Maximize selling with Microsoft and Marketplace ROI
Incentives, rewards, and WorkSpan's AI-powered automation. Most Microsoft partners are leaving money on the table — not because they lack commitment, but because selling with Microsoft workflows, incentive applications, and Microsoft Marketplace reward programs can seem complex and, therefore, are easy to deprioritize. Join us as we share real workflows used by partners who have closed over $5 billion in co-sell revenue with Microsoft. Cut through the noise and walk away with the knowledge you need to: Navigate selling with Microsoft end-to-end. Apply for Azure sponsorship most partners don’t know they qualify for Earn the Marketplace rewards that most partners miss Use AI to automate repetitive Partner Center tasks that slow your team down WorkSpan provides AI agents for sellers and partner managers through the WorkSpan.AI Marketplace and Co-sell Platform For Sellers: WorkSpan's in‑CRM AI drives earlier, smarter co‑sell actions. For Partner Managers: WorkSpan's AI‑powered insights help launch and scale Microsoft partnerships. How do I participate? Select Add to calendar to save the date, then click the Attend button to save your spot, receive event reminders, and participate in the Q&A.* If you can’t make the live event, don’t worry. You can post questions in advance and catch up on the answers and insights later in the week. This session will be recorded and available on demand immediately after airing. It will feature AI-generated captions during the live broadcast. Human-generated captions and a recap of the Q&A will be available by the end of the week. * Don’t see the Attend button? Sign in to your Marketplace Tech Community account or register for the Tech Community and join the conversation!
The AI-powered partner: Winning in the Microsoft ecosystem
About the author: Richard Jean-Felix, Cloud Marketplace Architect, WorkSpan has spent his career at the intersection of cloud marketplace strategy and partner operations, with hands-on experience helping organizations scale their presence on both AWS and Microsoft Marketplace. At WorkSpan, he works directly with partners navigating the operational complexity of Microsoft co-sell, from integrating leads in Partner Central to building the processes that turn marketplace listings into repeatable revenue. He's the person in the room who's actually done the work. About WorkSpan: WorkSpan provides AI agents for sellers and partner managers through the WorkSpan.AI Marketplace and Co-sell Platform For Sellers: WorkSpan's in‑CRM AI drives earlier, smarter co‑sell actions. For Partner Managers: WorkSpan's AI‑powered insights help launch and scale Microsoft partnerships. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How AI is rewriting the rules of co-sell, Microsoft Marketplace success, and enterprise procurement — and why the window to act is now. For years, success in Microsoft's partner ecosystem came down to relationships, hustle, and knowing the right people. Those things still matter. But the gap between partner organizations that are winning and those that are stalling has opened — and increasingly, the difference isn't effort, it's intelligence. The volume of signals a modern partner leader is expected to act on — pipeline health, seller engagement, marketplace activity, incentive windows, account targeting, co-sell alignment — has grown faster than any team can process manually. At the same time, a seismic shift in how enterprise software is bought and sold is reshaping every go-to-market strategy. Cloud marketplaces are becoming the default procurement channel. AI is becoming the operating system of high-performing partnerships and selling with Microsoft's ecosystem is rewarding the prepared, the consistent, and the fast. This guide brings together the most critical insights from across the Microsoft partner landscape — the marketplace mistakes that cost software companies millions, the signals Microsoft sellers act on, the future of enterprise procurement, and the AI capabilities becoming table stakes for partner leaders who intend to win. Part 01 / The new procurement reality Cloud marketplaces are becoming the default buying channel For decades, enterprise software procurement followed a familiar path: a vendor sold directly to the customer, procurement teams negotiated contracts, finance approved the purchase, and software was deployed within the customer's infrastructure. That model is rapidly replaced. Cloud marketplaces like Microsoft Marketplace are no longer simply listing directories. They have evolved into strategic procurement channels that align the interests of customers, cloud providers, and software vendors simultaneously. The committed spend driver Large enterprises frequently commit hundreds of millions of dollars to cloud providers through multi-year agreements. When customers purchase software through a cloud marketplace, that purchase often counts toward their cloud spend commitments, uses existing cloud budgets, and avoids adding new vendor contracts to finance's plate. Procurement simplicity changes everything Traditional enterprise procurement can take months: vendor onboarding, contract negotiation, security reviews, procurement approvals, payment processing. Cloud marketplaces streamline this entire process. Because the software vendor is already integrated with the cloud provider's billing infrastructure, procurement teams can often purchase using the same contract they already have with the cloud provider. For software vendors, this means faster sales cycles and dramatically reduced time-to-revenue. For customers, it means deploying solutions in days, not months. The ecosystem reshaping partner relationships Marketplaces introduce new collaboration opportunities: partners can bundle solutions together, participate in multiparty private offers, transact jointly, and align services with software purchases. AI automation opportunity: AI can automate the monitoring of Marketplace performance metrics — pipeline health, private offer status, renewal windows, and Azure consumption contribution — surfacing next-best actions before opportunities slip. What once required manual reporting across multiple systems becomes a continuous, intelligent feed of actionable insight. Part 02 / Common pitfalls The 7 biggest mistakes software companies make with Microsoft Marketplace Microsoft Marketplace has become one of the fastest-growing enterprise software procurement channels. Many companies struggle to gain traction — and in most cases, the problem isn't Marketplace itself. It's