Operator Connect for resellers: simplify Teams Phone growth with AudioCodes in Microsoft Marketplace
In this guest blog post, Benny Matityahu, Vice President of UCC at AudioCodes, explores how resellers and service providers can translate the surging demand for Microsoft Teams Phone into lucrative new revenue streams by offering Operator Connect the easy way, along with easy procurement and implementation through Microsoft Marketplace.How governed agentic AI is transforming professional services workflows
Discover how partners are building industry-specific AI solutions in Microsoft Marketplace using governed, agentic workflows tailored for professional services. In the latest Partner Spotlight, Richard Baskerville, Senior Director of Strategic Global Alliances at Intapp, shares how “Firm AI” delivers purpose-built capabilities aligned to the unique needs of professional and financial services firms—combining deep workflow expertise with the scale, security, and compliance of Microsoft Azure. This article explores how agentic AI enables end-to-end workflow automation while maintaining human accountability, helping firms modernize operations across client engagement, risk management, and business processes. See how Microsoft Marketplace empowers partners to bring trusted, enterprise-ready AI solutions to customers, accelerating adoption and unlocking scalable growth opportunities. Read the full article: Firm AI for professional services: governed, agentic workflows built on Microsoft Azure | Microsoft Community HubKey Microsoft Marketplace insights from the Channel Partners Conference
Discover how Microsoft Marketplace is helping channel partners accelerate growth in an AI-first world. Learn key insights from the Channel Partners Conference, including how cloud marketplaces are becoming a critical go-to-market engine—enabling partners to scale, streamline transactions, and deliver differentiated customer value. Explore how evolving customer expectations, AI-driven workloads, and modern commerce models are reshaping the partner opportunity—and why Marketplace is central to helping partners expand reach, simplify selling, and close deals faster through channel-led sales motions. Read the full article: Driving channel velocity in an AI-first world: Microsoft Marketplace at Channel Partners ConferenceWhen cloud apps become a weak link: How FortiAppSec Cloud in Microsoft Marketplace bridges the gap
In this guest blog post, Srija Reddy Allam, Cloud Security/DevOps Architect, Fortinet, discusses the increase of attacks targeted at web applications and APIs and how FortiAppSec Cloud in Microsoft Marketplace provides a layer of adaptive security to address the challenge.How to get heard by Microsoft and win more together
At Ultimate Partner LIVE Bellevue, May 11-13, some of the sharpest practitioners in the Microsoft ecosystem are coming together to share what works. These are candid, practitioner-led sessions built for senior leaders who need to walk away with something they can use, not a framework to revisit in six months. 🏛️ Sessions Worth Your Time 💰 Marketplace Meets AI: The New Route to Partner Revenue Cyril Belikoff, VP Microsoft Azure · Jon Yoo, CEO Suger Cyril Belikoff helped architect the unified Microsoft Marketplace and launched the resale enabled offer, which lets channel partners bundle software development company solutions and transact against Azure commit. Within the 1st week of GA, partners were already processing deals at scale. Cyril joins Vince Menzione and Jon Yoo, CEO of Suger, on Day 1 to cover where the AI-driven marketplace motion is heading and what partners need to do now to capture their share of the revenue flowing through it. Cyril’s advice for the partner still on the sideline is direct: do not try to boil the ocean. Get listed. Create offerings. Figure out 1 or 2 deals, transact them, and see the opportunity. This session gives you the map. 🎯 From Attention to Trust: The New Rules of Hyperscaler Go-To-Market Ashleigh Vogstad, CEO Transcends · Leigh Ann Campbell, Principal REV Alliances We are no longer in an attention economy. You are not competing to be seen. You are competing to be trusted, and the shift has a specific mechanism. AI agents are already making procurement decisions using verified signals: co-sell track records, Partner Center data, marketplace history, certifications. The partners building that record now are building an advantage that compounds quickly and is difficult to replicate later. Leigh Ann Campbell has driven over $200 million in influenced and net-new revenue through the Microsoft partner ecosystem. She knows what happens to a referral the moment it lands in Partner Center and what you need to do to make sure it does not die there. Ashleigh Vogstad, CEO of Transcends, brings the broader GTM lens on how the trust economy is changing what buyers respond to and where most partner marketing misses the mark. 🚀 Partner to Pipeline: Activating your GTM Strategy Reis Barrie, CEO Carve Partners · Greg Goldkamp, Sr. Director Microsoft This is the rare combination of a partner who has built real pipeline through Microsoft’s co-sell motion and a Microsoft leader who can tell you directly what gets field attention and what gets ignored. Most software companies approach co-sell as a relationship exercise. The ones generating real pipeline treat it as a system. They know which solution plays are active in the current fiscal year. They show up in seller conversations before a deal is open. They make it easy for a Microsoft seller to bring them in because the pitch is already mapped to what that seller is measured on. This session covers how to build that system, from first registration in Partner Center through closed pipeline. 