Our guest contributor for today’s blog is Jake Zborowski, General Manager, Marketplace Product.
The rise of cloud marketplaces as the go-to destination for customers prioritizing flexibility and economic value underscores the significance of the Microsoft commercial marketplace in our collaborative go-to-market approach. With multiparty private offers, partners can now co-sell through the marketplace framework. We are excited to announce that this growth opportunity is now available to customers in the United Kingdom and Canada, adding to our existing availability in the United States.
It is estimated that the cloud marketplace opportunity will reach $45B by next year, with one-third of the revenue expected to be driven by channel partners. With a robust ecosystem comprising over 500K partners, we are doing more to drive collaborative selling. Multiparty private offers are designed to empower channel partners to broaden their customer engagements through the marketplace, while empowering ISVs to scale to new sales channels.
"With multiparty private offers in the Microsoft commercial marketplace, we are able to provide our customers with solutions from proven technology leaders, with all the benefits of the Microsoft cloud marketplace."
– Chris Cagnazzi, Chief Innovation Officer, Presidio
Enriching the cloud marketplace ecosystem
Customers often rely on their channel partner to manage their cloud investments. With multiparty private offers, channel partners can now procure solutions on the customers’ behalf, simplifying the sales process through the marketplace. For eligible solutions, the entire purchase—100%—counts toward a customer’s Azure consumption commitment.
This not only maximizes the value of customers’ investments, but also motivates larger transactions. As customers strive to meet their commitments, they unlock potential discounts on their Azure infrastructure. Sales involving multiparty private offers are, on average, double the size of those from standard private offers.
How does it work
The creation and execution of multiparty private offers follow a straightforward process:
- Collaborate: ISV and channel partners work together to identify the right solution for the customer and negotiate terms. The ISV extends a private offer to the channel partner, where the channel partner adds their details to create a multiparty private offer.
- Sell: The channel partner sends the offer to the customer. The customer accepts and purchases the same as a private offer they would procure from an ISV. For customers with an Azure consumption commitment, eligible purchases count toward their commitment, maximizing their cloud investments.
- Payment and payouts: Microsoft manages the collection and payment process, ensuring partners are paid accordingly.
"Having multiparty private offers now available is a game changer for us. Now we can extend our customer relationships to the marketplace with more opportunities to support them while simplifying the buying and deployment cycles for everyone."
– Debbie Pitt, Partner Director, Software, Computacenter UK
Get started today
Organizations enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program can go-to-market with us through the marketplace. Every ISV partner with a public, transactable offer can participate by working with channel partners to extend their solution’s market reach.
Channel partners can resell an ISV’s solution—provided they operate within a qualified geographic region. Currently, multiparty private offers are available to customers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. We are committed to a truly global marketplace with plans to extend the availability to more regions—starting with Western Europe and Japan in the near future.
For more information and resources:
- Get more information here.
- For ISVs, see the technical guidance here.
- For channel partners, see the technical guidance here.