“It’s currently a relatively small proportion of our overall business”
Andrew Downes, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Trustmarque
Does Trustmarque have a hyperscaler marketplace strategy?
Yes absolutely. Trustmarque has been set up and transacting successfully with AWS for over two years now, plus we were one of only a handful of partners with early access to the Microsoft Marketplace as a MPO Preview partner prior to it going GA in the UK in July. We have built clear focus and enablement with several of our key vendors to jointly support and drive marketplace offerings.
Could you quantify how important a route to market this currently is for Trustmarque?
It’s currently a relatively small proportion of our overall business, with the vast majority still transacted via our value-added distribution partners, like Arrow, TD Synnex and Westcoast. But we are seeing the market change and certainly we are engaging in more conversations with our customers about how they can leverage marketplace.
Which of the hyperscalers do you feel is currently the easiest to deal with?
There’s honestly not much to call between the two main marketplaces. We’ve been set and up and transacting for a longer period with AWS Marketplace but are historically more established as a Microsoft partner so we have a large back-office support team that ‘live’ in Microsoft’s world should we need to lean on them from an administration perspective.
There is plenty of apprehension in the channel about the rise of cloud marketplaces, particularly around the fees and admin involved. Do you share this anxiety?
No, we’re not anxious about this. We’re always ready to adapt to changes in our industry and this one is no different. I would liken it to the time when cloud software was still relatively new as a way of acquiring software. There was a feeling that this would detract from software sales but the industry adapted and the channel thrived as companies like Trustmarque found their value add and helped guide their customers through the changes.
What top tips would you have for hyperscalers who are serious about growing their partner-led marketplace sales?
Currently, we see the main benefits are for the end user in terms of ease of purchase, streamlining operational complexities and retiring spend commits, and obviously the hyperscalers themselves. It can be complex to understand which third parties offer MPPO offerings vs standard marketplace and with more clarity this could help drive more through this model. As it stands, there aren’t many commercial benefits for the reseller partner so we would like to see more financial incentives to transact in this way. Without this, it’s likely the majority will default to the most established and familiar route to market and it will continue to be very customer led.