🔗 From Connector to Catalyst: Today’s Alliance Manager Erin Figer, Founder CORE Consulting · Christine Bongard, CEO The WIT Network · Steven Karachinsky, CEO ZIRO Erin Figer helped build the co-sell practices at Microsoft, AWS, and Google Cloud when those programs were still being designed. She brings a reframe that changes how the best alliance teams operate: before you can market with a hyperscaler, you have to market to them. Treat Microsoft like a customer. Understand their priorities, their fiscal calendar, their field incentives. Build the internal credibility that gets you pulled into deals instead of chasing them. Joined by Christine Bongard and Steven Karachinsky, this session covers what the transition from connector to catalyst looks like in practice and what separates the alliance managers who generate revenue from those who manage relationships. 💡 Why the practitioner track matters These are not panel discussions with safe answers. This audience asks direct questions, and the speakers in these sessions are prepared to give direct answers. These sessions run across both days alongside 2 full tracks of mainstage content covering marketplace, distribution, AI strategy, and Microsoft’s channel priorities heading into FY27. 📅 UP LIVE Bellevue · May 11–13, 2026 InterContinental Hotel, Bellevue, WA 🌟 Exclusive discount for Microsoft partners Use code ULTIMATEVIP50 at checkout for a special discount reserved for Microsoft partners. 👉 Register for UP LIVE Bellevue Ultimate Partner® is the premier independent platform for technology partnership leaders, uniting the hyperscaler ecosystem to achieve their greatest results through partnering. An official Microsoft GPS recognized community.Turn your Azure commitments into smarter cloud investments with Microsoft Marketplace
Discover how organizations are using Microsoft Marketplace as a strategic procurement engine to optimize Azure spend, streamline purchasing, and accelerate time to value. Learn how aligning software purchases with Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) can unlock cost savings, improve visibility, and ensure every dollar of cloud investment is fully optimized—helping teams make more informed, outcomes-driven decisions. Read the full article: Optimizing Azure spend with Microsoft Marketplace | Microsoft Community Hub Watch the recorded conversation: Using Microsoft Marketplace to optimize Azure spend - Microsoft Marketplace CommunityDrive stronger Microsoft alignment and unlock co-sell growth at Ultimate Partner LIVE
Join Microsoft and leading ecosystem experts May 11–13 at Ultimate Partner LIVE in Bellevue, WA to learn how to better engage with Microsoft and unlock new co-sell opportunities. This event brings together experienced practitioners to share what works when it comes to aligning with Microsoft priorities, building stronger seller relationships, and increasing visibility within the Marketplace ecosystem. Attendees will hear insights first-hand from practitioner lead sessions and gain practical strategies to improve partner-to-Microsoft engagement, refine go-to-market execution, and accelerate growth through more effective collaboration. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your Marketplace presence or scale co-sell success, this session delivers actionable insights you can apply immediately. Learn more and see which sessions you should attend How to get heard by Microsoft and win more together | Microsoft Community HubOptimizing Azure spend with Microsoft Marketplace
As someone deeply involved with Microsoft Marketplace product marketing team, I was excited to host our recent customer office hour session with Trunal Bhanse, CEO of Clazar. Our conversation focused on using Microsoft Marketplace to optimize Azure spend. The session explored how organizations can leverage Marketplace as a strategic procurement engine and maximize their cloud investments. Setting the stage: Marketplace as a growth engine Every organization today is striving to become a frontier firm—enriching employee experiences, reinventing customer engagement, and reshaping business processes. With AI at the center of transformation, the question often arises: should we build or buy AI solutions? If buying, how do we procure them efficiently and securely? That’s where Microsoft Marketplace comes in. It’s your trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents, offering the largest catalog in the industry. Marketplace is fully integrated with Microsoft Cloud, providing a seamless experience from discovery to deployment. Whether you need standard contracts, private offers, or multi-year agreements, Marketplace adapts to your procurement needs and ensures your transactions are visible in the Azure cost management portal. Azure spend optimization: The power of Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) A major focus of our session was the Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC). This agreement allows organizations to commit to a certain level of Azure consumption in exchange for discounted rates. The beauty of MACC is that eligible Marketplace transactions decrement your commitment dollar-for-dollar. That means when you purchase MACC-eligible solutions through Marketplace, you’re directly funding your cloud investments and maximizing your discounts. Our conversation covered how to identify MACC-eligible solutions using tools like Azure Marketplace Compass, the Azure portal, and Marketplace storefront. With over 4,000 eligible solutions available, most organizations can find the software they need and align it with their MACC commitments. This approach is especially valuable at fiscal year-end or when budgets are tight, allowing you to leverage your commitment for critical investments. Operationalizing Marketplace procurement To truly optimize spend companies should start with an inventory of all solutions currently deployed or planned for procurement across their organization. By mapping this inventory against MACC-eligible offers, they can ensure every purchase maximizes commitment and discounts. Security and governance are also paramount. Marketplace enables role-based access controls and private marketplaces, so only authorized employees can procure approved applications. This walled-garden approach gives administrators