IBM Partnering For A Smarter Planet Exploring The Role Of Ecosystems In Evolving Cloud Markets

SmartCloud
Thought Leadership White Paper

Exploring the role
of ecosystems in
evolving cloud markets
IBM partnering for a smarter planet™

2 Exploring the role of ecosystems in evolving cloud markets

Contents The effect of the cloud-enabled shift can be felt in many areas:
• A standardised and virtualised style of IT delivery
2 Introduction • Increased focus on the customer or user experience

3 Cloud computing and the shift to customer centric services • Shifting focus to service (business) outcome

• Flexible pricing models through self-service
6 Cloud computing and the blurring of traditional market and • Reshaping of commercial/business models.
partner boundaries

9 Differentiated cloud service catalogues It could be argued that cloud computing simply reflects the
accelerated adoption or increased popularity of virtualisation,
10 In summary specifically server virtualisation. Yet virtualisation, first
11 Author implemented in the 1960s by IBM, is not new. Instead we need
to look beyond IT and the infrastructure to see what is causing
the cloud disruption.

Introduction Cloud enables organisations to deliver IT without boundaries.
The signs of a smarter planet are all around us. Smarter Through cloud provisioning an organisation can obtain and
systems are being implemented and are creating value in deliver services and business processes wherever and whenever
every major industry and across every region in both the their users want. It can hide complexity whilst making more
developed and developing worlds. This idea isn’t a metaphor, cost-effective use of limited resources, enabling new IT and
or a vision, or a proposal – it is a rapidly emerging reality. business processes that break down traditional silos and
simplify access to information or services – all resulting
Cloud computing is changing the IT landscape, impacting in the delivery of better business or social outcomes.
core technology and business directions; reshaping the
relationship between service, customer, information Cloud is both a customer centric IT transformation and a
technology and the provider of business or social outcome. new market model. At the heart of cloud service provisioning
is a shift towards the wants and needs of the end customer.
Cloud computing is providing visible acceleration towards a This increased focus on service outcome and the customer
smarter reality, a reality that is radically changing the nature is reshaping the traditional buyer/supplier market model.
of traditional partnering and channel management models.
This paper considers three areas of cloud influence on an
So what is cloud, why is it accelerating this shift and increasingly non-traditional or ‘asymmetric’2 market:
what does it mean for partnering models of the future? 1. Cloud computing and the shift to customer centric services
According to NIST (National Institute of Standards and 2. Cloud computing and the blurring of traditional market
Technology)1 cloud computing is a model for enabling and partner boundaries
convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool 3. Creating cloud ‘stickiness’ – differentiated cloud
of configurable computing resources (such as networks, service catalogues.
servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly
provisioned and released with minimal management effort
or service provider interaction.

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1. Cloud computing and the shift to The IBM research concludes that within three to five years:
customer centric services
It all starts with the customer – a generally accepted Customers will expect to get access to what they want, when
central pillar of business. So what is new? Why is and how they want it – enabled by invisible flexible technology.
the customer coming so sharply into focus now?
With cloud, a new breed of customer is dictating a new set
IBM’s Institute for Business Value research ‘What of terms, which in turn is changing the dynamic between
the Customer Wants’3 highlights five trends that buyers and sellers.
are expected to unfold over the next few years:
Customers in a ‘buy’ position are empowered by cloud
• Customers will gain even more control over how
with more availability and access to information, data
they interact with organisations and each other
and choice than ever before. In addition, cloud customers
• Relevance will be key for attracting and keeping
determine their own usage patterns, opting in and out at
loyal customers
their convenience and deciding how much they want to
• The more expensive and traditional channels will
use, when and for how long.
be marginalised by mobile technologies focused on
relationship building
• Organisations will have to provide consistency as

channel distinction will disappear for customers
who instead converge around mobile devices
• Trust and security will be basic customer requirements.

