How AI closes requirements gaps, and how Modern Requirements and Microsoft Marketplace can help
In this guest blog post, Asif Sharif, CEO of Modern Requirements, explores where DevOps workflows fall short and how teams can better manage requirements with Copilot4DevOps, Modern Requirements4DevOps, and Microsoft Azure DevOps.AI-powered maintenance management with Microsoft Azure
Welcome to another edition of our Partner Spotlight series, where we showcase the innovators transforming maintenance and field service operations through the Microsoft Marketplace. Each feature uncovers the unique journey of a partner leveraging the Microsoft ecosystem to deliver AI-powered solutions and transactable offers that simplify enterprise adoption and accelerate digital transformation. In this article, I connected with Benjamin Schwärzler from Workheld, a Vienna-based SaaS provider redefining maintenance management for asset-intensive industries. We explore their origin story, their evolution as a Microsoft partner, and how they’re helping organizations bridge the gap between shopfloor execution and strategic decision-making—all within a secure, Azure-powered environment. About Ben [BS]: Benjamin Schwärzler is the CEO of Workheld, a Vienna-based SaaS company redefining how industrial enterprises manage maintenance and field service operations. With a strong background in digital transformation and enterprise software strategy, Benjamin has led Workheld’s evolution from a start-up to a trusted Microsoft partner serving global industry leaders such as voestalpine. Under his leadership, Workheld has become a pioneer in digital shopfloor enablement—combining AI-driven insights with seamless execution to improve efficiency, transparency, and safety in industrial maintenance. His work focuses on bridging the gap between operational excellence and digital innovation, empowering technicians and managers alike with intuitive, data-driven tools. Benjamin is passionate about advancing smart manufacturing and asset management through technology partnerships and ecosystem collaboration. His strategic vision has positioned Workheld at the forefront of Microsoft’s Marketplace, where it now serves as a reference case for how industrial SaaS providers can accelerate enterprise adoption through transactable marketplace solutions. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ [JR]: Tell us about your organization. [BS]: Workheld is a leading SaaS provider focused on digital solutions for maintenance and field service operations. Founded in Vienna, Austria, Workheld empowers industrial enterprises to plan, execute, and analyze maintenance and asset management processes with full transparency. Our platform, from within a secure, Microsoft Azure-based environment unites digital work orders, smart scheduling, and AI-driven insights—bridging the gap between the shopfloor and strategic decision-making. [JR]: What inspired the founding? [BS]: Workheld was born from a simple observation: while industrial production processes had undergone massive digitalization, maintenance operations remained largely analog. We saw an opportunity to create a solution that not only digitizes workflows but also connects people, data, and machines in a way that drives measurable efficiency gains. [JR]: What does your app do, and who is it designed for? [BS]: Workheld serves asset-intensive industries such as manufacturing, energy, and infrastructure. Workheld Flow connects maintenance teams, planners, and managers in one unified platform—delivering visibility from the field to the executive level. We started as a digital work order system and have grown into a full-fledged maintenance and asset management platform. Today, Workheld is an ecosystem—connecting technicians, planners, and management dashboards, with seamless integration into ERP systems and industrial IoT data streams. We help companies overcome fragmented communication, manual reporting, and inefficient resource allocation. With Workheld, teams can schedule, document, and analyze maintenance tasks in real time—reducing downtime and enabling data-driven decisions. [JR]: What technologies or Microsoft services does it leverage? [BS]: Workheld is built on Microsoft Azure, leveraging services such as Azure App Services, Azure SQL Database, and Azure Active Directory for secure and scalable operations. We are also integrating Azure AI Services for intelligent recommendations and predictive maintenance insights. [JR]: Can you describe your journey in publishing a transactable offer? Why did you decide to publish transactable, and what challenges did you face? [BS]: Enterprise customers increasingly want trusted, secure, and simplified procurement. By publishing a transactable offer, we aligned with our customers’ Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) and eliminated procurement barriers—making it easier for enterprises to buy and deploy Workheld within their existing Microsoft ecosystem. Navigating the technical and legal aspects of the transactable setup required close collaboration with Microsoft’s partner success team. We leveraged Microsoft’s resources, including Marketplace Rewards and technical documentation, to streamline the process and ensure compliance. [JR]: What publishing advice would you give to new partners? [BS]: Invest early in making your offer transactable—it dramatically increases customer trust and speeds up enterprise sales. Collaborate closely with Microsoft’s Marketplace team and focus on aligning your solution with customer MACC priorities. [JR]: How are you using AI in your app development? [BS]: We are incorporating Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Machine Learning to power intelligent assistant features within Workheld—such as AI-guided troubleshooting, natural language work order generation, and contextual recommendations during maintenance execution. Microsoft’s AI documentation, Azure partner webinars, and early access programs have been instrumental in helping us integrate and test AI components efficiently and responsibly. [JR]: What business outcomes have you seen from integrating AI? [BS]: AI reduces reporting time for technicians by up to 60% and enhances the accuracy of maintenance insights. It also allows