The Strategic Role of Azure Marketplace for CSP Partners

The Azure Marketplace is an indispensable tool for partners within the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program. It serves as a pivotal platform that enables partners to broaden their portfolio, forge new relationships, and enhance profitability through reselling.

At its core, the Azure Marketplace is an online store that offers a wide range of cloud-based solutions and services, which are either built on or built for Azure. It’s designed for IT professionals and developers, providing access to thousands of products including third-party SaaS solutions, virtual machine images, databases, application services, and consulting services. These offerings are optimized to run on Azure and come from Microsoft and its partners, ensuring a high level of quality and compatibility.

For the end-customer, the Azure Marketplace is a secure, reliable, and valuable resource where they can leverage their existing agreements with Microsoft to procure highly scalable, secure, and effective solutions to optimize their business operations. The Marketplace also offers a streamlined procurement channel, allowing the customer to realize value on their investment in a short time frame.

In this blog, we will explore how CSP partners can leverage the Azure Marketplace to build better relationships with their Independent Software Vendor (ISV) partners.

Expanding the Portfolio

Partners in the CSP program can leverage the Azure Marketplace to diversify their offerings. By incorporating solutions from independent software vendors (ISVs) that are built on or built for Azure, partners can address a wider range of customer needs.

This expansion is not just about adding products; it’s about delivering comprehensive solutions that drive customer success. By incorporating ISV solutions into your portfolio, you expand the addressable market of your organization and of the ISV partner.

Forging New Relationships

The Azure Marketplace provides a unique opportunity for CSP partners to build new connections with ISVs. These relationships can lead to collaborative efforts to create tailored solutions that cater to specific industry needs, thereby delivering more value to customers.

Together with the ISV, you can co-build, co-market, and co-sell solutions into the market, differentiating your organization from the competition.

Enhancing Profitability

One of the most compelling reasons for CSP partners to utilize the Azure Marketplace is the potential for increased margins. When ISVs publish their products on the marketplace, they can opt to extend special margins to CSP partners. This means that partners can earn a margin on top of the resale price, which can significantly boost their profitability. By expanding this relationship, the ISV can also opt to migrate their Azure consumption to you as the CSP partner, resulting in more revenue opportunities.

When it comes to making a margin on reselling Azure Marketplace solutions, CSP partners can benefit from private offers extended by ISVs. These private offers can include percentage discounts or custom pricing, which allows partners to maintain a margin when reselling to customers.

Adding Offerings to the Portfolio

CSP partners can add offerings from the Azure Marketplace to their portfolio through the Partner Center. This process involves selecting the desired products and configuring them for availability in the CSP program. Partners can choose to make these offers available to all CSP partners or select specific partners for resale.

Engaging with ISVs that offer solutions to customers that are already in your customer base is crucial, as this can result in immediate value and lead to strategic relationships with software vendors.

CSP partners should also identify ISVs in their partner ecosystem that are ready to publish to the Marketplace, we are here to assist with this journey and ensure that all ISVs are taking advantage of this opportunity.

Making a Margin on Resales

When it comes to making a margin on reselling Azure Marketplace solutions, CSP partners can benefit from private offers extended by ISVs. These private offers can include percentage discounts or custom pricing, which allows partners to maintain a margin when reselling to customers.

In conclusion, the Azure Marketplace is more than just a sales channel for Microsoft partners in the CSP program. It’s a strategic tool that empowers them to expand their business, build meaningful partnerships, and increase their revenue streams. By effectively utilizing the Azure Marketplace, CSP partners can position themselves as key players in the ever-evolving cloud services landscape offering more to partners, solving more for customers, and creating more revenue opportunities.

For CSP partners looking to delve deeper into the specifics of adding offerings to their portfolio and understanding the Azure Marketplace in deeper detail, reach out to your SureStep Ambassador at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We can assist with delivering the message to your ISV partners and putting a roadmap to success in place.