Software marketplaces are an established concept that has been growing in popularity. Marketplaces offer many benefits, especially in easing the procurement and billing of services, presenting opportunities for partner services and simplifying access to them. Other benefits include accelerating and streamlining service implementation, which can save set-up time without requiring specialist skills.

To understand the role of marketplace solutions, I spoke to Mona Chadha, Director of Worldwide ISVs and Partners at Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS Marketplace is 10 years old and has evolved considerably, but its mission has remained the same: to make it as easy as possible for customers to be in the cloud.

We were joined by Audrey Benjamin, Director of Business Development, Digital Velocity at CDW, and Maureen Little, Vice President of Global Strategic Alliances at Okta. CDW is a US provider of technology products and services and Okta is an identity and access management software company. Both are AWS Marketplace partners.

Our discussion unpacked how marketplaces have simplified procurement and billing for partners, unlocking digital transformation for customers.

The episode explores:

• How marketplaces help customers' journey to the cloud and democratize cloud adoption.
• The effects of democratization of procurement on costs and engagement.
• Growth opportunities for marketplace partners and independent software vendors.
• The future of marketplaces, including integration of AI and cybersecurity services.

CCS Insight has produced a free report detailing the key points of the podcast discussion, available here.