Hybrid Cloud For Dummies

Understanding the Hybrid SaaS Ecosystem

In order to create a more feature-rich application, some SaaS vendors have created an ecosystem. This is a set of partners that works directly with the vendor, both in technical and go-to-market terms.

How the ecosystem works

This is how it works: A SaaS vendor with thousands of paying customers opens its programming interfaces to other ISVs. These ISVs can then build on top of the SaaS vendor’s infrastructure. They, therefore, don’t need to write and deploy an entire application, but can focus on their industry-specific code. Messaging middleware, business process services, and other complex programming have already been taken care of by the SaaS vendor that created the ecosystem.

Perhaps the most significant advantage to working in the ecosystem is that the SaaS vendor already has thousands of happy and paying customers. After a partner creates an application, it can market its software through the SaaS vendor’s portal in addition to using its own traditional sales force. This has become a standard model used by SaaS vendors to build their brand and power in the market.

Finding out who builds in SaaS vendor ecosystems

ISV partners can be broken into two general categories: small startups and larger, established companies. It might be clear why a small company with limited resources might want to build on top of the Salesforce.com platform, but if you’re a large player with your own customer base, why use Salesforce.com or SugarCRM?