Cloud Products
Cloud services really do need applications that are able to deliver value. Independent software vendors are always trying to leverage cloud providers to try and bring anyone channel to market.
If you go into any cloud service, you will find a full and complete marketplace. A lot of marketplaces give customers the chance to buy on the spot and others will collect their sales data for later. Regardless of their purpose, the marketplace really is the beginning and even the end of the cloud cycle.
Amazon, Microsoft and even Salesforce.com have all launched marketplaces over the last few years and they are doing this as a means to provide their customers with as much support as possible. They also want to provide products that are able to enhance value as well. Third-party products, applications and even plug-ins are all designed to increase and expand the functionality of cloud services and this, therefore, enhances customer satisfaction.
The cloud computing market really is continuing to grow. The growth is due to the increase in ISV products and the AWS marketplace boasts a ton of security applications. The Microsoft Azure marketplace, for example, does showcase a very similar portfolio for vendors and even products as well. On top of this, you have ScaleOut, SoftFluent, BankSight and more. Salesforce.com is a pioneer in the ISV marketplace and they have hundreds of emerging vendors who work in the AppExchange marketplace. A lot of the ISV applications are either plug-ins or they are able to integrate with the Salesforce platform itself.
Vendors and ISVs are now seeing the potential of cloud marketplaces and they are also developing ecosystems that are designed to increase it even more. They are also doing it in a way to try and enhance revenue. Cloud platforms are now becoming increasingly popular and they are also becoming even more important as well. The workload is going to move more and more towards the cloud and the potential of this is going to be unlocked even more.
A lot of experts believe that we are only scratching the surface of cloud potential and this is especially the case when you look at the way things are happening right now. Marketplaces are already disrupting the SMB hardware channel and the cloud has also disrupted the market segment. Cloud marketplaces are going to provide vendors and even ISVs with the expansion they need to take their product to market. Software vendors and even hardware vendors are going to have to rethink their strategies and they are also going to have to incorporate marketplaces as well.