When 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.3 key technical debt types before scaling with AI – CAST’s perspective via Microsoft Marketplace
In this guest blog post, Greg Rivera, VP of Product, CAST, details how CAST Highlight in Microsoft Marketplace identifies the three types of technical debt and prioritizes portfolio-level issues to effectively drive remediation and build a stable foundation for scaling with AI.Why MCAPS Start for Partners on July 22 matters for software development companies
Every new fiscal year begins with questions. Where is customer demand heading? Which technology investments matter most? How can software companies build solutions that stand out in an increasingly competitive Microsoft ecosystem? Software development companies, Marketplace publishers, architects, and developers across our partner community express a common theme: everyone is looking for clarity. Customers are moving quickly from AI experimentation toward operational AI adoption. New opportunities are emerging around agentic applications, modernization, and Microsoft Marketplace growth. At the same time, partners want to know where Microsoft is investing and how they can align their business for success. That is exactly why MCAPS Start for Partners on July 22 matters. This event is designed to help partners start FY27 with a clear understanding of Microsoft priorities, customer demand, and the opportunities ahead. More importantly, it is an opportunity to align early, before the year gains momentum and before critical decisions are made across solution development, go-to-market planning, and Marketplace strategy. The conversation we keep hearing from partners Over the last year, many software companies have invested heavily in AI. Teams have built proofs of concept, launched copilots, explored automation, and experimented with agents. Those efforts have created valuable learning, but customers are now asking a different set of questions. Instead of asking what AI can do, customers are asking how AI can create measurable business outcomes. They want solutions that can be governed, operationalized, and scaled across teams and business units. They want trusted platforms that protect data and intellectual property while helping them move faster. This shift represents something larger than a technology trend. It reflects what Microsoft describes as Frontier Transformation: the movement from isolated AI experimentation toward AI and agents becoming part of repeatable business operations. For software companies and Marketplace publishers, that creates a significant opportunity. The partners who can help customers operationalize AI, modernize applications, and deliver scalable outcomes will be positioned to lead customer conversations in FY27. MCPS for Partners provides an early look into how Microsoft is thinking about this transformation and where partners can create value. Why early alignment matters One lesson learned from working with software partners is that timing matters. The strongest partners rarely wait until priorities become widely understood. They start early. They align their product roadmap, Marketplace strategy, sales motions, and technical investments before demand peaks. MCAPS Start for Partners is designed to provide that early alignment. During the event, Microsoft leaders will share perspectives on FY27 priorities, innovation areas, investment focus, and growth opportunities. Partners will gain visibility into topics including AI innovation, agentic applications, Marketplace growth, co-sell opportunities, security, cloud platforms, and business applications. For developers and technical leaders, this means understanding where customers are investing and how emerging capabilities may influence future solution architectures. For Marketplace publishers, it means learning where discoverability, go-to-market alignment, and Marketplace motions can create growth opportunities. For business leaders, it means connecting Microsoft investments to practical execution plans that support long-term growth. The Marketplace opportunity is becoming more strategic Customers increasingly want streamlined procurement experiences and trusted solution sources. At the same time, partners are looking for scalable ways to expand reach and accelerate customer acquisition. That makes Marketplace more than a publishing destination. It becomes a strategic go-to-market channel. Organizations attending MCAPS Start for Partners will hear how Marketplace fits into broader partner growth strategies and how Marketplace motions can support customer demand generation and co-sell engagement. For software companies, this is an opportunity to think beyond listings and consider how Marketplace can support solution differentiation, visibility, and customer engagement throughout FY27. The most successful Marketplace publishers are not simply reacting to market changes. They are aligning their offerings to where customer demand is moving and where Microsoft is investing. Preparing for the conversations that will shape FY27 As July 22 approaches, partners can consider customer conversations happening today. Where are customers requesting guidance around AI transformation? Which application modernization projects are gaining momentum? How are security, governance, and scalability influencing solution requirements? These questions are increasingly connected. Customers are seeking partners that can help them connect AI, cloud, security, and business outcomes into a cohesive strategy. They are looking for expertise that goes beyond implementation and extends into long-term transformation. MCAPS Start for Partners was designed to help organizations think through those challenges and identify where Microsoft priorities intersect with customer demand. That alignment becomes even more valuable when technical leaders, sales teams, Marketplace owners, marketing teams, and delivery organizations participate together. When everyone hears the same guidance and leaves with shared priorities, execution becomes significantly easier. What attendees should listen for As you participate in the event, consider listening through