SaaS is the way to deliver apps at a lower cost with a better customer
experience. So you have a SaaS strategy to meet that demand. But is it a
complete solution? You can deliver your services on-demand, but is its
functionality complete? Can you leverage your partners? Are there other
revenue opportunities your are missing?
App stores are becoming part of the answer to the questions above. They are the hot trend with the success of Apple's App Store and others like Google, Salesforce.com and Intuit many folks are looking to get on the bandwagon.
But this is not just a me-too strategy. This is the next phase of a successful core product that needs the maturity that a strong partner network can provide. Just as it makes sense for Apple to build a store on top of the iPhone success it makes sense for Google to do so on top of Google Apps install base. These are efforts to build stickiness and increase overall lifetime value with their core customer base by leveraging partners wanting to get on the bandwagon.
Building an app store with Etelos is not hard, but what kind of App store should you build? There are two basic approaches, the first is to build a partner store around your core products with partners who can extend your platform (examples of these include Google, Apple, Intuit). These types of stores require development platforms and product APIs to enable both the solution integration as well as integrated deployment methodology. With Etelos, you provide your product APIs and Etelos can easily add the development tools, deployment and hosting (all based upon open standards). Etelos has done these types of Stores for years and provide a complete set of development platforms to start with.
The other approach is more of the traditional distributor/reseller model that anybody with a customer-base can market too. In this case, you are a reseller of products that complements your existing portfolio of products with the goal to better serve your customer base. These are usually build around some community, for example, a SMB community. We are seeing this today with some of our financial services stores.
Regardless of your approach, the benefits are substantial. First, you achieve the long tail around your own products--no time/skill/money to build out your solution and you can, at a low cost, broaden your customer reach at a lower cost. This also creates great leverage with your customer base that results in less customer churn (stickiness), more solutions, additional channels of revenue and an overall more satisfied customer.
If you want to build your own app store, it is easy to get started....
App stores are becoming part of the answer to the questions above. They are the hot trend with the success of Apple's App Store and others like Google, Salesforce.com and Intuit many folks are looking to get on the bandwagon.
But this is not just a me-too strategy. This is the next phase of a successful core product that needs the maturity that a strong partner network can provide. Just as it makes sense for Apple to build a store on top of the iPhone success it makes sense for Google to do so on top of Google Apps install base. These are efforts to build stickiness and increase overall lifetime value with their core customer base by leveraging partners wanting to get on the bandwagon.
Building an app store with Etelos is not hard, but what kind of App store should you build? There are two basic approaches, the first is to build a partner store around your core products with partners who can extend your platform (examples of these include Google, Apple, Intuit). These types of stores require development platforms and product APIs to enable both the solution integration as well as integrated deployment methodology. With Etelos, you provide your product APIs and Etelos can easily add the development tools, deployment and hosting (all based upon open standards). Etelos has done these types of Stores for years and provide a complete set of development platforms to start with.
The other approach is more of the traditional distributor/reseller model that anybody with a customer-base can market too. In this case, you are a reseller of products that complements your existing portfolio of products with the goal to better serve your customer base. These are usually build around some community, for example, a SMB community. We are seeing this today with some of our financial services stores.
Regardless of your approach, the benefits are substantial. First, you achieve the long tail around your own products--no time/skill/money to build out your solution and you can, at a low cost, broaden your customer reach at a lower cost. This also creates great leverage with your customer base that results in less customer churn (stickiness), more solutions, additional channels of revenue and an overall more satisfied customer.
If you want to build your own app store, it is easy to get started....