AWS Partner Network Marks 10 Years, Ruba Borno’s First 120 Days
Borno and AWS Marketplace head Stephen Orban reflect on the past, dive into the present and predict the future.
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The growth of APN over its first decade is noteworthy.
“We launched APN in 2012 with a few hundred partners,” Jeff Barr, chief evangelist at AWS, wrote in an April 18 blog. “Today, AWS customers can choose offerings from more than 100,000 partners in more than 150 countries.”
For AWS, of course, the term “partners” carries a broader definition beyond the scope of what most Channel Futures readers consider a partner. For example, AWS thinks of Databricks as a partner, while Channel Futures readers see that company as a vendor that sells through the indirect channel. As such, a lot of what AWS does targets those providers and the effects trickle down to smaller managed service providers, resellers, system integrators and the like — although that’s certainly far from an all-inclusive statement. A number of large (and larger) MSPs and other channel players also team with AWS.
After replacing Doug Yeum late last year, Ruba Borno has had a lot of work to do in understanding and getting to know the AWS channel.
To do that, Borno met with 120 partners in her first 120 days on the job.
We asked Borno what has surprised her most in those first few months.
“I joined believing that there’s tremendous potential and value” in cloud technologies, Borno told Channel Futures. “That belief has been reinforced orders of magnitude even greater than I’ve expected.”
Talking with AWS partners — who, again, often constitute vendors — continues to underscore the need for world’s largest public cloud provider to stay close to its sellers and give them the support they need, Borno noted.
“What I’m really excited about is the AWS mental model around long-term investments,” she told Channel Futures. “It’s not just rebates and discounts. It’s capabilities, partner talent, innovation, the ability to differentiate, investment in co-sell motions.”
With the first 120 days in the rearview mirror, Borno now is looking ahead. We asked about her goals for the AWS channel program for the rest of the year. Here’s what she told us:
• More investment in partners
• More attention to independent software vendors (“Because ISVs that grow through Marketplace grow faster,” Borno said.)
• More strategic collaboration agreements
That last point is key for AWS and Borno. AWS’ SCAs, she said, “are actually quite focused. They define, up front, the areas we’re going to invest in … and define how we jointly go to market. … There’s a higher likelihood of success when we do those.”
Many of the Channel Futures readers who participate in the AWS channel program are MSPs — of all sizes. We wanted to better understand Borno’s plans for this demographic within the indirect channel.
“One of the biggest things we’re seeing a need for is the investment in talent and the technical depth those MSPs need to have,” Borno said.
That looks like helping MSPs build out their own technology capacity, helping them to earn more AWS certifications and focus on specialization that will “help customers transform, jointly,” Borno said.
Right now, all MSPs are up against an unprecedented talent shortage. Borno called this the No. 1 barrier AWS MSPs are facing. She intends to help MSPs combat the dearth of skilled employees with access to AWS certifications and specializations.
“We work with our partners to understand what their needs are,” she said.
A little more than 100 days on the job provides pretty thorough perspective in terms of grasping what works within an organization and what might need some attention. With that in mind, Channel Futures asked Borno what has emerged as harder than she expected when she accepted the channel chief role. Note that much of what AWS folks say in public is scripted. But Borno really seemed to mull the question. Here’s how she responded:
“There’s just so much opportunity and what I love about AWS is we’re willing to experiment. … That’s not so much a challenge as an exciting opportunity that [shows] we have a lot of ideas and desire, will and mechanisms to experiment and pilot things. … It’s been a really exciting opportunity to look at all the different ideas and pilots we could try out … with a different variety of partners. … There is no one-size-fits-all model. … So it’s not that it’s harder than what I expected … but I think we have a mechanism to address that [variety] … and implement and scale the [ideas] that work well.”
Part of Borno’s role at AWS includes synchronizing efforts among divisions that work with the channel. What do we mean by that? Well, consider AWS Marketplace as a specific example. For the past decade, the AWS Marketplace organization has operated outside of the channel group. That has changed with Borno’s arrival — and be aware that this affects nothing for channel partners in terms of operations. It just means that Stephen Orban, head of Marketplace, and his team now reside in Borno’s division. This creates more cohesion and communication, Orban said.
“We continue to treat our channel partners as a super important customer,” he said. “Bringing our teams together [provides] a more coordinated focus.”
AWS Marketplace, of course, is vital to AWS’ overall presence and success. Cloud marketplaces are growing in popularity, delivering next-generation solutions in new ways and through expanded partner types. They continue to supplant the traditional resale model. They also deliver a simple, affordable way for channel partners to procure and support platforms for their clients — and, at the same time, to build that much-discussed, coveted recurring revenue base.