managers to identify recurring issues faster, improving asset availability and reducing downtime. [JR]: What business impact have you seen since publishing on the Marketplace? [BS]: The Marketplace has transformed how we approach enterprise deals. Our first six-figure transaction with voestalpine demonstrated that Marketplace deals can accelerate procurement, align with customer MACC targets, and enhance trust across IT and procurement departments. [JR]: How has transacting directly on the Marketplace influenced your strategy? [BS]: It has become a key pillar of our go-to-market approach for enterprise customers. We now plan all major deals with Marketplace alignment in mind, enabling faster approvals and improved positioning within Microsoft’s co-sell ecosystem. [JR]: What key takeaways would you share with other partners? [BS]: Success in the Marketplace is about customer alignment and ecosystem thinking. It’s not just a sales channel—it’s a trust signal. Publishing a transactable offer opens the door to larger enterprise opportunities and deeper collaboration with Microsoft. [JR]: How has your Marketplace experience shaped your roadmap? [BS]: The Marketplace is now central to our global expansion strategy. We’re extending our platform with AI and IoT capabilities to further strengthen our position as the go-to maintenance management solution within the Microsoft ecosystem. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Resources Join ISV Success - Build and publish applications and agents faster with powerful AI developer tools, consultations, and technical guidance—then grow your sales through Microsoft Marketplace Join the marketplace community - Access resources for every stage of the journey on the Microsoft Marketplace, provide feedback, and engage with other partners and Microsoft subject-matter experts focused on your success. Microsoft Marketplace - Your trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents Paths for partnership - Learn more about the ways you can partner with us—from building and selling solutions to differentiating your business with a Solutions Partner designation.Unlocking growth: the channel-led Marketplace opportunity
The technology industry is in the midst of a transformation, and nowhere is this more evident than in the evolution of cloud marketplaces. Microsoft’s unified Marketplace—bringing together AppSource and Azure Marketplace—has become the trusted destination for customers and partners to discover, transact, and scale cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents. But what’s truly driving momentum is the way software companies and channel partners are coming together to capture new opportunities. A new era of partnership The story begins with a simple observation: cloud marketplaces aren’t just about listing products—they’re about building relationships and accelerating growth. Microsoft’s ecosystem, now boasting over 500,000 partners and tens of thousands of solutions, is seeing explosive growth. Deals brokered through collaboration between software companies and channel partners are not only more frequent, but also 75% larger than average. The multiplier effect is real: for every dollar transacted, software companies see an additional $1.75 in value, while channel partners are seeing a remarkable $6.26 for every dollar. Why is this happening? The answer lies in the changing nature of technology buying. Today’s buyers prefer digital-first, integration-driven experiences. They want to discover, try, and deploy solutions with minimal friction, and they expect seamless interoperability. The marketplace is evolving to meet these expectations, supporting everything from product-led growth to seller-led and ecosystem-led go-to-market strategies. The value comes when Microsoft Marketplace is the mechanism of co-building and co-selling, in conjunction with a Microsoft Channel Partner. Here, customers get the perfect balance of agility and innovation, with good governance, guardrails and best practices, along with software lifecycle management and advisory services delivered through channel-led private offers. The mechanics of channel-led selling with Microsoft Marketplace Microsoft has built the marketplace to be an accelerated platform for innovation for our customers & partners – recently introducing the new globally available channel feature, resell-enabled offers - making it easier for channel partners to manage the entire lifecycle of a customer relationship. The partner led features of Marketplace —private offers, multiparty private offers, CSP private offers, and now resale-enabled offers—give partners full control over pricing, terms, and delivery, while streamlining the contracting process. The result? Faster deal velocity, increased profitability, and the ability to scale globally. Building a Marketplace practice Success in this new landscape requires more than just technical know-how. It’s about building a new business practice—starting with a strong foundation of leadership and ownership, enabling teams with the right processes and operational muscle, executing with clear reporting and visibility, and finally, scaling with dedicated resources and a vendor-light approach. Partners who embrace this journey are seeing significant new net business and deeper engagement with both Microsoft and their customers. The future: AI, services, and the power of moments As generative AI and agentic AI reshape the industry, services are growing even faster than products. Most deals now involve multiple partners, each contributing at different moments along the customer journey—from consulting and design to implementation and renewal. Marketplaces are becoming the platform where these moments are orchestrated, data is shared, and value is multiplied. A platform for partnering The Microsoft Marketplace is more than a storefront—it’s a platform for partnering, innovation, and growth. Whether you’re a software company looking to expand your reach, or a channel partner ready to build new practices, the opportunity is clear: embrace the marketplace, leverage new mechanisms, and unlock the multiplier effect. I covered the channel-led marketplace opportunity in my session at Microsoft Ignite this year. You can watch the full session and hear firsthand how industry leaders are navigating the channel-led marketplace opportunity, discover practical strategies for building your own marketplace practice, and get inspired by real-world examples of innovation and growth within the Microsoft ecosystem. Dive deeper into the mechanics, the mindset, and the momentum that are shaping the future of partner-driven success. Access the full session here: Executing on the channel-led marketplace opportunity for partnersDiscover how SharePoint Embedded can transform software solutions for your customers
