To succeed in the cloud delivery market, software providers need to transition from application-centric to a service-defined business model. The process involves a number of challenges encompassing the perspective of the software provider as well as the perspective of customers:
- The Software Provider Perspective: Service-based software offerings are complex, dynamic, and unlike anything the majority of software providers have experienced in the past. The long cloud adoption learning curve can introduce risk and delay time-to-market, and part of that curve involves learning from costly mistakes. Software providers moving to the cloud also find that customers expect the same or better user experience as with on-premise applications. But attempting to re-create the same application look-and-feel in the cloud introduces new challenges, such as latency and availability. Software providers also find it difficult to scale service models without mature ITIL processes and deep staffing.
- The Customer Perspective: It used to be that IT purchased business software installed on premises; however, most cloud solutions are acquired directly by business users, often without IT authorization. Customers are mainly concerned about the cloud contractual aspects as well as security and management capabilities. When it comes to cost, customers not only expect comparable pricing to on-premise installations, they also expect reduced support costs. Many customers also focus on the cloud’s ability to rapidly scale to accommodate growth and volume spikes. Other key qualities customers look for include application responsiveness, usability and availability as well as compatibility with various browsers and mobile devices.
All these challenges may seem significant barriers to software providers planning to adopt a cloud-based delivery model—and you can hardly afford distractions from the main task of innovating and marketing your software offerings. But there’s also a way to conquer these challenges—by partnering with an experienced cloud provider that focuses on serving the software provider channel.
To find out how Logicalis can help your organization leverage the cloud-based delivery model to expand prospect markets and customer revenue streams while also improving margins and enhancing customer experiences, visit http://www.us.logicalis.com/microsites/cisco-isv/.