Lock in marketplace terms for up to five years with multiyear contract durations
Co-authored by Trevor_Yeats We’re excited to announce that the Microsoft marketplace now supports multiyear contract durations—enabling customers and partners to lock in terms and pricing for up to five years. New options include four and five-year terms for SaaS and Professional Services, and two, four, and five-year terms for Virtual Machine Software Reservations (VMSR). These contract durations are available globally across all marketplace-supported currencies. The value for your customers and for you With multiyear contract durations, customers can buy with confidence knowing they will have stability and continuity of service, making it easier to plan and forecast expenses and lock in substantial savings that often come with longer contracts. Partners benefit by supporting customers’ budget needs, strengthening customer relationships, reducing administrative burdens, and growing reliable revenue streams. “Our customers value five-year contracts for the stability and long-term value they provide. With multiyear contracts now available in Microsoft marketplace, we can better align with their operational timelines, reduce renewal cycles, and focus on building lasting relationships—while driving predictable revenue.” Sue Wilkinson, Global Director of Partners, IFS How it works To enable multiyear contract durations, software partners must take the following steps: Create a public offer with multiyear contract durations. Partners must ensure their public offers include extended contract terms before they can create private offers with those durations. Partners have two options: Update an existing public plan to support new options for extended durations (i.e., four and five-year options for SaaS offers and two, four, and five-year options for VMSR), or Create a new public plan that includes multiyear contract durations. Create private offers with multiyear contract durations. Once a public offer with multiyear contract durations is published, partners can configure private offers that leverage those durations. Notes: As of October 31, multiyear contract durations are available for CSP offers. Existing customer agreements cannot be modified mid-term to extend contract length. Customers must cancel their current plan and purchase a new one that includes the desired extended duration. Creating multiyear contracts with flexible billing schedules Partners can create private offers that combine multiyear contract durations with flexible billing options—like quarterly, semiannual, or bimonthly—making it easier to align with customer needs and streamline sales. “Microsoft’s recent launch of multiyear contracts and flexible billing has been a game changer, simplifying the buying process and enhancing the customer experience. We can now build private offers in the Microsoft marketplace in a more natural way that mirrors our contracts in the platform.” Sue Wilkinson, Global Director of Partners, IFS Learn more about flexible billing schedules and capturing the marketplace opportunity. Eligibility for multiyear contracts and how to get started Any company who is part of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program can sell on the marketplace with multiyear contract durations. Details are provided in our documentation, but at a high-level: Be a member of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (it’s free to join) Sign the marketplace publisher agreement Publish your public offer with multiyear contract durations. Sell private offers with multiyear contract durations. In addition, we have many support resources for partners depending on where they are on their marketplace journey. For example, software development companies can join ISV Success, within the Partner Program, for tools and resources that help them publish their solution and maximize reach through the marketplace. Learn more by visiting: Microsoft commercial marketplace transact capabilities FAQs: https://aka.ms/multiyear-FAQsSharePoint Embedded guide for software companies: success factors, positioning & key insights
Welcome to the definitive Q&A guide for software development companies exploring SharePoint Embedded for their SaaS applications. This blog series addresses the most frequently asked questions from our thriving software company community, drawing from real-world implementations across partner organizations spanning financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology sectors. Whether you're building a multi-tenant document management platform, modernizing legacy systems, or creating industry-specific collaboration solutions, this guide provides practical insights into SharePoint Embedded's unique advantages for software company scenarios. From multi-tenant architecture patterns and customer data isolation to Office integration strategies and competitive positioning, we've compiled the essential knowledge you need to accelerate your development and go-to-market success. SharePoint Embedded represents a paradigm shift for software companies who have traditionally faced the choice between building complex storage infrastructure or compromising on enterprise-grade features. With its consumption-based pricing model, API-first design, and native Office integration, SharePoint Embedded enables software companies to deliver enterprise-ready document experiences while focusing on their core business logic and customer value. Q: What are the key success factors I should focus on as a software company using SharePoint Embedded? A: Based on our analysis of successful software company implementations, there are three critical success factors: Building a scalable document management platform is complicated and detracts from the business logic you want to focus on with your solution. Users are demanding modern collaboration tools that Microsoft Office provides at scale. SharePoint Embedded gives you the foundational tools and features that integrate