CSPs, IT distribution

AWS Marketplace Third-Party SaaS Billing: This Changes Everything?

AWS Marketplace can now manage SaaS billing for third-party software purchases. The net result: Customers can now gain a single bill -- from Amazon Web Services -- that displays metered usage for dozens of third-party applications.

In some ways, that means AWS will more directly compete against MSPs and distributors that assist end-customers with SaaS procurement and payment services. A range of IT distributors and channel-centric tools -- names like Autotask CSP Boss and ConnectWise CloudConsole come to mind -- also help MSPs and VARs to consolidate SaaS-oriented tools.

True believers in AWS Marketplace SaaS Subscriptions include New Relic, which specializes in application performance monitoring (APM) and infrastructure monitoring tools for MSPs, midmarket and large enterprise customers. As part of the New Relic FutureStack 2016 conference today in San Francisco, New Relic said its tools are now available in the AWS Marketplace.

What's the upside? AWS ranks among the fastest-growing corporate IT line items. SaaS companies that struggle to gain corporate budget approval on their own can use AWS Marketplace billing as a new doorway for recurring revenue wins, multiple sources at FutureStack indicated.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.