such as the first CPQ-focused manufacturing accelerator for Salesforce in 2018. Simplus was ranked as a "leader" among 285 Salesforce consulting providers on the G2 Crowd Grid. In January 2019, Simplus successfully closed $20 million to further increase capacity across its product and service offerings, as well as acquire companies with complementary solutions valuable to customers. We continue to build on that investment to build in emerging markets and industries.

Consulting: How would you describe your firm's outlook for 2020? 

Lovell: Simplus' outlook for 2020 is bright. We recently opened a London office and will be investing in developing the Salesforce practice in EMEA. In terms of industry, we have gained an incredible amount of traction in Manufacturing and look to deepen our reach into Health and Life Sciences more fully as the industry is digitally transforming across all sub-verticals.

Consulting: What are your firm's biggest challenges in 2020?

Lovell: Our largest challenge continues to be focus. With so many Salesforce products and opportunities, it is easy to implement them all. Our focus on quote-to-cash helps us to stay focused on the industries, geographies, and products that are best suited to these types of implementations.

Consulting: What does being named one of Consulting's Fastest Growing Firms mean to your firm, your employees and your clients?

Lovell: We are incredibly grateful for this honor. Our goal has always to be the best consultants in the Salesforce ecosystem, and it means a lot to be recognized by such a reputable publication.