the strategy behind how it's used. Mistake 01 — Treating Marketplace as a "listing requirement" Publishing a listing to satisfy a partner requirement — but never actively using it. Little internal awareness, minimal seller adoption, no real revenue impact. ✓ Fix: Treat your listing as a core sales asset integrated into every deal. Mistake 02 — Waiting until the end of the deal to introduce Marketplace Introducing Marketplace only at procurement stage creates friction and stalled deals. The deal structure is already set, and changing it feels disruptive. ✓ Fix: Position Marketplace as a buying advantage from first contact. Mistake 03 — Not enabling Microsoft sellers Without enablement, Microsoft sellers don't know what your solution does, which customers it fits, or how it drives Azure consumption — so they won't bring it to deals. ✓ Fix: Provide a one-page seller pitch, target profiles, and Azure architecture alignment. Mistake 04 — Making private offers operationally difficult When creating a private offer requires multiple approval steps, manual calculations, and cross-team coordination, deals stall and sales teams avoid it. ✓ Fix: Automate private offer creation — it should be as easy as generating a quote. Mistake 05 — Ignoring internal sales enablement If your own sellers don't understand compensation for Marketplace deals or see it as friction, they'll actively avoid it regardless of customer readiness. ✓ Fix: Ensure sales compensation neutrality and train teams on marketplace value. Mistake 06 — Not tracking Marketplace performance Without visibility into pipeline influence, co-sell rates, and revenue flow, leadership can't justify investment and the program stalls from neglect. ✓ Fix: Track Marketplace pipeline, win rates, and Azure consumption as core revenue metrics. Mistake 07 — Failing to build a repeatable Marketplace motion Celebrating a first Marketplace deal but never scaling beyond it. The real value comes from repeatability — automated offer creation, seller training, co-sell alignment, renewals, and upsell offers built into a consistent operating model. ✓ Fix: Think of Marketplace as an operational capability, not a transactional tool. AI automation opportunity: AI can directly address the most painful of these mistakes. Automated private offer generation reduces Mistake 04 from a multi-day process to minutes. Intelligent seller enablement surfaces the right pitch and customer profile in context — eliminating Mistakes 03 and 05 without manual coordination. Performance dashboards powered by AI turn Mistake 06 into a continuous leadership advantage rather than a quarterly scramble. Part 03 / The co-sell engine How Microsoft sellers decide which partners to co-sell with Microsoft's field organization includes thousands of account executives and cloud sellers working with enterprise customers across the globe. In theory, this presents a massive opportunity. Microsoft sellers prioritize only a small number of partners in their daily sales motions. Does the solution drive Azure consumption? The single most important factor. Every Microsoft cloud seller is measured on Azure revenue growth. Solutions driving AI/ML workloads, data and analytics, security, or industry-specific Azure infrastructure receive the most attention. Is the solution easy to sell? Microsoft sellers operate with aggressive targets and little time. Top partners provide a simple one-page field brief: value proposition, ideal customer scenario, Azure architecture, and Marketplace purchasing instructions. Is the solution available through Microsoft Marketplace? Microsoft sellers strongly prefer solutions purchasable through Marketplace. Transactions simplify procurement and help customers apply purchases toward Azure consumption commitments — a win for the customer, Microsoft, and the partner. Is the partner actively engaged in selling with Microsoft? Publishing a listing is not enough. Effective partners register opportunities in Partner Center, share deal updates with Microsoft account teams, and participate in joint customer meetings. Does the partner have strong customer proof? Solutions with strong customer validation — case studies, referenceable deployments, measurable business outcomes — are much easier for sellers to recommend with confidence. Is the partner easy to work with? Partners who respond quickly, provide clear pricing, simplify contracting through Marketplace, and support joint selling activities build trust over time. Do Microsoft sellers know you exist? Even the best solution struggles if sellers aren't aware of it. Successful partners invest in seller briefings, joint webinars, and account planning sessions to actively build visibility. AI automation opportunity: The most transformative AI application in co-sell is moving from "here's our content, go find it" to one where intelligence is delivered to the seller proactively: the right account, the right partner fit, the right "better together" message — all surfaced automatically in the flow of how sellers actually work. Partners that crack seller activation at scale build a structural advantage that's very hard for competitors to close. Part 04 / The intelligence layer The partner leader's attention problem is real and structural. A typical partner organization is simultaneously managing dozens to hundreds of active co-sell opportunities, seller relationships across Microsoft field teams, Marketplace offers with expiration dates, incentive programs with changing eligibility, and account targeting decisions that should be data-driven but rarely are. Most partner teams are operating on instinct and heroics. Things fall through the cracks not because people aren't working hard — but because the volume of decisions requiring good information exceeds what's humanly possible to track. AI addresses this at the root: not by replacing the partner leader's judgment, but by ensuring that judgment is applied to the right things, at the right time, with the right context. 🔍 Pipeline intelligence — AI continuously monitors pipeline health, flags deals going cold before it's too late, scores accounts by fit based on historical win patterns, and surfaces at-risk opportunities automatically. ✍️ Content generation — AI generates targeted value propositions for specific verticals, drafts seller-ready one-pagers, creates account-specific "better together" narratives, and produces ROI examples grounded in real customer data. ⚡ Offer automation — AI automates private offer creation workflows, proactively surfaces renewal windows, and reduces time-to-offer from days to minutes. 