with your solutions, providing you a competitive advantage. Software development companies can unlock significant value by building on SharePoint Embedded. Its distributed architecture empowers software companies to deliver scalable, multi-tenant solutions, ensuring each customer’s data is securely isolated within dedicated containers. By leveraging SharePoint Embedded, software companies can guarantee that compliance and data residency requirements are met directly in the customer’s own Microsoft 365 tenant, streamlining regulatory approvals and building customer trust. The platform’s flexible, consumption-based billing model aligns costs with actual usage, supporting growth and simplifying budgeting for both software companies and their customers. At the same time, software companies retain full control over their application code base, allowing them to innovate and differentiate their offerings, while Microsoft manages the underlying infrastructure, security, and compliance features. Q: How do I position SharePoint Embedded against competitors in sales situations? A: SharePoint Embedded offers unique competitive advantages across different competitor categories: Against Pure Storage Solutions: Native Office Integration: Unmatched co-authoring and collaboration experiences Enterprise Security: Built-in compliance and governance vs. costly add-on features Microsoft Ecosystem: Leverage customers' existing Microsoft investments Software company-Focused APIs: Purpose-built for integration vs. consumer-focused APIs Against Building Custom Storage: Faster Time to Market: Significantly reduce development time Enterprise Features: Compliance, security, and scale built-in Office Integration: Impossible to replicate the native Office experience independently Global Infrastructure: Microsoft's global scale without operational overhead Against SharePoint Online: True Multi-Tenancy: Better customer isolation and independent scaling Consumption Pricing: Costs align with customer success vs. per-user licensing API-First Design: Developer-friendly vs. SharePoint customization complexity No Limitations: Independent scaling without site collection or storage quotas Q: Is the content stored in SharePoint Embedded AI ready? A: When you ingest documents into SharePoint Embedded, they are automatically added to the platform’s search and semantic indexes. This seamless integration ensures that your content is immediately available for advanced AI capabilities, such as intelligent search, document automation, and content summary. As a result, users can quickly benefit from AI-driven insights and enhanced discovery, making collaboration and workflow automation more powerful and efficient across their teams. AI Ready by Design: SharePoint Embedded provides secure, structured, and highly accessible data storage, ensuring content is ready for AI integration from the start. Robust APIs & Easy Integration: The platform’s powerful APIs and seamless Microsoft ecosystem integration make it simple to connect content to AI services like Azure AI Foundry and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Advanced Capabilities: Organizations can enable advanced search, automation, and generative AI scenarios, leveraging their information in new, intelligent ways. Enterprise-Grade Compliance & Security: Content remains protected with built-in security and compliance, crucial for enterprise adoption of AI-powered workflows. Empowering Business Value: This foundation allows businesses to unlock added value from their content and drive smarter, more efficient operations. Q: What are the key talking points that resonate with enterprise customers? A: For software development companies, these value propositions drive success with enterprise audiences: Onboard your application: Easily deploy your solution through the Microsoft Marketplace to your customer tenant. Content lives in your customer's tenant: Software companies can leverage built-in compliance and security features to speed up enterprise sales cycles and meet stringent requirements. You control the billing: Software companies can grow alongside their customers, with consumption pricing that supports expansion and rewards success. Your customers security posture is honored: When your solution is deployed to customer tenants, it will inherit all the security, compliance and governance they have configured. Content is always maintained in the geo they specify. Risk Reduction for software companies: By utilizing Microsoft’s infrastructure and security, software companies can reassure enterprise customers and minimize operational risk. Q: How do I get started building a POC for my software development companies' solution? A: Follow this proven software company-focused POC approach that has delivered success across our partner ecosystem: Getting started is easy: Install the Visual Studio Code extension and start a 30 day trial of SharePoint Embedded. For longer development cycles that allow you to simulate a real production environment, configure SharePoint Embedded without any storage or throughput limitations. Software Development Company Development Lifecycle for Re-Platforming on SharePoint Embedded Phase 1: Technical Foundation – Begin by establishing a secure, multi-tenant architecture using SharePoint Embedded’s container model to ensure robust customer data isolation. Integrate with Microsoft Office experiences to provide seamless co-authoring and collaboration, a key customer demand. Validate authentication flows for enterprise-grade user security and conduct thorough performance testing to guarantee fast, reliable document access at scale. Phase 2: Business Alignment – Move beyond technical validation to align your solution with real-world customer scenarios. Test end-to-end workflows and migrate sample data from legacy systems, ensuring the platform meets customers’ expectations for business continuity. Collect hands-on feedback from customer users to refine user experience and validate