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Partner Insight Newsletter

Navigating AWS Marketplace: A Blueprint for Accelerating ISV Growth

Hi, it’s Roman from Partner Insight. Welcome to my weekly newsletter, where I deconstruct winning Cloud GTM strategies and the latest trends in the rapidly evolving world of cloud marketplaces.

Today, we'll dive into AWS marketplace growth strategies with the insightful Phil Soane, Senior Marketplace Development: EMEA at AWS. We'll explore how Marketplaces are " changing the game " with Nima Badiey, drawing on his incredible experience leading alliances at GitLab, Google Cloud, and now managing strategic partnerships at NVIDIA. Finally, we’ll discuss a case study on how Cloud GTM, PLG, and partnerships can reinforce each other. Let’s dive in.

Navigating AWS Marketplace: A Blueprint for Accelerating ISV Growth  

In the ' Cloud GTM Leader Course ' session Phil Soane , Senior Marketplace Development: EMEA at AWS shared his insights on go-to-market strategies for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to accelerate in AWS Marketplace. The session underscored the importance of AWS Marketplace not just as a distribution channel but as a strategic component of an ISV's overall business growth strategy.

Given Phil’s extensive AWS experience, his insights offer actionable strategies for companies aiming to tap into the vast AWS Marketplace's potential. His team’s vision for ISVs in AWS Marketplace is to achieve a state where the digital marketplace becomes as integral and fluid as water within their business operations . The end state is a frictionless normalization of marketplace practices within ISV businesses, a point at which real momentum and success are achieved. But it’s a process and Phil likened his role in helping ISVs leverage the AWS Marketplace to that of a running coach - someone who knows the course and is committed to helping ISVs complete their marathon in marketplace adoption.

Continued adoption and Normalization of AWS Marketplace in Today's Software Industry

Tracing the evolution of AWS marketplace, Phil highlighted the significant shift in marketplace dynamics since its launch in 2012. Initially focused on self-service public offers to reduce procurement friction for DevOps engineers and cloud architects, AWS Marketplace has evolved to include much broader use cases today. This expansion responds to customer demands for greater control and governance of software and cloud spend, helping to modernize and digitize their procurement processes

Today, AWS Marketplace reached a critical mass with over 2.5 million active subscriptions and 300,000 active customers, integrating more than 4,000 ISVs and 15,000+ product listings into its catalog. Phil also highlighted the shift of marketplace adoption beyond traditional infrastructure software categories like security and data. A notable recent trend is the increasing integration of business applications, exemplified by Salesforce's adoption of AWS Marketplace that was announced in re:Invent 2023. This development marks an expansion towards more diverse software types benefiting from growing via their cloud marketplace.

The term ' normalization ' is what best describes the current trend in AWS Marketplace usage. This trend reflects the growing acceptance and integration of marketplace strategies into the GTM plans of various software providers. High-profile success stories like CrowdStrike, who have transacted more than a billion dollars through AWS marketplace, and other significant players like Palo Alto, Splunk, Trend Micro, Wiz and Snowflake in the public domain certainly underlines this trend.

Today AWS Marketplace is becoming an integral component of ISVs' GTM, presenting a vital avenue for revenue and market expansions.

Expanding Benefits of Using AWS Marketplace 

Features and Benefits to Drive Customer Demand

The underlying reasons why AWS customers adopt marketplaces are shifting too. It's no longer just about using their committed cloud spend to buy via AWS Marketplace. Many customers are turning to AWS Marketplace as part of their broader modernization strategy . AWS Marketplace helps customers accelerate and simplify procurement, improve governance and control, and optimize software spend with features including custom pricing and agreements, cost management tools, Private Marketplaces, and Vendor Insights.  

Features and benefits to help ISVs build, grow, and scale

For ISVs, AWS marketplace is increasingly seen as a crucial element in their GTM strategies.

There are two primary categories of MP benefits for ISVs: growing existing businesses and accelerating revenue growth generally. By embedding marketplace strategies early in the sales cycle and incorporating them into sales playbooks, ISVs can significantly accelerate their revenue growth. This approach can lead to winning more deals, closing them faster, and achieving larger contract values as cited in the Forrester report .

By engaging with customers and AWS account teams well ahead of renewals or new sales opportunities, ISVs can create scenarios where, at the very minimum, they experience smooth and easy flat renewals. In the value-add scenarios, early engagement leads to discovering new opportunities, upselling, and closing new contacts – all facilitated smoothly through AWS marketplace.

This highlights the necessity of not just meeting at the 'cash register' for transactional purposes but front-loading engagements for more significant impact. The idea is to build marketplace transactions into the sales playbook as a habit, rather than an afterthought. 

Co-Sell to Accelerate and Expand your Deal Flow

We dived deeper into nuances of co-selling and how ISVs can accelerate and expand their deal flow with AWS. The key to unlocking this potential lies in understanding and utilizing the AWS ACE program (APN Customer Engagements) effectively.

The ACE program is not a tool for blindly uploading opportunities at bulk - it's about quality engagement. One of the main aspects of ACE lies in its ability to foster trust with cloud sales teams and facilitate optional co-sell discussions with AWS account managers. ACE can help ISVs to understand the AWS Marketplace engagement score for each opportunity and to assess the customer's propensity to use AWS marketplace.

Phill suggests for ISVs to use ACE qualitatively and to trust their sales team to input opportunities into ACE, knowing that this action triggers an optional co-sell discussion with an AWS account manager. This conversation can offer insights into the customer's likelihood to engage via AWS marketplace. Habitually using ACE in this manner can lead to joint successful outcomes, turning it into a powerful mechanism for ISVs sales strategy.

The desired outcome of engaging with ACE is to create a positive feedback loop, a flywheel effect. As ISV account managers observe successful outcomes from their ACE entries – for instance, good discussions leading to closing deals through AWS marketplace with AWS account managers – it builds confidence in the process. The ultimate goal for ISVs in leveraging AWS ACE is not just to increase the volume of opportunities but to target new business and customer engagements. By focusing on the quality of these engagements and building trust with the cloud teams in the process, ISVs can see a tangible impact on their revenue growth.

Leveraging Sales Methodology for Effective Sales Team Engagement

It’s well known that adopting cloud marketplaces requires effective change-management inside the organizations . One of the most important strategies of implementing marketplace change management with CROs and sales VPs, is to integrate AWS marketplace into a company sales methodology like MEDDIC.

Embedding the AWS co-selling and marketplace processes into MEDDIC, makes it more easier for sales teams who are already accustomed to this or similar sales methodologies. For instance, during the economic buyer stage of sales qualification and discovery, sales teams are encouraged to ask about the customer's spend commitment, who the economic buyer is. This approach also extends to understanding who owns the marketplace strategy within the customer's organization and who will be responsible for the final purchase decision.

Optimizing Co-Sell Strategies with AWS: Acceleration, Expansion, and Building Trust

One of the key insights on co-selling to remember is that co-selling is not about AWS selling software on behalf of an ISV or vice versa. It's about finding the sweet spot for mutual benefit - acceleration and expansion, the twin pillars of effective co-selling.

