
SaaS-marketplace
Now the Saas-market opens SaaS-prospects have a very difficult period to find the right provider. Inherent to SAAS-providers is, that they offer their services through the Web. So they can offer their services all over the world. There is no stop based on the country boundaries. So a SaaS-provider in the UK can easily offer its services to customers in other countries. True globalization.
But what does this mean for the prospect. How does he know with which provider he can trust? Which provider delivers the service as is required? Can he make a deal ? With whom can he meet his corporate governance requirements?
Can SaaS marketplaces fill in this gap?
A short research gives an answer. By looking for market places I found a surely not complete list of sites. I found places for business services,www.saas-showplace.com , www.saas-showplace.com ,www.listio.com, www.saaslist.com, most of them mainly focused on the USA companies and www.saas-connect.com with some Europe providers. I found directories for web2.0 applications,www.allthingsweb2.com, web2.0feed.com, www.o20db.com,www.go2web20.net, www.feedmyapp.com, mainly focused on consumer applications. Salesforce.com offers a service for all applications that are developed on the platform as a service, force.com,www.appexchange.com. More than 800 applications are available. The company Etelos has the same approach, www.etelos.com. Google has it’s own market place, http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace. Or a place sponsored by Microsoft with Microsoft applications,www.saasplaze.com. Then I found sites that offers sponsored SaaS marketplaces, where all types of companies may be presented, e.g.www.marketpace.com out of the Netherlands. Then, British Telecom has created together with Microsoft a marketplace,http://marketplace.tsdemo.smblive.com/FAQ.aspx#1. Directories with all types of applications, SaaS, mobile applications or ‘normal’ application, www.makeuseof.com/dir/, www.softwarepakketten.nl.
The results of this small market research presents that also the marketplaces don’t give the right information towards SaaS-prospects. An incredible number of providers are presented, sometimes not presented who is behind them. Although some sites ask the users to give feaadback, is still doesn’t give a trustworthy feeling.
So trustworthy distribution channels are needed for SaaS-providers and SaaS-prospects. How can you reach the prospect and how can the prospect trust the provider. This is a chance for large trustworthy resellers and telecom operators. BT saw that already, but what about other Telco’s.
Interesting is to see what happens with services likewww.appexchange.com. The applications are certified by Saleforce.com and are available on the same platform. Software integration will be very easy, which makes it possible for customers to select applications which work seamless together, to support all business processes.
What misses is an organization that certifies SaaS applications, offers prospects trust, guarantees them the software works, the company behind it is stable, they meet their SLA’s and helps in selecting the right application. The current marketplaces do not meet these criteria. Who steps in this gap?