🎯 Account targeting — AI identifies accounts that look like past wins, generates lookalike account lists, surfaces applicable incentives in context, and ensures the right partner-to-account fit reaches the right seller at the right moment. 📊 Unified reporting — AI connects co-sell data, Marketplace data, seller activation data, and partner relationship data into a single view of partnership health — enabling leaders to see around corners and catch at-risk relationships before QBRs. 🔄 Repeatability — AI transforms one-time Marketplace transactions into repeatable operational playbooks, automating renewals, surfacing upsell signals, and systematizing institutional knowledge. Part 05 / The compounding return The ecosystem intelligence layer: Where it all connects Individual AI capabilities are valuable. But the real step-change comes when those capabilities are connected — when co-sell data, Marketplace data, seller activation data, and partner relationship data inform a unified view of partnership health. Most partner organizations today operate with fragmented data: CRM in one place, partner portal data in another, Marketplace reporting somewhere else, and seller feedback captured nowhere. Every leadership meeting requires someone to manually pull everything together — and even then, the picture is incomplete. Partner leaders who build a connected ecosystem intelligence layer gain the ability to see around corners — to know before a QBR that a key co-sell relationship is at risk, to catch a Marketplace renewal window before the customer's procurement cycle closes, to see that a particular vertical is outperforming and double down before the opportunity peaks. This is the compounding return on AI investment in partnerships. The longer you run on connected data, the smarter your decisions get — and the harder it becomes for competitors operating on intuition to catch up. AI turns co-sell from a relationship management problem into a performance management discipline. Partner leaders who make this shift stop asking "are we aligned with Microsoft?" and start asking, "what does our data say about where we win, where we stall, and what the next best action is?" Conclusion The window to build this advantage is now The enterprise software buying process is evolving faster than most organizations are moving. Cloud marketplaces are rapidly becoming one of the most important channels for software procurement. Microsoft's selling programs reward partners who are prepared, consistent and responsive - and AI enables partners to meet those expectations at scale. The partners building this capability today are already seeing the effects — in seller engagement, pipeline conversion, Marketplace performance, and the quality of their strategic conversations with Microsoft. The infrastructure to do this exists, and it doesn't require a multi-year transformation. Success in the Microsoft ecosystem doesn't come from simply publishing a Marketplace listing or registering as a co-sell partner. It comes from building a structured, AI-powered go-to-market operation that turns every signal — every deal, every seller interaction, every Marketplace transaction — into compounding intelligence. Those who adapt early and build strong Marketplace strategies, powered by AI, will be well positioned to capture the growing opportunity of this new procurement model. Join us on April 28th for a live webinar to learn more and ask questions. Maximize selling with Microsoft and Marketplace ROI - Microsoft Marketplace Community. If you are unable to attend, the session will be recorded and available on demand via the same link.Why Azure belongs in your multicloud strategy
For software development companies building and selling through Microsoft Marketplace, a strong multicloud strategy can accelerate customer acquisition, increase deal size, and unlock new co-sell opportunities. Tune in to learn when and why Azure should be part of your strategy. Find out how to replicate solutions for Azure. Hear why Marketplace-aligned companies are able to move quickly using Microsoft tools, funding, and incentives. By the end of this event, Microsoft partners and cloud replication experts will help you understand: How Azure strengthens Marketplace success, including enterprise readiness, co-sell alignment, and scalable architecture. Microsoft funding programs and incentives available to Marketplace partners to help offset replication and modernization efforts. How to get started fast using tools like Azure Migrate or by working with an experienced replication partner. Practical next steps to turn replication and modernization into marketing qualified leads and long-term Marketplace momentum. This session is ideal for software development companies that sell—or plan to sell—through Microsoft Marketplace and want to grow faster by aligning their cloud strategy with Azure, Microsoft incentives, and partner-led execution. How do I participate? Select Add to calendar to save the date, then click the Attend button to save your spot, receive event reminders, and participate in the Q&A.* If you can’t make the live event, don’t worry. You can post questions in advance and catch up on the answers and insights later in the week. This session will be recorded and available on demand immediately after airing. It will feature AI-generated captions during the live broadcast. Human-generated captions and a recap of the Q&A will be available by the end of the week. * Don’t see the Attend button? Sign in to your Marketplace Tech Community account or register for the Tech Community and join the conversation!Replicating solutions to Azure: The business case, the incentives, and how to get there fast
