Intuit
21 U.S. (INTU, $264)
At 36 years old, Intuit
continues to defy
expectations. The
company, known for
popular online tax
and accounting ser-
vices TurboTax and
QuickBooks, has
stayed ahead of its
competition by repeat-
edly reinventing itself.
The plan is paying off.
In fiscal 2019, Intuit
generated $6.8 billion
in revenue, up 13%
from the previous year
and nearly 60% from
five years ago. Mean-
while, profits continue
to compound, and In-
tuit, which currently
boasts a market cap of
$68.7 billion, has said
investors can expect
more growth in 2020.Paychex
38 U.S. (PAYX, $83)
After spending
$1.2 billion on HR and
benefits services pro-
vider Oasis Outsourc-
ing last year, Paychex’s
fiscal 2019 revenue
jumped 12% to
$3.8 billion. The stock,
too, has surged—up
about 30% over the
past year—pushing the
company’s market cap
above $30 billion. Pay-
chex has stayed fo-
cused on innovation,
launching new prod-
ucts for niche markets,
such as solo practitio-
ners, and steadily add-
ing functionality to its
core platforms. There
are potential risks on
the horizon, though—
including a contraction
of the credit market,
which could hurt the
small businesses that
make up much of Pay-
chex’s customer base.VMware
42 U.S. (VMW, $152)
VMware led a move-
ment called computer
virtualization, an effi-
ciency technique so
radical it was the fu-
ture of enterprise
computing when the
company was a
startup. Now, as that
business slows,
VMware’s growth en-
gine is cloud comput-
ing. Its software en-
ables customers to
communicate across
different online ser-
vices vendors, includ-
ing Amazon, Microsoft,
and Google. A subsid-
iary of old-school
computer maker Dell,
VMware trades sepa-
rately and is worth
more than $60 billion.Accenture
46 IRELAND (ACN, $184)
Accenture has grown
into a juggernaut—
$43.2 billion in annual
revenue, nearly
500,000 employees
across 52 countries—
by betting big on its
technology business.
Sixty-five percent of
the professional ser-
vices firm’s revenues
now come from digital,
cloud, and security—or,
as Accenture calls
them, “ The New.” And
now it’s looking even
further into the future:
About 100 Accenture
employees are working
on quantum comput-
ing. Acquisitions are
another key aspect of
CEO Julie Sweet’s
growth strategy; the
company’s April pur-
chase of ad agency
Droga5 helped juice
Accenture Interactive
revenues over the
$10 billion mark.Salesforce
9 U.S. (CRM, $147)
It isn’t an overstate-
ment to say Salesforce
invented the future of
the software industry.
By offering cloud-
based customer-track-
ing software as a sub-
scription, Salesforce
broke the mold of busi-
nesses buying and
managing their own
versions of critical ap-
plications. Salesforce
adds capabilities rap-
idly, most recently in-
cluding A.I. tools, and it
is able to nimbly per-
suade customers to
add to their menu of ap-
plications. With 26%
annual growth on
$13 billion in sales—
and free cash flow of
$2.8 billion in the latest
fiscal year—it’s no won-
der it has a market cap
of $130 billion.ServiceNow
3 U.S. (NOW, $262)
The cloud-computing firm has maintained its
prolific growth within an expanding enterprise IT
market by investing heavily in research and de-
velopment and boosting its sales capabilities. A
strategic partnership with Microsoft’s Azure
cloud-computing service, announced earlier this
year, has furthered Ser viceNow’s ability to ser ve
highly regulated industries and increased its ex-
posure to lucrative U.S. government contracts.
Yet profitability continues to evade the company,
and the departure of well-regarded CFO Mike
Scarpelli is also a blow.
Workday
1 U.S. (WDAY, $173)
WORKDAY IS STILL A MITE by business software
standards: It rang up just $2.8 billion in 2018
revenue. But as a pioneer in all-digital sales
of programs for managing HR and other core
corporate functions, it punches well above
its weight. It grows its top line at a three-year
average rate of 35% and sports a $40 billion
valuation. Investors are betting that by serving
big companies, Workday will become one.
HELPING BUSINESS DO BUSINESS
T HE FU TURE 50 —THE LIS T
It’s not all work: healthy competition at Workday’s Pleasanton, Calif., HQ.