Google is partnering with a company called MobileIron to develop a commerce platform for enterprise applications on mobile devices.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed but it looks like a straightforward deal where the two companies develop a portal to sell enterprise apps.
For Google, such a platform is important to its Google Cloud Platform business because it can gauge what software and services the market is demanding across multiple operating systems and devices.
The customers who purchase through the MobileIron platform are likely to be using a variety of devices and platforms and, therefore, the software they buy will also be from a wide range of categories.
Google Cloud does have its own commerce platform, called Orbitera, which facilitates the buying and selling of software and services in the cloud.
But Orbitera only gives the company a narrow field of view across the enterprise landscape.
The solution built with MobileIron is planned to be end-to-end and white-label, and designed to make it easier for enterprises to buy and use cloud solutions.
Some of the planned features of the GCP-MobileIron platform include:
- Customised bundles to enable operators to create bundles of services by customer segments;
- Customised branding for both operators and customers of the marketplace;
- One bill for everything across all of a customer’s devices, data, voice, and third-party cloud services on one monthly invoice;
- Secure cloud access to ensure only trusted users, using trusted apps on trusted devices get access to the cloud services; and
- Usage analytics for customers to track what's being used and by whom.
Marcin Kurc, head of commerce platform, Google Cloud, said: “Today’s enterprises are looking for a solution to address the need for a seamless cloud commerce software experience from purchase to deployment.
“We’re working with MobileIron to answer this call, bringing together the power of the Orbitera platform and MobileIron's EMM and Access solutions to provide a set of tools that allow businesses to innovate in a managed, secure environment.”
Simon Biddiscombe, CEO, MobileIron, said: “Each enterprise will deploy dozens or even hundreds of cloud services and they need an easy way to buy those services, distribute them to employees, and help ensure the security of the corporate data they contain.
“Operators have a fantastic business opportunity to become a bridge for secure cloud services marketplace for their customers. Our work with Google Cloud will look at ways we can help operators sell the way they want to sell and help CIOs to buy the way they want to buy.”