Explore practical use cases and actionable steps to make integrating enterprise grade document management into applications real and impactful. Hear what software development company partners are asking about implementing SharePoint Embedded, what they learned, and how their customers are benefiting. Read the full article: SharePoint Embedded guide for software companies: Use cases make it real for customersHow we talk about the value of Microsoft Marketplace with customers
At Microsoft Ignite 2025, we introduced the reimagined Microsoft Marketplace to our customers as your trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents. This brief, 20-minute breakout session talked about how Marketplace is empowering organizations to become Frontier Firms by streamlining the discovery, purchase, and deployment of tens of thousands of partner solutions. You can watch the session on the Ignite site or on YouTube and read the synopsis below to see how our team pitches Marketplace to our shared customers. We encourage you to provide this and our other customer-focused session on cost optimization to your customers! They can watch a Marketplace demo and learn more at Microsoft.com/Marketplace. BRK213 Microsoft Marketplace: Your trusted source for cloud and AI solutions How Microsoft Marketplace empower the shift to AI-first Frontier Firms are leading the shift to AI-first. Microsoft Marketplace, as an extension of the Microsoft Cloud, is empowering this Frontier transformation by connecting our customers to our partner ecosystem. Marketplace is unique in that customers can discover and purchase solutions in our storefront, in Microsoft products, and through distributed marketplaces through channel partners. Marketplace offers the largest catalog of AI apps and agents in the industry (4,000+ and growing), including so many of the leading innovators in this category. We’re seeing incredible momentum with customers adopting Marketplace: 2X+ sales growth again this year, 75% increase in average spend, and ~2X increase in AI solutions purchased. Microsoft Marketplace value AI apps and agents for every use case Marketplace allows you to choose thousands of AI apps and agents that match your scenario and stack, which simplifies deployment and decreases time-to-value. When you need to ground your AI solution, Marketplace has more than 11,000 models to choose from to ensure you get fast, relevant, and accurate context. You have confidence that solutions integrate natively so that employees can get what they need in the flow of work when using Microsoft products. Comprehensive catalog across cloud solutions and industries As organizations transition to becoming Frontier Firms, it fuels more cloud adoption. Marketplace has the most comprehensive catalog of solutions. Additionally, there are a host of business applications that meet exact needs in functions like HR, legal, and project management. You can access everything from Microsoft – a business partner you know and trust. Solutions come from vetted Microsoft partners which gives peace of mind with purchase. As tech buying responsibilities grow outside of IT, Marketplace keeps teams on the same page while allowing them to get what they need and supports try-before-you-buy scenarios with trials and POCs. Everything your organization buys through Marketplace is consolidated in a single view. Maximize investments with a consumption commitment A Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) commits your organization to a certain dollar amount of cloud spend. When you fulfill that commitment, it unlocks discounts on Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is unique in that we offer a 100% match on eligible solutions through Marketplace with no limit. Today, 85% of Microsoft customers with MACCs are buying through Marketplace. We have 3,800+ eligible solutions and that number grows every day. Integrated experience from discovery to deployment You can find and deploy solutions in our storefront but also in the Microsoft products you know and use every day -- agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, apps in Teams, models in Microsoft Foundry, a host of solutions in Azure portal, and more. We’re continuing to build out capabilities that allow you to use AI for an even better Marketplace experience. For example, you can now get Marketplace recommendations using Copilot in Azure portal. As we look to make an AI-infused commerce platform, you’ll continue to see improvements here. Empower your channel, get the benefits of Marketplace We aim to empower customers to buy how they want to buy, whether that’s through us and our Marketplace or relying on the channel. If you procure technology through a channel partner, you can bring that partner to source Marketplace solutions on your behalf. One way to do that is through resale enabled offers, which allow partners to work together so software companies can defer the sales and integration of their products to their channel partners. This means your IT provider can better service you. We have several other channel-led Marketplace opportunities in our portfolio, and all a partner has to do is enroll.AI innovation takes center stage at Microsoft Ignite
Artificial intelligence is transforming how software companies build, scale, and deliver solutions. At Microsoft Ignite, we announced new tools and programs to help developers accelerate innovation responsibly, from AI-powered workflows and unified tools in Microsoft Foundry to Cohere’s language models on Azure. Plus, the global launch of Microsoft Marketplace brings the industry’s largest catalog of AI apps and agents, enabling partners to reach new customers and unlock growth. Explore the latest announcements and learn how to ship faster, scale confidently, and turn AI innovation into business impact. Read the full articleSharePoint Embedded guide for software companies: Use cases make it real for customers
