Helping ISVs become cloud-first solution providers

Udistra Dandaraj, ISV Business Group Lead for Africa, Cloudmania.

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Restaurants use point-of-sale software to manage orders and inventory. Delivery companies depend on tracking and warehousing software. Entertainment and accommodation venues rely on booking software. Legal offices, medical practices, accounting firms and many more businesses need niche software provided by independent software vendors (ISVs) to run smoothly.

Increasingly, these customers expect the conveniences and costs associated with cloud services. ISVs gain significantly when they adopt a cloud-first model. But making the right choices is daunting and risky, which is why the Cloudmania ISV Program focuses on helping software companies harness the cloud.

Software rules the world, and cloud software is leading the charge with software as a service (SaaS), valued at more than US$314 billion, being the largest cloud service. Companies can offload more of their infrastructure and licensing costs and instead use software provisioned by large cloud data centres.

Cloud-based solutions can elevate an ISV's market position. While the transition may present challenges, the rewards are significant. “By strategically embracing the cloud, ISVs can differentiate their offerings and drive business growth,” says Udistra Dandaraj, Cloudmania's ISV Business Group Lead for Africa.

When offering generic solutions, ISVs may face intense price competition. By harnessing the power of cloud technologies, ISVs can develop differentiated solutions that enhance their value proposition, allowing them to charge higher prices and protect their unique selling points.

The cloud also offers big advantages to software houses. They can deploy and scale software more readily at lower costs to a wider audience. They can exploit the powerful software libraries and services on large public cloud platforms.

Yet, there are risks. How do they pick an appropriate cloud platform? What are the best options on those platforms? How do they adapt their software systems and development processes for cloud technologies? Is their workforce ready? What about governance, regulations, security, customer support and network performance?

Cloudmania’s ISV Program aligns the cloud with its customers' business models and operations. A big part of that focus is enabling ISVs to enter and conquer the cloud. One of the most important aspects is to help ISVs exploit their market niches.

ISVs need to differentiate themselves from their competitors. The custom designed ISV Program assists ISVs by categorising their offers into market segments that best suit their total accessible market, providing their teams with in-depth training and facilitation of the migration of their software to a SaaS model. We harness the power of leading cloud platforms to elevate both technical capabilities and business operations, says Dandaraj.

Cloud systems make software more lucrative. However, improving software through cloud solutions comes with requirements.

Cost is a major consideration: should an ISV charge for subscriptions or try a different purchasing model? What is an appropriate and competitive price? What are good value-added services, and how do they differ between user profiles? How are any of these elements impacted when serving different regions or organisations?

The technical side of developing software is fast and flexible, including agile frameworks that appropriately skilled developers use to continually improve their products. Cloud users worry about security, so ISVs must have good security features and comply with broad and vertical-specific regulations.

Then there is the fun stuff. How can an ISV enhance their software with cloud-driven features? They might add internet of things support to their software – an inventory system can include RFID tracking in warehouses. Using web-rendering and browser deployments, they can make their software available on more devices. They can add powerful and trendy enhancements such as no-code customisation and artificial intelligence. Cloud-based ISVs can scale from 10 customers today to 100 next week and 1 000 next year.

"We empower both established and emerging ISVs to capitalise on cloud markets," says Dandaraj. "Leveraging our expertise and market insights, we guide them in adopting new technologies and business models. Cloudmania bridges the gap between technical prowess and business acumen, enabling ISVs to engage strategically and expand their market reach.

Cloud-based innovations such as SaaS are the future of software. Customers prefer it, and ISVs can use the cloud to scale, grow, add innovation and enter new markets with lower risk. That's where Cloudmania steps in, helping ISVs tap the cloud and its opportunities.