Aspirations from end users increasingly set the demand for cloud-enabled service ecosystems

Service
availability
Service
catalogue Compliance
Human
resources
Branding

Call centres
Quality

Back office Supply chain
service

Customer
service
Indirect procurement

Customer
Finance and experience
accounting
Convenience Multichannel
Experience

Figure 1: Information flow
Channels
Source: IBM ‘Advocacy: Building customer trust in the new economy’


In the early provisioning of cloud services there has been an Two dominant customer patterns of ‘club clouds’ have
interesting customer shift towards ‘club clouds’ – a hybrid emerged to date:
cloud model similar to the community cloud model referred
to by NIST4. Type one: Regional ‘club clouds’ – cloud provisioning for
a group of customers who are bound by a geographic area such
These ‘club cloud’ patterns start to emerge when the as a city.
cloud discussion goes beyond the technology as a service,
infrastructure purchase or IT replacement level and instead The New York Municipal Shared Services Cloud5 is one
focuses on business outcome and the services required by example. This ‘club cloud’ improves municipal operations
the end customer. by integrating services from multiple providers on an easy-
to-use shared government platform, adding web-based
Customers have a tendency to come together in social citizen services, and enabling integrated data analysis to
clusters or groups based on common interest or need. provide better transparency.
Within the public, private and hybrid cloud environments
these ‘self-selected clubs’ meet both customer need as well
as representing the logical groupings of user, workload,
process or data.

Federated/collegiate

1 Single 2 Regional 3 Common interest 4 Public
enterprise ‘club clouds’ ‘club clouds’ clouds
Service model

• Single enterprise • Shared process and shared • Extended ‘club’ and • Commodity services only
• Commodity, core and data across many enterprises affiliate model • Create stickiness and
specialist services • Core, commodity and • Shared services or traded customer retention with ‘club’
• Secure hosted inside specialist services services on a PAYG basis look and feel
client firewall • ‘Club cloud’ model • More focus on specialist • Security and data privacy
• Secure access to
services e.g. weather/ is harder
PAYG service
crime/retail

Enterprise Enterprise User A User B User A User B
Enterprise
Delivery model

Enterprise User C User D User C User D

Hosted private cloud

Private owned Hybrid (public/private) Hybrid (public/private) Public cloud
and operated Cloud services Cloud services services

Figure 2: Four dominant cloud models have emerged in the United Kingdom and Ireland to date

SmartCloud 5

Another regional ‘club cloud’ example is the WUXI iPark Peer networks or ‘clubs’ form around a common social,
Cloud6. This rural regeneration cloud offers flexible and shared economic or service outcome, often connecting public,
computing resources for Small and Medium Enterprises, private and not-for-profit organisations around the
lowering the barriers to market entry for new companies, common shared outcome.
local government projects and software development start-ups.
This customer led approach to ‘club cloud’ formation can
Type two: Common interest ‘club clouds’ – where a group increase the outsider perception of ‘asymmetry’. Traditional
of organisations have a common shared service outcome, social sector or industry allegiances between public, private or third
need or business requirement. IBM is creating smarter, more sector do not seem to matter as much to the customer when
connected healthcare systems that deliver better care with forming ‘club clouds’ to meet a pressing, common need.
fewer mistakes, predict and prevent disease, and empower
people to make better choices. This includes integrating This customer shift is starting to touch all of our markets and
data so doctors, patients and insurers can share information is accelerating with the adoption of cloud, social business and
seamlessly and efficiently through ‘club clouds’. IBM also helps mobile technologies8.
clients apply advanced analytics to improve medical research,
diagnosis and treatment in order to improve patient care and With this cloud enabled customer shift comes the increasing
help reduce healthcare costs7. democratisation of data, the adoption of social computing,
increased collaboration between sectors, small and medium
In addition some common interest ‘clubs’ want to trade sized business, not-for-profit organisations and much more.
services not just consume them, effectively creating a virtual In turn, purchasing power devolves to increasingly fragmented
market or trading place for ‘club members’. and smaller customer units.

This tendency towards forming ‘club clouds’ is not driven From a supplier perspective, responding to this
by the supplier but instead by the customers’ wants, needs challenge requires:
or required outcomes such as financial efficiency or • Greater insight to meet and exceed customer expectation

regeneration and growth. ‘Club clouds’ do seem to address • More brand flexibility to maximise market presence

a number of cloud adoption drivers not only cost but deep • Increased speed in bringing new self-service offerings and

seated concerns that customers have over identity, trust services to market.
and security in virtualised markets.
This is not an IBM, nor a single sector issue, but represents
a seismic shift in response to a number of converging
In addition some common interest
technology and social levers.
‘club clouds’ want to trade services
not just consume them, effectively
creating a virtual market or trading
place for ‘club cloud members’.