When discussing co-selling, starting the conversation with the cloud teams focusing on the pain being solved for the customer can significantly enhance the engagement. This approach aligns the champions on both sides - the ISV and AWS - fostering a collaborative solution that benefits customers and all parties involved.

A practical strategy for co-selling involves leveraging the support from AWS teams. This support may include sharing account intelligence, assisting in offsetting proof of concept and migration costs, etc. It's about working together on a catalyst opportunity, where AWS field teams contribute wherever they can and see fit. 

One of the frequent questions in co-selling are cold introductions. However, asking cloud account teams for introductions without any context or established relationships within the customer organization can be ineffective. One of the effective alternatives is when a company already established a connection, has previous context and is asking for help to accelerate it. 

Another successful strategy is to share wins and context from previous engagements. When AWS account managers have positive experiences with an ISV in a specific use case, they are more likely to recommend that ISV to other customers facing similar challenges.

Communicate Wins for Building Trust and Incremental Growth

It is strategically important for ISVs to communicate wins to their cloud counterparts not only to serve as a record of success but also as a tool for educating AWS account managers about the specific customer challenges addressed and solutions provided by ISVs. By clearly articulating the customer problem, the resolution, and the metrics of success, such as how much was saved in a customer's migration strategy, ISVs can significantly enhance their visibility and credibility within the AWS ecosystem.

Wins are not just about closing a sale but about creating a positive, repeatable experience that encourages AWS account managers to introduce ISVs to new leads, thereby driving incremental revenue growth.

Navigating Public Offers and Private Offers for Optimal Sales Impact

Understanding the distinctions and strategically approaching public and private offers is essential for ISVs to effectively leverage AWS Marketplace.

Public offers

Public offers, often synonymous with self-serve purchases, are predominantly utilized today by customers who directly buy from AWS Marketplace low-mid cost pay-as-you-go type products. Examples are users like cloud architects who seek immediate access to software solutions. The ease of use and seamless integration with existing pay-as-you-go services make public offers an attractive choice for these users. 

Private offers

When it comes to larger, higher priced, contract-based commitments however, this is where Private Offers become essential. Typically user personas who are here committing to large 2-3 year contracts are different from those who make smaller, pay-as-you-go purchases. Additionally, procurement departments might not engage with high-priced offerings directly from AWS marketplace without deeper considerations and negotiations. This persona alignment should be central for ISVs choice whether to use Public or Private offers.

A promising middle ground lies in the use of SaaS free trials. This approach allows ISVs to maintain visibility in AWS marketplace while catering to the right user personas. By offering free trials, ISVs can place their product directly into the hands of potential users, facilitating a smoother transition to more significant commitments. Once the user appreciates the value of the software, ISVs can then engage with procurement teams for private offers, leading to longer-term contracts.

The increasing trend of SaaS free trials underscores the shift in marketplace dynamics. For ISVs with SaaS high LTV contract-type products, leveraging both free trials and private offers can result in a more effective sales strategy, tapping into the right customer personas at different stages of the buying journey.

In conclusion, our deep dive into AWS Marketplace strategies revealed that the key for ISVs to succeed is strategically embrace co-selling with AWS, leverage both public and private offers judiciously, and effectively communicate wins to build trust with clouds and drive incremental growth. The session underlined that success in AWS Marketplace is not just about transactional engagements but about embedding marketplace strategies into the ISV’s sales DNA.

💡 Enroll in Cloud GTM Leader Course

Join our 5-week cohort course and accelerate your growth via AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud cloud marketplaces with 10+ leading experts in a community of exceptional alliance leaders. Starting on February 19th .

Scroll below for a special offer exclusive to our newsletter readers .

Marketplaces are Changing the Game

Nima Badiey , explained in our Cloud GTM Leader course how Marketplaces are Changing the Game, drawing from his incredible experience in leading alliances in GitLab, Google Cloud and now strategic partnerships in NVIDIA.

The Meteoric Rise of Cloud Marketplaces

Nima highlighted the forecasted leap in transactions on major marketplaces from $15Bn in 2023 to $100Bn in 2027, unlocking a massive potential for SaaS vendors (ISVs). Many leading ISVs now put cloud marketplaces among their top 5 priorities .

“That's a phenomenal growth rate to take advantage of. So marketplaces as a business construct as a value added service provided by the CSVs is definitely here to stay.”

The Gravitational Pull of Marketplaces

The combination of vast customer bases, a staggering $340Bn in customer cloud commits , and the ability to drive procurement efficiencies have made top marketplaces a central hub for customers and partners.

“Spending gravity, this kind of cloud gravity has made it very attractive for customers and partners alike to actually have a positive book of business with the hyperscalers and use marketplace as that mechanism. Marketplace is important because it gives you access to the customer budget the it gives you access and ability to do co-sell it drives procurement efficiency.”

Need of Cloud GTM Strategy

Nima emphasizes that success demands much more than just being on the marketplace.

“Marketplace listing... - that's your entry fee that gets you into the marketplace… You have to continue investing and part of that investing might include things like actually building on top of their platform, putting together a resale capability on top of it… You're in a crowded environment with 30,000 other listings. You've got to figure a way to promote yourself.”

He also advises treating marketplace fees as an investment, not a cost, focusing on long-term growth potential.

Understanding Co-Sell Dynamics

Clarifying a common misconception, Nima highlighted that hyperscalers and marketplaces “don't act as resellers - they're not actively hunting new customers for you."

This distinction is crucial for understanding co-sell opportunities and developing smart strategies, because “when they're selling to a customer if there's hedge room within the deal they're pretty open to the idea of bringing third parties”.

If hyperscalers “can throw a couple of ISVs into the big PO, into the mix when a customer is buying something, and then they hit their commit number - that's what they really want to see.”

Ruba Borno shared on AWS re:Invent stage, that marketplace deals are "50% faster close rate and 5X richer”.

“Anecdotally, I have examples that are 2,3,4,5 times better than this” adds Nima.

The rapid growth and scale of cloud marketplaces gravitates partners and customers to them. Are you leveraging this gravity to your advantage?

Can PLG, partnerships and cloud marketplaces not only coexist, but reinforce each other? 

Freshworks' transition from a PLG model to experiencing 2X growth rate in partner-sourced ARR (vs direct sales) while also co-selling with AWS, is a prime example. Let's examine it.

Freshworks is known for its CX and CRM products that compete with Salesforce and Zendesk. It achieved $596 million ARR in 2023, surpassing Wall Street's forecasts with a 20% growth rate. But what's driving this growth?

Overlaying Partnerships on PLG

Originally Freshworks was built on PLG motion. The company explained,

“PLG is the core foundation of Freshworks…The simplicity and powerful functionality underpinning our Freshworks solutions acts as the primary driver of customer acquisition, conversion, and expansion.”

However, to grow, Freshworks needed to unlock the enterprise segment, where PLG has its limits.

This is why the company is making significant investments in partnerships.

Freshworks boasts 67K customers, including 2.5K with >$50K ARR, and has cultivated a network of 400 partners.

Dennis Woodside, its President, highlights,

"We continue to see growth, particularly in larger accounts. While our history was in SMB ...But today about 60% of our revenue is coming from larger accounts”.

