Don’t Get Discouraged; ‘Break Journey Down Into Very Small Pieces’

In order to make a $6.40 multiplier on every dollar spent on AWS solutions, partners typically need a substantial AWS business unit and provide a large breathe of AWS services offerings.

However, Chen said smaller solution providers shouldn’t feel like they have to completely transform their business overnight to become a more profitably partner.

“Sometimes partners get discouraged because they think that they have to change so many things and there’s no way that they can do it all at once,” said Chen.

“My advice is ‘You can actually break this journey down into very small pieces. You can learn a new AWS technology every quarter. You can invest in one more type of service. You can partner with another partner who has that capability that you don’t have just yet and go in there together,’ she said. “It becomes much more manageable when its incremental. They don’t have to do it all at once.”

Chen said the new AWS profitability study should give partners comfort knowing that their cloud investment does provide tangible new margin opportunities.

“So you invest a bit, you’re going to get a bit more back. And you invest another little bit—you’ll get more back too,” she said.

Additionally, the AWS Partner Network is investing in incentives and programs targeting new customer acquisition and greenfield opportunities specially for channel partners.

“We are building out how we can help them unlock growth and profitability within a partners’ business model. That is definitely a key cornerstone of our programs,” said Chen.