three lenses: Pay attention to where customer demand is moving. Understanding demand signals can help guide product investments, roadmap decisions, and solution packaging. Look for insights into Microsoft investments and priorities. These insights can help partners determine where to focus skilling, innovation, and go-to-market efforts. Think about differentiation. Customers increasingly want partners who can move beyond experimentation and deliver repeatable outcomes. The organizations that combine technical excellence with operational execution will have a distinct advantage. The goal is not simply to collect information. The goal is to leave the event with clarity about what actions matter most for your organization. Turning insight into action Every fiscal year presents new opportunities, but not every partner starts with the same level of insight. MCAPS Start for Partners provides software companies, developers, architects, and Marketplace publishers with an early opportunity to understand Microsoft’s FY27 priorities, evaluate evolving customer demand, and identify where AI innovation, agentic applications, Marketplace growth, and co-sell opportunities are creating new possibilities. The partners that act early will be better positioned to build differentiated offerings, strengthen customer conversations, and execute with confidence throughout the year. Registration closes soon, and July 22 is quickly approaching. If you have not secured your place, now is the time to act. Register today, invite your cross-functional team, and ensure your organization is prepared for the Microsoft priorities, investments, and customer opportunities that will define FY27. Whether you are responsible for product strategy, solution architecture, Marketplace growth, sales execution, or customer success, MCAPS Start for Partners offers valuable insights that can help transform planning into action. 👉 Register for MCAPS Start for Partners Before July 22Microsoft Marketplace as a platform to support FinOps: Turning cloud spend into business value
FinOps conversations used to focus mostly on cost tracking and budget control. What we’re hearing now from customers is different. The question is no longer just “How do I monitor cloud spend?” It’s “How do I make every dollar count?” That shift is important. FinOps today is about connecting financial accountability to real business outcomes. It’s about understanding not just what you’re spending, but whether those investments are delivering value and how quickly you can optimize when they’re not. This is where Microsoft Marketplace starts to play a more strategic role. The evolving FinOps challenge FinOps is not just about understanding cloud costs; it’s about actively optimizing spend and ensuring every dollar delivers measurable value. At the same time, the role of FinOps teams is expanding. Organizations are managing not only infrastructure costs, but also growing SaaS portfolios, AI workloads, and increasingly complex vendor ecosystems with different pricing and billing models. That fragmentation creates operational friction across finance, procurement, and engineering teams. The rise of AI is accelerating this shift. As AI moves into mainstream use, financial accountability needs to start earlier; at the point where solutions are evaluated, purchased, and integrated into workflows. This requires a more unified approach to managing spend across environments that are only becoming more complex. In this context, Microsoft Marketplace is not a peripheral tool. It’s part of the solution providing a platform that helps organizations bring purchasing, governance, and cost optimization into a more connected, manageable model. Microsoft Marketplace as a platform to support FinOps Microsoft Marketplace is often thought of as a place to find and buy solutions. In practice, it operates as an extension of the Microsoft Cloud connecting discovery, purchasing, and management across Azure, Microsoft 365, and the broader partner ecosystem. It gives organizations flexibility in how they buy, while creating a more consistent way to manage how solutions are introduced into the environment. For FinOps teams, that combination matters. Bringing purchasing into a more centralized model improves visibility and governance. At the same time, flexible commercial options allow organizations to align procurement decisions with how they operate, whether that’s optimizing existing commitments, managing budgets, or scaling usage over time. The goal is straightforward: every dollar of technology spend should be visible, attributable, and easier to plan for. Microsoft Marketplace helps move organizations in that direction by connecting financial accountability more directly to how solutions are evaluated, purchased, and used. Enabling collaboration across teams Effective FinOps depends on tight coordination between finance, procurement, and engineering. Microsoft Marketplace helps make that coordination part of how teams already work, not an extra layer they have to manage. By aligning with existing Azure role-based access models, teams can operate within familiar governance structures while maintaining appropriate controls. A centralized, Microsoft‑vetted catalog reduces the risk of shadow IT and shadow AI, while consolidating purchases across vendors helps minimize duplication and unnecessary spend. The result is a shared operating model where teams have visibility into the same investments, follow consistent processes, and make decisions together, turning collaboration from a best practice into a built‑in capability. Driving ownership and accountability One of the biggest gaps in FinOps isn’t visibility, it’s ownership. When responsibility for usage, renewals, and lifecycle decisions is unclear, inefficiencies compound quickly. Microsoft Marketplace helps close that gap by extending familiar Azure-based tagging and SaaS management capabilities into third-party solution spend. Teams can take direct ownership of their subscriptions, with clear insight into renewal timelines, pricing terms, and lifecycle actions such as renewals or cancellations. Purchase order mapping reinforces that