full control over what’s available for procurement. Partner solutions and automation To bring the MACC optimization process to life, Clazar provided a live demonstration of their platform which specializes in automation of this process. Their solution enables organizations to seamlessly match their software inventory against MACC-eligible offers, giving procurement and finance teams consolidated visibility into spend and streamlining the entire procurement workflow. With robust integrations for single sign-on-systems and automated dashboards, Clazar empowers customers to instantly identify eligible applications and make faster, more informed decisions about their Azure Marketplace investments Microsoft Marketplace is more than a procurement platform—it’s a strategic lever for optimizing Azure spend, accelerating innovation, and simplifying operations. By aligning purchases with MACC commitments, organizations unlock savings, streamline processes, and gain unparalleled visibility into their cloud investments. To learn more, watch the full recording of our conversation here: Using Microsoft Marketplace to optimize Azure spend - Microsoft Marketplace Community Resources Microsoft Marketplace: Microsoft Marketplace | cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) benefit: Azure Consumption Commitment Benefit - Marketplace customer documentation | Microsoft Learn Cost management for Microsoft Marketplace purchases: Cost management for Microsoft Marketplace purchases - Marketplace customer documentation | Microsoft LearnWhat partners need to know before Microsoft’s new fiscal year
At Ultimate Partner LIVE Bellevue, May 11–13, a lineup of senior Microsoft executives will take the mainstage to share what is shifting, what it means for your business, and how the most aligned partners are responding. Here is who to know. Stephen Boyle, CVP, Enterprise Partner Solutions Stephen leads Microsoft’s enterprise partner sales organization and brings a direct view of how the ecosystem is performing at the highest levels. In his fireside with Vince Menzione, he will share what the most successful partners are doing differently as AI moves from a conversation to a core business motion. For any partner navigating co-sell, enterprise alignment, or ecosystem positioning heading into FY27, this is the session that sets the frame. Alex Zagury, CVP, Global Channel Sales Alex brings a perspective most Microsoft leaders do not have, more than a decade at Cisco where she built a $9B+ partner-managed business and led the integration of the $28B Splunk acquisition. She joined Microsoft to apply that experience to the indirect channel. Her session covers FY27 channel priorities: where Microsoft is investing, what the most successful CSP and indirect partners are doing right now with AI and Copilot, and why the partners who have moved to an outcomes-based model are already seeing compounding growth. Jose Gomez Cueto, General Manager, Americas SMB The $777B SMB opportunity is Microsoft’s largest addressable market, and Jose leads it across the Americas. His session addresses what it means for an SMB customer to become a Frontier Firm, and why MSPs are the critical link in making that happen. He will also share how Microsoft moved faster to bring SMB-specific AI products to market than it ever has before, and what that signals for the rest of FY27. Cyril Belikoff, VP, Microsoft Azure and Industry Clouds Cyril has been at the center of some of the most significant structural changes Microsoft has made to how partners transact. He helped architect the unified Microsoft Marketplace and launched the Resale Enabled Offer, which enables channel partners to bundle ISV solutions and transact against Azure commit. His session addresses where the AI-driven marketplace motion is heading and what partners need to do now to capture their share of the revenue flowing through it. More Microsoft on the Agenda Microsoft leaders Greg Goldkamp, Monica French, Erwin Visser, Mira Ayad, and others will deliver practical, execution-focused content across co-sell, distribution, the SMB channel, and AI strategy throughout both days. This is not a product showcase or a keynote built for an audience of thousands. It is a room of 250+ senior partner executives, 2 days of mainstage and spotlight sessions, and direct access to the Microsoft leaders whose priorities will shape the next 12 months. 📅 UP LIVE Bellevue · May 11–13, 2026 InterContinental Hotel, Bellevue, WA 🌟 Exclusive discount for Microsoft partners Use code ULTIMATEVIP50 at checkout for a special discount reserved for Microsoft partners. 👉 Register for UP LIVE Bellevue Ultimate Partner® is the premier independent platform for technology partnership leaders, uniting the hyperscaler ecosystem to achieve their greatest results through partnering. An official Microsoft GPS recognized community.Partner perspective: How Breakthru uses App Advisor and AI-listing optimization to drive growth
Optimizing a Marketplace listing isn’t just a marketing exercise—it directly impacts discoverability, demand, and revenue. But knowing what to change (and when) can be challenging for software development companies. In this partner‑written blog post, Marketplace software development company Breakthru shares firsthand experience using AI‑powered listing recommendations in App Advisor to move from guesswork to confident, data‑driven optimization—without risking listing performance. Dan Langille also reflects on how App Advisor became a core part of their business, what’s working in practice, and how AI is changing how teams iterate on their Marketplace presence. 👉 Read the partner story here: Improve Marketplace outcomes with AI‑powered listing recommendations in App Advisor Discussion prompts for the community: Would AI‑driven recommendations change how often you iterate on your listing? Have you used App Advisor for selling and growing app and AI agent sales? Curious to hear how other Marketplace partners are approaching listing optimization today!