your pricing model based on projected usage, addressing concerns around cost predictability and ROI. Phase 3: Production Readiness – Prepare your solution for launch by executing a comprehensive security and compliance review, leveraging Microsoft’s built-in controls to address enterprise requirements. Perform scale testing with production-sized datasets and user groups to ensure reliability under peak loads. Establish monitoring, alerting, and support processes to deliver a consistent operational experience. Finally, enable your sales and onboarding teams with go-to-market resources, ensuring a smooth transition for customers migrating to your new platform. Key Success Metrics That Address Customer Demands: Verified customer data isolation for privacy and compliance High user adoption of Office integration, satisfying customers’ desire for familiar productivity tools Consistent fast document loading, meeting performance expectations Validated cost model based on real usage, delivering value and transparency to customers By following this development lifecycle, software companies can re-platform on SharePoint Embedded with confidence, addressing top customer demands for security, scalability, seamless Office integration, and predictable costs—all while accelerating time to market and driving adoption. Q: How can I gain additional customers by having my app in the Microsoft Marketplace? A: Listing your app in the Microsoft Marketplace opens the door for software companies to reach new customers and increase sales by leveraging Microsoft’s ecosystem and global reach. The Marketplace acts as a powerful channel to showcase your solution to millions of enterprise buyers who trust Microsoft to deliver secure, reliable products. Technical Resources to Drive Adoption: ISV Success Program – Get expert guidance to optimize your app for Marketplace visibility and customer engagement, ensuring your solution stands out and is ready for enterprise adoption. Solution Architect Reviews – Receive feedback from Microsoft experts to ensure your product meets the needs of customers and is positioned for growth in the Marketplace. Preview Access – Early access to new features helps you differentiate your app, attracting customers looking for cutting-edge solutions. Software Development Company Documentation – Access to tailored implementation guides ensures your SaaS offering is Marketplace-ready and easy for customers to deploy. Go-to-Market Support to Accelerate Sales: Marketplace Listing – Promote your app to a global audience, driving qualified leads and expanding your reach beyond your existing customer base. Partner Development Managers – Benefit from dedicated business support and introductions to new customers in strategic verticals. Co-sell Opportunities – Collaborate with Microsoft’s sales teams for joint selling, increasing your exposure and boosting sales potential. Industry Programs – Join vertical-specific programs and events to connect directly with customers seeking solutions in your area of expertise. In summary, Microsoft Marketplace empowers software companies to accelerate customer acquisition and drive sales growth by providing broad exposure, technical and business support, and opportunities for collaboration with Microsoft’s network. Have more questions or want to talk to the team, contact us at SharePointEmbedded@microsoft.comUltimate Partner LIVE Fall 2025: AI ecosystem masterclass & partner success summit
Mark your calendars! Ultimate Partner LIVE Fall is coming to the Washington, D.C. area, October 27-29, and this event presents a unique, high-impact opportunity for partners looking to stay ahead of the tectonic shifts, align priorities, and accelerate performance in 2026. We are taking the ecosystem to Carahsoft's facilities for a masterclass in how to become the Ultimate Partner. With immersive workshops, direct access to decision-makers, and a curated executive audience; you’ll accelerate your strategy to new levels. Here is what you can expect: Decode the Tectonic Shifts: Learn how AI, Marketplaces, Co-Selling, and Ecosystems are reshaping partner success — and what you must do now. Hear directly from Microsoft leaders, Erwin Visser, Matt Berg and Wole Moses who will take you through the exciting $450B+ durable cloud budget flowing through marketplaces, FY26 AI priorities, and where you should align. Access Proven Frameworks & Playbooks: Attendees will also participate in hands-on workshops facilitated by top industry experts including: The Odigo Group, Carve Partners, ISSI, AvePoint, Bridge Partners, Digitalzone, WorkSpan, Revstacker and more! Workshops will focus on co-selling, AI marketing strategy and Building Service Models to grow revenue. Be in the Room with Leaders Network with 200+ executives, thought leaders, ISVs, GSIs, MSPs, distributors, and consultants in an intimate, high impact setting. 40+ amazing speakers will share their secrets to successful partnering! ⭐SPECIAL OFFER As a valued Microsoft partner, Ultimate Partner is offering a 15% discount on general passes to experience UP LIVE⭐ 👉 [Register Now for UP LIVE: Reston] USE CODE: ULTIMATEVIP15 at checkout Hope to see you there, Vince Menzione CEO, Ultimate Partner ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ultimate Partner is the go-to destination for technology leaders and partners aiming to thrive in the Hyperscaler ecosystem. Ultimate Partner delivers high-impact content, expert insights, and exclusive events—both live and digital. Our mission is to “Empower technology leaders to achieve their greatest results through successful partnering”. Learn more
FY26 Q1 update: Make the most of your certified software designation
