ERPGuru acquires Cloud Commerce: Cloud VAR consolidation?
In a press release issued today, ERPGuru announced it is acquiring Cloud Commerce. Nothing much out of the ordinary you might think but as far as I can tell, this is the first reasonably significant cloud VAR combination. The question is: what does it mean for customers?
The press release quotes Cloud Commerce as saying:
“Our focus will now shift only to the NetSuite solution and corresponding services” Said Michael Vienhage, Managing Partner of Cloud Commerce.
Cloud Commerce has been a NetSuite reseller and emphasises bundles based around different NetSuite solutions. But it also has a hosted Microsoft solution in its portfolio. This raises interesting questions such as:
- What happens to those Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers?
- Is there a planned transition for those customers over to NetSuite and if so on what terms?
- For customers that choose to remain with Microsoft, what will the support options look like?
- What about the other services Cloud Commerce offers? Will these be folded into ERPGuru's offerings?
- What happens where there are solution overlaps outside the NetSuite portfolio?
Most VARs concentrate upon one main solution with complementary solutions tacked around the outside. In some cases they have two main offerings. However, in any merger some things have to go by the wayside.
The difference in cloud land is that the service nature of the offering means the customer is very much at the mercy of whatever the provider chooses to eliminate. Since the customer does not have any ownership rights, but are merely paying for the service, it can mean they end up stranded. In the on-premise world, a merger usually leaves customers with some choices around how they preserve their investments. Third party maintenance is the obvous example.
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