AWS Marketplace, for its part, stands out as the first large-scale cloud marketplace in the industry; it debuted in April 2012.
For AWS Marketplace head Orban, the growth of the group he oversees is nothing short of astounding. Ten years ago, “the notion that we could have an e-commerce website where builders, primarily developers, would be able to self-serve third-party machine images was a very good and strong notion,” he said.
But, as it turned out, serving the unique needs of individuals, enterprises and governments was a different animal. These buyers wanted to purchase in multiple different ways with the option for customized procurement. So, AWS Marketplace adjusted to meet those demands, Orban said. Private Offers constitutes a key example of how the company has shifted to respond to the market.
“We allow them to buy who they want to buy from in an automated fashion,” Orban said.
AWS Marketplace also has added the ability for organizations to tie their purchases into their back-office financial systems, heightening budget and spending governance.
The capabilities all add up to this, Orban said: “More things to buy, more ways to buy, more ways to govern. … It’s a surprise from when we started the business 10 years ago.”
OK, so with a decade under the belt for AWS and APN, we wanted to know what Borno and Orban are hoping for with the next 10 years.
Up first, Borno.
“There’s an opportunity for us to work across all partner types. … We’re seeing a lot more engagement with customers that are multiparty engagements — channel partner, ISV, AWS. … So bringing that insight together and sharing that with our partners to be a lot more proactive … is something we’re starting to do. … I’m excited about bringing the full breadth of our partner community together.”
(What Borno’s referring to is the “ecosystem” trend that’s taking over the channel.)
“Our customers have complex environments and need simplification,” Borno said. “We have visibility into all the partners that can support our customer and bring that together … as opposed to the customer thinking that through one by one.”)
“AWS and the cloud have grown quite a bit, but it’s still so early,” Orban said. “Some of the large enterprise customers have aspirations to get to 75-80% of their IT estates running in cloud, but it’s still going to be over a multiyear period. … They want the ability to find the right partner with the right solution at the right time in their journey.”
With that in mind, the next 10 years for AWS Marketplace will include figuring out how to help the large, established partners (again, for Channel Futures readers, vendors) such as Cisco and IBM to modernize their businesses and bring them into the cloud, Orban said.
On top of that, the AWS Marketplace and channel teams will continue to identify “the next wave of startups and disruptors … to help accelerate our customers’ journey to the cloud,” Orban said.
Yet despite all the cloud growth underway and anticipated, there’s much more to come.
“It’s still super early,” Orban said. “I’m super excited to continue.”
“AWS and the cloud have grown quite a bit, but it’s still so early,” Orban said. “Some of the large enterprise customers have aspirations to get to 75-80% of their IT estates running in cloud, but it’s still going to be over a multiyear period. … They want the ability to find the right partner with the right solution at the right time in their journey.”
With that in mind, the next 10 years for AWS Marketplace will include figuring out how to help the large, established partners (again, for Channel Futures readers, vendors) such as Cisco and IBM to modernize their businesses and bring them into the cloud, Orban said.
On top of that, the AWS Marketplace and channel teams will continue to identify “the next wave of startups and disruptors … to help accelerate our customers ’ journey to the cloud,” Orban said.
Yet despite all the cloud growth underway and anticipated, there’s much more to come.
“It’s still super early,” Orban said. “I’m super excited to continue.”
April is an auspicious month for Amazon Web Services. That’s because, four months into 2022, the company is marking the tenth anniversary of its channel program – the AWS Partner Network – and, consequently, the AWS Marketplace.
AWS’ Ruba Borno
On top of that (and of keen interest to Channel Futures readers), April also ushered in the first 120 days of Ruba Borno’s installment as vice president of worldwide channels and alliances at AWS. Recall that Borno took over from Doug Yeum at the end of last year. In Channel Futures’ first-ever interview with Borno, we dive into what she’s accomplished so far and how she views managed service providers. We also ask Borno what she has found challenging, and what she’s expecting for the next decade of the AWS Partner Network. In short, we cover a lot of ground with Borno in the slideshow above.
AWS’ Stephen Orban
Finally, we caught up with Stephen Orban, too, who leads AWS Marketplace. Given the importance of AWS Marketplace to the AWS Partner Network, we wanted to explore how far Marketplace has come in a decade and what’s ahead. Some changes have taken place as well that partners will want to know.
We’ve got a full look into the AWS Partner Network’s first 10 years, Borno’s first few months on board, and what that all means for Channel Futures readers.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Kelly Teal or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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