Key reminders for partners with current top tier benefits Now: Partners can start the process of attaining a certified software designation—which is required to access benefits like partner-reported Azure consumed revenue (PRACR) reporting. Until December 31, 2025: Partners can retain access to current top tier benefits, including PRACR reporting and Azure partner-led incentives. Starting January 1, 2026: Partners will need to have a certified software designation to continue accessing these benefits. Updates for FY26 PRACR-reporting partners PRACR reporting has moved to Partner Center: PRACR reporting is now centralized in Partner Center and tied to active contracts—meaning that partners will need to register legacy deals and renewals as net-new to maintain eligibility. Partners who missed the April 30 deadline for estimated Azure consumption (EAC) percentage (EAC%) will receive a default rate unless updated proactively. If partners are renewing expired deals as net new through the deal registration process in Partner Center, please ensure a co-sell motion has occurred as part of the renewal. Review the Partner Center requirements for PRACR and ensure your reported deals are registered accordingly. Make the most of PRACR with vNext documentation: To support your success with vNext PRACR, we’re launching a suite of clear, actionable documentation designed to guide you through onboarding, transitions, and ongoing participation. News and announcements From FAQs to playbooks, our resource collection has the tools you need to succeed as a Solutions Partner with a certified software designation. Explore resources Enhanced FY26 go-to-market benefits: Solutions Partners with certified software designations can access updated go-to-market (GTM) benefits, including solution play cards, solution briefs, and an animated solution video—all designed to raise awareness of your solution and support your co-sell success. Learn more here or here. New Industry AI designations now available: We introduced six new designations for industry-specific AI—Energy, Government, Telecom, Education, Defense, and Nonprofit—so software development companies can further differentiate and align their solutions to sector-specific needs. Learn more here. Incentives and offers Microsoft’s FY26 Partner Incentives empower software development companies to accelerate customer migrations and modernizations with substantial financial rewards. Partners with certified software designations—including Azure, Security, and Industry AI—can earn up to $175,000 USD for qualifying Customer Migrate & Modernize engagements. These incentives, a part of Marketplace Rewards Advanced Package, support a wide range of customer scenarios, from migrating on-premises environments to Azure-hosted solutions, moving from competitive platforms, expanding Azure solution footprints, and acquiring net new customers. Check out the “ISV Engagements” tab in the incentives guide for more information. Partner success Hear how Symphony AI, Rockwell Automation, Rescale, Accenture, and Avanade are leveraging their certified software designations to expand global reach, increase brand visibility, and deliver cutting-edge AI-powered solutions. View here. Follow the tag certified software designations to stay updated on quarterly partner news for certified software designations. *“Solutions Partner” refers to a company that is a member of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and may offer software, services, and/or solutions to customers. Reference to “Solutions Partner” in any content, materials, resources, web properties, etc. and any associated designation should be not interpreted as an offer, endorsement, guarantee, proof of effectiveness or functionality, a commitment or any other type of representation or warranty on the part of Microsoft. All decisions pertaining and related to your business needs including but not limited to strategies, solutions, partner selection, implementation, etc., rests solely with your business. **A certification is (1) specific to the solution’s interoperability with Microsoft products and (2) based on self-attestation by the solution owner. Solutions are only certified as of the date the solution is reviewed. Solution functionality and capability are controlled by the solution owner and may be subject to change. The inclusion of a solution in the marketplace and any such designations should not be interpreted as an offer, endorsement, guarantee, proof of effectiveness or functionality, a commitment or any other type of representation or warranty on the part of Microsoft. All decisions pertaining and related to your business needs including but not limited to strategies, solutions, partner selection, implementation, etc. rest solely with your business.Build smarter, publish faster: Here’s what’s new in App Advisor
App Advisor just got a major upgrade - and it’s changing the game for software development companies building apps and agents for the Microsoft Marketplace. Since its MVP launch in January 2024, App Advisor has helped thousands of partners like you streamline their journey. 💬 What partners are saying App Advisor isn’t just a tool - it’s a game-changer. Here’s what partners have shared about their experience: “I appreciate that App Advisor curates the content for the partner since the amount of data available is just so vast. It does a great job of curating for them based on their goals.” Frank Valdivieso, President & CEO, Gryphon Consulting ⚡What’s new? Smarter focus, faster execution, and scalable growth Now, with six new features launched in the US (and global availability coming soon), App Advisor is making it easier than ever to stay focused, move faster, and scale smarter with apps and agents. Here’s what’s new: 🛠️ In-app marketplace offer creation Start your marketplace journey directly within App Advisor - no context switching required. You can now initiate offer creation for popular offer types without leaving the platform. Not signed up to publish - no problem! App Advisor can get you signed up and on your way to creating your offer. 🚀 Tailored recommendations by marketplace offer type Confidently align your app with the right marketplace offer and pricing model using our interactive wizard. Get personalized recommendations based on your app profile and program membership - and fast-track publishing to launch sooner. 