Johan Aussenac is CEO at WeTransact a Microsoft Certified Software company specializing in Microsoft Marketplace listing, co-sell activation, and cloud GTM strategy for software companies. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ When should Azure be part of your cloud strategy and what does Microsoft offer to help you get there? Most software development companies building on AWS did so for the right reasons. AWS is mature, well-documented, and has been the default for cloud-native companies for over a decade. This article is not an argument for abandoning that. It is an argument for asking a more strategic question: at what point does adding Azure to your infrastructure also open a fundamentally different commercial channel and what does it cost to get there? For a growing number of software companies the answer is clear. Azure is not just an alternative cloud. It is an entry point into Microsoft's commercial ecosystem: its seller network, its enterprise relationships, and a marketplace transacting billions of dollars of software annually. Understanding when and how to replicate your solution to Azure and add it to your strategy is increasingly a GTM decision, not just an infrastructure one. The business case: Why Azure belongs in a multi-cloud strategy Microsoft as a distribution channel When a software company lists in Microsoft Marketplace and enrolls in co-sell, Microsoft's own field sellers more than 25,000 globally, are incentivized to include that software company’s product in their customer conversations. This is not passive discoverability. It is an active sales motion, driven by a specific commercial mechanism. The mechanism is the Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC). Large enterprises increasingly sign pre-committed cloud spend agreements with Microsoft. Software transacted through Microsoft Marketplace counts toward these commitments, which means enterprise procurement teams actively prefer Marketplace-listed solutions they help burn down an existing budget obligation. For software companies, this translates to reduced procurement friction and shorter sales cycles inside accounts that already have a Microsoft relationship. By comparison, neither AWS nor Google Cloud offers this at an equivalent scale. Microsoft's footprint spanning Office 365, Teams, Dynamics 365, Azure, and now Copilot touches more business units and more decision-makers across an enterprise than any other vendor. Adding Azure to your stack means plugging into that network. Technical differentiators worth knowing Beyond the commercial case, Azure offers capabilities that are genuinely differentiated for certain software company profiles: Azure OpenAI Service. Microsoft holds an exclusive enterprise partnership with OpenAI. For software companies that need GPT-4o or o1 with private endpoints, data residency, and enterprise compliance certifications, this is only available on Azure. Microsoft 365 and Copilot extensibility. Software companies can embed products directly into Teams, Outlook, and Word via Copilot plugins and agents, which is a distribution surface with no direct equivalent on other clouds. Microsoft Entra ID. Most enterprise identity infrastructure runs on Entra ID (formerly Active Directory). Native SSO and RBAC integration is cleaner when you build on Azure. The .NET and Windows ecosystem. For teams and customers already in the Microsoft developer stack, Azure is simply where the tooling is best optimized. Microsoft's funding and incentives for software companies One of the most underutilized advantages of moving to Azure is the range of Microsoft programs designed to offset the cost and complexity of doing so. Both of the following are free to join and available to most software companies. Microsoft for Startups (Founders Hub). Provides up to $150,000 in Azure credits in the first year, plus access to technical advisory, developer tooling, and go-to-market support. Enroll before you begin any replication. These credits cover compute and storage costs during your build and test phases. ISV Success. Microsoft's program for software companies building on Azure. It includes technical architecture guidance, co-sell readiness support, and dedicated Microsoft contacts. ISV Success enrolment is also the prerequisite for co-sell eligibility, the commercial mechanism that unlocks Microsoft's seller network on your behalf. Both programs include access to Microsoft technical advisors at no charge. This is worth emphasizing: before spending on a replication partner or committing engineering time, software companies can get a scoped assessment of their replication from Microsoft itself, tailored to their specific stack and target architecture. How to get there: Partner-led or self-service There are two realistic paths to adding Azure. The right one depends on your engineering bandwidth, your timeline, and how much of the replication you want to own internally. The partner-led path (recommended for most software companies) For founders and CTOs, the real cost of replication is not tooling, it is engineering time diverted from product. Every sprint spent on infrastructure is a sprint not spent on customer value. A partner-led approach solves this directly. Enroll in a Microsoft program. Start with Microsoft for Startups or ISV Success (or both). This secures your credits, establishes your Microsoft relationship, and is the prerequisite for co-sell access. It is free and should be done before anything else. Book a free technical consultation. Use the technical advisory included in your program to scope your replication with Microsoft. Explain your stack, your target architecture, and your timeline. This session produces a documented brief which becomes your handoff document for step three. Engage a specialist partner. Take that brief to an Azure Expert MSP, Microsoft's highest-tier replication partners, certified for complex replications and incentivized by Microsoft to keep costs manageable, often including access to replication credits that offset engagement fees. Alternatively, Microsoft Certified Software companies (such as WeTransact) can handle both the replication and the parallel Marketplace listing and co-sell activation, so you arrive on Azure already set up to sell, not just to run. The self-service path For software companies with available engineering capacity and simpler workloads, a self-directed replication is viable. The tooling has improved significantly. The key tools are: Azure Migrate Microsoft's free hub for discovery, assessment, and replication. Maps AWS services to Azure equivalents, flags compatibility issues, and estimates costs. Start here for any self-service replication. Azure Storage Mover Built specifically for moving data from AWS S3 to Azure Blob Storage. Supports parallel transfers, preserves file metadata, and integrates with Azure Monitor for progress tracking. Azure Database Migration Service (DMS) Migrates SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB and others from AWS RDS or on-premises to Azure managed database services. AWS DataSync Useful for transferring large datasets between AWS and Azure storage during a phased replication. Azure Data Factory For complex ETL workloads: extracting, transforming, and loading data across clouds with scheduling and conflict resolution. Azure Well-Architected Framework Run this assessment against your current architecture before replicating it. It evaluates reliability, security, cost, performance, and