Marc Benioff’s company once declared that software is dead. But, in Dublin’s fair city, the global cloud software ecosystem that Salesforce has generated is very much alive.
Cloud software giant Salesforce is to create 1,500 new jobs in Dublin and, at a new campus on the city’s North Docks, it will build a sister Salesforce Tower for the one it has in San Francisco.
The company this morning (18 January) announced a major expansion plan for its regional hub in Ireland, including the construction of Salesforce Tower Dublin.
‘This is one of the largest single jobs announcements in the 70-year history of IDA Ireland’
– MARTIN SHANAHAN
Salesforce Tower Dublin will be an urban campus, located on North Wall Quay within Dublin’s Silicon Docks, overlooking the River Liffey. Rather than a tower per se, it will be a campus of four interconnected buildings.
The tallest building in the campus will stand at eight storeys, and a spokesperson for Salesforce confirmed to Siliconrepublic.com that planning permission has been granted.
The cloud giant currently employs 1,000 people in Ireland and has been based in Ireland since the early noughties when it first opened its office in the attic of Powerscourt House before moving to Sandyford.
“This is one of the largest single jobs announcements in the 70-year history of IDA Ireland,” said IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan. “As discussed during our visit to the company’s headquarters in San Francisco last week, Salesforce is very familiar with what Ireland has to offer, and this announcement is a strong indicator of the strength of the Irish proposition to investors across the world.
“Companies continue to choose Ireland as a place to invest and expand into Europe and further afield. Since its arrival to Ireland in 2001, Salesforce has significantly developed its operations in South County Dublin to support its international growth. Today’s announcement of a Salesforce Tower in Dublin city centre further deepens its commitment to Ireland, and the new urban campus will provide the company with the potential to expand its operations even further as it continues to service millions of users across EMEA.”
Plans for Salesforce Tower Dublin include an immersive video lobby experience; riverside paths connecting the campus to the cultural city hub; and an ‘Ohana Floor’, an open hospitality space for Salesforce employees, customers and partners that will also be available for not-for-profit organisations and local community groups to use on weeknights and weekends at no cost.
Miguel Milano, president of international at Salesforce, said: “Europe is Salesforce’s fastest-growing region, and Ireland has been a significant part of our success. We are excited to be announcing our continued commitment with this investment in Dublin as we grow our team in the coming years.
“Salesforce Tower Dublin will be an iconic campus and a beautiful space for our employees, customers, partners and the wider community in Dublin to enjoy.”
Towering ambition
How the new Salesforce Tower Dublin will look. Image: Salesforce
Salesforce was founded by Marc Benioff, a former Oracle executive, in 1999 to deliver customer relationship management (CRM) software to sales executives via internet browsers, a novel idea at the time, especially considering most software was delivered those days by disk.
In 2000, Benioff established the 1-1-1 model, whereby the company contributes 1pc of the product, 1pc of the equity and 1pc of employee hours back into the communities it services globally. Well known for their philanthropy, Benioff and his wife have focused on improving public education and advancing children’s healthcare through UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital at the University of California in San Francisco.
The Salesforce Tower soars above other buildings in San Francisco. Image: ead72/Depositphotos
Benioff’s hunch about the internet as the primary delivery mechanism for software paid off, and today the company employs more than 30,000 people worldwide and last year recorded revenues of more than $39bn.
As well as becoming a dominant player in the Silicon Valley tech scene, Salesforce Tower, which was completed last year, is also a key part of the San Francisco skyline, standing at 1,070ft tall.
“We were one of the first digital companies to locate in Dublin, and since opening here we have seen the city flourish into one of the world’s leading technology hubs,” said Dr David Dempsey, country leader for Salesforce in Ireland. “We are proud to be part of this story and look forward to taking up residence in the very heart of Dublin’s Silicon Docks.”
