Amazon Web Services (AWS) relies on more than 100,000 partners in 150 countries to offer the widest possible choice of support services, tools and comfort to its customers. As part of Amazon's core strategy, this plurality is designed to accelerate the transformation of businesses, leading to increased productivity and innovation, lower costs, and greater respect for the environment

From Capgemini and Orange Business Services, heavyweights in the digital industry, to Dataiku and DataDome, not to mention Toucan Toco and Algolia, to name just a few French nuggets, all of these companies, as well as many others, both large and small, are part of the AWS Partner Network, and some of them are in the AWS Marketplace. Whether they are software publishers, specialists in a particular field such as cybersecurity or data science, experts in consulting, training or equipment manufacturing, they are all AWS partners. For example, some 2,000 software publishers offer more than 12,000 products on the online marketplace. AWS' goal is simple, but ambitious: to offer its customers the widest possible range of products and services, and to facilitate the adoption of new tools that will serve to transform the business of companies to make it more agile, more innovative, more competitive and more environmentally friendly.

Cost reduction

For customers, this means, according to an estimate made in May 2022 by Forrester based on interviews with decision-makers in companies that use the AWS Marketplace, "a return on investment of up to 550%," said Valerie Coscas, Director of Partner Business for AWS in France. These advantages are due to several factors, such as increased flexibility in billing, which can be done in six different ways today, ranging from pre-negotiated licenses, to usage without commitment, depending on consumption, even by the second! With the AWS Marketplace, these licensing costs are reduced by 10%, according to the Forrester study. Another advantage is that the Marketplace compresses the time spent searching for, comparing and choosing tool providers - themselves carefully selected and tested by AWS - by 66%. Once the software is chosen, "it's faster to integrate a new vendor into a company's procurement process and tools and to implement its software. The effort in this area is reduced by 75% for customers," she adds. "Even if the software publisher is in control of its offer, the administrative aspects are simplified, both in the establishment of a contract, standardized on the platform, and in billing, consolidated by our services," she adds. These advantages not only reduce costs and risks, but also allow for investment of time and budget in other activities - including innovation. "Our goal is to help our clients in their systemic transformation," concludes Valérie Coscas.

Climate advantage

The tools and services available on the Marketplace aim, beyond these already significant advantages for the success, competitiveness and sustainability of client companies, to reduce their carbon footprint and preserve the environment. As an example, Valérie Coscas cites Metron, a French start-up partner of the Marketplace, which, thanks to its energy management and optimization solution, is helping to improve the energy performance of large groups. "Our ambition in this field is not only to optimize energy use in this period of necessary energy sobriety, but also to reduce the impact of infrastructures or fleets of large construction machines/miners, for example. This work is based on data and artificial intelligence, over the long term," explains the start-up. In this respect, since last December, the AWS Marketplace has included a selection of tools related to the energy transition, in order

Happy partners

And to make life easier for customers, AWS makes sure its partners grow and thrive. In fact, being present in the AWS Marketplace is also a benefit for them. Forrester estimates an 81% return on investment for ISVs who have joined! In addition to increased visibility that allows them to access customers even in countries where they have no sales force, and a channel of choice in terms of distribution, the AWS Marketplace allows startups and large companies "to accelerate their sales cycle and find new customers, sometimes on the other side of the world," notes the head of partners for AWS France. And Darren Yetzer, Vice President, Cloud Partnerships at Algolia, confirms: "Since we joined the AWS Marketplace, we've had incredible results. For us, as a small company, it has allowed us to sell into new markets and close deals in record time - about 25% faster. But the best part is that our contract sizes have increased dramatically."

So the circle is complete. Happy, energetic partners who can offer tools to help customers succeed-that's what the AWS Marketplace is all about.