AWS re:Invent: MSP Partners Make Big Money On Top of AWS Sales

AWS RE:INVENT — Amazon Web Services (AWS) unveiled a new Partner Solution Factory and other partner-related offerings on Wednesday during this week’s re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. And its channel leader said MSP partners are making big money through every AWS sale.

AWS re:Invent has drawn than 50,000 partners and customers globally. Ruba Borno, AWS’ vice president of worldwide channels and alliances, detailed the latest partner offerings during her keynote.

AWS’ future will be realized through the power of partnerships, Borno (pictured on stage above) said.

“You, our partners, are critical to our customers’ transformation,” she said. “And we believe it will result in a better customer experience.”

The AWS Partner Solution Factory aims to work with partners to “SaaSify” their solutions, Borno said.

“We connect them with experts and we do well-architected reviews with them,” she said. “And one really great example is a partner like Deloitte, where we launched the Smart Factory in Wichita with them. And it’s an actual factory that is a graduate of SaaS Factory, where there are so many solutions for customers to go in and see how they can automate a manufacturing environment. With AWS Partner Solution Factory, we will be working with partners to validate their solutions in verticals or horizontal use cases and then putting them on the AWS Solutions Library for customers and for other partners to consume to deliver those business outcomes to customers.”

Customers want to work with their preferred partner, but they also want pre-built, validated solutions that have been tested and have customer references that they can trust have been utilized before, Borno said.

“That’s what compelled us to work on the AWS Partner Solution Factory working backward from a customer need where they often prefer those pre-built, validated solutions,” she said.

MSP Partners Prospering with AWS

AWS recently commissioned a third-party study regarding managed services. It shows for every dollar of AWS has sold, partners who have managed services, capabilities and practices across multiple AWS services make $6.40 on top of that, Borno said.

“So that should be very exciting for our managed service partners,” she said.

In addition, partners realized 61% of that value in the first year.

It’s very important for AWS’ MSP partners to continue build out training and certifications, and skill sets, Borno said.

“For us, that’s something that we are seeing,” she said. “Now is not the time to slow down on that. We absolutely encourage all of our partners to continue to double down on investing in the technical capabilities of their people. We know the measured value behind that. So partners that invest in training and certification for their people receive a 229% ROI and also 27% higher gross margins. So from that perspective, we think it’s really attractive for them to do, but also now is the time to do that to deliver value to customers.”

Scroll through our slideshow above for more from AWS re:Invent.