CloudBlue: Fostering an Infinite Ecosystem of ISV Solutions

Cloud service users are often posed with the challenge of identifying the appropriate services that they need to empower their business and manage their consumption. Enabling cloud service providers to efficiently offer these services as a local trusted provider is CloudBlue. “CloudBlue powers the as-a-service economy by automating, aggregating, and distributing cloud and digital services to our customers and theirs,” says Lincoln Lincoln, Vice President, APJ, CloudBlue, an Ingram Micro business. As a distributor of IT products and services, Ingram Micro’s cloud journey started in 2009 and the company soon perceived the need to transform from a traditional supplier of IT products and services into a distributer of cloud services at scale. The company announced the formation of CloudBlue this month—an independent software business and a division within Ingram Micro. In order to sell and scale cloud offerings while delivering an exceptional service experience, CloudBlue’s state-of-the-art, flexible, and secure cloud commerce platform allows cloud providers and ISVs such as Google Apps, Office 365, DocuSign, to onboard their services. Additionally, leveraging CloudBlue’s platform, providers can white label the platform as their proprietary platform and distribute their services and third-party services through their channels to end users, using the white labelled CloudBlue platform as their commerce engine.

What distinguishes CloudBlue from other players in the market is the infinite provider ecosystem that it brings with its leading cloud commerce and anything-as-a-service (XaaS) platform.

CloudBlue efficiently saves provider partners the hassle of soliciting and finding the cloud applications they need and on boarding these cloud applications into the providers' billing and internal systems to distribute. ISVs can also take their offerings to market almost instantly across the entire multi-service provider ecosystem. The hyperscale digital platform enables providers to get up and running quickly by handling the complexities of various components of commerce such as subscription management, service catalog, marketplace, billing and invoicing, and many more. Furthermore, CloudBlue ensures customer success by providing them the tools and the go-to-market knowledge that allow their customers to gain reach and convert the reach into sales. The value that CloudBlue delivers to its customers through these components results in its customers being able to significantly accelerate their time-to-market. Owing to the value that CloudBlue brings to the cloud ecosystem, about one-third of the largest telcos in the world leverage the CloudBlue platform.

The company’s esteemed clientele consists of premier telecommunication companies such as KPN, Cobweb, TIM, Telekom Malaysia, and many more. Lincoln adds, “Our platform is not limited to the value-added resellers; about 45000 distributors and cloud service providers around the world use the Ingram Micro cloud marketplace to deliver and sell cloud services.” Further, the CloudBlue platform is not restricted to just SaaS or cloud services, and offers a plethora of digital services globally. For instance, TIM utilizes the platform for IoT-based connected cars.

Lincoln cites an instance wherein HNA, one of the largest conglomerates in China was looking to create a cloud marketplace for a number of local and global applications. Signing contracts with HNA in August, CloudBlue helped the company get up and running in November, enabling the client to sell and distribute applications on a live marketplace with an HNA-branded platform. CloudBlue also delivered a full franchise model to the client, whereby apart from the platform, CloudBlue also offered them managed services like curating the catalog of services that they wanted to sell, managing the infrastructure and the platform itself, and assisting in productization and their go-to-market in China.

CloudBlue is gaining traction in different countries like Japan, Hong Kong, India, and China and is securing significant investments from these regions. Progressing ahead, CloudBlue will continue to invest in its people and strive for operational excellence with their partners. The company is also aiming to monetize IoT and other digital services through their digital commerce engine.