2. Cloud computing and the One response seems to be ecosystems that seamlessly tether or
blurring of traditional market aggregate customers and suppliers. As the ecosystems grow in
size and diversity, the cloud-enabled value-nets contribute to
and partner boundaries
increasingly intelligent and interactive environments and
Changing customer demands, combined with technology shifts
generate enhanced collective value.
to cloud provisioning, enables and accelerates new ways of
operating. This creates dynamic environments that support the
How much of this is realistic or achievable only time will
emergence of cloud ecosystems or value-nets.
tell – but there are indications that different types of partner,
alliance or ecosystems are already forming within the cloud
Capturing the value generated along the supply chain is a well
market where parties converge to offer an enhanced range of
understood approach taken by many management strategists.
services to the market.
Applying this thinking to early market experiences of cloud
computing indicates that interesting cloud value-net patterns
The Smarter Energy® Cloud partnership announced between
are likely to become the new norm.
IBM and Cable & Wireless is one example9.
With cloud flexibility, where fixed-term contracts are replaced
Cloud ecosystems take cloud platform thinking one step
with opt-in and opt-out behaviours, the trust and loyalty that
further as they enable partners and third parties to participate
traditionally binds customers, buyers and suppliers together
in and include their services within an ecosystem.
into value chains is diminished.

1st era of IT 2nd era of IT 3rd era of IT Cloud 4th era of IT
Mainframe Personal computing Internet computing computing Smarter Planet

Supply centric Buyer centric Global ecosystem Asymmetric value net

• Supply driven • Shifting buyer patterns • Global networks • Localised viral networks
market alliances • Shift reach and range • Static models with fixed • Customer centric
and partnering of partnering, routes term lock-in • Decentralised control
• Limited market and channels to reach • Centralised control • Maximise local
competition the buyer • Massive increase brand value
on new to market • Joint go-to-market
suppliers • Parties collaborating
on strategy
• Shared performance
outcome responsibility

Figure 3: Shifting partnering and alliance models

SmartCloud 7

IBM’s SmartCloud Ecosystem brings new services for According to Alex Williams in his blog, Technology Partners
IBM partners and independent software vendors to help And What They Say About the IBM Cloud11, “The IBM
thousands of small and medium size business clients adopt Cloud is a prototype of the ecosystem we expect to see emerge
cloud models and manage millions of cloud-based transactions in the world of cloud services…. It is the partners that tie into
in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare the larger ecosystems, often existing on multiple platforms.
and government10. The healthy platforms will resemble coral reefs in which
the partners are (as) important to the cloud ecosystem as
The collective capabilities and services from multiple the platform itself.”
organisations, spanning multiple platforms and cloud
environments together form a tethered or hybrid ecosystem IBM has created an approach to enable larger cloud
that continues to grow and evolve. This may be viewed by multi-supplier ecosystems. Part of this approach – IBM’s
some as simply the natural evolution of platform paradigms, cloud speciality programme – enables a broad ecosystem of
where the platform with the largest and most diverse companies to work together and deliver a wide range of cloud
ecosystem, gets to ride the paradigm shift and enjoy a computing services and technologies to clients of all sizes and
dominant position for that particular generation. across all industries.

However these cloud value-nets or ecosystems have introduced
some new elements to the traditional partnering constructs
as well as offering more flexible terms of engagement.

We are seeing new cloud partner types emerge that blur traditional partner definitions and models

Cloud technology
provider
Cloud
builder

Cloud infrastructure Cloud application
provider provider

Cloud
service provider

Figure 4: The IBM cloud specialties


This programme introduces five cloud partner types and In addition to this progressive channel evolution some
offers accreditation for the ecosystem to grow cloud capability. even more disruptive cloud value-nets are forming.
It also provides market support in five solution areas for Asymmetric value-nets are the market and competition
business partners who demonstrate their expertise and client disrupters enabled by cloud, partnering or customer
success in cloud computing. constructs convene and reconvene to rapidly serve new
and emerging customer requirements and market needs.
As a value-add extension IBM is also widening access
to its global expertise and industry insight. IBM is On the sell side – providing the parties with new
enabling developers to build, test, sell and distribute cloud opportunities to expand faster into new and vastly
services and applications. With eight million developers in larger markets than most could hope to enter alone
195 countries, 28 cloud innovation centres and extensive or with smaller ecosystems.
training and development, this approach creates a different
type of in-market value12. On the buy-side – parties can extend the reach and range
of service beyond the purchase power of a single entity.