📁 Multi-project save with Partner Center linking Advance multiple apps and agents from a single, centralized experience. Save guidance across projects and link each to its Partner Center offer for seamless continuity. 🎯 Membership-based guidance Receive personalized guidance based on your ISV Success or Marketplace Rewards membership. App Advisor adapts its recommendations to help you make faster, smarter decisions. ✅ ISV Success sign-up integration Sign up for ISV Success and resume your workflow without disruption. Unlock benefits like cloud credits, technical consults, and go-to-market resources - all without breaking your build flow. 🎥 Embedded video playback Explore how to build, publish, and grow your apps and agents with step-by-step video guidance. Watch demos and guidance videos directly within App Advisor. Stay in flow with seamless, distraction-free learning, all while keeping the AI-powered assistant visible and ready to help. Ready to accelerate your marketplace success? Dive into App Advisor today to build, publish, and sell transactable offers with clarity, speed, and confidence. Make sure you check out the new Microsoft Marketplace - the single destination to find, try, and buy AI apps, tools, and agents. Read the blog to learn more. Ready to level up with App Advisor? Watch this quick video and unlock what’s next!Zero Trust for Software Development Companies: what “good” looks like in practice
Threats keep accelerating in speed, scale, and sophistication. Microsoft is tracking a sharp rise in daily attacks and password-spray attempts, which is exactly why software development companies need a Zero Trust foundation that assumes breach and limits blast radius by default. The session’s companion deck lays out a crisp, do-first list for software development companies that build and operate multi-tenant apps. I have folded those specifics into this updated post. Start from identity and tenancy If your multi-tenant SaaS lives on Microsoft Entra ID, treat the app’s home tenant like production infrastructure, not a convenience sandbox. Create a dedicated “app tenant” that is locked down, automated, and free of day-to-day human use. Avoid hosting customer-facing multi-tenant app registrations in your corporate tenant where guests, everyday collaboration tools, and broader policies compete with your need for strict controls. Two resources to get your footing fast are the Zero Trust Workshop and the Entra Security guidance. They frame the exact checks below and help you sequence work across identity, device, data, and workload layers. The essential checks most software development companies miss Global admin and subscription access. Global Administrators should not have standing access to Azure subscriptions. Require just-in-time elevation so high-impact operations create signals, slow attacker velocity, and route through observable control points. App creation and lifecycle. Do not allow anyone to create applications or service principals. Restrict that right to a small, audited group, then continuously prune inactive apps, especially those with high Microsoft Graph privileges. Attackers hide behind service principals and abandoned migrations more often than you think. Redirect URIs. Keep reply URLs tight. Only use domains you control. Remove localhost and abandoned cloud sites to cut off token interception and code hijacking paths. Secrets and certificates. Prefer managed identity. If you must use credentials, do not use client secrets. If you must use certificates, keep expirations short and rotate regularly so any compromise has a short half-life. First-party service apps. Ensure Microsoft service applications in your tenant do not have customer-added credentials. Threat actors try to attach their own keys to first-party principals to inherit trusted access. Privileged identities. Keep admin accounts cloud-only to prevent an on-prem compromise from laddering into Entra, and register phishing-resistant methods for every privileged user. Keys or platform authenticators beat OTP fatigue every day of the week. How to roll this out without stalling the roadmap Adopt the workshop mindset. Run a lightweight Zero Trust assessment, pick the items above that are both high-impact and feasible in your environment, and bake them into your next few sprints. Treat security debt like product debt so you always reserve capacity for it. If you are modernizing a legacy app, use that cutover to move the registration to a dedicated app tenant, switch to managed identity, and clean your redirect URIs. The guidance below is what your team will reference as you go. Resources to take the next step Zero Trust Workshop: aka.ms/ztworkshop Entra Security guidance: aka.ms/entra/security If you only do one thing this week, carve out time to separate your app tenant from your corporate tenant, then enforce just-in-time privilege. Those two moves alone shrink your blast radius and make intrusions noisier and easier to catch.Scaling software businesses through hyperscaler marketplaces: Strategies, actions, and resources
