As more customers adopt SaaS solutions to quickly maximize the value of their technology investments, the decision-makers for these purchases—often digital-first enterprise software buyers—are no longer limited to traditional IT roles and can be found across various departments within a business. In response, ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) and channel partners must collaborate to develop more effective strategies for influencing these increasingly decentralized and dynamic sales cycles.
With a world of fast-growing digital native software companies building in the cloud and with Azure Marketplace – it’s likely to be the customer that discovers the enterprise application of tomorrow, before they have a conversation with an ISV or a partner.
Positioning yourself as the “SaaS ecosystem orchestrator” and managing multiparty private offers when it comes to enterprise contracting is therefore a must do activity for the next generation Microsoft channel partner. For channel organizations, you could start to see the Microsoft Azure Marketplace as a platform for modern partnering.
At Microsoft Ignite Live in Chicago, I had the pleasure of presenting a comprehensive practice builder for Azure Marketplace multiparty private offers (MPO) in your channel business. This session was aimed at helping partners leverage the full potential of the Azure Marketplace to drive growth and innovation.
Following the marketplace Summit in London, and the session at Ignite, the simple circular presentation of each of the stages of the Practice Builder became affectionately known as the “MPO donuts”!
Below, I’ll walk you through the key steps and insights shared during the presentation.
The Value of Multiparty Private Offers (MPO)
Multiparty Private Offers (MPO) provide significant benefits to all parties involved:
- Channel Partners: MPOs allow channel partners to collaborate with ISVs and to create tailored solutions for customers. This collaboration enhances the value proposition, enables partners to tap into pre-committed cloud budgets, and drives significant business growth
- Customers: Customers benefit from purchasing solutions through their trusted channel partners, but with the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace as the mechanism of delivery. Together, the marketplace and the partner can deliver the perfect balance of agility and innovation with software, with good SaaS governance. This approach simplifies procurement, optimizes costs, and ensures that customers receive comprehensive support and services from their channel ecosystem
- ISVs: For ISVs, MPOs offer an opportunity to modernize their sales message and reach new markets. By delivering solutions through the Azure Marketplace and a Microsoft Channel partner, ISVs benefit from broader and better adoption of their technology, break out of traditional silos and access a better engaged customer base
The Microsoft Marketplace “Channel Practice Builder” (MCPB) is a simple 4 stage methodology to help you build and grow your Azure Marketplace resell capability. In each of the 4 stages there are a number of requirements, with an action and recommendation.
You can download and see all the individual stages of the full Channel Practice Builder at aka.ms/UKMPO.
Here I’ll walk you through the 4 stages at a high level.
Step 1: Foundation
The first step in enabling MPOs is to establish a strong foundation. This involves understanding the Azure Marketplace ecosystem and the business process change requirements across various roles in your organization. It’s crucial to align your business strategy with the capabilities and opportunities provided by the marketplace.
- Understand the ecosystem: Familiarize yourself with the Azure Marketplace and the different types of private offers available. This knowledge will help you identify the best opportunities for your business
- Align business strategy: Ensure that your business strategy aligns with the capabilities of the Azure Marketplace, and make sure the process has an initial owner and executive sponsor. This alignment will enable you to leverage the marketplace effectively and drive growth
Step 2: Enablement
Next, focus on enablement. This step involves equipping your team with the necessary skills and knowledge to navigate the Azure Marketplace and starts to build out the cross functional operational best practice. Training sessions, workshops, and leveraging Microsoft’s extensive resources can be immensely beneficial. Ensure that your team is well-versed in creating and managing private offers.
- Training and workshops: Conduct training sessions and workshops to equip your team with the skills needed to create and manage MPOs. Microsoft provides a wealth of resources to support this training
- Best practices: A number of key steps to success are included in the enablement section, including building a “single source of truth”, ensuring your quote to private offer process is defined, and selecting Microsoft Marketplace first ISVs to partner with to drive this new seller motion.
Step 3: Execution
Execution is where the rubber meets the road. Here, you’ll start collaborating with ISV partners to build Go To Market (GTM) activity to drive the net new opportunity. This involves clear communication, defining roles and responsibilities, and ensuring that all parties are aligned with the customer’s needs. Utilize the tools and support provided by Microsoft to streamline this process.
- Collaborate with partners: Build your campaigns (and use the resources such as the Marketplace MPO “Campaign in a box” https://aka.ms/PartnerMPOCampaign), map your high propensity accounts, and look to agree steps for success across the business and those of your aligned ISV partners
- Utilize Microsoft tools: Make use of the tools and support provided by Microsoft to streamline the execution process. This includes leveraging the Azure Marketplace platform to manage transactions and offers
Step 4: Growth
Finally, focus on growth. Once your MPOs are up and running, continuously monitor and optimize the process to evolve your business practices and modernize your SaaS resell capability. Gather feedback from customers and partners to refine your offerings. Leverage analytics and insights to identify new opportunities and scale your business.
- Monitor and optimize: Continuously monitor the performance of your MPO sales and ops processes and make necessary adjustments to optimize them
- Gather feedback: Collect feedback from customers and partners to refine your offerings and ensure they meet the needs of the market
- Build dedicated resource teams: At this stage the most successful partners enhance the trust of their internal teams by having a dedicated Marketplace Sales lead, operational lead and even an ISV/Vendor alliances lead.
Key Takeaways
- Collaboration is key: Building a successful channel practice to maximize the opportunity with cloud marketplaces relies on strong collaboration and clearly defined goals both internally and externally with your ISV partners. Establish clear communication channels and foster a collaborative culture.
- Leverage Microsoft resources: Microsoft provides a wealth of resources to support partners in creating and managing MPOs. Including Microsoft multiparty private offers and the “Mastering the Marketplace” assets at Private offers in Partner Center - Mastering the Marketplace Make full use of these tools to enhance your capabilities.
- Focus on customer needs: Always keep the customer at the center of your strategy. Customers are modernizing their application stacks and the Microsoft ecosystem (product and partner) is at the very heart of this. Channel partners have the opportunity to maximize their customer value by embracing a Microsoft Commercial Marketplace business strategy
Conclusion
Enabling Azure Marketplace multiparty private offers in your channel business can unlock significant growth opportunities. By following these steps and leveraging the resources available, you can create a compelling and highly efficient modern SaaS resell practice that drives customer success and business growth.
You can view the full MPO Channel Adoption framework at aka.ms/UKMPO
Updated Dec 19, 2024
Version 4.0DarrenSharpe
Microsoft
Joined December 03, 2024
Marketplace blog
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