operations. The goal is to land in a better architectural state, not simply replicate what existed on AWS. Whichever path you take, one step is non-negotiable: establishing a proper Azure landing zone before any workload moves. This means setting up your subscription structure, networking, identity, governance, and monitoring upfront. Microsoft publishes a software company-specific landing zone guide and a portal-based accelerator (no infrastructure-as-code expertise required) to make this straightforward. Skipping creates security and compliance debt that is significantly harder to fix retroactively. The bottom line Adding Azure to your cloud strategy is not primarily an infrastructure decision. It is a go-to-market decision. The question is whether your company benefits from access to Microsoft's seller network, its enterprise customer base, and Marketplace mechanics that reduce procurement friction for your buyers. For many software companies, the answer is yes and Microsoft's programs make the cost of getting there lower than most assume. The partner ecosystem exists to take the technical burden off your engineering team. The self-service tools are capable enough for simpler replications. The commercial opportunity on the other side, co-sell, MACC alignment, Marketplace distribution is real and growing. To learn more join us on April 2, 2026, at 8:30 AM PDT for Why Azure belongs in your multicloud strategy - Microsoft Marketplace Community and live Q&A. If you miss the session, you will be able to watch it on demand through the same link. Where to start → Microsoft for Startups → ISV Success → Azure Expert MSP directory: partner.microsoft.com → Software company-specific Azure landing zone guide: Independent software vendor (ISV) considerations for Azure landing zones - Cloud Adoption Framework | Microsoft Learn This article was produced in partnership with WeTransact, a Microsoft Certified Software company specializing in Microsoft Marketplace listing, co-sell activation, and cloud GTM strategy for software companies.Best practices for scaling Marketplace channel-led sales
Channel-led sales through Microsoft Marketplace are a critical strategy for software companies looking to scale partner-driven revenue. Get a closer look at how to activate channel opportunities using multiparty private offers (MPO). Learn when to leverage resale-enabled offers to expand partner reach. The team from Tackle will walk you through MPO fundamentals and best practices. Find out who MPO is designed for, how to enable partners and customers, and what to expect throughout the lifecycle—from offer creation to purchase and payouts. You’ll gain practical insights on structuring deals, supporting partner-led opportunities, and ensuring smooth transactions within Microsoft Marketplace. You'll also gain a better understanding of resale-enabled offers, so you know when they are the right model for enabling broader, repeatable partner sales and how they can support a scalable long-term channel strategy. Don't miss this chance to learn how to operationalize channel-led sales in Microsoft Marketplace and choose the right approach for partner-driven growth. How do I participate? Select Add to calendar to save the date, then click the Attend button to save your spot, receive event reminders, and participate in the Q&A.* If you can’t make the live event, don’t worry. You can post questions in advance and catch up on the answers and insights later in the week. This session will be recorded and available on demand immediately after airing. It will feature AI-generated captions during the live broadcast. Human-generated captions and a recap of the Q&A will be available by the end of the week. * Don’t see the Attend button? Sign in to your Marketplace Tech Community account or register for the Tech Community and join the conversation!Best practices for scaling channel-led growth in Microsoft Marketplace
Vathsalya Senapathi leads Partner GTM at Tackle, blending co-sell, co-marketing, and operations to drive top of funnel revenue and customer value through cloud and ecosystem partnerships _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For software development companies selling through Microsoft Marketplace, working with channel partners can expand your reach to more prospective buyers and drive marketplace revenue as part of a well-orchestrated Cloud GTM strategy. Multiparty private offers are a key enabler of that strategy. What are multiparty private offers? Multiparty private offers enable software companies to tap into Microsoft’s global partner ecosystem—more than 400,000 partners strong—including Solutions Integrators (SIs), Managed Services Providers (MSPs), and Value-Added Resellers (VARs). Multiparty private offers work similarly to standard private offers but are sold to the customer via a channel partner rather than directly by the software company. The software company sets the wholesale price, and the channel partner adds their margin when creating the offer. Importantly, channel partners are not charged a marketplace fee for participating in a multiparty private offer transaction. The result is a streamlined path to market: software companies and channel partners collaborate to create customized offers, and customers purchase through Microsoft Marketplace with simplified procurement. Multiparty private offers are currently available to customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Multiparty private offers as part of your Cloud GTM strategy Channel partners bring far more to the table than simplified procurement. They maintain deep, trust-based customer relationships and often specialize in specific industries or verticals—giving them the domain expertise to position and customize solutions for distinct customer segments. They can also facilitate integration with other technology vendors, creating more comprehensive offerings that address a broader range of customer needs. For software companies, working through channel partners enables faster, more cost-effective distribution. Partners can absorb tasks like lead generation, sales enablement, and customer support—freeing up internal resources while accelerating market penetration, customer acquisition, and revenue growth. Benefits of Microsoft’s multiparty private offers For software companies: Multiparty private offers open new sales avenues by enabling a broader partner ecosystem to sell on your behalf. Software companies can reach new customers through channel partners, collaborate on joint solutions, and scale distribution without