Getting Started: The Foundation Q: "We're a SaaS platform with multiple customers—how do we keep their data separate?" A: The most successful multi-tenant software companies use the owning and consuming tenant approach. Once you have developed your application and it’s ready to be deployed to a customer, customers want to maintain control of their data, use the security configuration they have configured and compliance controls across their entire data estate. What they don’t want to do is store data outside of their tenant. When using SharePoint Embedded, you control the application, your customer controls their data. Software companies create their application in the owning tenant. When you’re ready to bring on a new customer, you simply register SharePoint Embedded on the consuming tenant (your customer). As documents are added through your application, they reside in the consuming tenant and all the security boundaries they have configured. Scale reality check: You can create millions of containers per tenant, with each container holding up to 30 million documents. That's serious enterprise scale. Q: Our customers demand specific geographic data storage and compliance. Can SharePoint Embedded handle this? A: SharePoint Embedded inherits Office 365's data residency capabilities, which often exceeds what most software companies can provide on their own: Geographic controls: Data stays within customer-specified regions Government clouds: FedRAMP support for government tenants or contractors Compliance inheritance: Customers leverage their existing Microsoft compliance investments Game-changer example: Customers need FIPS compliance and ITAR support for government contractors. Rather than building this infrastructure themselves, they leverage Microsoft's existing certifications. Q: What's the real story on costs? How do software companies handle SharePoint Embedded billing? A: When a software company is ready to deploy their app there are two primary billing models: Pass-through model: Customer pays Microsoft directly through an Azure subscription they choose. The software company handles integration, customer handles billing Customers maintain control over their data and costs Works well for enterprise customers with existing Microsoft relationships Software company-standard model: Software companies include SPE costs in their pricing and then invoices the customer Easier for customers, but software companies must manage costs closely. Storage: ~$0.0067/GB/day + API transaction costs + egress costs Works well for SMB customers or all-inclusive service models Success Pattern: Legal sector software companies typically use pass-through, while financial management apps include costs in their SaaS pricing. Document collaboration: it’s all about the user experience Q: Our customers hate our current document editing experience. What changes with SharePoint Embedded? A: The collaboration transformation is usually immediate and dramatic: Before SharePoint Embedded: Web-only editing with limited functionality Version conflicts and manual merging External users need full software licenses Downloading a document to edit it and then re-uploading it increases risk After SharePoint Embedded: Native desktop Office applications with full feature sets Real-time co-authoring with automatic conflict resolution External users collaborate without Office licenses Zero custom integration maintenance Customer impact story: A Construction Cloud customer was frustrated with web-only Office editing. With SPE, their construction teams can collaborate on specifications in desktop Word, cost sheets in Excel, and project presentations in PowerPoint—all simultaneously. Customer satisfaction scores improved immediately. Q: How do we handle external users—clients, contractors, reviewers—who aren't employees? A: This is where SharePoint Embedded really shines for software companies: Guest user support: External users can collaborate using their existing email addresses No license requirements: Guests don't need Office licenses to edit documents Time-bound access: You can grant temporary access for specific projects Granular permissions: External users see only what they need to see, and you control this through existing Entra ID security practices. Real-world scenario: A pharmaceutical customer needs external regulatory reviewers to collaborate on drug approval documents. These reviewers (often using Gmail accounts) can access specific documents, make comments, and track changes—all while maintaining strict security controls and audit trails. Q: What about industries with specialized document formats? Will SharePoint Embedded work? A: SharePoint Embedded handles standard Office formats natively, and provides extensibility for specialized formats: Native support: Word, Excel, PowerPoint can be viewed or edited using the browser or full desktop experience. Custom formats: Through Power Platform connectors and custom viewers depending on how you built the user interface. Industry-specific: Many software companies build viewers for CAD files, proprietary image documents or medical records. This is the real value add for your app. Specialized example: Engineering companies use CAD files and Office documents, relying on custom viewers for technical drawings as well as built-in Office collaboration tools for handling specifications and project documentation. AI and intelligence: The future-forward Q: Everyone talks about AI, but what are software development company customers really using? A: Based on real implementations, customers are getting value from three AI capabilities: In app experience Customers can find information across documents using natural language "Show me all contracts with renewal clauses" instead of keyword searches Provides a robust alternative to the custom search solutions that many find challenging to develop effectively. Document summarization Automatic summaries of meeting notes, reports, contracts Executives get briefings without reading full documents Particularly valuable