Empowering ISVs to build and sell with the Microsoft Cloud

Today, we are hosting our first-ever Marketplace Summit and giving every ISV and software as a service (SaaS) provider a virtual front-row seat to learn how to maximize marketplace opportunity and do more with less.

While we enter uncertain economic times, cloud budgets remain durable and SaaS retains its growth trajectory as customers look to prioritize investments. Gartner estimates $177 billion in SaaS spend by the end of the year and these numbers continue to grow. To help ISVs capitalize on this SaaS opportunity, we are excited to announce that the ISV Success program is now globally available and in public preview. This simplified path supports ISVs as they build across the Microsoft Cloud, including Azure, Microsoft Teams, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and our end-to-end security suite.

The value of Microsoft partnership

Built within the foundation of the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, the ISV Success program is the simplified path forward for all ISVs. As SaaS providers look to innovate, there is tremendous value in partnership. According to IDC, Microsoft partners that build software earn $10.11 for every $1 dollar of Microsoft revenue. ISVs can start to realize profitability by not only building their solution with the Microsoft Cloud but by selling through the commercial marketplace. By embracing the marketplace as a central go-to-market strategy, ISVs can reach Microsoft customers, simplify sales, and unlock growth by attaching to a low-touch or no-touch sales channel that’s available 24/7.

Palo Alto Networks, an early adopter to the marketplace, sells its security offerings through the commercial marketplace and experienced transaction growth of more than 300 percent last year in marketplace sales—creating a persistent, always-on revenue stream.

“Leveraging the Microsoft commercial marketplace makes it easier and faster for customers to procure cybersecurity solutions from Palo Alto Networks—unlocking growth at an unprecedented rate,” notes Prem Iyer, Vice President of Ecosystem Partners at Palo Alto Networks. “As customers continue to move to public cloud, we’re now able to hit every market segment from SMB to large enterprise, all through the marketplace.”

Support for every ISV, at every stage

The ISV Success program is dedicated to offering support across the application growth cycle—from building on Microsoft Cloud, publishing to marketplace, and growing through go-to-market channels.

Public preview marks the consolidation of Marketplace Rewards into the ISV Success program. This creates one single, easy-to-use benefits offering that’s housed within the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program to support ISVs and SaaS providers across the application lifecycle. With Marketplace Rewards, ISVs get listing optimization, best-in-class marketing support, and additional cloud credits based on sales—the more you sell, the more you earn.

ISVs that use Marketplace Rewards see a five-times increase in sales compared to those that don’t

Additionally, we are excited to expand the offerings within the ISV Success program. For solutions with a high volume of projected Azure consumption, participants can qualify for additional cloud credits and up to 50 hours of one-to-one consultations. Holistically, the ISV Success program has a retail value of $126,000 USD for the core offering and $146,000 USD for the expanded. The expanded offering will be entering private preview soon.

Early successes

In preview, we welcomed nearly 2,000 ISVs into the ISV Success program. I recently sat down with a few participants to hear about how they are innovating with Microsoft Cloud and are getting to market quicker by listing on the marketplace.

Akouo: By tapping into the resources of the ISV Success program, Akouo’s team of 12 has moved the application from development in October of 2021 to a transaction-ready solution that will soon be listed on the commercial marketplace. With the ISV Success program, they are receiving high-touch support as it builds its solution across the entire Microsoft Cloud and they are fully committed to marketplace as its go-to commerce platform.

“From day one of deciding to be 100 percent Microsoft, we have been reassured every step along the way that we made the right choice. The ongoing accessibility and support from the ISV Success program has been a game changer for us.”—James Anderson, Chief Executive Office, Akouo Technologies

Aviatrix: Aviatrix participated in the ISV Success program and significantly accelerated and expanded the adoption of their Aviatrix Intelligence Cloud Networking solution. The ISV Success program accelerated their time to market—their listing went live in May of 2022, and by July, revenue is flowing in that requires no sales engagement. Simply having their solution available on marketplace has opened an automated and new revenue channel.

“The adoption of Aviatrix Intelligent Cloud Networking has been accelerated with the ISV Success program. With the program’s support, enterprise customers can deploy business-critical applications in the cloud through training resources and powerful tools. By going to market through the commercial marketplace, we have been able to gain access to millions of Microsoft customers across the globe and land sales directly through Azure Marketplace.”—Shahzad Ali, VP Solutions Architecture, Aviatrix

Maidenhead Bridge: Based in England, Maidenhead Bridge is a small, six-year-old company with a suite of Cloud Security Connector solutions that allow customers to connect to cloud security gateways without hassle. With the ISV Success program, they’ve tapped benefits for help with onboarding to Azure Marketplace and now boast 250 new customers worldwide, including government bodies and large enterprise pharma and finance.

“Microsoft is the only cloud provider that understands ISVs. They know in advance our challenges and struggles to create, publish, promote, and scale our products in Azure Marketplace. With the ISV Success program, Microsoft provides us with invaluable support and training.”—Adrian Larsen, Chief Executive Officer, Maidenhead Bridge

In summary, if your company can benefit from expert guidance to innovate across the Microsoft Cloud and accelerate time to market through the commercial marketplace, we encourage you to join the ISV Success program. To learn more about maximizing the marketplace opportunity, all the Marketplace Summit content will be available on demand. Topics include how to create a cloud-first go-to-market strategy, a deep dive into the marketplace roadmap, tips to land enterprise deals to unlock the Fortune 500, and more.