Vlocity (company)

Vlocity (company)
Name	Vlocity
Type	Private
Fate	Acquired by Salesforce
Founded	2014
Founders	Mike Pryor; David Schmaier
Headquarters	San Francisco, California
Industry	Cloud computing; Software
Products	Industry cloud applications

Vlocity (company) was an American enterprise software firm that developed industry-specific cloud and mobile applications built on the Salesforce platform. Founded in 2014 in San Francisco, California, the company targeted vertical markets with configurable solutions for telecommunications, insurance, healthcare, media, and energy sectors. Vlocity grew via strategic product development and partnerships before being acquired by Salesforce in 2020.

History

Vlocity was founded in 2014 by a team including executives with prior experience at Oracle Corporation and SAP SE, launching during a period of rapid adoption of cloud computing and software as a service led by companies such as Salesforce, Workday, and ServiceNow. Early investment rounds attracted capital from venture firms and strategic backers who had also financed startups like Tableau Software and Splunk. Vlocity expanded its footprint through partnerships with systems integrators including Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, Cognizant, and IBM. The company pursued growth in the mid-2010s alongside competitors and collaborators such as Pegasystems, SAP, and Oracle NetSuite. Vlocity's trajectory included product launches, regional expansion into markets like Europe and Asia-Pacific, and customer deployments for firms such as Vodafone, AT&T, and Liberty Mutual. In 2020, following a period of market consolidation among enterprise cloud vendors, Vlocity was acquired by Salesforce.

Products and Services

Vlocity offered a suite of prebuilt, configurable industry applications branded as "Industry Cloud" solutions designed to run on the Salesforce Platform. Product modules addressed use cases including customer relationship management workflows, order management, policy administration, claims handling, billing, and quoting. Vlocity delivered vertical stacks such as for Communications, Insurance, HealthCare, Media and Entertainment, and Energy and Utilities that integrated with third-party engines and middleware from vendors like Akamai Technologies, Oracle Corporation, and SAP SE. The company emphasized preconfigured data models, user interfaces, and business processes to accelerate deployments for enterprise customers including Telefonica, T-Mobile, and Aetna. Services included professional implementation, consulting, and training provided through alliances with global consulting firms such as Ernst & Young and PwC.

Industry Focus and Customers

Vlocity targeted heavily regulated and complex industries where domain-specific functionality was a competitive differentiator. In telecommunications, customers included major carriers and cable operators such as Verizon Communications and Altice USA. For insurance, insurers and brokers like Zurich Insurance Group and Allianz used Vlocity solutions for policy lifecycle management. In healthcare, payer and provider organizations including UnitedHealth Group and Kaiser Permanente were cited in implementations leveraging Vlocity components for member engagement and enrollment. The company's client roster also spanned media conglomerates such as Disney and Comcast for subscription and content distribution use cases, and energy firms like ExxonMobil and Shell for customer service and billing.

Technology and Platform Integration

Vlocity built its applications natively on the Salesforce Platform and utilized platform capabilities such as Lightning Experience, Apex, and Visualforce. Integration patterns included connectors to RESTful API endpoints, SOAP services, and enterprise middleware like MuleSoft and Dell Boomi. The company leveraged cloud scalability and multitenancy principles shared with cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform while aligning security and compliance practices to standards observed by organizations such as HIPAA regulators in the HHS. Vlocity incorporated tools for omnichannel engagement, mobile responsiveness, and data orchestration compatible with enterprise data warehouses and analytics platforms such as Snowflake and Splunk.

Corporate Affairs and Leadership

Executive leadership included founders and senior executives with backgrounds at Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, and Siebel Systems. The board and advisory teams featured investors and industry veterans from firms such as Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, and Silver Lake Partners. Corporate strategy emphasized alliances with large systems integrators and cloud ecosystem players including Salesforce, MuleSoft, and AWS Partners. Vlocity maintained headquarters in San Francisco, California and regional offices serving North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific markets.

Acquisition by Salesforce

In 2020, Salesforce announced the acquisition of Vlocity to augment its Industry Cloud portfolio and accelerate vertical solutions for enterprises. The deal followed Salesforce’s earlier strategic investments and acquisitions including MuleSoft, Tableau Software, and Slack Technologies. The acquisition integrated Vlocity's industry data models and templates into Salesforce's product roadmap, enabling cross-product synergies with Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Commerce Cloud. Post-acquisition, Vlocity technology and teams were assimilated into Salesforce organizational units focused on industry-specific cloud offerings.

Awards and Recognition

Vlocity received industry recognition and awards from trade organizations and analyst firms such as Gartner, Forrester Research, and IDC for its industry cloud solutions. The company was featured in lists alongside other cloud innovators such as Workday, ServiceNow, and Zendesk for accelerating digital transformation in vertical markets. Vlocity's customer successes and accelerated deployment profiles were cited in case studies by consulting partners including Accenture and Deloitte.

Category:Software companies based in California