Partners now drive 25% of the company's new ARR.

Enterprise Co-selling with Hyperscalers

This has led to the company's partner-sourced revenue to grow at 37%, double that of their direct sales. Freshworks demonstrated its strategic focus further, signing strategic collaboration agreement with AWS and becoming a finalist for AWS Business Applications Partner of the Year. This week company’s President underscored the potential of the AWS partnership for growth. AWS not only helps it co-sell and close deals faster, but customers also can buy Freshworks products using cloud commits.

“We announced a couple weeks ago a partnership with AWS, where they're bringing us into new deals. We're working with them on deals. One of our largest deals with a large apparel maker this year was assisted by AWS…”

Read the full story

🎁 Enroll in Cloud GTM Leader Course

As we gear up for Cohort 4 starting on February 19th, the feedback we've received has been truly inspiring. Members from our previous cohorts have gained 💡 "more confidence in making strategic investments into marketplace offerings" and learned how to "best position [their] plans for the C-Suite and board" among other things.

This underscores the strategic value cloud marketplaces now hold in company GTM strategies. “I loved the course and would absolutely recommend it to others,” highlights one of our members. Cloud GTM Leader is now more than just a course; it's an evolving learning journey and community for leaders in tech partnerships and cloud marketplaces.

What Makes Cloud GTM Leader Course Stand Out?

Top-Notch Industry Insights: With our roster of incredible speakers, we'll continue to bring unique VP-level insights from experts in cloud marketplaces. They will guide you through the cloud GTM frameworks, strategies and tactics, diving into what's effective and what isn't in the rapidly evolving cloud marketplaces.

Our Weekly Mastermind Sessions is a collaborative space for you to strategize and tackle common cloud GTM challenges together.

Finally our vibrant Slack Community is a platform to continue these insightful discussions, gain further support, and build a network that extends beyond the live sessions.

🎁 Special Offer for You, My Newsletter Reader

Enroll by February 14th and get a $50 discount with the promo code CloudGTM_Newsl14 - exclusive offer to our newsletter readers.

Looking forward to seeing you in our course!

Learn More & Enroll

Questions? Reach out at [email protected]

Ready for more?

• March 27, 2024

Co-Selling with AWS: Strategies for ISV Success

With the majority of cloud marketplace traffic going through Amazon Web Services (AWS), co-selling on the AWS Marketplace can help ISVs unlock another revenue stream. But first, you will need to understand which teams are involved in co-selling with AWS.  

Here’s a look at everything you need to know about building your relationship with AWS, including PDMs and AWS Sales. 

Getting started with AWS co-selling

To get started with co-selling on the AWS Marketplace, you will need to complete the following:

• Register with the Amazon Partner Network 
• Participate in APN Customer Engagement Programs
• Meet certain thresholds and criteria to participate in programs that assign you a PDM, such as ISV Accelerate 

Amazon Partner Network (APN)

Before unlocking benefits, ISVs need to join the APN . Joining the program is free and grants you access to enablement resources. 

The APN Customer Engagement Program (ACE)

Once you join the APN, you can participate in ACE Programs . ACE offers ISVs an opportunity to grow revenue, improve customer relationships, and earn financial incentives such as Marketing Development funds (MDF) and Partner Opportunity Acceleration Funds. 

ISVs can share opportunities with AWS on the APC Pipeline Manager, located in the Partner portal. Regularly updating customer opportunities helps ensure your solution remains visible with the AWS sales team. 

After joining ACE, the real challenge begins. ISVs must prove themselves to the AWS team in order to get the attention of a PDM (partner development manager) and the AWS Sales team. You should also look into enrolling in the AWS Software Path . 

ISV Accelerate

One of the best ways for ISVs to begin working with a dedicated PDM is to participate in a qualifying AWS program, such as ISV Accelerate . According to AWS, you will need to meet the following criteria:

• One or more software product(s) listed as being under General Availability (GA) on AWS Marketplace
• 2 publicly referenceable customers within the past 12 months approved in AWS Partner Central
• 5 ACE Launched Opportunities OR 5 AWS Marketplace Private Offers (MPPO) transacted within the past 12 months 
• APN Customer Engagements (ACE) Program Eligibility
• AWS Partner business plan confirmed with Partner Development resource within the past 12 months
• Publish and maintain a field-ready kit for the AWS Sales organization, including a sales brief (an AWS internal reference document) and a solution brief (a document that can be shared with AWS customers)
• Executed Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with AWS

Primary teams involved in AWS co-selling

• PDM (Partner Development Managers)
• AWS Sales & AEs
• ISV Cloud Alliance teams

PDMs, or Partner development managers, help ISVs identify relevant AEs in the AWS ecosystem. ISVs receive a PDM when they meet certain revenue threshold targets or participate in a qualifying program, such as ISV Accelerate . PDMs will make introductions to the relevant AEs.

The AWS Sales team has their own set of AEs, or account executives. AWS AEs have their own customers and are looking to sell more AWS services, but they can also sell solutions on behalf of ISVs. In order to help the AWS AEs succeed, ISVs need to provide sales enablement materials. As an ISV, showcasing how your solutions can drive AWS cloud consumption is a plus.

Cloud alliance teams 

ISVs often have a cloud alliance team that serves as the liaison between the PDM and the AWS team. Cloud alliance managers often wear multiple hats, such as managing lists, creating marketing collateral, and following up with their PDMs and AEs. Cloud alliance teams can also help develop co-marketing campaigns . 

As ISVs grow and scale, it’s not uncommon to have a dedicated cloud alliance manager for AWS alone. 

How do I get assigned an AWS PDM?

Listing on the AWS Marketplace does not guarantee that you will be assigned a PDM. While larger, more established brands might receive a PDM from the get go, smaller ISVs need to prove themselves to the AWS team.

To get in front of AWS as a newer ISV, you will need the following:

• Closed opportunities
• Case studies
• Documents about your product and company 
• Company-facing collateral 
• Meet certain thresholds or join a partner program, like ISV Accelerate 

Once you start working with a PDM, you will need to equip them with the right assets. PDMs can connect you with AWS AEs, so having case studies that showcase successful customer implementation on AWS is a must. 

Working with AWS Sales to co-sell

Once you establish yourself in the AWS ecosystem and start working with a PDM, the next step is building your relationship with AWS Sales. 

• Joint Planning : Collaborate on account planning and target accounts.
• Deal Reviews : Regularly review opportunities and address roadblocks.
• Relationship with PDM : Meet with your PDM regularly to help navigate AWS and build a business plan.
• Sales Training : Ensure AWS Sales understands your solutions.
• Internal Enablement: Sellers can speak with confidence to selling via AWS marketplac

AWS co-selling tips for ISVs

• Tag your solutions appropriately, so AWS AEs and customers can find your solution
• Optimize your listing, which includes having a clear value proposition, transparent pricing, customer reviews, customer reviews and clear SEO keywords
• Understand how you can make private offers to close more deals
• Create marketing materials targeted at the AWS audience, including case studies, white papers, and blog posts
• Tell your “better together story” to AWS Sales, so they understand how your solution can help them sell additional AWS products and services.

