News in the Channel - issue #30

CLOUD MARKETPLACES

Cloud marketplaces have been growing in popularity in recent years as users seek the convenience of them. With the growth in AI, how they work is changing – and should mean their popularity grows further.

Cloud marketplaces have been an increasingly influential part of the channel landscape in recent years, with customers and resellers enjoying the benefits they bring of simplifying purchasing. Paul McCabe, chief digital and information officer at Giacom, says that cloud adoption continues to rise across SMBs and mid- market businesses. “This is driven by digital transformation and government ‘Cloud First’ initiatives,” he says. “Marketplaces have become the default model for accessing services – not only because they simplify procurement, but because they enable scalable, recurring-revenue models through automation, breadth of offering, and reseller enablement.” The appetite for ‘X-as-a-service’ models is also driving demand for cloud marketplaces, says Mark Appleton, chief customer officer at ALSO Cloud UK. “From ALSO’s perspective, we’re seeing a consistent increase in resellers and MSPs looking for cloud marketplaces to efficiently procure, manage and offer cloud solutions to their market share. While the market is mature, there is still space for developed platforms to expand, especially given the ongoing importance of cybersecurity and AI solutions.” Anthony Dobson, regional director, sales for Arrow's enterprise computing solutions business in the UK&I, adds that demand is growing across the channel as end customers prioritise greater agility, streamlined billing, and access to a broader portfolio of cloud services to drive their businesses forward. “What’s changing is how resellers

interact with these platforms,” he says. “AI’s is at the heart of this shift, and we’ve seen this momentum firsthand through ArrowSphere Cloud, our marketplace designed specifically to help our channel partners manage complexity, reduce time- to-value, and unlock growth.”

AI-driven change The rise of AI is set to see cloud

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marketplaces grow even faster in the UK. Cheney Hamilton, lead analyst, Fusion Work™ at Bloor Research Group, says the rise of AI-powered cloud marketplaces is more than a tech trend. “It’s a quiet revolution reshaping how businesses operate, buy, and grow,” she says. “What excites me most isn’t the software, it’s the signal it sends about the future of work. “Cloud marketplaces have become the infrastructure for this transformation. AI within these platforms personalises procurement, streamlines compliance and allows resellers to deliver curated, intelligent solutions.” Claire Denton, director of product management at OpenText, agrees. “AI is rapidly reshaping the how cloud marketplaces are built, operated and monetised,” she says. “AI enhances product discovery by analysing user behaviour, purchasing history, plus contextual data to deliver intelligent recommendations. “AI is streamlining procurement with automated workflows that match enterprise requirements to suitable offerings and support auto-configuration of trials and sandboxes, auto-generation of deployment scripts or infrastructure templates etc.

It’s a quiet revolution reshaping how businesses operate, buy and grow... ...What excites me most isn’t the software, it’s the signal it sends about the future of work.

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