As cloud marketplaces like the Microsoft Azure Marketplace continue to grow, software companies are seeing new opportunities to reach buyers, activate the channel, and drive recurring revenue through marketplace selling. In a recent conversation hosted by TD SYNNEX, leaders in cloud channel development and marketplace strategy shared key insights for Software Development Companies looking to scale. This Q&A summarizes actionable strategies, common challenges, and available resources that can help Software Development Companies grow their marketplace presence and unlock ecosystem scale. Q: How can software development companies get started more easily in cloud marketplaces? A: The entry point has become more streamlined in recent years thanks to distribution. Working with distribution, software development companies can leverage Microsoft expertise and relationships to quickly assess where they are in their marketplace journey, identify key readiness milestones, and accelerate time to market through Marketplaces. TD SYNNEX supports this process with guided enablement, ensuring vendors understand the technical steps needed to get listed, become co-sell ready, and activate transactable offers. Q: What are the biggest challenges software companies face when trying to scale? A: One of the biggest hurdles is reach. Many software development companies build strong technology but lack access to the broad channel networks needed to scale. Without deep relationships in place, they may struggle to get discovered by the right partners or buyers. This is where distribution support becomes valuable. Distributors like TD SYNNEX can bridge the gap by connecting software development companies to large reseller ecosystems and providing scalable routes to market. Platforms like TD SYNNEX’s StreamOne® simplify cloud provisioning and transactions for partners, helping software companies tap into demand more efficiently. Q: Is there a framework for scaling go-to-market efforts after onboarding? A: Yes, and it typically involves the following steps: Initial Integration Onboard to a cloud commerce platform, then add your offer into hyperscaler marketplaces like Microsoft Azure. Establishing this foundation makes future scaling repeatable. Private Offers for Flexibility Use private offers to tailor pricing and packaging for strategic deals. These offers can be customized for specific partners or customers, helping speed up deal closure and align with cloud budgets. Partner Enablement & Co-Sell Activation Support the channel with training, solution briefs, and campaign materials. TD SYNNEX offers co-marketing programs and partner-ready enablement that help resellers understand how to position your solution. Multi-Geo Expansion Once you’re successfully transacting in one region, it’s easier to replicate that motion in other geographies. Marketplace and distribution tools make global expansion more accessible than ever. Community & Events Participate in field events, executive briefings, and partner showcases. These moments help vendors tell their story directly to decision-makers and drive partner engagement. Q: What resources are available to help software development companies scale more efficiently? A: Several high-value resources exist to support software development companies on this journey: Engagement & Consultation These strategic consultations review the onboarding and assessment process, helping vendors identify where they are and what comes next. TD SYNNEX Private Offer Deal Desk Whether you’re responding to a specific partner opportunity or looking to craft strategic offers, the TD SYNNEX Private Offer Deal Desk can help tailor terms, accelerate approval, and enable smoother transactions. Marketing & Enablement Programs From curated offer catalogs to subsidized marketing campaigns, programs are available to help software development companies scale awareness without heavy upfront investment. TD SYNNEX also offers digital marketing services and inclusion in cloud solution spotlights. Q: What’s the long-term value of being marketplace-enabled? A: Marketplace integration opens doors beyond initial sales. It positions software development companies to participate in co-sell motions with hyperscalers, attract partners who prefer digital procurement, and align with customer trends—especially as cloud budgets and committed spend agreements become more common. Software development companies that build marketplace-native offers, activate partner channels, and support flexible selling motions will be better positioned to ride the next wave of transformation, including AI-driven industry solutions and global expansion. Next Steps for Software development companies If you’re ready to explore marketplace selling or want to scale your reach through channel partners, consider these actions: Request a consultation with the TD SYNNEX team using this form. Activate your offer in Azure Marketplace Explore private offers to support strategic deals, leveraging the TD SYNNEX Private Offer Deal Desk. Engage in partner enablement to accelerate co-sell motion Leverage go-to-market programs to boost visibility Whether you're just getting started or looking to scale globally, the right combination of marketplace strategy, partner engagement, and platform support can accelerate your path to growth. TD SYNNEX and the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace ecosystem offer a strong foundation to build on.DQ Global and Sycor offer ISV Success for Business Applications solutions in Microsoft AppSource
Microsoft ISV Success for Business Applications offers platforms, resources, and support designed to help partners develop, publish, and market business apps. Learn more about these offers from DQ Global and Sycor in Microsoft AppSource.Maximizing the multicloud advantage — Publishing and selling through the Microsoft marketplace
This post is part of a series on replicating apps from AWS to Azure. View all posts in this series. For AWS-based software companies aiming to broaden their footprint, the marketplace offers a strategic path forward. By publishing your solution, you gain visibility across Microsoft’s digital storefronts—Azure Marketplace and Microsoft AppSource—as well as in-product experiences like the Azure Portal. This presence enables 24/7 global selling and simplifies procurement for enterprise customers, especially those with Azure Consumption Commitments who are motivated to buy Azure-based solutions through the marketplace. Publishing in Azure reduces friction when selling to Azure-centric enterprises, enables consistent branding and offer management across clouds, and allows you to leverage both ecosystems without duplicating engineering investments. You can also join ISV Success to get access to over $126K USD in cloud credits, AI services, developer tools, and 1:1 technical consults to help you replicate your app and publish to the marketplace. To replicate your app faster get cloud-ready reference code to replicate AWS apps to Azure. 