for legal and consulting software companies Content extraction Automatic metadata extraction from uploaded documents Classification and tagging without manual effort Useful for compliance and organization AI success story: A market research platform uses AI to mine insights from massive survey result repositories. They can identify patterns across client studies and provide competitive intelligence that drives premium service offerings—capabilities that would have required a dedicated AI team to build. Q: How does SharePoint Embedded content fit into the Microsoft AI story? A: Content is king and when it’s stored in SharePoint Embedded you can use the Microsoft AI stack to reason over it. Copilot Studio – Build custom agents that can access and reason over your SharePoint Embedded content, enabling tailored workflows and conversational experiences for your business scenarios. Azure AI Foundry – Use advanced AI models and orchestration tools to analyze documents, extract insights, and apply generative reasoning directly on your embedded content (coming soon). M365 agents – Empower Microsoft 365 Copilot and domain-specific agents to leverage your SharePoint Embedded data securely, delivering contextual answers and automation across apps like Teams, Outlook, and Word. Control flexibility: You can disable Copilot at the container level, so customers only pay for what they use. This lets you offer different service tiers based on AI capabilities. Q: How much prep work do our documents need for AI to be effective? A: The software companies seeing best AI results focus on structured metadata and information architecture fundamentals. Document organization: Clear document types (contracts, reports, specifications) Consistent metadata fields across document types Permissions, sensitivity labels and container architecture reduce the accidental data leakage risk. Users simply add the document to a container through your application and SharePoint Embedded does the rest by automatically indexing the content, which adds it to the semantic index, so you get all the reasoning power in the LLM's. Preparation benefit: Software companies find that organizing their document metadata and permissions before enabling Copilot improved AI accuracy. Customers get better results and more relevant document summaries. Security and compliance: Enterprise requirements Q: Our customers are in highly regulated industries. How do we handle their compliance requirements without becoming compliance experts ourselves? A: This is SharePoint Embedded's biggest advantage for software companies—compliance inheritance: Your customer's compliance = Your application's compliance Following the owning/consuming deployment model provides: Customer's DLP policies automatically apply to containers Their retention policies govern document lifecycles Their audit requirements are automatically met Their security controls protect your application's data Compliance success: Financial services software companies don't need to become SOX compliance experts—they inherit their customers' existing Microsoft Purview policies. Legal software companies get automatic GDPR compliance without building privacy infrastructure. Q: What about audit trails and eDiscovery? Do we need to build this ourselves? A: SharePoint Embedded provides enterprise-grade audit capabilities automatically: Complete audit trails: Every document access, modification, and sharing event is logged eDiscovery Integration: Native integration with Microsoft eDiscovery tools Retention policies: Automatic retention based on customer's existing policies Legal hold: Built-in legal hold capabilities for litigation scenarios Audit reality: Legal sector software companies can provide their clients with comprehensive audit trails for regulatory compliance without building any custom audit infrastructure. Everything is handled through Microsoft's existing compliance tools. Q: How do we handle customers who want to keep control of their data? A: SharePoint Embedded gives customers more control than most software company solutions: Customer tenant: Data stays in the customer's Microsoft tenant, not yours Customer policies: Their security and compliance policies govern the data Software company access: You only access data through APIs with customer-granted permissions Control example: SaaS platform software companies explain to customers that their documents live in the customer's tenant with customer-controlled governance. This made enterprise sales easier because customers maintain complete control over their data. Have more questions or want to talk to the team, contact us: SharePointEmbedded@microsoft.com _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Resources SharePoint Embedded overview: SharePoint Embedded Overview | Microsoft Learn
Boost SaaS revenue with Microsoft Marketplace: A step-by-step guide
About the author: Manesh Raveendran is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spektra Systems, a partner-focused cloud solutions company that simplifies cloud sales adoption and helps cloud-based businesses accelerate their growth. He specializes in thought leadership and in building end-to-end technology solutions across cloud computing, data platforms, and DevOps, with a strong focus on hybrid workloads. Manesh works closely with CXOs to understand business problems and designs systems that drive customer success through Spektra Systems’ innovative cloud solutions and services, including SaaSify, CloudLabs and CSP Control Center. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For SaaS companies, the Microsoft Marketplace has evolved from being a procurement convenience to becoming a strategic revenue engine. But while publishing a listing is easy, closing the first transaction quickly is what separates software development companies who scale on Marketplace from those who stall. That first transaction isn’t just revenue. It’s a signal: Your offer flows through Microsoft’s procurement rails. Your finance, legal, and operations stack is aligned. Microsoft sellers trust they can bring you into deals. Buyers trust Marketplace as their procurement path. Furthermore, transactable offers close faster because they simplify legal review, leverage committed cloud spend and integrate into enterprise procurement. Many software companies go live on Microsoft Marketplace but fail to reach their first transaction quickly. Some stall for months because of fragmented processes, delayed financial setup, or a lack of alignment with Microsoft’s co-sell engine. Others underutilize the marketplace’s full potential because they treat it as a digital storefront rather than an integrated revenue channel. This blog aims to close that gap. It goes beyond “how to list” and focuses on what really drives velocity: operational readiness, CRM-native automation, seller engagement, trust signals, and AI-enabled acceleration. In this blog, we’ll walk through: The step-by-step journey from publishing your transactable offer to your first Microsoft sale. Common pitfalls that delay the first transaction and how to avoid them How CRM-native automation can accelerate finance, legal, and operations readiness for transactable offers Why field seller alignment and partner incentives are critical to activating the Microsoft ecosystem. How AI copilots and agents are changing the game for marketplace GTM. By the end, you’ll have a clear, actionable blueprint for moving from “just listed” to “revenue in hand” and turning your first sale into a repeatable growth engine. Listing readiness and execution: Step-by-step for publishing your offer Most first-sale delays don’t happen after publishing. They happen before the offer goes live. Getting listing readiness right can cut weeks off your timeline. Get the account setup right Have a Partner Center publisher account with your company verified and enrolled in the Microsoft Marketplace. Assign the right roles in Partner Center (e.g., Owner, Marketplace Admin, and for payments Finance Contributor). These are required to configure payments and publish offers. Decide offer type and monetization strategy early Pick your offer type carefully (SaaS, VM, Managed App, Container). If your goal is to accelerate revenue, transactable SaaS offers using Microsoft’s Standard Contract tend to have the lowest procurement friction. Align your pricing model (seat-based, usage, flat, or hybrid) with enterprise buying behavior and potential private offer flexibility. Complete legal, finance, and tax setup upfront Configure and validate payout and tax accounts before creating the offer. Decide whether to use the Standard Contract (fastest buyer approval) or a custom EULA (more control, more delays). Define internal ownership between finance, legal, and GTM teams. Create the offer shell in Partner Center with listing details Create a new SaaS offer in Partner Center and provide the Offer ID and Offer alias to create the shell. Complete the offer listing details with name, description, categories, keywords, logos/screens, (optional) videos. These are what customers see in the storefront. Select markets/regions, audience, and any reseller/CSP availability where supported. (Exact toggles vary by offer type; the goal is to ensure the offer is visible where you sell.) Build the listing like a sales asset A Marketplace listing is not a product brochure, it’s the first deck Microsoft sellers and buyers see. Open with a sharp value proposition. Add pricing clarity or private offer options. Include visuals (architecture diagrams, screenshots, etc.). Add security and compliance details. Link to deployment guides and onboarding documentation. Test before you publish Run through test purchases and fulfillment callbacks. Validate offer visibility, legal terms, pricing flows, and payout readiness. Involve your finance and ops teams before pressing “Submit.” Software companies that complete listing readiness thoroughly typically reach first sale in a few days post-publish, versus weeks or months when key steps are deferred. Making an offer transactable: Speed starts here Publishing a Marketplace listing is like setting up a storefront. But a transactable offer turns that storefront into a fully operational sales channel. Technical execution: Fulfillment & integration For SaaS offers, integrate the SaaS Fulfillment API v2: Implement landing page and webhook endpoints to handle provisioning. Automate activation, change, and cancellation flows. Ensure your finance systems can reconcile Marketplace invoices and payouts. Commercial execution: Pricing & packaging for enterprise buyers Offer transparent, scalable plans buyers can commit to confidently. Design for private offers: custom pricing, terms, or multi-year deals. Ensure deployment is frictionless; buyers expect immediate activation. Aligning with seller & buyer behavior Transactable offers allow Microsoft sellers to retire quota faster which can be a huge incentive. Buyers prefer using committed cloud spend on pre-approved contracts. Simplicity wins: fewer legal redlines, faster billing, and predictable usage. Using Microsoft’s Standard Contract instead of custom terms can cut procurement timelines drastically. Co-sell readiness ensures sellers can bring you into opportunities quickly. Common pitfalls that delay first sale velocity Not every software company reaches their first sale smoothly. In fact, many delays stem from operational and technical issues, not lack of demand. Some of the most common pitfalls include: Delaying payout and tax setup: Without validated financial configuration, your offer can go live but won’t be able to transact. This is one of the biggest and most common delays. Weak or incomplete listings: If your listing doesn’t clearly communicate value, pricing, deployment, and security posture, neither sellers nor buyers will engage confidently. Fulfillment gaps: A broken or manual provisioning flow can derail the first transaction at the worst possible moment. Automation here is essential. Lack of CRM integration: Marketplace opportunities stuck in a separate portal often get ignored or delayed, leading to poor forecasting and slower deal cycles. No seller activation: Simply going live won’t bring in deals. Without proactive enablement, Microsoft field sellers won’t prioritize your offer. Legal complexity: Custom legal terms add friction for buyers and sellers. Using Microsoft’s Standard Contract accelerates procurement significantly. Over-reliance on “organic” traffic: Marketplace is not a “list and