Disrupting traditional organisational and competitive constructs, asymmetric markets are represented by new, unorthodox,
surprising, urgent and unfamiliar market shifts

‘Symmetric’ market and channels ‘Asymmetric’ market and channels

Operate
model
shifts…
Asymmetric
value net
Demand is anticipated Demand is viral
Top down sector driven strategy Emergent and iterative client strategies
There is a clear hierarchical structure Shifting control outside ‘known’ structure
Centralised or corporate control Fragmented and collaborative control
Sequential value drivers Rapid incremental value drivers
Winning outright is possible Co-operation is best outcome
Tightly coupled Loosely coupled
Few known participants Many diverse participants
Profit focus Regeneration/growth focus
Led from the front Proxies/syndicates or intermediaries

Figure 5: Cloud market and channel shift

SmartCloud 9

Defying traditional organisational 3. Differentiated cloud service catalogues
In these rapidly changing times, as markets shift and reform,
and competitive constructs, how can organisations, agencies and companies achieve the
asymmetric value-nets are market traction required to establish themselves as
represented by new, unorthodox, differentiated service providers?

surprising, urgent, and unfamiliar Getting actionable insight about your customers and setting up
market shifts. As the boundaries of collaborative value-nets are not the only challenge – the issue
is how to create a commercially viable and sustainable cloud
cloud-provisioned IT and services operating construct, offering compelling services, built on
are removed, organisations are partner trust and safeguarding against opportunism.
by-passing intermediaries and
Creating cloud ‘stickiness’ – so that customers and partners can
creating new, highly responsive, opt (rather than be forced) to stay together because it makes
business models by exploiting commercial, business or social sense – is the imperative. As
we’ve seen from public cloud start-ups such as Twitter, ‘sticky’
the upstream and downstream
clouds are often those that ‘attract’ new customers that enable
information flowing along the their own ‘auto-sustained’ growth. The same principles apply
value chain. to private or hybrid clouds.

Cloud has increased the focus on creating vibrant and Just as cloud itself is evolving up the stack from infrastructure
sustainable value-nets. Information is moving in real-time as a service (IaaS) through platform as a service (PaaS) to
across co-operating businesses, relationships among partners, software as a service (SaaS), business process as a service
is dynamic and varies with changing conditions, and the (BPaaS) and beyond into the information and insight business
operating targets of the business include not just efficiency intelligence as a service (BIaaS) layers so the cloud service
but, perhaps more importantly, market agility. catalogue is evolving.

No one organisation dominates, owns, leads or drives these Early-to-market cloud alliances and ecosystems have favoured
asymmetric value-nets. They are highly responsive to market commodity cloud service provision that offers cloud service
need, often localised around country or regional requirements catalogues stacked with IaaS technology offerings or commodity
and can convene and reconvene based on scaleable common component products. With little clear differentiation to hosted
cloud components, rapidly serving new and emerging service provision the early IaaS offerings fight for market share
customer requirements. on price point.

Early-in-market success from these new cloud value-nets are As the cloud market matures, cloud buyers are posing the
already being seen and will be explored in detail in subsequent questions of how provisioning can support mission-critical
papers in the IBM Partnering for a Smarter Planet series. and specialist cloud services that drive core business growth
against assured outcomes.


This focuses the demand on deeper and broader service In summary
catalogues tuned to the industry or defined market – a From observations and experience gained through many
challenge in a market where the mantra is ‘standardisation’. cloud transformations that IBM has been involved in
worldwide there is increased focus on service outcome and
IBM indicated its own move into core business services the end customer. As new cloud-enabled markets, channels
with global alliance partner SAP. The SmartCloud for SAP and patterns for consumption emerge, the traditional buyer-
Application leverages IBM’s experience in managing over supplier market models are reshaping.
1.5 million users of SAP to significantly reduce the cost and
labour associated with SAP cloning, refreshes and patching13. It is clear that the organisations, agencies and companies who
are able to understand and meet the changing demands of their
Early indications suggest that industry-specific cloud offerings customers and through partnerships, establish themselves as
that require targeted or specialist partners will be ‘business as differentiated service providers in these new cloud-enabled
usual’ within the next few years. markets can achieve the market traction required.