You can also read about co-selling with Azure on our blog.

How Invisory drives cloud marketplace success

The Invisory GTM cloud solution helps ISVs unlock their cloud marketplace potential across platforms like Salesforce, Azure, and AWS. Invisory’s one of a kind platform delivers actionable insights and key go-to-market deliverables to SaaS companies looking to stand out and maximize revenue in crowded marketplaces while reducing risk and accelerating results. For more information contact [email protected] .

Boost your AWS co-sell strategy with our eBook

Download our eBook on co-selling with AWS today for tips on driving success in 90 days.

Co-selling with AWS is the when ISVs work the AWS Sales and PDM team to sell their solution. AWS AEs can sell solutions on behalf of ISVs to their own book of business.

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A Forrester Total Economic™ Study

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Forrester Consulting conducted a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study to examine the potential business opportunity and return on investment (ROI) ISV partners may realize by building and scaling an AWS Marketplace offering.

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Download the study to learn how you can accelerate and grow your business with AWS Customers in AWS Marketplace.

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The purpose of this commissioned study is to provide potential and existing ISV partners with a framework to evaluate the potential business opportunity associated with leveraging AWS Marketplace. Forrester interviewed 12 existing AWS Marketplace ISVs and surveyed an additional 60 ISVs with experience building, managing, and commercializing an AWS Marketplace listing.

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B2B buying preferences often closely trail B2C buying preferences. Perhaps the most apparent example of this phenomenon in recent years has been the growth of B2B marketplaces for everything from software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to technology services. Forrester estimates that the adoption of such marketplaces quadrupled in 2021 alone and is poised for continued growth in 2022.

The purpose of this study is to provide potential and existing ISV partners with a framework to evaluate the potential business opportunity associated with leveraging AWS Marketplace.

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Why ISVs and SaaS Vendors Should Go Cloud Native with AWS and ClearScale

Mar 15, 2022

According to Gartner analysts , global cloud revenue is estimated to reach $474 billion in 2022, up from $408 billion in 2021. They also predict that cloud revenue will likely surpass non-cloud revenue for relevant enterprise IT markets over the next few years.

That makes being in the cloud a good business proposition for ISVs and SaaS vendors. But it’s not just about offering cloud-based products and services. To meet customers’ changing needs and preferences, accelerate time to market, and do all the other things required for success in today’s fast-changing business world, going “cloud-native” is what may give ISVs and SaaS vendors a competitive edge.

Going Cloud-Native Requires Change

Cloud-native refers to building and running applications to leverage the distributed computing offered by the cloud delivery model. Cloud-native apps are designed and built to take advantage of the cloud’s flexibility, resiliency, scale, and elasticity.

That’s a big change for many ISVs and SaaS vendors. Despite the benefits of agile development and DevOps , many companies in the software industry still employ traditional waterfall methodologies. The waterfall way tends to contradict the culture and philosophy behind cloud-native development in which apps are built and deployed in a rapid cadence by small, dedicated feature teams made up of developers who also know how to build in networking, security, and all other necessities so all parts of the distributed system become part of the app. (That’s the way we work at ClearScale.)

In addition, there’s the continuing IT skills shortage and the increasing competition for developers with experience with specific platforms or in specialized areas like artificial intelligence. Add to that the exodus of employees from the workforce, as well as those who are being more selective in who they work for and the benefits and working conditions they want.

It’s also increasingly difficult for organizations to stay on top of changing security and compliance issues. Cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated, and the threat landscape is constantly expanding.

AWS Facilitates the Cloud-Native Approach

Among the solutions to help ISVs and SaaS vendors embrace and exploit the advantages of cloud-native app development is to go with a platform that facilitates that approach. AWS stands out among them, with a wide array of resources and tools to support ISVs and SaaS vendors in developing, marketing, and supporting cloud-native products and services.

That includes AWS SaaS Boost , an open-source reference environment that facilitates the move to SaaS. It takes on the heavy lifting of launching SaaS offerings by guiding software builders through the migration and operational processes, making the move as frictionless as possible. It provides ready-to-use core elements such as deployment automation, analytics and dashboards, billing, and metering.

There’s also Amazon AppStream 2.0 , a fully managed application streaming service that helps accelerate software adoption by enabling the delivery of software demos, trials, and training to help customers get started quickly with a vendor’s apps.

And then there’s the wide range of development tools that facilitate cloud-native development and its key components such as serverless computing (i.e., AWS Lambda ) and containers (i.e., Amazon Elastic Container Service ).

AWS provides numerous tools to help organizations make informed decisions on current and future cloud spending and cost optimization. That includes AWS CloudWatch, an infrastructure monitoring solution for DevOps teams. It offers analytics about resource utilization, infrastructure health, and overall performance

ClearScale Knows What It Takes

It would be easy to create a novel-length list of AWS resources that support and facilitate cloud-native app development. But there’s still the reality that some ISVs and SaaS vendors just don’t have the internal resources or expertise to leverage AWS’ resources. Or they’re too busy with other strategic initiatives and daily operations to devote time to transitioning to cloud-native development. The solution – partner with an organization that specializes in cloud-native development as well as the AWS Cloud.

ClearScale offers experience and proven expertise in both. As an AWS Premier Consulting Partner, ClearScale has repeatedly demonstrated its proficiency in leveraging the AWS Cloud and AWS’ many tools and resources to build solutions that meet business requirements and exceed expectations. In addition, ClearScale holds Amazon Web Services (AWS) SaaS Competency status. This designation recognizes that ClearScale has demonstrated deep experience helping organizations design and build SaaS and cloud-native solutions on AWS.

Cloud-Native App Development Expertise in Action

Real-world customer stories demonstrate ClearScale’s successes in working with ISVs and SaaS vendors , as well as in cloud-native development.

For example, in less than five months, ClearScale helped a software company design and develop a robust SaaS application that sits on top of its differentiated computer vision technology platform. The new service is built to scale with demand, enabling the company to extend its capabilities to a much larger customer base. The new subsystem now serves as an integral piece of a broader SaaS-driven strategy. The company continues to work with the ClearScale team, which is currently working on implementing a UX / UI design to prepare it for commercial deployment.

ClearScale helped another company develop an AWS cloud-based platform for SaaS delivery . In addition to the benefits derived from the high availability and redundancy of the AWS platform, the ClearScale solution’s use of continuous integration and infrastructure automation drives the quality and repeatability of deployments. The company has been able to significantly reduce the time it takes to deliver new analytical products and features into the hands of its customers. This accelerated development/release cycle is also elevating the level of innovation and further differentiating the company’s brand.

Get More Information Now

For ISVs and SaaS vendors interested in leveraging the benefits of cloud application modernization services , as well as those of the AWS Cloud, ClearScale can help.