a proportional increase in direct sales headcount. For channel partners: Multiparty private offers gives partners the ability to work with software companies, create customized offers, and sell directly to Microsoft customers through Marketplace—expanding their own portfolio without building software from scratch. For customers: Customers can maintain their trusted partner relationships while streamlining software procurement and deployment through Marketplace. For customers with an Azure cloud consumption commitment, eligible multiparty private offers purchases—specifically those tied to Azure IP co-sell solutions—count toward that commitment, helping them maximize their cloud investments and simplify consolidation of transactions. How it works The multiparty private offers process follows three straightforward steps: Collaborate: The software company and channel partner identify the right solution for the customer and negotiate terms. The software company extends a private offer to the channel partner, who then adds their details to create the multiparty private offer. Sell: The channel partner sends the offer to the customer. The customer accepts and purchases through Marketplace in the same way they would with a standard private offer. For customers with an Azure consumption commitment, eligible purchases count toward that commitment. Payment and payouts: Microsoft manages collection and payment, ensuring all partners are paid accordingly. Requirements to participate Multiparty private offers are available to software companies that meet Microsoft Marketplace eligibility requirements, including: Enrollment in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Enrollment in the Microsoft Marketplace program with an active Marketplace seller ID in Partner Center Completion of required tax profiles in Partner Center for the geographies where the offer is sold and transacted (for example, U.S.; additional tax or VAT profiles may be required for the UK or Canada depending on the selling entity) A publicly published and transactable Marketplace offer Customer must have a valid Microsoft commercial billing account (EA or MCA), be enabled to purchase through Microsoft Marketplace, and be located in a supported market (currently the U.S., UK, or Canada) An Account owner or Marketplace manager role associated with the Marketplace seller ID in Partner Center. These roles are required to create, submit, withdraw, and manage private offers (including MPOs). A Developer role may work on offer setup, technical configuration, and draft private offers, but cannot submit or publish private offers. How Tackle can help you manage multiparty private offers Tackle offers full support for multiparty private offers, helping software companies efficiently scale their reach through the partner ecosystem while simplifying the sales process. Integrate and manage listings. Tackle helps you manage the marketplace listing that makes multipaty private offers possible. Tackle Offers enables you to create, customize, track, and recognize revenue from private offers with ease—whether sold directly by your team or through a channel partner. The platform processes entitlements and sends notifications via email, Slack, and more. Report on multiparty private offers deals. Tackle’s reporting dashboard provides in-depth visibility into every financial transaction, giving your sales and accounting teams insight into the full transaction lifecycle—paving the way for repeatable processes, shortened timelines, and faster closes. Not a fit for multiparty private offers? Consider resale enabled offers Multiparty private offers are purpose-built for complex, high-touch deals with a specific partner and customer—but are not the right fit for every situation. If your goal is to quickly authorize many partners to resell your solution at scale, resale enabled offers may be better suited for scaled partner resale scenarios, subject to Marketplace and CSP country availability. Where multiparty private offers are a three-party, negotiated contract between a software company, a single partner, and a customer, resale enabled offers enables a “many-to-many” model—allowing you to authorize a broad network of partners to resell your products globally with minimal overhead. The two tools are also complementary: resale enabled offers can be used to facilitate multiparty private offer deals, making a useful foundation for software companies building out a full channel strategy. In short, use resale enabled offers when you want to scale your channel quickly and broadly; use multiparty private offers when you’re working with a specific partner to close a high-value, bespoke deal. Tackle helps hundreds of the world’s best software companies build and scale their Cloud GTM revenue through Microsoft Marketplace and beyond. To learn more join us on March 24, 2026, at 8:30 AM PDT for Best practices for scaling Marketplace channel-led sales - Microsoft Marketplace Community and Q&A. If you miss the session, you will be able to watch it on demand through the same link.AI-powered automation for Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell
Tune in to learn how software development companies can use AI‑powered automation to simplify buying through Microsoft Marketplace, streamline Microsoft Marketplace private offers, and maximize the effectiveness of co-selling opportunities. Join Jon Yoo, Co-Founder & CEO at Suger, as he explores how reducing operational friction in Partner Center can help you accelerate deal velocity, improve collaboration with Microsoft sellers, and drive Azure adoption. What you will learn: How to simplify Microsoft Marketplace private offers by automating the connection between your customer relationship management (CRM) systems and Partner Center, enabling faster deal execution and a better buying experience. How to improve Microsoft IP co‑sell engagement with automated referral validation, accurate account targeting, and stronger alignment with Microsoft sellers. How AI helps accelerate Azure adoption and partner success by reducing Marketplace complexity, improving data accuracy, and scaling go‑to‑market operations. How do I participate? Select Add to calendar to save the date, then click the Attend button to save your spot, receive event reminders, and participate in the Q&A.* If you can’t make the live event, don’t worry. You can post questions in advance and catch up on the answers and insights later in the week. This session will be recorded and available on demand immediately after airing. It will feature AI-generated captions during the live broadcast. Human-generated captions and a recap of the Q&A will be available by the end of the week. * Don’t see the Attend button? Sign in to your Marketplace Tech Community account or register for the Tech Community and join the conversation!How to streamline Microsoft Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell with AI-powered automation
