Company: Carahsoft Technology Corp., Reston, VA
Company Description: Carahsoft is the trusted government IT solutions provider. A top-ranked GSA Schedule Contract holder, Carahsoft is the largest government partner and master government aggregator for many of its vendors. It supports proactive sales, marketing and delivery of VMware, Adobe, Symantec, EMC, F5, Open Source, HR, HP Software, SAP and Intelligence and Innovative solutions and services among others.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Government Sales Team of the Year

Nomination Title: Carahsoft's Government Sales Team

Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since the beginning of July 2013 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes: TEXT REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION

Carahsoft Technology Corp. celebrated its 10th year anniversary in 2014. Throughout its ten years, Carahsoft has seen extraordinary growth and 2014 was no exception. During this year, the sales team elevated its strategic, long-term relationships with software industry titans such as VMware, Adobe, Symantec, HP Software, F5 Networks, EMC, SAP, and Red Hat, and accelerated momentum with its new partners including FireEye, Splunk, ServiceNow, and Cloudera. In doing so, the company exceeded its targeted goal of $2 billion, closing out its fiscal year with $2.45 billion in annual bookings.

Simultaneously, Carahsoft continued to expand its ecosystem of 1,300+ government contractors, resellers, and integrators. This expansion produced more bookings, and by supplementing its core competencies with new vendor partnerships (emerging technology companies, in particular), Carahsoft’s sales team gained the means to single-handedly fulfill virtually all of the IT software-related requirements of its government customers.

In 2014, Carahsoft has established more than 300 new small business partnerships, representing every major SBA classification, set aside category, state and commonwealth. In addition to marketing these vendors’ products individually, Carahsoft has begun to promote its portfolio products in aggregated solution sets that address the government’s toughest challenges in the areas of big data analysis, virtualization, cybersecurity, mobility, cloud computing and citizen engagement among other areas. Collectively, these vertical solution sets led to sales of $1.1B in 2014.

In addition to growing its vendor and partner ecosystem, Carahsoft has also pursued new markets. In the beginning of the year, Carahsoft increased its sales support within the state and local government sector, leading to over a 60% increase in sales revenue generated from state and local contracts. In the last two years, Carahsoft has also expanded its reach into the Canadian government market, securing a Software Licensing Supply Agreement in conjunction with several major vendors (Red Hat, Adobe, and most recently Good Technology).In 2014 Carahsoft saw a 1267% increase over 2013 in number of orders and 972% increase in revenue from sales from the Canadian market.

Carahsoft has also augmented its support to keep its strategic, long-term relationships strong and prosperous. Carahsoft now employs 483 people and continues to expand at a rapid rate, having surpassed its 2014 hiring plan of adding at least 100 new employees by the end of the year. Not only has Carahsoft expanded its support team but it also has invested in giving them the tools and knowledge to better assist their government customers and partners. Last year, Carahsoft invested $500K+ in training and development, creating new on-boarding programs, product/solution training, sales coaching and mentoring, and leadership development programs. By investing in the team in these ways and by rewarding every person when the company achieves its goals, Carahsoft is able to generate incredible results and keep attrition low.

Carahsoft was founded in 2004 based on a unique master aggregator business model, and to this day, continues to build and improve upon that model. The company as a whole sees itself as a trusted and strategic partner for its ecosystem of manufacturers, distributors, integrators, and resellers. In doing so, Carahsoft has turned would-be competitors into customers and serves as an extension of the vendors’ sales, marketing and channel operations. Carahsoft has produced more proactive, government-focused sales and marketing initiatives than anyone else in the market, including more than 1,738 marketing projects, from large cross-vendor events to weekly webcasts, within the past year.

This year Carahsoft was once again recognized by the industry for being a fast growth company and top government contractor. Washington Business Journal recognized Carahsoft as a Fast Growth Company, a Top Private Company and a Top Government Contractor for the seventh consecutive year. Carahsoft was also recognized by CRN Solution Provider 500 for the eighth consecutive year. For its sales support in 2013, Carahsoft received partner recognition this year from HP, Red Hat, Symantec, F5, EMC, Splunk, FireEye, Arista, and CollabNet.

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