Get in touch today to speak with a cloud expert and discuss how we can help:

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Delivering Your ISV Solution on AWS: Benefits, Lessons and Best Practices

Are you an ISV selling on-premises software?  Do your customers ask for the power of your on-prem product but with the convenience of cloud delivery? What are the considerations and benefits from a licensing and pricing perspective? How can you minimize your technical, time and economic investments? Join AWS Customer and ISV Alfresco and AWS Premier Consulting Partner Cloudnexa while they have an open discussion around the process and benefits of delivering your ISV solution on the AWS Platform.  Hear about their experiences and join in a dialog discussing the process, benefits and challenges of these both emerging and traditional business models. Start-ups or established businesses looking to deliver a product on AWS infrastructure, or a fully managed cloud solution will benefit from the experiences the presenters will share in this session. Read less

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• 1. © 2014 Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. May not be copied, modified, or distributed in whole or in part without the express consent of Amazon.com, Inc. Delivering your ISV Solution on AWS Lisa M. Brown, Cloudnexa Luis Sala, Alfresco Software - @LuisSala July 10, 2014
• 2. About the Presenters & Panel Luis Sala - @LuisSala Director, Technology Alliances Alfresco Software Lisa M. Brown VP – Marketing & Sales Operations Cloudnexa
• 3. This presentation is for you if: • You are an ISV with a “traditional” on-prem product looking for cloud-based delivery options. • You’re an enterprise software customer looking at options for leveraging cloud-based software delivery with minimal effort.
• 4. Agenda The Problem for Enterprises & ISVs ISV Case Study: Alfresco Panel / Q&A
• 5. The Needs of Enterprises & ISVs
• 6. Enterprises Ask: “How can we quickly capitalize on running enterprise systems on the cloud”
• 7. Enterprises want to: • Reduce complexity of operating enterprise software – Abundance of disparate systems: ERP, ECM, CRM, etc. • Increase reliability & availability of enterprise systems – Different vendor products require different upkeep processes • Control costs – Underutilized resources lead to wasted expense
• 8. ISVs Ask: How can an we deliver a better product through the cloud?
• 9. ISVs want to: • Extend product delivery options – Reduce deployment friction – Support additional platform stacks • Meet customer demands & expectations – “Instant gratification”, cloud-based delivery, transition to Op-Ex • Enhance product capabilities – Build a better, more “supportable” product – Improved scalability, elasticity, reliability, etc. – Provide features not available on-premises
• 10. One answer: Managed Cloud • Enterprise applications deployed to AWS, managed by Cloudnexa • ISVs can offer a turn-key managed hosting service for their products. • Customers can offload the work and expense of maintaining enterprise systems, saving time and money.
• 11. ISV Case Study: Alfresco
• 12. About Alfresco Alfresco is an ISV focused on Enterprise Content Management – Document Management – Records Management & Compliance – Digital Asset Management – Workflow & Business Process Management – Project Collaboration
• 13. Basic Product Details Java-based server-side product – Commonly deployed on-premises (including “traditional” datacenters & hosting providers). – Highly customizable via Java, HTML5 & RESTful APIs Licensing: – Yearly subscription (not perpetual licensing) – Pricing based on # of cores and # of users
• 14. Here’s the rub… Customers benefit from the customizability of an on-prem product… …but they also want the convenience and power of cloud-based delivery.
• 15. So, where do we go? 1. Do nothing… 2. Build a cloud-based platform… – We’re sort-of doing this but this is a major investment which will take time and resources to implement completely. 3. Add “Managed Hosting” to our portfolio – We’re investing in SaaS, becoming a managed services provider (MSP) would distract from our objectives.
• 16. Managed Hosting Success is dependent on: 1. Optimizing product for cloud 2. Finding a managed services provider 3. Successful go-to-market
• 17. Step 1. Optimize your product for cloud
• 18. What does cloud optimization entail? • Integration & support of infrastructure-specific services: – Eg. Amazon S3, Amazon Elastic Transcoder, Amazon RDS • Best practices for deployment to AWS: – EC2 benchmarking, security groups, configuration, scaling, monitoring, change management, disaster recovery • Automation: – Deployment, DR, monitoring, etc. through CloudFormation, Chef/Puppet, etc.
• 19. Alfresco on AWS • Architecture lends itself to AWS • AWS Support: – Amazon EC2 (of course) – Amazon S3 – Amazon RDS – Others: Amazon ElastiCache, Amazon Elastic Transcoder – Reference Architecture: aws.amazon.com/whitepapers • Tested & Verified by Customers: – Commercial & Public Sector
• 20. Step 2. Find a Managed Services Partner
• 21. Partner with Cloudnexa • Offer Alfresco as a turn-key managed service. – Rapidly deployed to AWS – Managed by Cloudnexa: • Price: – Annual: Alfresco Subscription – Monthly: AWS + Cloudnexa % • Fully Supported: – Tier 1 support by Cloudnexa, escalation to Alfresco & AWS as needed – Run books, SLA, etc.
• 22. Why Cloudnexa? Focus: – Managed Services is all they do! – 24/7/365 Operations & Solid SLA – Strong AWS relationship – Experience partnering with ISVs – Does not conflict with System Integrators Intellectual Property: – vNOC: Virtual Network Operations Center – Automation: Deploy in minutes – SLA monitoring & enforcement – Cost analysis & optimization Business Model: – Predictable Pricing based on percentage % of monthly AWS spend – No lock-in, customers may leave if they wish
• 23. Step 3. Go-to-market
• 24. Go-to-Market Process 1. Finalize pricing & licensing 2. Package the offering 3. Rollout to sales, SI’s & customers 4. Establish feedback loop: – Continuous monitoring and improvements – Issue and fixes for one customer rolled out to all customers
• 25. Alfresco’s Pricing & Licensing Decisions No Custom Cloud Pricing (yet) – Support concerns and revenue recognition issues over utility & monthly billing. – Instead, we’ve mapped core-based pricing to BYOL: Bring Your Own License – Easiest to implement, pricing stays as is. – Pre-configured “packages” with pre-calculated cost estimates. – For Alfresco, it’s a yearly subscription. • Compared to SaaS: – Salesforce, Box, Office 365, etc. all transition to yearly subscriptions for large customers.
• 26. It’s all about customer experience…
• 27. The MSP as a “Concierge” Customers will always have questions: – Costs – SLA – Security – Compliance The MSP is in a great position to address customer questions by virtue of: – Overall expertise – Relationship with AWS and ISV Source: “Grand Budapest Hotel” – © Fox Searchlight Pictures
• 28. Results Technical – Agility: Deploy a multi-AZ clustered configuration in ~20 minutes – Reliability: Backup, restore and/or clone environments at the push of a button – Improvements: Scale, performance, reliability & security Business – Soft-launch: 2 joint customers • High-touch to gather metrics & ensure success – Current Rollout: • US: Sales, SI’s & AWS Sales • Global Rollout Imminent
• 30. Panel Topics • Licensing Considerations for ISVs & Enterprises • Pricing Considerations • Meeting Security & Compliance Requirements • Lessons Learned • Your Questions
• 31. Panelists Luis Sala - @LuisSala Director, Technology Alliances Alfresco Software Joel Davne Chief Executive Officer Cloudnexa MODERATOR: Lisa M. Brown VP – Marketing & Sales Operations Cloudnexa Brian Matsubara Sr. Manager – ISV Programs Amazon Web Services MJ DiBerardino Chief Technology Officer Cloudnexa Michael Fuller Head Infrastructure Alliances Amazon Web Services
• 32. Learn More Cloudnexa Solutions for ISVs – [email protected] – [email protected]
• 33. Thank You

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How to Get Started with AWS ISV Partners

by Forrest Brown | May 18, 2023 | Tech | 0 comments

Looking for an easier way to integrate and use partner solutions with AWS? AWS ISV Partners might be your answer. An AWS ISV partner provides specialized business applications that can help customers get the most out of their cloud experience, boost cloud ROI, and realize faster digital transformation, among other benefits.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to find, onboard, integrate and use these partner solutions with AWS. We will also look at some of the benefits they offer and what customers should consider when choosing a partner solution.

