LAS VEGAS – Amazon Web Services is evolving its channel reseller program to include new tiers and a new name: AWS Solution Provider Program.
AWS worldwide channel chief Terry Wise at the sixth annual Re:Invent 2017 show introduced the partner program saying this will bring about more choice for the channel partner in terms of contracts and support.
But the biggest element to the AWS Solution Provider Program is the new tiered incentive structure for AWS Partner Network consulting partners and technology partners specific for solution providers who have or are developing software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings.
The new program will be launched in the new year and replaces the Channel Reseller Program.
“We are trying to make it easy to do contracts and support. This new model recognizes partners who have great, high-quality support experience. The new tiered incentive structure will incent partners who have migration skills, DevOps and MSP (Managed Services Providers) expertise. They will get more incentives along with those who bring in new customers to the AWS cloud,” Wise said.
Wise stopped short of naming what the new tiers are, but went on to say there will also be new competencies in migration services, MSPs, and/or DevOps. Supporting this initiative is the new AWS Competency Program that includes 17 new solution categories mainly for networking, IoT, machine learning and Big Data. The new program also comprises verticals markets such as education, financial services, government, and healthcare/life sciences.
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The company also introduced the SaaS Factory, which provides a set of enablement content and collateral for AWS solution providers. This program includes reference architectures with best practices for building SaaS solutions on AWS. This program also includes AWS Quick Starts for automated deployments for key workloads on AWS.
According to Wise, AWS now has 99 audited MSPs who are seeing more than 50 per cent gross margins and a 14-month payback for their investment.
“This is a transformative business model that gets you 100 per cent debt free with an 85 per cent annuity business and 40 per cent CAGR,” Wise added.
There is also a new SaaS Accelerate Program for solution providers who are classified by AWS as technology partners that provides more market development funds for lead generation and proof-of-concept. Both the SaaS Factory and Accelerate will be available in 2018.
New Service Launch
Wise is also making AWS’s PrivateLink available for third-party SaaS applications from the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) without exposure to the public Internet. PrivateLink will be available on the AWS Marketplace. “The challenge has always been that those SaaS apps people want them on the public cloud. So, we have been working hard on this and now have PrivateLink for multiple clouds on private endpoints. This can now support customers and partners for SaaS,” Wise said.
SaaS apps AWS is targeting are from Salesforce.com, Autodesk, StealthWatch from Cisco, and Tibco. Wise added that this will lower transit costs and it will be a “huge game changer.”