If you are an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) then you’ve probably already considered moving your current solution or brand new solutions to the cloud. This is an obvious move for most companies, but can create pressures akin to a product sold at the local store down the street moved into a multinational retailer with storefronts in every country. ISV’s generally have had their world turned upside down over the past five years as standard consumption models of pay per seat, or pay per compute have been expanded into micro transactions, ambient commerce, and utility integration in service stacks. Cloud has provided the vehicle for the internet of things and thereby nearly unlimited opportunity for ISV’s to both develop and monetize applications with consumers and enterprises alike. While everything I’ve mentioned is positive, there are other important considerations for ISVs moving to the cloud.

Market and Platform Matching

Most great solutions start with the ‘killer idea.’ While that’s a romantic notion, trying to come up with the idea without forethought is like trying to win the lottery as a plan for retirement. A great ISV solution needs great research on the end user and method of usage. A monetization model and level of IT ownership are also important to understand.

Next Commerce Models

Startups and small ISV’s have the daunting challenge of finding their market for matching their idea with a go live strategy. Cloud encourages large scale go live potential, but it only guarantees the capacity potential and does nothing for establishing the market. The immense capacity to monetize a great ISV product is only overshadowed by the complexity and diversity of the commerce. Once a solution goes to the cloud, many more potential use cases for solutions can evolve. In order to adapt to the emersion of new use cases, proactive work on building, integrating or subscribing to a multichannel commerce platform is essential. This doesn’t have to be a large investment up front, but proactive planning can help avoid the risk of uncaptured revenue when new demands arise.

Lastly, build your solution’s value around data

The move to cloud, including the capacity to access data in the cloud, can provide compelling demand to create an ISV solution. This solution will be more data centric thereby leveraging many of the robust big data technologies available to solutions in the cloud. ISVs represent some of the most innovative organizations on the planet. Consumers and enterprises alike can look forward to a stream of amazing solutions continuously coming forward at a rapid pace. In summary, in order to carve out differentiation amidst the competition, ISVs need to do the following:

• Research their markets, platforms, and use cases.
• Plan, integrate and advertise a broad e-Commerce capability to consumers and businesses.
• Focus on data as a key asset to maximize the valuation of the solution.

Robert Bates- Group Head, Information Architecture, Wipro Analytics, Wipro Limited

As principal technical advisor and lead to the Wipro Analytics organization, Robert is responsible for advising on all service design, delivery and technology programs. He and his team evaluates and recommend co-investment customer research programs.

Robert is a veteran technology leader, performance advisor and a analytics architect with a deep background in process and technology stacks. His experience includes technology strategy, enterprise & information architecture, operations, solution/product development and organizational change.