accountability by linking Marketplace transactions to internal budgets and cost centers, ensuring spend is attributed to the right teams instead of getting lost in aggregated billing. The result is a clearer line of sight between decisions, ownership, and financial impact. Reducing complexity through centralization Data fragmentation is one of the most persistent challenges in FinOps. With multiple vendors, invoices, and reporting tools, many organizations struggle to maintain a clear, unified view of their technology spend. Microsoft Marketplace helps address this by bringing third-party purchases into the Azure invoice and Microsoft Cost Management experience. Instead of reconciling across disconnected systems, teams can view both first-party and third-party spend in one place. The impact is practical: less time spent on reconciliation, more consistent reporting, and a scalable way to manage cloud financial operations as environments grow. Shifting the focus from cost to value Cost control still matters, but the conversation around technology investments is clearly shifting toward value. Organizations want to understand not just what they are spending, but how quickly those investments translate into impact. Microsoft Marketplace supports this shift by making it easier to evaluate solutions in the context of speed, flexibility, and alignment with business priorities, not just price. Capabilities like private offers and access to a broad catalog give teams more control over how they purchase and deploy solutions. The result is more informed, strategic decision-making, where financial oversight is directly connected to business outcomes and measurable value. Enhancing financial operations with purchase orders One of the most practical advancements highlighted in the session was the introduction of purchase order functionality for Microsoft Marketplace purchases. Traditional reconciliation of Marketplace spend often requires manual effort, particularly when aligning cloud charges with procurement systems. The purchase order capability simplifies this process by allowing organizations to define, manage, and map purchase orders directly within Azure billing. Teams can assign budgets, track utilization, and map purchases to specific vendors, products, or cost categories. Detailed charge information can be exported, and allocations can be updated within a defined post-invoicing period. This capability strengthens the alignment between financial systems and cloud consumption data, reducing operational overhead while improving accuracy and transparency. Adopting Microsoft Marketplace based on maturity Microsoft Marketplace adoption isn’t one‑size‑fits‑all; it evolves with an organization’s cloud and FinOps maturity. Teams early in their journey often start with low‑risk options like trials or pay‑as‑you‑go offers, helping them establish governance and visibility without adding complexity. As organizations mature, renewal cycles become a natural inflection point to consolidate existing contracts into Marketplace, improving visibility and reducing fragmentation across vendors. For those with established Azure consumption commitments, Microsoft Marketplace becomes a strategic lever, aligning purchases to consumption targets and helping maximize the value of existing investments. At the highest level of maturity, Microsoft Marketplace is built into long‑term planning, where procurement, FinOps, and engineering teams work together upfront to design more efficient, optimized cloud strategies. Key lessons for FinOps practitioners Several lessons stand out from how organizations are using Microsoft Marketplace in a FinOps context. First, Microsoft Marketplace works best when treated as part of your FinOps strategy, not just a purchasing layer. Early investment in visibility and attribution creates a stronger foundation for optimization over time. Second, governance tools, like curated catalogs and purchase order mapping, are most effective when used intentionally to guide how teams buy and manage solutions. These aren’t just controls; they shape behavior. Finally, aligning engineering decisions with financial accountability ensures that technology choices directly support measurable business outcomes, rather than operating in isolation. From spending to strategy Microsoft Marketplace gives organizations a practical way to rethink how technology investments are managed. As cloud, SaaS, and AI spending continue to converge, the need for a more unified approach to financial operations becomes harder to ignore. By bringing visibility, governance, and purchasing into a connected system, Microsoft Marketplace helps organizations move beyond tracking costs toward understanding value. The shift is subtle but important: from reacting to spend after the fact to making better decisions upfront at the point of evaluation and purchase. For teams looking to mature their FinOps practices or better manage Marketplace spend, the next step is to see how this works in practice. The full session offers deeper examples, customer perspectives, and actionable guidance on applying these principles in real environments. Watch and learn: Microsoft Marketplace as a FinOps platform - Microsoft Marketplace customer office hours
Open Data Infrastructure: How Fivetran in Microsoft Marketplace powers agentic AI on Azure
In this guest blog post, Natalie Waller, Lead Product Marketing Manager at Fivetran, examines why agentic AI is stalling in most enterprises — not because of the AI itself, but because today’s data infrastructure wasn’t built for autonomous agents.Rethinking cloud gateways for apps, AI, APIs, and more in Azure with F5 in Microsoft Marketplace
In this guest blog post, Ilya Krutov, Senior Product Marketing Manager at F5, considers the evolution of cloud architectures and how F5 NGINXaaS for Azure in Microsoft Marketplace unifies delivery, security, and governance, helping platform teams avoid building yet another siloed control plane for AI.
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 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.Optimizing 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.
