Cloud software sales are rapidly increasing in both scope and magnitude. As more customers and businesses turn to cloud solutions for their business issues, the market for software solutions has exploded. The way customers are exploring these solutions is changing, too. Increasingly, customers are looking to online marketplaces as a way to discover, trial, and buy cloud solutions. A recent report by Forrester Consulting has reported that adoption of application marketplaces will likely rise from 29 percent to 75 percent in the next two years.
Using a cloud marketplace such as Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace or AppSource has obvious advantages for customers. Business users, IT pros, or developers can access a global catalog of software solutions and services. For example, Microsoft offers convenient and trusted access to over 7,500 applications and service listings. Customers can instantly see peer reviews and ratings, and understand a solution’s fit for their needs with way less friction and time invested than traditional discovery methods. But customers aren’t just interested in the catalog size. Marketplaces also offer rich trial and test drive experiences that allows customers to experience a solution in a rich way that makes the leap from discovery to purchase much less daunting.
For publishers, the appeal is to be where customers are. In a way, online marketplaces are democratizing entry into the global enterprise software sales market. Smaller companies that have traditionally been restricted to selling their solutions in local geographies can now showcase and sell their solutions to a global market in just a few clicks. Partners can leverage the effort Microsoft is making to build awareness for their solution and instead spend their resources on building great solutions. Azure Marketplace and AppSource for example, attract over 2,000,000 monthly users. Microsoft also reports to share over 100,000 leads with it’s marketplace partners every single month. Chef is one of Microsoft’s cloud marketplace partners who is realizing such benefits:
“By participating in Azure Marketplace and Azure Test Drive, customers can learn about Chef, evaluate Chef Automate and deploy continuous automation on Azure with a minimal amount of friction. The opportunities resulting from the thousands of Azure Marketplace leads when Chef and Microsoft partner to co-sell a deal, the agreements close 25 percent faster than average. In short, Azure Marketplace is great for Azure customers and partners alike,” said Vikram Ghosh, Vice President of Cloud Partners at Chef Software.
In our upcoming webinar on Cloud Marketplaces, you’ll learn about customer purchase behavior, the latest techniques to acquire customers through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace and AppSource, and help to determine which marketplace is the best sales engine for you.
The webinar will be presented by Nuno Costa - Senior Director, Partner & Startup Experience, Cloud + Enterprise. It will take place on March 22, 2018 at 1:00 PM Pacific Standard Time. Register today to reserve a seat for this upcoming webinar.
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Learn more about why and how to publish and submit your solution today for Azure Marketplace or AppSource.