Understanding Cloud Marketplaces (And 5 of the Largest You Should Know About)
Understanding Cloud Marketplaces (And 5 of the Largest You Should Know About)
Cloud app marketplaces, also known as cloud app stores, are online platforms that allow businesses to discover, purchase, and deploy cloud-based applications. Most major cloud platforms have their own version of a marketplace, and depending on your product, could be a fantastic way to more easily deploy your product to customers and give you wide visibility.
Today, products that can fit even the most esoteric of use cases are usually found and deployed from the respective app marketplace, so it can be a necessary competitive feature depending on your product’s specific market.
Although conceptually these marketplaces function in similar ways, the platforms they support are quite different. Some support cloud development platforms, such as AWS or Google Cloud, while others support end applications, such as Salesforce Appexchange.
If you have a product in market, or are building one, consider which ones might be a fit for you to help accelerate your go-to-market strategy. We’ve covered five of the largest ones here.
Here are some examples of popular cloud app marketplaces and what the process looks like to get your app listed in the ecosystem.
AWS Database Marketplace
AWS Database Marketplace is a curated digital catalog of ready-to-use data sets that can be integrated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) data and analytics services such as Amazon Redshift, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Amazon Athena, and Amazon EMR. AWS Database Marketplace offers a variety of data sets, including public data sets, data sets from independent software vendors (ISVs), and data sets from AWS partners. The data sets are organized by categories, such as business, finance, and healthcare, and are available in a variety of formats, including CSV, JSON, and Parquet.
This is a fantastic option, particularly, for data vendors. With so many applications architected on AWS, giving an easy way to have your data incorporated into these applications more easily can give you a great competitive advantage, make it easier for your customers, and give you greater exposure.
Using AWS Database Marketplace, you can easily discover and access data sets that are relevant to your business needs, and quickly and easily load the data into your AWS data and analytics services for analysis and visualization. You can also use AWS Glue, a fully managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) service, to prepare and load the data into your data lake or data warehouse.
Google Cloud Marketplace
This marketplace, offered by Google Cloud, offers a variety of cloud-based applications, including productivity tools, data analytics and visualization tools, and machine learning platforms. It's a mix of Google and ISV developed bolt ons for Google Cloud devs that accelerate the development of apps on the platform.
One of the best things that Google Cloud Marketplace gives users is its ability to easily deploy pre-configured software and services on the Google Cloud Platform. This eliminates the need to manually set up and configure the infrastructure required to run the software. Additionally, Google Cloud Marketplace offers a wide range of software and services, which allows businesses to find the right solution for their specific needs.If your market consists of business building on Google Cloud, this is something to prioritize in your plans.
The advantages of having something easily accessible and ready-to-deploy are huge - plus, everything is vetted by Google, so it reduces the friction in the sales process related to security and compliance.
Azure Marketplace
This marketplace, offered by Microsoft Azure, offers a variety of cloud-based applications, including productivity tools, data analytics, and visualization tools, and internet of things (IoT) solutions. It’s very similar in its value proposition to Google Cloud Marketplace, just for Azure instead.
One of the main advantages of Azure Marketplace is the ability to easily deploy pre-configured software and services on Azure. This eliminates the need to manually set up and configure the infrastructure required to run the software, saving businesses time and resources. Additionally, Azure Marketplace offers a wide range of software and services, including both Microsoft and third-party offerings, which allows businesses to find the right solution for their specific needs.
Azure marketplace is another channel that should be of particular focus to those selling to other builders. It gives anyone looking to construct on Azure the ability to very neatly integrate your offering, greatly reducing any friction to incorporating your product.
Oracle Cloud Marketplace
This marketplace, offered by Oracle Cloud, offers a variety of cloud-based applications, including productivity tools, data analytics, and visualization tools, and collaboration tools.
Oracle’s wide range of offerings are supported through this marketplace, from Oracle’s IaaS offering to full front-end applications, including ERP, CRM, and more. Oracle’s marketplace consists mostly of third party ISV offerings but does offer some products made by Oracle as well.
Like most other marketplaces, ISVs will need to meet the requirements set out by Oracle and complete a technical and security review. Depending on the offering, there may be additional requirements you need to meet, so consider that as you plan your strategy.
Salesforce AppExchange
This is the app marketplace for the Salesforce platform. It offers a wide range of business applications, including customer service, sales, marketing, and collaboration tools. It's considered the world's largest business application marketplace, and has been around even longer than Apple's app store. It pioneered not only the business app marketplace, but the entire idea of an app economy.
If you have a product complimenting CRM or service in any way, AppExchange should be something to strongly consider as part of your go-to-market strategy. One of the top pain points for most enterprises when it comes to considering new software is integrating the new software into their existing technology stack. When you have an AppExchange app, that removes a huge barrier for positioning your product to any enterprise using the Salesforce ecosystem.
AppExchange can also list apps beyond the traditional Salesforce platform and into other arms, such as Marketing Cloud. Those can be different to build for - so make sure you consider the right part of the platform to integrate your product with.
In addition to these marketplaces, there are others that might be a good fit for your offering. It’s good to consider what might be a good fit, where you can provide additional value, and where you have the expertise and bandwidth to develop and deploy.
If you’re wondering what might be a fit for you, give us a shout. Our team is building for cloud marketplaces every day, so we can help you understand in detail what getting listed is like and what might be the right fit.
