IBM has rolled a programme enabling its channel partners to resell IBM Software on AWS Marketplace to the UK, citing “strong adoption” in the US.
Hyperscaler marketplaces are becoming big business, with Canalys in August labelling them “one of the most disruptive forces in global technology channels”.
Big Blue moved to ensure its partners were getting a slice of that action in its native US just over a year ago.
“Given the positive response from partners and clients, IBM is announcing the second phase, extending the program to the UK, Germany, France and Denmark,” David La Rose, GM, IBM Ecosystem, Sell, confirmed in a blog post this morning.
“Supporting partners and clients where they are, however they want to transact, is IBM’s priority and we will continue to find ways to foster collaboration and make it easier to do business with us. Based on partner and client demand, we expect the programme to continue expanding to other countries in EMEA and beyond in the future.”
Partner perks
Global sales of third-party vendor and software services through cloud markteplaces will grow by a CAGR of 84% between 2020 and 2025 to hit $45bn (close to 5% of the total market), according to Canalys.
AWS Marketplace is a digital catalogue designed to make it easy for users to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on AWS.
In October, Crowdstrike claimed it became the first cybersecurity vendor to sell more than $1bn of software through AWS Marketplace.
Although the hyper growth of cloud marketplaces brings “clear risks” for the channel, in reality their momentum “will increasingly depend on partners”, Canalys chief analyst Alastair Edwards asserted.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen in October, Softcat CEO Graham Charlton (pictured) said he “definitely see[s] [AWS] as a partner and not a competitor”.
“It’s a new method of distributing software. But what marketplace doesn’t do is provide the advice around the solution and how to licence, manage and implement it, which we do,” he said.
IBM is selling the programme as a win-win for partners and customers, with the latter given “more choice than ever” and IBM partners “benefiting from access to a new client base, accelerating deal cycles, and removing friction from the sales process”.
