Dive Brief:
- AWS expanded its partner program to help spur agentic AI development and adoption, the company announced Sunday, during the lead up to its annual re:Invent conference this week in Las Vegas.
- The hyperscaler added three agent-specific AI Competency Partner categories for software and service providers with enterprise deployment expertise: Agentic AI Applications, Agentic AI Tools and Agentic AI Consulting Services. Partners with agentic competency validations can receive $25,000 in marketing funds on top of the $50,000 already available to providers with AI specializations, the company said.
- AWS is counting on partners to guide enterprises around AI adoption challenges, Ruba Borno, AWS VP of global specialists and partners, said in the announcement. “Our data shows that customers working with AI Competency Partners are implementing production solutions 25% faster — a clear signal that validated expertise accelerates transformation,” said Borno.
Dive Insight:
The agentic push is part of a broader cloud marketplace and channel ecosystem buildout fueled largely by the promise of LLM capabilities.
AWS prevailed upon partners to help customers navigate infrastructure hurdles on the path to AI deployment with the launch of the generative AI competency program in March 2024. Earlier this year, the company created an AWS Marketplace category for agentic solutions and increased channel partner incentives for managed service providers and resellers enrolled in the AWS Solution Provider Program and AWS Distribution Program.
The returns on cloud investments are stacking up, according to an Omdia report commissioned by AWS and published alongside the announcement. Channel partners can generate more than $7 in revenue for each AWS dollar spent, the research firm found. Omdia interviewed 35 AWS partners, including MSPs, global systems integrators, systems integrators, independent software vendors and distributors.
AWS unveiled generative AI search to its marketplace to benefit partners who are selling on the platform, according to a separate Monday announcement. The company added a natural-language software procurement interface for customers seeking partner solutions, as well as a sales automation feature for partners.
Hyperscaler marketplaces are on an explosive growth trajectory. AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud marketplace sales are expected to grow from $30 billion last year to $163 billion in 2030, Omdia said in an October market report. The firm anticipates that at least half of all marketplace transactions will flow through the channel partners by 2027.
AWS has already preapproved many of the largest channel players for its agentic AI specializations. Launch partners for the program include Accenture, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Deloitte, IBM, PwC and Tata Consultancy Services.
Disclosure: Informa, which owns a controlling stake in Informa TechTarget, the publisher behind Channel Dive, is also invested in Omdia. Informa has no influence over Channel Dive’s coverage.
