Published on the 29/05/2015 | Written by Clare Coulson
Spark’s enterprise division, Spark Digital, has announced the launch of what it is calling the first fully integrated software-as-a service (SaaS) marketplace in New Zealand…
Spark Digital Apps is designed to offer New Zealand businesses an easy way to find, buy, manage and use software-as-a service SaaS business applications from a range of leading software providers, with the added benefit of a single log-in and one amalgamated Spark Digital bill. It has been developed in direct response to customer feedback and works like a smartphone app store where businesses can buy and manage products from well-known brands all in one place.
SaaS’ benefits are well known: it is easy to procure, install and manage. The subscription model means software becomes an operational cost with the added benefit of always having the most up to date version of the software. Research company Gartner says that by 2018 SaaS will be the dominant way of using application software. It suggests that as much as 80 percent of organisations will use SaaS, and it will account for 25 percent of IT spending on software.
Management of multiple SaaS applications in the enterprise has been a bug bear for CIOs and IT managers for some time. The central management portal could help with this and also help to solve the issue of ‘shadow IT’ by having a transparent centralised enterprise app store in which all department heads can view, purchase and manage the business applications.
Spark Digital’s head of marketing Mark Redgrave said: “We’ve reached a tipping point where the applications you need to run your business are now available on your computer, phone or tablet. We want to help our customers to work smarter, from anywhere so that they can maximise their productivity and improve how they work with their own customers.”
Adam Dodds, IDC IT services research manager and IDC cloud brokerage lead said: “New Zealand has been identified as the most mature country in the APeJ region with regards to cloud adoption. With over 79 percent of businesses now using between two to five cloud solutions there is a strong expectation from New Zealand organisations for this type of service.
“Telecommunications providers [worldwide] have recognised the value of supporting organisations on their cloud journey through providing digital application marketplaces”.
For the Spark Digital Apps portal to be a true success, however, an adequate depth and breadth of SaaS applications must be available. At the time of launch there were just 13 SaaS apps available, which Redgrave called “a tight set of world-class apps that enable flexibility, security and mobile working”. These applications include Microsoft Office 365, Mozy backup and McAfee security.
Spark Digital has partnered with Silicon Valley-based AppDirect to build the app marketplace. AppDirect is a leader in cloud service commerce providing end-to-end solutions for some of the world’s largest brands. Spark Digital Apps is available now at apps.sparkdigital.co.nz
