thought leadership
184 TopicsDiscover how Microsoft Marketplace can support your FinOps strategy and cost optimization goals
Learn how Microsoft Marketplace can help organizations streamline cloud procurement, optimize spend visibility, and simplify software purchasing through a FinOps-driven approach. This upcoming Microsoft Marketplace customer office hours session explores how partners and customers can leverage Marketplace capabilities to align cloud investments with business outcomes, improve operational efficiency, and maximize the value of Azure consumption commitments. Read the full event details and see why this session is valuable for organizations focused on cloud financial management, procurement modernization, and Marketplace growth strategies. 👉 Register Here: Microsoft Marketplace as a FinOps platform - Microsoft Marketplace customer office hoursRethinking 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.144Views3likes0CommentsMultiparty private offers in Microsoft Marketplace are expanding to 30 countries across Europe
We're excited to share that beginning on May 27, multiparty private offers through Microsoft Marketplace will expand to 30 countries in Europe. Further expansion to Australia, Japan, and South Africa will be available July 15—with more markets to follow. Multiparty private offers empower channel partners to bring vetted solutions to their customers to differentiate while companies developing software can lean on the partners’ local expertise to scale to new markets. Learn more: aka.ms/MPOEEAblog Additional resource: we recently hosted a Marketplace community event on Multi‑currency private offers in Microsoft Marketplace. Given this recent announcement about multiparty private offer expansion, I encourage you to access the recording. You will learn how to confidently navigate local currency transactions, understand how timing impacts payments, and apply best practices when executing deals across geographies.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.144Views3likes0CommentsHow 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.219Views2likes1CommentHow 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.119Views1like3CommentsTurn 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 Hub