Table of contents

What is an isv partner.

ISV stands for independent software vendor—meaning, a company that develops and sells software to customers. ISV partners can help you set up, integrate, and use software solutions with many different operating systems, devices, software tools, and cloud platforms.

For Amazon Web Services (AWS), software vendors can join the AWS ISV Accelerate program to sell their AWS-compatible solutions and take advantage of co-sell opportunities with AWS partners. Vendors accepted into the AWS ISV Partner Path must pass a technical review and meet certain criteria for business performance and quality standards. This ensures that customers are getting high-quality and reliable solutions that are optimized to run on AWS cloud.

Benefits of using ISV integrations

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Using ISV integrations with your AWS environment has many benefits, but here are a few of the biggest ones:

• Cost savings. ISV solutions tend to be more cost-effective than building your software from scratch.
• Performance optimization. ISVs can help you optimize the performance of your AWS environment by providing tailored solutions designed for optimal performance.
• Security and reliability. Working with an ISV partner increases security and reliability, as they have experience in dealing with large amounts of data and understanding best practices when it comes to protecting sensitive information.
• Support and expertise. You can benefit from a partner’s specialized support and expertise in areas such as analytics, monitoring, security, and more—allowing you to quickly respond to any issues that may arise.

You might see other outcomes depending on the nature of your business and use case.

> AWS Cost Optimization: Getting the Most From Your Cloud Spend

For example, a fintech company might use Snowflake Financial Services Data Cloud on AWS to maintain KYC and AML compliance while also combating fraud. If you’re an enterprise organization taking advantage of edge locations, you might use Splunk on AWS to combine log data for faster and easier monitoring and alerting.

Considerations when onboarding an ISV

According to the 2021 Global Tech Outlook report from Red Hat, “integration issues” is the number-one barrier organizations face in a successful digital transformation. To avoid this problem, consider how the following factors might impact your ISV integrations and plan accordingly.

• Cloud migrations. These can present a challenge for ISV onboarding because they require moving applications from on-premises servers to the public cloud or from one cloud provider to another while making sure they still work. Some applications and integrations may not work well (or at all) in a cloud environment without some code optimization or refactoring.
• Complexity. Integrating a third-party solution into an existing AWS environment can be difficult, as it often requires configuring multiple services and permissions correctly for everything to work together properly.
• Visibility. Companies need to be aware of how a particular ISV’s solutions integrate with other services and what impact it could have on performance, security, or cost before committing any resources.

How to bridge skills gaps for successful integration

You might run into a situation where your team is missing some of the skills, knowledge, and experience needed to pull off a successful ISV integration. In this case, staff and resource augmentation is a good option.

The nature and duration of any engagement will depend on your specific situation. Consider these scenarios:

• You might hire a cloud migration consultant on a project basis to help with migrating your workloads without breaking your integrations. Depending on the size and complexity of your migration, you may also need to engage a solutions architect or cloud developer to help with any code optimization or API configuration.
• Cloud integration specialists , API developers , and solutions architects can be hired on an hourly or contract basis to integrate an ISV solution into your existing AWS environment. Integration often requires configuring multiple services and permissions correctly for everything to work together properly, so you’ll want to look for candidates with solid AWS experience, preferably with the specific AWS services you’ll be using.
• To help maintain performance and security, consider hiring an identity and access management (IAM) or security specialist on an hourly or as-needed basis.
• Finally, a cost optimization consultant makes recommendations on keeping costs low—an important piece to keep in mind, especially for ISV integrations with consumption-based pricing.

Where to find AWS ISV integrations

Businesses can purchase ISV integrations for their AWS environments through the AWS Marketplace. The Marketplace is an online store that offers a wide selection of software solutions from over 3,500 independent software vendors (ISVs) that have been verified by AWS.

In addition to the Marketplace, companies can also research and purchase ISV solutions through third-party vendors or directly from the ISVs themselves. This allows businesses to get a more comprehensive view of what options are available and make an informed decision about which solution is best for them.

Examples of ISV integrations

There are many different types of ISVs available, and each one offers unique solutions that can help you get the most out of your cloud services. Here are some examples of ISV solutions and how they can help you achieve your goals.

Analytics solutions on AWS

Some analytics providers offer data platforms for securely storing, retrieving, and analyzing large amounts of data. These are an ideal choice for companies looking to increase their analytics capabilities without having to manage complex infrastructure. Many analytics ISVs offer the flexibility to access and analyze data quickly and securely in both on-premises and cloud environments.

Monitoring and security on AWS

You’ll also find ISV integrations that provide monitoring, security, and analytics solutions to help you gain visibility into your infrastructure performance. These platforms can monitor systems such as networks, servers, applications, cloud services, and more in real time. Some solutions can aggregate logs from various sources and detect anomalies in system behavior using machine learning algorithms.

Database solutions on AWS

In addition to AWS database services, you can choose from several ISV database solutions designed for scalability, high availability, and ease of use. Some of these solutions offer a fully-managed version of their database software along with associated tools for managing database clusters. This allows customers to reduce costs while increasing performance and reliability.

Infrastructure solutions on AWS

Finally, some ISVs offer IT infrastructure solutions. These integrations work by collecting log data from devices such as servers, networks, applications, cloud services, and other sources of machine-generated data. Some of them can detect anomalies in system behavior across multiple sources to quickly identify potential problems or opportunities for improvement before they become real issues.

Ready to take advantage of all that ISV integrations have to offer?

At NerdRabbit, we understand the complexity of ISV integrations and how difficult it can be to find the right partner. We make it our mission to match organizations with tech talent who have expertise in AWS integrations so they can get their projects up and running quickly and efficiently. Our team of experts is available to help you every step of the way, from finding an appropriate partner that fits your budget constraints to seamlessly onboarding them into your environment.

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What is AWS ISV Partner Path and How to Get Started

Launch AWS ISV Partner Path to adopt a winning strategy for your tech business. Find out the detailed benefits of such cooperation and the ways to land on it!

While more and more businesses get started with digital transformation mainly forced by the pandemic, they face the need for collaboration with a reliable tech partner. The partner is expected to support them along this path, help with migrating operations to the cloud, and open up the ultimate opportunities for data analysis.

Choosing development vendors featured by the world-leading cloud solutions provider is a winning strategy in this case. Amazon partners get cutting-edge advantages for delivering value to their customers, so let’s find out how to get started with AWS ISV Partner Path.

