As the obsession with maximizing AI usage gives way to the pricey realities of the token economy, organizations are eager to link costs to measurable value.
AWS upped financing for its service partners and introduced the Business Value Realization competency last week amid increasing demand for measurable outcomes.
The initiative rewards partners that excel at helping clients achieve business outcomes with the AWS BVR Competency specialization, unlocking $50,000 in marketing development funds in 2026 and 2027.
The pressure on partners to produce results has mounted, according to research conducted by AWS. The company surveyed 292 consulting partner decision makers and 35 partner and customer leaders earlier this year. They found that 80% of enterprise customers are moving toward outcome-based models.
“Customers are investing significantly in technology, but many aren’t yet seeing the full return,” Bhargs Srivathsan, director of customer success center of excellence at AWS, said in a press release. “That gap is exactly what the Business Value Realization motion is designed to close: from defining what success looks like in business terms to proving it with the AWS BVR Competency.”
Deloitte is an early adopter of AWS’ business value framework. Chris Jangareddy, senior managing director and partner at Deloitte, told Channel Dive that AI programs across industries are coming to a standstill as board members and CFOs demand returns on investments. Partners can play an essential role in addressing this value gap.
“We cannot stay on the same business model of ‘we provide you services, we bring you heads, and this is how many hours it's going to translate to and what we’re going to deliver,’” Jangareddy said. “Now, customers need outcome-based options. So, for the past two years, Deloitte has been reinventing itself to pivot to cater to this new change in demand.”
Part of that reinvention entails partnering with AWS, Jangareddy said.
The cloud provider has given partners a Business Value Realization toolkit, which features benchmarks for value realization and interactive dashboards that track key performance indicators.
Deloitte used the framework to help one of its clients, Tower Insurance, improve customer service in the wake of an extreme weather event. The consulting firm built agentic AI solutions that reduced response times by 26% while freeing 8,200 hours for workers to focus on other tasks.
“It gives us shared accountability with our customers,” Jangareddy said. “And we can track progress on measuring value in real time, right from the get-go, as opposed to after the fact. That's game changing.”
Accenture is making a similar pivot toward measurable business outcomes, launching its first suite of AI-enabled products built on AWS and offered in its cloud marketplace — starting with an autonomous solution that tackles supply chain orchestration with AI. The consulting firm aims to help enterprises scale AI as industries demand return on investments.
“We are aligning what we sell, where we sell it, and how we deliver it to address our actual client pain points — moving from bespoke builds to productized, industry-ready AI solutions that scale with confidence,” Jennifer Jackson, AWS business group lead at Accenture, said in a press release.