In September 2011 IBM announced Smarter Commerce™ Simply looking at buyer/supplier models or channel
on the cloud to help organisations respond automatically strategies is not enough – a step change is required. One
to shifting customer and business market trends with new solution is to enable a multi-vendor cloud ecosystem that
solutions for commerce-as-a-service and social media seamlessly integrates the products, expertise and brands
marketing. Such capabilities are based on technologies from of complementary organisations into compelling solutions
key acquisitions such as Unica®, Coremetrics® and Sterling to serve the shifting needs of a smarter planet.
Commerce™ combined with IBM research and development14.
This paper offers two thoughts on how to exploit the
As the market focus moves to the provisioning of enterprise- enormous opportunities with cloud:
grade, mission-critical cloud services, the customer desire for • Choose a smarter partnering approach – put cloud-enabled
pay-as-you-go commercial models needs to be balanced with channels on the strategic agenda and align your investment
required service level assurances and compliance requirements. in customer analytics, brand positioning, target customer
This then needs to be measured against the ‘benefit/risk’ ratio segments and the cloud product/service set.
of opt-in and opt-out services. • Consider your cloud ecosystem supply or buy-side and plan

for a differentiated service catalogue. Consider the impact this
Cloud value-nets enable organisations to combine effort to has on security, information and data handling as you move
better serve this changing market need. into the mission-critical and specialist cloud services essential
to driving your business or social outcomes.

Simply put, get refocused on your end customer and consider
the business and service outcome of your cloud provisioning.

SmartCloud 11

Author 7 ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/28753.wss
Laura Colvine is Cloud Strategy Leader for IBM UK
focusing on identifying, developing and delivering new 8 http://www.internet.com/IBM_Cloud/Article/46919/
market growth capabilities. Laura has been with IBM for With-a-Boost-from-Mobile-Cloud-Computing-
12 years working in Europe, USA and the UK leading, Continues-to-Mature
selling and consulting on business solutions, commercial
go-to-market shifts and strategic transformation. Prior to 9 ibm.com/smarterplanet/global/files/uk__en_uk__smart_
joining IBM Laura was Head of Commercial Strategy for energy__ibm_smart_meters_feb_2011.pdf
a UK University.
10 ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/35593.wss
If you would like to respond to this white paper or ask
for further information on how IBM can help you 11 readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/03/the-ibm-cloud-is-a.php
navigate the ecosystem challenge, please send an email
to vickygillies@uk.ibm.com. 12 http://thoughtsoncloud.com/?p=70

References
1 nist.gov/itl/cloud/upload/cloud-def-v15.pdf

2 oxforddictionaries.com definition: having parts which
fail to correspond to one another in shape, size or
arrangement, lacking symmetry.

3 ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/
gbe03391usen/GBE03391USEN.PDF

4 Community cloud. The cloud infrastructure is
shared by several organisations and supports a
specific community that has shared concerns
(e.g. mission, security requirements, policy, and
compliance considerations). It may be managed
by the organisations or a third party and may exist
on or off-site.
*nist.gov/itl/cloud/upload/cloud-def-v15.pdf

5 With a unique combination of advanced data analytics and
software-as-a-service technology, government employees
will save time, increase productivity and help citizens
quickly get the information they need.
ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/32909.wss

6 ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/STRD-7YJM5P?
OpenDocument&Site=default&cty=en_us

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2012

IBM United Kingdom Limited
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Produced in the United Kingdom
January 2012
All Rights Reserved

IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Coremetrics, Smarter Commerce,
Smarter Energy, Smarter Planet and the planet icon are trademarks or
registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in
the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM
trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this
information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate
U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time
this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered
or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM
trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark
information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml

Sterling Commerce is a trademark of Sterling Commerce, Inc.,
an IBM Company.

Unica is a registered trademark of Unica Corporation, an IBM Company.

Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or
service marks of others.

References in this publication to IBM products and services do not
imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in
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