What Is The AWS ISV Partner Path?

AWS ISV Partner Path program is a set of useful tools, insightful resources, advanced technologies, and the best practices that may be used by development companies (independent software vendors, as stated by Amazon) in the process of creating cloud-based software for their customers. Your company needs to join the AWS Partner Network (APN) to access this cloud-based treasure chest.

But what is the AWS ISV Partner Path? The AWS ISV Partner Path is the approach to speed up the development of cloud-based software. The company that participates in the program gets step-by-step assistance with introducing the best development practices of Amazon into their business processes. The program’s goal is to supply tech-savvy companies with such an ultimate set of advanced tools that will allow them to drive innovations and move the progress forward.

AWS Partner Network Updates

Direct partnership with Amazon is a great opportunity for independent software vendors to create better solutions, market and promote them to the target users and increase the value proposition of their services. However, it would be impossible without AWS consulting services and several updates aimed at even more effective collaboration between all parties and addressing the most pressing issues of modern businesses and communities.

Below are some of the AWS ISV Partner Programs aimed at streamlining software development for businesses from different industries.

AWS ISV Accelerate

AWS Accelerate is an improved program for those software development vendors who are willing to boost sales of their services and programming solutions. The goal is to accelerate the growth of development companies, as well as their customers and end users.

For this purpose, Amazon provides access to their AWS marketplace and establishes stronger connections between Partners and AWS sales teams.

AWS Travel & Hospitality Competency

2020 was quite challenging for the companies in the tourism and hospitality industry. They understand the importance of digital transformation but want to work with reliable tech partners who will support them on this path, opening up the opportunities for effective usage of data analysis and cloud technologies.

AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency update highlights the most promising development companies that may support tourism and hospitality businesses at these times. Amazon also encourages other vendors to join the network by getting started with APN Navigate .

AWS Public Safety & Disaster Response Competency

In the framework of this update, Amazon had opened up access to innovative solutions allowing legal authorities to deal with emergencies and disasters using a data-driven approach. Amazon also states that creating software that will be used for public safety and disaster response is one of the most challenging tasks ever, so getting featured as an AWS partner in this niche will be quite challenging as well.

Amazon RDS Service Delivery Program

This AWS ISV partner program was launched to confirm the expertise and skills of Amazon’s partners in cloud data migration and management. Amazon has also developed strict requirements for tech partners to become featured as a company experienced in dealing with specific database engines and technologies.

AWS SaaS Boost

In response to the growing demand for a Software as a Service business model, Amazon offers its partners to take advantage of the AWS SaaS Boost program. This is an open environment that allows developers to speed up the transformation of digital products into SaaS offerings. While this transformation requires time, effort and may portend some risks, SaaS Boost provides tools, frameworks, and technologies to make the transformation process seamless and effective.

AWS SaaS Factory Insights Hub

If developing SaaS applications for your customers is your core competency, Amazon invited your company to unlock plenty of practical insights, tactics, and opportunities to cope with this task better and faster. AWS SaaS Factory is an open collection of the best practices and approaches to SaaS development. When utilized along with SaaS Boost, it allows for delivering ultimate value to the end customers with minimal effort.

AWS Well-Architected SaaS Lens

SaaS Lens is a kind of checklist that allows the developers to make sure that they haven't missed anything crucial and improve the final product using the pre-developed plans and templates.

APIs for the AWS Well-Architected Tool

AWS Well-Architected Tool is the set of principles and practices that Amazon considers to be the best in cloud development. With the help of APIs, the partners will be able to introduce and follow these practices when creating software solutions for their customers as well.

AWS Foundational Technical Review Lens

This framework is slightly similar to the previous one, but it focuses on safety, reliability, and quality, outlining the best practices to adhere to these principles.

ISV Partner Path Benefits

AWS Partner Network offers a lot of effective tools for skyrocketing cloud software development but let’s take a look at the additional ISV partner path benefits. You can unlock them by launching a partnership with Amazon and following AWS ISV Path.

Become a Credible Software Development Vendor Supported By AWS

Most businesses are looking for reliable tech vendors, especially if they outsource their development processes. Getting featured as an Amazon AWS consulting partner improves the credibility of the development company because of the reputational effect — mentioning leading global brands makes us trust.

What’s more, those customers who understand what opportunities Amazon AWS partners have may be sure to get top-notch development services, seamless cloud operations, and well-established processes.

Deliver Value and Innovation Using AWS Products

Amazon stands for the software products that will deliver value to businesses and customers using them, plus it promotes movement towards innovations. That’s why the company supplies its partners with top-notch tools and technologies to achieve these missions effectively. Amazon partners get the opportunity to unlock access to AWS resources, knowledge, and best practices.

Promote and Sell Your Solutions With the Help of the AWS Marketplace

Equal opportunities for business development is one more goal Amazon strives for. Amazon Partners may promote and sell their tech products using AWS marketplace, instantly getting in touch with the companies in need of solutions that will meet their business demands.

Work With the Assigned Partner Manager

With an Assigned Partner Manager, work with Amazon AWS becomes even more effective and seamless. The specialists help the company quickly get started and instantly respond to their customers’ issues, serving them better.

How to Get Started your AWS ISV Partner Path

Wondering how to launch AWS ISV partner path ? Follow the simple strategy below to do it step by step.

Create an APN Partner Central Account

The registration process consists of three steps — you need to create an account using business email, tell Amazon about your company’s specifics and accept terms and conditions.

Discover AWS Frameworks and Partner Programs

At this step, you will be invited to adopt AWS Cloud Adoption Framework , proceed with AWS Well-Architected Framework, and research the available partner programs depending on your business needs and the ones of your customers.

Study APN Resources

At this stage, you may expect support from Amazon’s Representative, who will guide you through the available resources you need to study before the collaboration begins. After this step, you will be able to use ISV Partner’s opportunities as effectively as possible.

Make Sure You Follow the Best AWS Practices

Now, you need to proceed with AWS Well-Architected Review. This is one more educational step that will allow you to take a deeper look at the best AWS approaches and make sure your company is ready to follow them. Next, you should proceed with AWS Foundational Technical Review.

Pay the Annual Fee

After you make the payment ($2,500), you will get access to the ultimate lists of the Programs you may benefit from. Choose the one that suits your business needs most and allows for meeting your customers’ expectations.

Get Started With Selling Your Services

At this stage, you are done with preparatory steps and may sell your digital goods and services on the AWS marketplace and enjoy other advantages of following AWS ISV Partner Path.

Interested to learn more about our AWS expertise?

Our AWS ISV Partner Path Review allows for concluding that becoming an AWS partner is quite a promising opportunity for tech companies and their customers. We are proud to be an AWS Consulting partner and welcome you to take advantage of our web and mobile development expertise. Our tech-savvy team is ready to share and implement the best software creation practices while being supported by Amazon and guided by the needs of your business!

Get the inside scoop on industry news, product updates, and emerging trends, empowering you to make more informed decisions and stay ahead of the curve.

• Case Studies
• Sharestates

Sharestates’ smooth transition to AWS infrastructure delivers improved user experience and optimizes operations

This real estate lending and investing marketplace modernized its database, enhanced security and accelerated system responsiveness..