Kyle Heisner is a veteran GTM and Cloud Marketplace leader at Suger with extensive experience helping software companies scale through strategic partnerships and co-sell programs. He is known for transforming complex cloud ecosystems into clear, repeatable revenue motions. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For software development companies selling through Microsoft Marketplace, the operational path from publishing a listing to closing a Marketplace private offer often feels like managing two separate businesses. You have your internal sales motion in your CRM, then you have the structured, plan-driven world of Partner Center. Bridging the gap between these two worlds — specifically configuring plans, managing billing terms, and maintaining accurate IP co-sell referrals — can create significant operational overhead. This guide walks through the key operational challenges of Marketplace private offer and IP co-sell workflows and shows how Suger's automation and AI capabilities reduce manual effort at each step. Mastering Microsoft’s Marketplace private offers The most common friction point for sellers new to Microsoft is the concept of the plan. In the Microsoft ecosystem, you cannot simply define a loosely structured contract with arbitrary dates; you must define explicit plans, billing terms, and pricing per term within Partner Center. If your CRM quote does not align perfectly with a pre-configured Microsoft plan, the transaction fails. The key is creating a reliable translation layer between your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar) and Microsoft Partner Center — one that maps your negotiated commercial terms to Microsoft’s required structure without forcing your sales team to become experts in portal navigation. Here's what that looks like in practice: Map deals to pre-defined Microsoft plans Whether your pricing is flat rate or per user, the goal is to ensure every CRM opportunity maps correctly before an offer is generated. With a CRM-native integration (such as Suger's Salesforce connector), a seller can click "Create Private Offer" and the system automatically: Identifies the correct Microsoft Plan ID Matches the negotiated term duration Aligns the offer with Microsoft's billing engine, no manual configuration required Close the loop from quote to cash Suger connects your CRM directly to Partner Center. Here's what the flow looks like: Opportunities are converted into Marketplace private offers without switching tools Once a customer accepts, the resulting entitlement syncs back to your system automatically Subscription data maps to your revenue recognition workflows and ERP The loop between the Microsoft commercial marketplace and your finance stack is closed, no re-keying required How to automate IP co-sell referrals and reduce rejection rates Achieving IP co-sell incentivized status is one of the most effective ways of unlocking access to Microsoft sellers and Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments (MACC). However, maintaining the operational rhythm of sharing referrals is often a manual burden involving repetitive data entry and frequent validation errors. Microsoft requires specific data hygiene — missing a solution ID or targeting an unmanaged account can cause a referral to fail or be routed to the wrong Microsoft account team. Validate before you submit When your sales team advances a deal in a CRM, the integration should validate the data against Microsoft's schema requirements before the referral is submitted to Partner Center. Suger does this automatically, checking for: Valid solution IDs Required contact details Overall field completeness This significantly reduces "Referral Declined" rates. Know whether you're working with a managed or unmanaged account One of the most common co-sell challenges is knowing who at Microsoft to work with. Managed accounts (those with a dedicated Microsoft account team) and unmanaged accounts require different approaches. A system that surfaces this distinction in your CRM — as Suger does — ensures your deal is routed to the correct seller, which accelerates deal support and improves approval rates. What's next: AI agents that operate your Microsoft GTM for you Suger is expanding these automation capabilities into fully AI-powered agents designed to handle the remaining manual steps in the Marketplace private offer and co-sell workflow, so software companies selling through Microsoft Marketplace can focus on closing deals, not configuring portals. Here's a summary of how Suger's AI agent capabilities map to the manual work they replace: Capability Manual work it replaces Impact for sellers AI-assisted listing creation Writing plan descriptions for every variation Better searchability, faster publishing Co-sell signal detection Reps manually flagging deals for co-sell Higher referral acceptance rates Automated field mapping Configuring CRM-to-Partner Center mappings Setup in minutes, not hours Partner intelligence Tracking which Microsoft relationships drive pipeline Data-driven co-sell strategy Pre-submission validation Troubleshooting failed referrals and offers Higher first-pass approval rates Together, these capabilities make Suger's AI agent an operational co-pilot for software companies on Microsoft Marketplace, reducing complexity, surfacing the right opportunities faster, and helping teams execute co-sell workflows with greater accuracy. For software companies looking to get started today, the practical steps above (plan mapping, referral validation, managed account detection) are where automation delivers the most immediate impact. To learn more and ask questions, attend the AI-powered automation for Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell session on March 11th. If you are unable to attend, the session will be recorded for on demand viewing after.Inside Azure IP co-sell: What high-performing software developers do differently
