SugarCRM, Inc. just launched an enterprise pp exchange for commercial users of its customer relationship management software. While the company previously offered an exchange for its open-source Community Edition, the extension makes it “easy for our commercial customers to find the rich set of business-grade solutions they need,” said Clint Oram, SugarCRM co-founder and chief technology officer.

The move came just a few days after the OpenStack Foundation said it would launch a Community App Catalog for users of its cloud platform. IBM has an app store for its Bluemix cloud platform and just opened one for its new line of analytics applications. Zebra Technologies, Corp. has a new one for its line of industrial data collection devices. Cisco just launched one to support its cloud strategy. Salesforce.com has had one for some time.

Writing on Talkin’ Cloud, Mike Vizard notes that, “The implications of these mega malls for the channel are, of course, profound.”

He’s got that right, but the implications go far beyond the channel. App exchanges are taking the software business by storm, and they may reshape the way enterprises by – and vendors sell – software.

Software stores are nothing new, of course. They’ve been around in the consumer business for years. But they’re a new concept in the enterprise, where software sales have always been a “high touch” affair, involving prospecting, nurturing, lengthy decision cycles and leaps of faith.

That last point is a critical one. Enterprise software involves a lot of promises. It’s complex, and success usually involves a lot of customization, integration and handholding. Salespeople had to work hard to get their customers comfortable with a decision in their favor.

All that creates cost, delay and additional layers between buyer and seller. The Internet hates those things. In the evolving app store model, the software vendor has no idea who the customer is. As Vizard points out, the first touch may actually come when the customer runs into trouble and has to call technical support.

What’s the role of the salesperson in this scenario? Well, there isn’t one, really. Companies that sell primarily through app stores can significantly reduce the cost of sales. In effect, their customer support people can be the ones taking the order. Developers become the principal salespeople because the software has to sell itself. Cost of sales can drop to practically nothing when customers call with a checkbook in hand because they already depend on the product.

There’s a lot for customers to like in the scenario. No salesmen are calling, there’s plenty of choice and try-before-you-buy is the best way to evaluate software. Time-to-value is much shorter and costs should be lower if vendors pass along their own cost savings.

There’s a lot for fledgling software developers to like as well: lower cost of entry, less overhead, lower operational cost, direct customer feedback and higher margins. By essentially farming out marketing and fulfillment to the owner of the app exchange, they can focus on what they do best: build software.

I don’t believe app exchanges will prompt Oracle to lay off its entire sales force any time soon, but they pressure its already stressed business model even more. As the Internet continues to methodically strip away layers between buyer and seller, both of those sides stand to win.

Photo by Cristiano Betta via Flickr