Modernize legacy infrastructure to optimize performance and security, improve scalability and adopt new technologies.

Professional & Managed Services

Our customer

Sharestates , an online real estate lending and investing marketplace based in Great Neck, NY, offers investors access to institutional-quality real estate investments through its online marketplace. Since its 2014 founding, the company has funded more than $3 billion in projects nationwide. Sharestates' achievements are rooted in its experienced leadership team, prudent underwriting practices and focus on building strong relationships with borrowers and brokers.

Sharestates' platform allows accredited investors to participate in commercial mortgage investments with as little as $5,000 and receive monthly interest payments. Registered borrowers submit detailed information about the properties including text files, photos and video which are reviewed as part of the investor’s due diligence process. The system connects the two parties, and borrowers can log into a portal to track loan requests, monitor loans and manage payments. The entire process is data intensive, and the platform must be highly responsive, able to access this data quickly as investors review many properties.

“I highly recommend to anyone that’s going to make this move to use Rackspace Technology because it makes things a lot easier. They’ve done it, they know what to do and they will walk you through it.”

The obstacles they faced

To align with future growth goals and enhance infrastructure, Sharestates strategically decided to migrate to Amazon Web Services (AWS). This move aimed to improve customer experience with faster response time, optimize operations with faster access to internal and external systems, improve scalability and provide the company access to the latest cloud technologies and best practices.

“We had a very good experience with Rackspace Technology,” said Radni Davoodi, CTO and Co-founder of Sharestates. “So when we found out that they were willing to not only help us migrate and map everything out for us, but also stay to monitor and support us, it was a no-brainer.”

"Over the past few years, we knew that AI was coming down the pike,” said Davoodi. “We knew we wanted to go mobile, we knew how important remote working would become based on the experience with the pandemic. We concluded that we needed to be fully operational in the cloud."

"Our goal has always been to connect investors and borrowers in a streamlined process. This move is going to allow us to take our platform to a mobile environment, keep up with our competitors' technology and stay at the forefront of the commercial real estate lending industry."

How we helped

Sharestates chose AWS for its cost-effectiveness, industry adoption and redundancy capabilities. Rackspace Technology connected Sharestates with an AWS representative early on, enabling the company to secure AWS funding and cost savings.

Rackspace recommended a single-phase migration, allowing the transition to be completed over a weekend without downtime. Using the Landing Zone Accelerator on AWS (LZA), the Rackspace team deployed a secure and compliant landing zone in less than two weeks, providing a solid foundation for Sharestates' AWS environment.

The migration team utilized various tools and services, including AWS Application Migration Service and proprietary scripts to efficiently migrate Sharestates' 3TB of data across 11 servers, ensuring a smooth and secure transition.

During the migration process, Rackspace identified and addressed potential vulnerabilities by implementing proper security groups, network access controls and monitoring to safeguard sensitive data. It also upgraded outdated and unsupported database versions, refactoring database schemas and queries to resolve compatibility issues.

Using infrastructure-as-code, Rackspace efficiently deployed a consistent infrastructure within the landing zone set up by the LZA. The team leveraged managed database services to provide automated backups, patching and monitoring, delivering a reliable and scalable environment for Sharestates' databases.

One significant upgrade was the migration of the Maria DB instance on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) to Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), which optimized Sharestates' database performance, resulting in faster speeds and improved performance for extensive reports and large data pulls. Rackspace performed the migration by writing custom scripts to transfer the data.

"Once we did the migration, we felt this was the right 'next step' because we wanted to just build a foundation the right way," said Davoodi. "With the Rackspace team recommending it and our internal tech teams agreeing that it's the right time to do it, we then decided to move it, upgrade it, optimize it."

The move has simplified the deployment of new services and infrastructure for Sharestates, as many third-party providers build systems and APIs specifically for AWS, enabling faster integration and the development of new features.

"After the optimization, we realized that things were going a lot faster, and many of the reporting problems that we were experiencing from time to time were resolved," Davoodi said. "It improved not only our internal experiences but also the external experiences for our users."

Sharestates now relies on Modern Operations to provide post-migration support for its internal team. “It is helping our internal team to know that there’s somebody there to rely on in case we can’t figure it out,” said Davoodi. “That allows us to keep pushing and then know that we can always come back for guidance if necessary.”

These enhancements positioned Sharestates favorably within the financial technology community, particularly in terms of integrating third-party tools and developing new features that could provide a competitive edge.

"Our goal has always been to connect investors and borrowers in a streamlined process,” Davoodi said. “Looking ahead, this move is going to allow us to take our platform to a mobile environment, keep up with our competitors' technology and stay at the forefront of the commercial real estate lending industry."

Sharestates completed its migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS) over a weekend with zero downtime.

What we achieved together

The migration to AWS has modernized Sharestates' infrastructure, enhancing security and efficiency through a three-pronged approach: AWS provides a secure foundation, Rackspace Technology offers additional monitoring and Sharestates maintains its own internal system.

The transition was a significant milestone for Sharestates, and the Rackspace team played a crucial role in helping to ensure a smooth process. The comprehensive documentation provided by the Rackspace team served as a valuable resource for Davoodi to communicate the changes and gain necessary approvals.

"The Rackspace team mapped everything so brilliantly, that anybody could follow it very easily and see where everything is set up," said Davoodi. "It was almost like a roadmap, or a cheat sheet. It made my life easier to be the person signing off on things."

“Since the migration, Sharestates has been actively working to leverage the benefits of AWS,” Davoodi said. “We have seen several improvements:

• Faster user interface experience by investors
• Improved internal reporting experience by staff
• Faster processing speed by borrowers
• Improved performance of web application modules by all users
• Improved banking transfer processing speed

We have really tried to maximize everything that AWS offers,” he added. “Our new tech team has really pushed almost all the integrations that are available to us through AWS."

The database upgrade and cloud infrastructure deployment will continue to provide value for Sharestates as the company adapts to future business needs.

“We are looking into doing certain things for the application that we weren’t expecting to be able to accomplish,” said Davoodi. “We can do this in a much more efficient and cost-effective way because we have an optimized database and AWS infrastructure. Those two things are allowing us to give a great user experience to our clients. We hope that we can continue to develop and improve and keep building things with the help of Rackspace Technology, AWS and our tech team to cater to our industry.”

About Rackspace Technology

Rackspace Technology is a hybrid, multicloud solutions expert. We combine our expertise with the world’s leading technologies — across AI, applications, data and security — to deliver end-to-end solutions. We have a proven record of advising customers based on their business challenges, designing solutions that scale, building and managing those solutions, and optimizing returns into the future. 

As a global hybrid, multicloud technology services pioneer, we deliver innovative capabilities to help customers build new revenue streams, increase efficiency and create incredible experiences. Named a best place to work, year after year according to Fortune, Forbes and Glassdoor, we attract and develop world-class talent to deliver the best expertise to our customers. Everything we do is wrapped in Fanatical Experience® — our obsession with customer success that drives us to help each customer work faster, smarter and stay ahead of what’s next. 

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