What is a Cloud Marketplace?

A cloud marketplace is an online storefront where organizations can procure, deploy, and manage software from different vendors on the cloud infrastructure of their choice. It is a single platform for quick access to numerous cloud applications and services organizations require for daily operations. When you use a cloud marketplace, you can browse various cloud solutions for ecommerce, accounting, eLearning, and more without contacting individual vendors. You can choose the solution that best suits your requirements and access it from your cloud account without the need for complex installation processes.

Digital transformation has encouraged organizations to shift their workloads to the cloud. As a result, more buyers seek to procure software from a single cloud provider instead of multiple vendors. We share several benefits that support the growing preference for cloud marketplaces below.

Accelerate software procurement

In the conventional software procurement process, organizations contact individual vendors to discuss, test, and purchase software. Such efforts become complicated and lack scalability when you need dozens of software to support diverse business requirements.

Cloud marketplaces consolidate independent software vendors by bringing them together on a centralized platform. Organizations significantly reduce the time they need to install, integrate, and scale software applications on the cloud. Some software sellers also allow you to test their solutions on the cloud before committing to a purchase.

Reduce software spending

Software licensing contributes to increasing costs that enterprises must bear as they scale their operations. Apart from the software, they also have to spend on infrastructure, which can result in unplanned expenditure.

By turning to a marketplace platform, organizations can reduce the overhead expenses commonly incurred when they purchase software directly from individual sellers. Some sellers offer marketplace deals to exclusive partners to further optimize cloud budgets. Major cloud providers also allow cloud buyers to add, configure, or remove third-party services flexibility. For example, you can choose specific software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps your business needs without bundled-in features you don’t use.

Unify software bills

Organizations might face difficulty projecting cloud spend when procuring software directly from vendors because of disparate invoices. Cloud marketplaces unify software bills, enabling clarity on usage, chargeable fees, and active subscriptions. You can better estimate cloud costs when implementing cloud strategies that rely on third-party software services.

Enable cloud integration flexibility

Each vendor develops software with its own communication protocols and specifications. Often, IT teams must procure or develop middleware to enable multiple cloud software to communicate. Enterprises face challenges integrating various cloud services into a purposeful cloud application.

In contrast, an online storefront provides guidelines, tools, and resources for vendors to build services that are integrative with software from other platform channel partners. Organizations can easily access and use various services compatible with their cloud platform to sustain business continuity.

Allow robust cloud governance

Tracking user access, data consumption, and compute resources proves challenging when cloud-native applications are hosted separately. Cloud marketplaces provide organizations with better control and visibility of software usage amongst authorized users. Some cloud providers also compile vendor information to help organizations choose cloud services compliant with industry requirements and regulations.

You can also activate policies that regulate the services employees can deploy and access. For example, companies use AWS License Manager to manage and distribute software activation for their employees.

Cloud marketplaces help businesses accelerate innovations and unlock new opportunities as they digitalize operations with cloud computing. We share several examples below.

Launch new services

You can quickly access the software you need to launch new services and create new revenue opportunities. For example, fintech company Naranja X procured and implemented data analytics solutions with third-party software they discovered in a cloud marketplace. They leveraged the pay-as-you-go payment model to launch short-term projects and go to market faster.

Adopt advanced technology

Cloud marketplaces remove traditional barriers to the adoption of new technology. You can integrate cutting-edge AI, IoT, or blockchain technologies even with limited in-house technical talent. For example, OneCup AI provides artificial intelligence tracking technologies for livestock. It procured a NVIDIA streaming analytics toolkit to scale customized AI implementation for individual ranches.

Streamline operational efficiency

New software improves operational efficiency and streamlines costs for long-term growth. A cloud marketplace helps you quickly discover and identify the most efficient solutions for your business. For example, TotalExpert is a customer engagement solution provider. It used a cloud marketplace to streamline procurement and maximize cost savings on software to support revenue growth.

A cloud marketplace brings cloud buyers and sellers together. It offers standardized contracts and flexible payment options to build sustainable solutions on hybrid, private, or public cloud infrastructures. Think of cloud marketplaces as a one-stop shop that provides you with every possible building block to devise a specific solution.

You can access thousands of software-as-a-service solutions at an affordable cost. Regardless of how many products you buy, you transact with only a single seller. In this case, the seller is the cloud provider, which ensures that all services you procure from different vendors are easily deployable. You can purchase software without the red tape involved in traditional procurement.

Once you procure a third-party service on a cloud marketplace, the cloud provider automates the installation process. You avoid manually provisioning the computing resources required to run the SaaS. The cloud provider also facilitates software updates that the vendor issues throughout your subscription.

The ability to install, manage, and scale cloud computing efforts without vendors’ manual intervention attracts businesses and large enterprises alike. When choosing an online storefront, look for one that offers:

• A wide range of third-party solutions for varying use cases and industries.

• Responsive support and training whenever you need it.

• Centralized management that allows procurement teams to browse, compare, install, and maintain cloud services.

• Flexible payment options for easy procurement and billings.

Payment options in cloud marketplaces

Many organizations seek the procurement flexibility that online marketplaces offer. To attract more buyers, vendors provide different payment options to suit an organization’s cloud budget arrangements. For example:

Subscription model

A subscription model allows you to pay for the SaaS monthly, quarterly, or any stipulated duration. Your SaaS subscriptions remain active throughout the payment tenure.

Annual contract

An annual contract requires an upfront payment that provides access to the cloud service for 12 months. Some sellers may provide discounts when enterprises opt for yearly subscriptions.

Private offer

A private offer is an exclusive arrangement between buyers and sellers with custom prices and service agreements.

Pay-per-use

The pay-per-use model charges marketplace customers based on specific service usage metrics. For example, cloud sellers can charge subscribers based on API calls, bandwidth, number of users, or data capacities.

AWS was one of the cloud providers that pioneered cloud marketplaces. During the early stages of cloud computing, we supported organizations with Amazon Machine Images (AMI). AMI provided developers with the necessary information to launch various types of virtual machines in the cloud environment.

Since then, the AWS Marketplace has become one of the fastest-growing cloud marketplaces in the world. Today, you can find thousands of solutions on AWS Marketplace for infrastructure software, business applications, machine learning, and more. Rather than managing different billing sources, you pay a single charge on your AWS bill. All software listed on AWS Marketplace is deployable in a format that suits your business needs. For example, you can:

• Subscribe to software solutions on the AWS marketplace with various payment options, including private offers and pay-as-you-go.

• Assess vendors with security and compliance information they provide on a single dashboard to streamline procurement.

• Create a catalog of products compliant with your organization’s policy and regulate user access with AWS Private Marketplace.

Get started with the superior cloud marketplace by signing up for an AWS account today.