Tencent & IBM Partner to Deliver SaaS to SMEs in China
According to research provided by Gartner, the CAGR for the Chinese cloud currently sits at a growth rate of 31.5 percent. This exponential growth rate means there are ripe opportunities for cloud expansion from a vendor perspective as well as a small to medium enterprise perspective. Tencent, the largest ISP in China, has recently partnered with Apple and Twitter to provide enterprise cloud services. Tencent has tapped the shoulder of IBM to help the Chinese ISP target the small to medium businesses with cloud services.
Senior Executive Vice President Taosang Tong mentions, “As ‘Internet mode’ has become mature gradually, Tencent has expected that such mode can be deeply applied into the industries and also promote the development and reform of the industries.” Tong goes on to add,”Tencent has a stable and reliable cloud computing platform, while IBM has abundant industry expertise aimed at the enterprise. We will work together to bring ‘Internet mode’ to more enterprise-level clients through cloud computing.”
Tencent has agreed to let IBM offer up its SaaS titles within the Tencent cloud. This allows small to medium sized enterprises to have access to CRM, Asset Management software, cloud collaboration tools and more.
This isn’t Big Blue’s first foray into the Chinese SaaS market. Back in August, it was previously reported on IBM’s partnership with China Telecom, which allows China Telecom to deploy SAP applications using the SoftLayer cloud. IBM’s partnership with Tencent is similar, however, IBM will deploy IBM owned SaaS titles while using China Telecom to continue to deploy SAP to SME’s in China.
Nancy Thomas, a managing director at IBM, is quoted in a press release as saying, “IBM and Tencent’s shared vision is not only to bring the scale and cost benefits of cloud computing to enterprises in China, but to add differentiating value by serving the particular needs of specific industries. That is the key to unlocking the transformative power of cloud computing.”
