Do More With of Your AWS Alliance

This article may benefit AWS consulting partners (of all sizes) to understand the importance of building a strong alliance with AWS. This article may also help customers understand how AWS partnership works for consulting partners and what happens behind the scenes.

My 10 Years Association with AWS

I have been working with AWS as a consulting partner since 2012. It has been ten years and I can confidently say that I have a fair understanding of AWS partner ecosystem. I have been part of the AWS partner engagement journey in many ways, working with the AWS India team back in 2012 to assemble the building blocks of the partner engagement model to 2021, where I work with AWS in managing a multi-million dollar consulting business in my current role. You can read more about my previous experience in my Linkedin profile.

You Are Sitting on a Gold Mine

If you study the success stories of some of the leading AWS partners, be it GSIs or Born-in-Cloud consulting partners like Powerupcloud which I founded in 2015, you would see a common trend - they all have a very large mindshare as a partner with AWS.

When you start treating your AWS alliance relationship like a customer relationship, your mindshare with AWS will evolve to be a lot stronger one and you will start seeing the results in a massive way.

Recently, Doug Yeum, Head of Worldwide Alliances & Channels at AWS, released the Partner Engagement Principles for everyone to read and understand the way AWS approaches the partner model. Security, Customer Obsession, Partner Obsession and Fact-Based Decision Making are 4 key principles that help AWS maintain an un-biased management approach towards their partners. In my 10 years of association with AWS from the partner camp, I can confidentaly say that these principles haven't changed one bit ever since.

Non-Cheat Sheet to Improve Your AWS Alliance Relationship

This is a 'Non-Cheat' sheet because there is no short-cut to success and if you put in the right effort, this partnership will always deliver. I may miss out a few points that might be partner or region specific, but if you manage to execute most of the below points, you are more likely to have built a strong AWS alliance relationship.

• Get your APN hygiene in place. Make ACE as your primary CRM platform as it increases your visibility inside the AWS organization.
• Set your eyes on premier consulting partner status. This will drive you in the right direction w.r.to competencies, certifications, customer case studies and more.
• Build a USP or key differentiators for your AWS business, be it products or services, to succeed in a highly competitive market. AWS recognises unique problem solving capabilities of partners and back them with all the heart.
• Contribute before asking - win some business for AWS, spread the word within AWS, build your credibility and then ask for business from AWS. From my experience, if you do the first 3 things right, you don't have to worry about AWS bringing you in key deals.
• Leverage AWS programs. With competencies and partner tier status, you will get access to more programs which if you leverage well, will help you build on your key strengths and win more business with AWS.
• Don't be a 'do all' partner. Irrespective of your size, have a focused strategy with AWS when it comes to your industry and technology choices as a focus partner will be able to move fast within AWS sales ecosystem.
• Be transparent with your partner management team. I work/worked with some of the best partner management teams at AWS and they made a world of difference in helping me build/accelerate my AWS business. Consider your partner management team as an extension of your own team, you will be able to experience the value they bring to the table.
• Don't be guarded when you are working on a customer opportunity. Collaborate with AWS from the early stages of the deal. AWS sales and solution teams will be able to elevate your proposition both technically & commercially, increasing the chances of you (and AWS) winning the deal. The Partner Obsession & Security principles of AWS Partner Engagement Model are designed to build trust with partners.
• Stick to one cloud provider per deal. Its ok if its not AWS. When you are working on an opportunity and if you are a multi-cloud partner, take an early call to go all-in with one cloud provider (unless customer wants a true multi-cloud proposition). This clarity and loyalty to partner engagement will help you build a lot of trust and respect with the cloud provider you work with.
• Build your relationship with the field sales teams of AWS. The more mindshare you have with them, the more chances of doing a lot together with AWS.
• Increase your visibility with larger AWS teams. Send weekly/monthly updates (win wires, solution updates, practice updates, etc) to the AWS teams you work with including the leadership, practice, vertical, sales, partner, marketing teams of AWS in your geos. This will help you increase your mindshare with AWS as they get to know more about your capabilities.
• Finally, there is no alternate to customer satisfaction. This goes with the customer obsession principle that AWS has. You deliver well and if your customer is happy, you will continue to be a go-to partner for AWS. A happy customer trumps every other metric of measure.

The above list is not exhaustive though. There is a lot you can do with your AWS partnership. But I hope you would have understood some of the key engagement principles that helped me build a strong working relationship with AWS. And I am still learning as the business evolves.

All the best on your journey to grow your AWS business.

-Siva