Adam Selipsky: Why Partners Should Pick AWS Vs. Cloud Rivals

AWS CEO Adam Selipsky explains to CRN why soultion providers should place their cloud bet on the $82 billion market-share leader versus the competition.

With over 100,000 partners enrolled in the AWS Partner Network, CEO Adam Selipsky is bullish about his company’s partner mindshare compared with cloud computing rivals such as Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

“We are, by a significant amount, the largest cloud provider with the largest business and the broadest customer base across all geographies and industries and use cases,” said Selipsky in an interview with CRN. “And that provides tremendous opportunities for our partners, and a much larger set of opportunities for partners, than they could have with any other cloud provider.”

The $82 billion cloud giant is the worldwide market-share leader in cloud services, owning 34 percent global share as of third-quarter 2022, followed by Microsoft at 21 percent share and then Google Cloud at 11 percent share, according to data from IT research firm Synergy Research Group.

Selipsky Driving Cloud Sales, Partner Momentum

Selipsky was there in 2006 when AWS launched its first major products such as Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2. As vice president of marketing, sales and support for AWS during its early years, Selipsky played a role in the creation of the AWS Partner Network in 2012.

Following a five-year stint as CEO of Tableau, Selipsky took over the AWS reins from former CEO Andy Jassy in July 2021.

Before Selipsky returned as CEO, AWS generated total sales of $45.3 billion in 2020.

As of 2022, AWS is now running at more than $80 billion run rate.

“We have a very significant go-to-market capability now across AWS—as you might imagine given the scale of our business—and we have many different ways that we bring partners along with that,” Selipsky said.

AWS’ CEO touts the AWS Partner Network ecosystem of partners as one of the biggest factors that is driving sales growth for the Seattle-based company.

“When we have partners who have innovated and created incredible solutions with us and on top of us, then it becomes an easy decision to put that in front of a customer because it drives customer value,” said Selipsky.

In an interview with CRN, Selipsky explains AWS’ partner differentiation versus the competition and how AWS’ channel co-innovation and co-selling strategy is second to none.

Why should partners like MSPs, systems integrators and consultants invest and bet on AWS versus your cloud competitors? What is AWS’ channel differentiation?

One is we are, by a significant amount, the largest cloud provider with the largest business and the broadest customer base across all geographies and industries and use cases. And that provides tremendous opportunities for our partners, and a much larger set of opportunities for partners, than they could have with any other cloud provider.

So that’s one: just the sheer opportunity.

Second is the significant investments we’re making in the partner ecosystem.

It’s still day one on our journey with partners. In 10, 20, 30 years from now, we think that partners will still be foundational to the value that AWS provides to customers.

Then just to drill in a little more specifically, we have invested tremendously in ensuring that our partners are trained, particularly our systems integrator partners.

Customers insist that when that personnel from SIs show up, that they be really well-trained and really well-qualified. We’ve worked with and invested a lot ourselves alongside those partners to ensure that their staff are both trained and, in many cases, certified on AWS.

That makes a huge positive difference in customer success because we take the long-term view with customers and with partners.

Can you highlight an example where AWS is showcasing its long-term dedication to partners?

We have very deep and long-standing partnerships with the global systems integrators—whether you’re talking to Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, etc., as well as many more regional SIs, for example, Slalom—really across every industry in every geography.

Accenture is a major global SI that we have a very close relationship with.

We have the Advanced Customer Engagement Solution, ACE+, with Accenture where they bundle their own solutions along with AWS. For example, our contact center solution is called Amazon Connect.

Companies like Vodafone are really rethinking contact center operations. We and Accenture are working together there under the auspices of the Accenture Advanced Customer Engagement to create that joint value proposition and bring that contact center solution to Vodafone.

How are you co-selling and co-innovating with your channel partners to drive successful business outcomes?

I’m really excited about the innovations that we’ve made with partners, both to serve our customers better as well as to help create better businesses for our partners.

This is the 10th anniversary year of the AWS Partner Network as well as the AWS Marketplace. These were the world’s first cloud-native partner network and first cloud software marketplace.

We’ve grown to over 100,000 partners from over 150 countries. By the way, 70 percent of those partners are outside of the U.S., so it’s not just a U.S.-focused business.

There are a lot of examples of things we’re really excited about in terms of how we’re working with partners.

One example is the ISV Accelerate Program, which really gives our ISVs a clear and obvious path to successfully co-selling with AWS. It’s a very clear set of go-to-market steps that we take together.

In many cases, our own salespeople will be selling our partner services—and not an AWS service—if that’s what’s best for the customer. That’s really all part of taking the long-term view but always doing the right thing for the customer.

When we have partners who have innovated and created incredible solutions with us and on top of us, then it becomes an easy decision to put that in front of a customer because it drives customer value.

We’ve also made significant investments to help create more customer demand, which benefits partners.

We have a very significant go-to-market capability now across AWS—as you might imagine given the scale of our business—and we have many different ways that we bring partners along with that. You can really see the result in individual partners and the success that they’re experiencing.

What is your long-term commitment to channel partners as CEO in 2023 and beyond?

Our commitment is that, since the first day that AWS launched, partners have been an intrinsic part of AWS’ strategy for providing customer value.

I expect that exact same commitment to continue for decades to come.

We will keep on innovating. We will keep on figuring out how to build value for customers with partners.

And we will keep on ensuring that partners have increasingly strong businesses building alongside and on top of AWS.