The impact of software-as-a-service on software ecosystems

Abstract

The trend towards cloud-based applications changes the way customers run their businesses, but also the way software is sold and delivered. This affects software ecosystems and the way software vendors interact and manage their partners. In order to explore on the impacts, we conducted a single-case study by examining a globally leading software vendor of both, traditional on-premises software as well as cloud solutions. The study reveals new insights on how the SaaS revolution impacts partner management within software ecosystems from a vendor perspective, for instance that successful cloud partners may not necessarily come from a cloud background. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.