wait” channel. The first sale almost always needs to be driven intentionally. Most of these pitfalls are fully preventable with early planning, operational alignment, and a revenue-first listing strategy. Here’s how modern software companies are solving these common challenges, with AI copilots and CRM-native workflows. CRM-native automation to streamline first marketplace sale Once your offer is live, speed to first transaction depends on how efficiently you can move from buyer intent to recorded revenue. This is where CRM-native automation bridges the gap, connecting Marketplace activity with your core GTM and operational systems. When Marketplace deals don’t connect to your CRM, they fall into operational dead zones that slow execution and create unnecessary manual work: Data entry and updates are done twice, once in CRM and then again in the Partner Center Manual processes introduce errors and inconsistencies. Seller response time slows because opportunities aren’t visible. Finance teams chase payouts and reconciliation weeks after closing. GTM leadership lacks visibility into true pipeline attribution and revenue impact. In short, disconnected systems mean disconnected teams and that’s the biggest drag on first-sale velocity. But CRM-native automation streamlines the transactable offer process in more than one way, including: Automated offer creation For most software companies, the first Marketplace transaction happens through a private offer, not a public click-to-buy. CRM-native automation lets you generate, customize, and track private offers directly inside your CRM, eliminating manual Partner Center steps and accelerating deal velocity. Advanced workflows also integrate co-sell automation, so partner managers and Microsoft field sellers are looped in automatically. Real-time deal visibility As soon as a buyer initiates a transaction or engages through a private offer, the status is instantly logged in your CRM through bi-directional sync. Sellers and RevOps no longer have to check Partner Center manually. This eliminates lag between buyer intent and seller follow-up, often shaving days off deal cycles. Unified forecasting and attribution Marketplace opportunities flow directly into your primary CRM pipeline. GTM and revenue leaders can forecast Marketplace deals alongside direct sales, using the same dashboards and metrics. Marketplace revenue is no longer a black box sitting outside the funnel. Financial reconciliation without chaos Payout reports, tax records, and revenue recognition tie directly to opportunity records. Finance teams don’t need to manually match spreadsheets or chase payouts. Marketplace revenue is reconciled automatically with clean data, reducing delays and errors. Better seller incentives and co-sell alignment When Marketplace deals show up in seller dashboards and reports, they’re treated like legitimate, quota-retiring opportunities. This increases seller participation and encourages field teams to bring software companies into opportunities earlier. Co-sell notifications can be automated, ensuring partner managers, sellers, and Microsoft teams are always aligned. A fully operational CRM-native Marketplace motion typically includes: Automated private offer generation through Marketplace Streamlined co-sell opportunity signals from CRM to align Microsoft sellers and accelerate joint pipeline. Deal stage mapping aligned with GTM and RevOps workflows. Automated approval, legal, and finance processes. Integration with payout and tax reporting for real-time revenue recognition. Alerts and dashboards for sellers, RevOps, and partner managers. Direct linkage with co-sell opportunities and field seller engagement. AI agents & Copilots: Driving faster listing readiness For most software development companies, listing and selling on Microsoft Marketplace is complex because the steps are fragmented. Legal, technical, operational, and GTM readiness often move at different speeds. This is exactly where AI agents and copilots transform the motion from manual and reactive to predictable and orchestrated. AI Agents can act as a purpose-built companion for software companies, like SaaSify AI Companion can generate tailored, prioritized roadmaps based on your GTM maturity, offer type, and launch goals. Here’s how AI agents can accelerate GTM readiness: Personalized Roadmaps: AI generates a launch plan with 50+ tasks, customized to your offer type, stage, and objectives. These aren’t static lists, they adapt dynamically as you progress. Guided Execution: Every task includes step-by-step guidance, deep links to Microsoft resources, contextual recommendations, and real-time AI assistance. Dependency & Risk Management: Visual progress indicators, dependencies, and conditional logic ensure you never miss a critical step. Potential blockers are flagged early with no need for external consultants Flexible Engagement: Software companies can choose between self-service (full control) or assisted onboarding (expert + AI), allowing different team structures to move at the same velocity. AI copilots don’t just accelerate readiness; they reduce errors, compress planning cycles, and create predictability. Listing to first sale on Microsoft Marketplace: An inflection point The first Marketplace sale isn’t just a transaction. It’s the moment your GTM motion proves it can run on Microsoft’s procurement rails. It’s the point where sellers start to pull you into deals, buyers see Marketplace as a trusted procurement path, and your internal teams gain confidence in a repeatable channel. The software companies who reach this point fastest aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or teams. They’re the ones who: Treat listing readiness as a strategic launch, not an operational checkbox. Invest early in transactability to minimize friction for buyers and sellers. Avoid common operational pitfalls that slow most launches down. Use AI copilots to orchestrate readiness instead of relying on manual project management. Implement CRM-native automation so every signal flows seamlessly into their revenue engine. Marketplace is not a “list and wait” channel. It’s a GTM motion that rewards precision, alignment, and speed. That’s where SaaSify plays a catalytic role. SaaSify AI Companion enables self-service readiness with guided, step-by-step launch roadmaps, while the SaaSify GTM Platform automates the operational backbone of transactable offers, from private offer creation to co-sell workflows and payout reconciliation. This combination helps software companies cut time-to-first-sale dramatically, reduce execution overhead, and scale Marketplace revenue motions with confidence. In today’s Marketplace-driven economy, the winners aren’t just those who list fast, they’re the ones who operationalize faster, automate smarter, and sell through Microsoft as a scalable, repeatable growth engine. To learn more and ask questions, attend the AI-powered acceleration: Scale faster in Microsoft Marketplace | Microsoft Community Hub session on December 4 th . If you are unable to attend, the session will be recorded for on demand viewing after. