AWS Moves ‘ISV Accelerate’ Co-Selling Program Into Spotlight

Amazon Web Services partners should expect to hear more from the cloud provider about its ISV Accelerate Program, according to AWS channel chief Doug Yeum.

The program aligns sales teams from AWS and independent software providers (ISVs) for co-selling support, so ISVs can access millions of active AWS customers.

While AWS hasn’t talked publicly about the program, it now plans to give it a bigger airing, Yeum told CRN Tuesday before AWS CEO Andy Jassy opened the first full day of the virtual AWS re:Invent 2020 conference.

Partners who participate get access to AWS’ dedicated co-selling support team, whose job is to facilitate the overall co-selling motion connecting AWS sellers with partner sellers.

“We also provide special financial incentives —cash incentives—to AWS sellers to support these partners with co-selling,” Yeum said.

If a partner brings an opportunity to AWS, and it happens to be with a customer managed by an AWS seller, the AWS seller will get a cash incentive if it provides support to close that deal.

“Or, if the AWS seller originates or finds an opportunity inside their customer for a specific partner who’s part of this program, then they’ll get an even greater cash incentive from us for doing that,” Yeum said. “We want to make sure that our sellers keep these ISV Accelerate Program partners [at the] top of their mind as they engage with their customers.”

AWS also provides opportunities for ISV partners to educate AWS sellers on their value propositions.

“This is super important ... because we have so many AWS native services that our sellers [are] spending a lot of time trying to learn about,” Yeum said. “And when you introduce all of the other solutions from our partners, this workload is pretty heavy for them. They have to spend a lot of time trying to understand how to sell these solutions.”

Being able to proactively and directly educate AWS sellers is a great opportunity for AWS partners who otherwise wouldn’t get a lot of time from AWS’ busy sales teams, according to Yeum.

“Our partners find that really, really useful,” he said. “They’re telling us that they’re seeing significant uplift in their overall business growth. For me, that’s the most important thing that we can do for these ISV partners.”

AWS had waited to publicly talk about the program until it had the right mechanisms in place to support expected partner interest. The program’s debut Thursday coincided with AWS’ announcement of its new ISV Partner Path Program, whose participants get access to the ISV Accelerate Program.