1. Introduction Unlock new growth opportunities by tapping into the marketplace and reach enterprise buyers more effectively. Whether you're migrating from AWS or building natively on Azure, the marketplace enables you to expand into new geographies, co-sell with Microsoft’s extensive salesforce, and simplify procurement for customers with pre-committed Azure spend. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the key steps to publishing and selling successfully—from selecting the right offer type to optimizing billing, pricing, and co-sell incentives. Through the marketplace, your business can: Sell to millions of monthly shoppers: Sell 24/7 across 141+ geographies, 17 currencies, and 50+ value-added tax IDs, Maximize your sales reach: Sell directly on marketplace storefronts and in-product experiences used by 95% of Fortune 500 companies. Access pre-committed cloud budgets: Stand out to the more than 85% of Microsoft customers with pre-committed Azure spend using the marketplace. Co-sell with 35,000 Microsoft sellers: Sell even more with collaborative sales through the marketplace, Expand to new markets with recurring revenue: Scale through 500,000 Microsoft partners, who can sell on your behalf or sell jointly to customers. This article walks you through the essentials of publishing and selling through the marketplace, including offer types, billing and pricing models, tools, incentives, and financial programs that can accelerate your success. 2. Selecting the right marketplace offer type When publishing to the marketplace, choosing the right offer type is key. Each type supports different ways customers use and deploy your solution. Common Offer Types and What They’re Best For Software as a Service (SaaS) Best for apps deployed on your Azure infrastructure that customers access through subscriptions. For customers who want a turnkey ready-to-use, hosted solution with minimal set-up. Azure Virtual Machine (VM) Best for software that runs on a pre-configured virtual machine. Similar to Amazon Machine Image (AMI) offers. For customers who want full control over a virtual machine running your software. Azure Container Ideal for containerized apps that customers deploy and run themselves like Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) or Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS). For customers who want to run your app in their own container environment. Azure Application Used to deploy multiple Azure resources like VMs, storage, or networking. This is ideal for customers who want packaged deployments that automate setup in the customer’s environment. Azure also supports other offer types. See the full list at App Advisor – Offer Types. 3. How marketplace billing and pricing work A key advantage of publishing through the marketplace is the seamless integration with Azure’s billing system, which simplifies procurement for customers and streamlines revenue collection for software development companies. Integrated Azure billing When customers purchase through the marketplace, charges are seamlessly applied to their existing Azure account, eliminating separate invoicing and procurement workflows. Purchases can count toward Azure Consumption Commitment, enhancing appeal for enterprise buyers, while customers benefit from consolidated billing and simplified expense tracking. Publisher earnings Microsoft manages billing and collection. After deducting a standard transaction fee, earnings are disbursed on a regular schedule—reducing overhead and ensuring predictable cash flow. Pricing models The marketplace supports a variety of pricing models to align with your business model and customer expectations: Flat-rate: A fixed monthly or annual fee for access to your solution. Per user pricing: Charges based on the number of users accessing the solution. Usage-based (metered): Charges based on actual usage metrics (e.g., API calls, compute hours). After choosing your pricing model, you can configure multiple tiered plans (SKUs) for different service levels or feature sets at varying price. Renewing a private offer with an existing paid customer—whether the original deal was through the marketplace or not— reduces your transaction fee by 50% for the entire renewal term. How to grow sales with negotiated deals For many enterprise customers, closing deals means negotiating pricing and terms. Most co-sell deals also happen through negotiated terms. If co-selling with Microsoft sellers is a path you want to pursue, make sure you learn about these options. Private offers: Depending on the plan you have selected, you can create personalized pricing and terms for specific customers that are only visible to them. Offers can include custom billing schedules, discounts, and contract durations. Multiparty private offers: If you sell through channel partners or need to for a specific deal, then you can use multiparty private offers (MPO) to offer negotiated terms and pricing. MPO is currently available in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, with support for more geographies coming soon. The Private Offers API allows you to programmatically create and manage custom deals with enterprise customers. These capabilities allow you to maintain pricing flexibility while benefiting from the streamlined procurement and billing experience of the marketplace. Learn more on your options for negotiated deals through marketplace. Transactable professional services In addition to software, you can also list professional services (e.g., onboarding, training, consulting) as transactable items. This allows customers to purchase both your product and value-added services through a single, unified channel—further increasing your Azure Consumption Commitment alignment and revenue potential. These offers are currently not discoverable via storefront search and must be shared via direct link with customers. Transactable services are supported in select markets and must follow specific publishing guidelines. Learn more about selling transactable professional services. 