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Resources Microsoft Marketplace Trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents Microsoft Marketplace - Marketplace publisher | Microsoft Learn How to guides for working in Microsoft Marketplace ISV Success Discover offers and benefits of ISV Success to help you take your apps and agents to the next level.From AI to ecosystem strategy: Why UP LIVE Reston was a game-changer
On Oct 28–29, Carahsoft hosted Ultimate Partner LIVE at their incredible Reston, VA facility — a high-impact, two-day experience designed to empower ecosystem partners to lead through change. With keynotes from top Microsoft leaders, immersive workshops, and a curated executive audience, this wasn’t just another conference — it was a strategic accelerator for the future of partnering. Here are the top 7 insights from Ultimate Partner LIVE Reston 1. Microsoft’s vision: Ecosystem leadership in action The event kicked off with a powerful keynote from Craig Abod, President of Carahsoft, who reminded attendees to “know the business you're in, and know where you're going.” His disciplined approach to scaling — from $2B to $10B — set the tone for strategic focus and execution. His advice to “take care of your $2K customers, they’ll become $50K customers” was one of the most quoted lines of the event. Microsoft leaders then took the stage to amplify the momentum: Erwin Visser- GM, SCP Channel, challenged attendees to embrace co-innovation, stating, “In 10 years, the world’s top 50 brands don’t even exist yet.” Matt Berg- Global Sales Leader, AI Workforce SME&C, emphasized the importance of scaling success through Copilot and secure AI adoption. Pat Primavera- Americas ISV Channel Sales Leader Applications and Infrastructure, shared the origin story of Microsoft’s co-sell practices, highlighting how transparency and shared learning fuel ecosystem growth. Together, their insights framed a clear call to action: the time to build is now, and the future belongs to those who lead with purpose, partnership, and velocity. 2. AI is reshaping the partner ecosystem AI isn’t just a tech trend — it’s a business revolution. From Copilot to Agentic AI, Microsoft and its partners are leading the charge in redefining how innovation is delivered. Systems integrators (SIs) are at the forefront of AI experimentation, signaling a shift in who drives transformation. The message was clear: “Don’t wait for the next wave. Be the wave.” 3. The lines between partner roles are blurring The partner landscape is being rewritten. Today, partners play an average of 3.2 roles — ISV, MSP, SI, and more. The traditional definitions are fading fast. The winners will be those who adapt their models to stay relevant as these worlds collide. As one speaker noted, “Modern sales is an ecosystem play.” 4. Relationships are the real currency Jay McBain- Chief Analyst, Channels, Partnerships & Ecosystems at Omedia & Canalys, nailed it: “The difference between contacts and contracts is the letter R — Relationships.” His “7 Spheres of Influence” framework — advisors, analysts, ISVs, influencers, integrators, peers — was widely referenced as a guide to navigating modern partnerships. Trust and influence are now central to deal-making, and the ecosystem is the engine that drives it. 5. The buyer has changed permanently Only 5% of buyers are ready to buy now, and 90% will choose from their “Day 1 list.” With 51% of B2B buyers being millennials, early relationship-building is no longer optional — it’s essential. Partners must engage long before a formal buying process begins. The takeaway? If you’re not already on their radar, you’re already too late. 6. The time to build with AI is now From Copilot to secure chat and Agentic AI, Microsoft’s message was clear: the opportunity to build, launch, and scale new solutions is unbridled. Business-led innovation > tech-led innovation. AI isn’t just about automation — it’s about reimagining how work gets done and delivering real business outcomes. Partners were encouraged to adopt AI-first strategies and start building now. 7. Community beats chaos Transformation fatigue is real. Burnout is real. But UP LIVE Reston was described by attendees as “the jolt I didn’t know I needed.” Amid the noise of the industry, the event provided a space for authentic conversations, collaboration, and inspiration. From hallway chats to workshops, the energy was electric. The message was clear: community still matters, and we are truly better together. Special thanks to Craig Abod and the Carahsoft team for their generous support and leadership throughout the event. Carahsoft was honored with Ultimate Partner’s 2025 Partner of the Year Award, recognizing their outstanding commitment to building lasting relationships across the partner ecosystem. If you missed UP LIVE Reston, you can catch the event recordings here: Ultimate Partner LIVE: Reston - Oct. 28 Ultimate Partners LIVE: Reston - Oct. 29Grow your SaaS business with Microsoft Marketplace: Proven strategies
Explore how to expand your reach and simplify transactions by publishing your SaaS solution on Microsoft Marketplace. This step-by-step guide explains how to list your offering, optimize for visibility, and leverage marketplace tools to drive growth and scale efficiently. Read the full article Boost SaaS revenue with Microsoft Marketplace: A step-by-step guide | Microsoft Community Hub