Get an insider’s view of what truly moves the needle for Microsoft Marketplace and Microsoft Azure IP co‑sell success. Guest speaker Barbara Treviño breaks down the signals Microsoft prioritizes when assessing submission strength—helping software development companies understand what great looks like across architecture, messaging, evidence, and sequencing. You’ll learn why high‑performing software development companies approach readiness differently, and how that difference translates directly into smoother approvals and stronger GTM impact. We'll also unpack the most common pitfalls that delay or derail Marketplace and Azure IP co‑sell progress, along with practical tips for aligning your solution, documentation, and customer proof with Microsoft’s expectations. You'll see how to turn Marketplace and co-sell into growth accelerators, not administrative hurdles, with guidance informed by Labra’s multi‑hyperscaler experience supporting partners through SCAP‑M. We'll end with live Q&A and recommended next steps for those who want hands‑on help refining or submitting their offer. How do I participate? Select Add to calendar to save the date, then click the Attend button to save your spot, receive event reminders, and participate in the Q&A.* If you can’t make the live event, don’t worry. You can post questions in advance and catch up on the answers and insights later in the week. This session will be recorded and available on demand immediately after airing. It will feature AI-generated captions during the live broadcast. Human-generated captions and a recap of the Q&A will be available by the end of the week. * Don’t see the Attend button? Sign in to your Marketplace Tech Community account or register for the Tech Community and join the conversation!IP Co-Sell best practices: What high performing SDCs do to accelerate Microsoft Marketplace success
Barbara Treviño (BT) is Director of Strategic Partnerships & Alliances at Labra. She is a seasoned partnership leader with more than a decade of experience across sales, partner operations, alliances, enablement, programs, and cloud marketplace go-to-market. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For Solution Development Companies (SDCs) building on Azure, Marketplace listing and IP Co-Sell eligibility are foundational milestones. But the SDCs who accelerate fastest—and generate meaningful traction with Microsoft—are the ones who understand that eligibility is only the beginning. Drawing from a decade working across the Microsoft ecosystem and leading Marketplace and Co-Sell readiness across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, I’ve seen a consistent pattern: high-performing SDCs prepare differently. They approach readiness as a strategic, architectural, and operational effort—not just a form submission. This article highlights what those SDCs do differently, why it matters, and the signals Microsoft looks for when evaluating partners beyond the checklist. Eligibility is the starting line—not the win SDCs often assume that once their offer is live and their IP Co-Sell submission is approved, Microsoft sellers will engage and pipeline will follow. In practice, Microsoft evaluates far more than the required fields. Seller confidence depends on deeper indicators of readiness, including: Technical alignment with Azure Architectural clarity in how the solution runs Customer outcomes that map to Azure value themes Consistent messaging across Marketplace assets SDC maturity in supporting joint customer conversations These factors influence whether a Partner Development Manager (PDM) or account executive sees a path to meaningful co-sell engagement. What high-performing SDCs do differently Across clouds and across maturity levels, top-performing SDCs consistently demonstrate five distinct behaviors: They lead with architectural clarity Azure‑aligned architecture is one of the strongest signals of technical readiness. High‑performing SDCs provide clear diagrams and narrative context that show exactly how their solution complements Azure services. They align their narrative to Microsoft’s sales motions Microsoft sellers need a replicable story. The strongest SDCs use language, outcomes, and framing that match how Microsoft positions value internally and externally. They present relevant customer evidence The best SDCs focus on customer outcomes that reinforce Azure consumption, modernization, or workload migration—not generic case studies. They sequence their readiness intentionally Rather than uploading every asset at once, high performers focus on what’s required now, save optional materials for later phases, and minimize rework cycles. They prepare for what happens after approval Eligibility is a threshold. Momentum requires internal readiness for co‑sell motions, customer engagement, and Marketplace operations. Why readiness staging accelerated IP Co-Sell approval Most delays during IP Co-Sell review come from misalignment—not missing assets. Common issues include: Architecture that contradicts the listing Evidence that doesn’t reinforce the solution’s value Positioning that isn’t Azure-aligned Assets uploaded “just in case” instead of intentionally Internal teams unprepared for post-listing motions High-performing SDCs move faster not because they rush, but because they prepare strategically. How Labra supports SDCs through SCAP-M Labra’s SCAP-M (SaaS Co-Sell Accelerator for Microsoft) program focuses on the deeper readiness drivers that influence Microsoft engagement, including: Azure-aligned reference architecture development Marketplace and solution-story coherence Customer evidence refinement Readiness sequencing to reduce review cycles Internal preparation for post-approval co-sell motions This is where structured support has the greatest impact—accelerating both eligibility and long-term field engagement. How can you learn more? Join me on February 25th for a live session where we will take a deeper look at: What Microsoft evaluates beyond the form How readiness staging reduces delays Where SDCs unintentionally create friction Why architecture, evidence, and narrative matter for seller adoption Practical insights drawn from Labra’s multi-cloud experience A live Q&A will follow for SDCs interested in accelerating their Marketplace and Co-Sell motion on Azure. Follow this link to add the session to your calendar: Inside Azure IP co-sell: What high-performing software developers do differently - Microsoft Marketplace Community If you miss the live session- don't worry, you can use the same link to view a recording of the session. High performing SDCs succeed in Azure’s IP Co-sell program because they treat readiness as a strategic initiative – not an administrative task. By aligning architecture, narrative, and customer evidence with Microsoft’s expectations, SDCs accelerate approvals and increase field engagement.
