Partner Blog | Capturing the marketplace opportunity, part two: Growing digital self-serve sales through the marketplace.
This blog is part two in a four-part series on maximizing your marketplace opportunity, with a focus on growing your pipeline with digital self-service sales through the Microsoft commercial marketplace. Read part one of this series. Business-to-business (B2B) buyers are more independent than ever, favoring digital self-service over traditional sales interactions, especially as AI investments continue to grow. Digital commerce is now the norm as buyers grow comfortable spending $50,000 or more in a single online transaction 1 . As the preferred platform for managing cloud portfolios, cloud marketplaces are where today’s business buyers go to find, purchase, and deploy the software solutions they need. As organizations look for the right AI investments to help them innovate, buying through the marketplace gives customers confidence that the solutions are vetted by Microsoft and will work with their existing technology. To keep pace with customer demand, software companies can align their go-to-market (GTM) strategy with the Microsoft commercial marketplace, making it easier for customers to access solutions for their business. Digital self-service sales in the marketplace have grown 230% annually 2 , reflecting the tremendous opportunity to build an always-on, frictionless sales channel that reaches Microsoft customers and accelerates growth. Continue reading here Join the conversation through the Marketplace Community, follow our Marketplace Blog for important announcements and our events calendar for upcoming webinars and calls.Partner Blog | Capturing the marketplace opportunity: Part one of a series by selling path
Cloud marketplaces have become the fastest growing channel for B2B software sales, driven by continuous growth in IT spending that is projected to reach $5 trillion in 2024 1 . More customers are centralizing their cloud portfolios and making marketplaces their preferred buying platform. For software companies, adopting cloud marketplaces as a core go-to-market strategy helps close deals faster and increases deal sizes. At Microsoft, the marketplace is the center of gravity for how we go to market with our software partners to solve customers’ technology challenges. The Microsoft commercial marketplace promise The marketplace democratizes IT, helping empower any Microsoft partner to sell to any Microsoft customer worldwide. As a B2B global commerce engine, the marketplace adapts to how customers want to buy and how you want to sell, whether that is digital direct (always-on selling to help grow your pipeline), through partner (selling alongside the Microsoft global ecosystem of over 500,000 partners), or with Microsoft (unlocking enterprise deals alongside Microsoft sellers). This blog is the introduction, and first in a four-part series on maximizing your marketplace opportunity across these different selling paths. Our next edition will dive into always-on selling with digital direct. Continue reading here You can continue to stay connected to us through the Marketplace Community and follow our Marketplace Blog for important announcements.Partner Case Study: PrimeKey decodes customer growth for its cryptography-based security solution with Microsoft Azure Marketplace and Marketplace Rewards
PrimeKey by Keyfactor helps organizations bolster cryptographic-based security through the Microsoft commercial marketplace PrimeKey is part of Keyfactor, a professional services company that was founded in 2001 and won Microsoft Partner of the Year in 2007. PrimeKey simplifies public key infrastructure (PKI) implementations by eliminating repetitive tasks and costly infrastructure through self-service certification solutions and automation for teams without PKI expertise. Whether for Internet of Things (IoT) product security or enterprise information technology initiatives, PrimeKey’s modular, cloud-first architecture makes it easier for customers to deploy quickly without reengineering infrastructure or reissuing certificates. PrimeKey’s solutions are horizontally applicable and span verticals. PrimeKey customers can manage every key and certificate because there are no per-certificate fees. The company is driven by a technology-agnostic approach that allows organizations to integrate their PKI with the best available technology. The platform is built for rapid change and agility. PrimeKey’s flagship product, EJBCA Enterprise Cloud, is hosted solely on Microsoft Azure and is available in the Azure Marketplace. Continue reading herePartner Case Study | Check Point
Check Point, a cybersecurity pioneer and decorated Microsoft partner Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. continuously pioneers cybersecurity technology. With more than 3,500 security experts, a world-acclaimed research and intelligence unit, and a broad ecosystem of business and technology partners, Check Point protects more than 100,000 organizations in 88 countries. Check Point has been a Microsoft partner since the mid-1990s and has been recognized for numerous achievements, including Most Prolific Integration Partner at the Microsoft Security 20/20 awards and a Partner of the Year distinction at the 2020 Microsoft US Partner Awards. Check Point’s solutions, such as its CloudGuard Network Security, are available in the Azure Marketplace. Beating expectations with big webinar turnouts and more marketplace page visits For the past two years, Check Point has regularly met with a Marketplace Rewards engagement manager, who has collaborated with Check Point on partner benefits, such as Azure Marketplace listing optimizations, social promotions, and a spot in a Microsoft internal commercial marketplace newsletter. This has created opportunities for engagement with hundreds of Microsoft sellers, which has driven dozens of co-sell opportunities. Check Point is currently targeting double-digit year-over-year growth of its pay-as-you-go offerings, as well as increasing awareness of its offerings for enterprise customers looking to tap into the Microsoft Azure consumption commitment. After a successful initial webinar in February 2020 and in the next month passing the threshold of $5 million in billed sales, Check Point was invited to co-present with two Azure experts from Microsoft. The result was impressive: 972 people registered for the webinar, and 578 attended live. Continue reading here **Explore all case studies or submit your own**Partner Blog | Showcasing the potential of the Microsoft partner ecosystem at the Marketplace Summit
Microsoft recently hosted a one-day Marketplace Summit that provided a deep dive on how partners can work together to accelerate business—using the benefits of the marketplace and ecosystem opportunity. The sessions from this event are now available on-demand.