4.Tools to help publish your marketplace offer Microsoft provides a rich set of tools and resources to help ISVs confidently publish, manage, and grow their offers in the marketplace. These assets can streamline your journey and maximize your impact. Joining as a partner to create and publish your marketplace offer To publish and manage your marketplace apps, sign up for the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and set up your Partner Center account. Partner Center is where you configure offers, manage referrals and claim incentives. The best way for software companies to sign up is to join ISV Success, which offers over $126K USD in benefits, including Microsoft products, Azure cloud credits, and technical consultations. See the benefits. You can also enroll as a partner through Partner Center without joining ISV Success. Once your account is set up, assign roles to your team for tasks like publishing, marketing, and managing referrals. This helps streamline the marketplace process. Learn about marketplace-specific roles needed to publish and manage apps, payout and tax settings, and access marketplace insights Step-by-step guidance through App Advisor App Advisor provides curated step-by-step guidance—through replicating your app, publishing it to marketplace, and growing your sales—helping you make informed decisions at every stage. Reference code on transactable webhooks For SaaS publishers, implementing transactable webhooks is essential for provisioning, metering, and managing customer subscriptions. Microsoft offers reference implementations like the SaaS Accelerator, which simplifies webhook integration and accelerates time to market. The Mastering the Marketplace GitHub repo also provides hands-on code samples and walkthroughs to help you build production-ready integrations. You can review Mastering the SaaS Accelerator - Mastering the Marketplace. Marketplace documentation and offer creation guides Microsoft maintains detailed documentation to guide you through the publishing process ensuring your offer is compliant, discoverable and optimized. The marketplace documentation hub organizes all the marketplace documentation for app publishers. The Publishing Guide by Offer Type provides technical and business requirements for each offer type (SaaS, VM, Container, etc.). The marketplace offer listings best practices helps you craft compelling branding and go-to-market strategies. Engaging with Microsoft to go-to-market Microsoft offers multiple programs, incentives, and offerings to help you amplify your reach, earn by selling through marketplace, and differentiate in marketplace: Marketplace Rewards unlock benefits like listing optimization, up to $400K USD in Azure cloud credits, go-to-market support, and co-sell readiness. Transact & Grow financial incentive can pay you up to $20K USD to sell through marketplace. Solutions Partner with certified software designations help you stand out in the marketplace, differentiate with Microsoft sellers, and grants you marketing and sales benefits. Accelerating visibility, credibility, and access Publishing through the Azure gives you access to Microsoft’s extensive sales ecosystem, including: Tip: Enable a free trial period for your paid marketplace plans to get the most customer engagement in marketplace. Microsoft field sellers: who can co-sell your solution to their accounts. Partner Center insights: that help you track performance and optimize your listing. Marketplace rewards tiers: that unlock additional benefits as your offer gains traction. Visit this link to learn more about additional benefits: Transacting on the marketplace - Marketplace publisher | Microsoft Learn 5. Qualifying for Azure IP Co-sell to incentivize Microsoft sellers and help customers with commitments Software companies can leverage Azure IP Co-sell (AZIPCS) to enhance enterprise reach, seller engagement, and deal velocity via the marketplace. Offers that achieve Azure IP co-sell eligibility gain these marketplace benefits: Marked as Azure benefit eligible for eligible customers in the marketplace and Azure Portal. Sales of your offer through the marketplace contribute toward customers' pre-committed cloud budget otherwise known as Azure consumption commitment (MACC). This helps software companies align with enterprise procurement strategies and unlock larger opportunities. Microsoft sellers are highly interested in marketplace offers that can help customers meet their Azure consumption commitment. Co-sell deals are roughly 30% higher than non-co-sell deals Co-sell deals tend to close 2x faster, compared average across all Microsoft-managed customers Requirements for Azure IP co-sell eligible offers To qualify: Your marketplace offer must be configured to transact through the marketplace and have at least one non-$0 pricing plan. You need to create a co-sell solution for your offer You must reach a company-level revenue threshold over the trailing twelve-month (TTM) period of either $100K USD of marketplace billed sales (MBS) OR Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR). Learn how to make the most of co-sell. Key resources: Microsoft Azure Migration Hub | Microsoft Learn Publishing to commercial marketplace documentation Get over $126K USD in benefits and technical consultations to help you replicate and publish your app with ISV Success Maximize your momentum with step-by-step guidance to publish and grow your app with App Advisor Accelerate your development with cloud ready deployable code through the Quick-start Development Toolkit Earn exclusive benefits for your software company business with Marketplace Rewards. Private offers overview - Marketplace customer documentation | Microsoft Learn Marketplace FAQs – Microsoft Tech Community
