salesforce.com (CRM -1.10%), provider of cloud-based sales, commerce, and marketing platforms, recently reported results for its final quarter of fiscal 2019. The quarterly update revealed more sharp growth, with fiscal fourth-quarter revenue rising 27% year over year in constant currency.
Highlighting the company's impressive growth, Salesforce's achievement of crossing $13 billion in annual revenue in fiscal 2019 occurred faster than any other enterprise software company ever.
Looking beyond the headline numbers in Salesforce's fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year update, here are some key quotes from the company's earnings call.
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Service Cloud remains a substantial driver for Salesforce
Salesforce's service cloud continues to be a key growth driver for Salesforce, with revenue from the cloud growing 22% year over year -- double the growth rate of its sales cloud. This puts the company's service cloud on pace to be bigger than its sales cloud in fiscal 2020.
When asked about the drivers behind service cloud, co-CEO Marc Benioff said customer service is ultimately a key differentiator in an age of digital transformations, driving rapid adoption of Salesforce's service platform solutions.
Benioff explained:
[A]s our customers think about digital transformations, really, the way that they differentiate themselves and take share is providing the world-class experience to their customers. And that starts with service. So this is really the heartbeat of a lot of digital transformation. And that's why you're seeing such great results with our service cloud. And that's why we continue to take share in service cloud.
Management wants to double revenue in four years
The software-as-a-service company's momentum in fiscal 2019 was undeniable. Full-year revenue came in at $13.28 billion, up 26% year over year. But Salesforce believes there's still significant growth ahead.
"We continue to grow internationally, expand across industries, and leverage our partner ecosystem as we drive toward our new revenue target of $26 to $28 billion" in fiscal 2023, said Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block.
Achieving this target would require Salesforce's revenue to double over a period of just four years. Impressively, management expects to achieve this revenue level even when excluding the impact of top-line growth from future acquisitions.
Check out the latest earnings call transcript for Salesforce.com.
Salesforce's partner ecosystem is growing rapidly
Salesforce management often credits its strong ecosystem of partners as a key element to robust growth. This narrative persisted in the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call
"Our thriving partner ecosystem is fueling our growth worldwide and making our customers more successful," explained Block. "In Q4, the total number of global partner certifications increased 41% year over year. And in FY19, net new partners grew 79% in APAC [Asia-Pacific] and 110% in EMEA [Europe, Middle East, and Africa] compared to last year."
Some notable partner collaborations have included one with Alphabet's Google Cloud, which integrated Salesforce into G suite, and a more recent partnership with Apple, aimed to help Salesforce refine its mobile offering on iOS.
