APN Program Updates for 2015

Hello APN Partners!

We are pleased to launch enhanced APN benefits and requirements for 2015 and I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight key areas of interest.  Since launching the APN in 2012, we’ve worked hard to provide you with the business, technical, and marketing support you need to build a successful business on AWS. We work closely with APN Partners around the world, and it’s been a gratifying experience to see our global APN Partner ecosystem grow substantially year-over-year, with growth rates of over 75% in 2014 alone. As our ecosystem has evolved, so has the APN.

We’ve listened to your feedback and we are proud to provide additional benefits at each APN Partner tier to better enable you as you grow your business on AWS.  We’ve also changed the requirements per APN tier to better align with AWS customers’ expectations of our APN Partners.

New 2015 APN Benefits

I’ve outlined below key benefits that you should know about:

Benefits Offered to all APN Partners:  In order to help partners at all stages of their business with AWS, we provide training, business enablement, and marketing benefits for all APN Partners.

• Training: We recently launched a new TCO and Cloud Economics online training course, as well as provided updated online Business Professional and Technical Professional training courses.  These are available to all APN Partners at no charge when you log in to the APN Portal.

• Marketing: All APN Partners may now utilize AWS Syndicated Marketing for website content, which allows you to automate the distribution of AWS content and generate leads through your own digital properties.

• Business Enablement: We invite APN Partners to use the Customer Opportunity Submission tool in the APN Portal, which is an opportunity registration system intended to ensure you get the AWS-related technical support you need to pursue opportunities. The Customer Opportunity Submission tool captures both opportunity records and status tracking, to increase visibility for both AWS and for your firm.

• Programs: We recently launched a new program for APN Technology Partners who develop Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.  The AWS SaaS Partner Program provides technical and business enablement for Technology Partners building out on-demand cloud software on AWS.

Benefits Provided to APN Partners as You Grow: To help your firm grow and increase in APN tiers, we provide scaling benefits, investing more in your business as it grows on AWS.  Thus, I wanted to highlight some of the key benefits that are available to APN Partners in qualifying tiers.

• Training: Advanced and Premier APN Partners are eligible for AWS Classroom Training subsidies and AWS Partner Educate training, which is a one-day workshop designed for your sales and pre-sales teams to learn how to recognize use cases and opportunities to engage AWS, and have customer discussions about the business value of AWS. Further, we provide Premier APN Consulting Partners with AWS Professional Services Boot Camp Training, a four-day intensive classroom training focused on services methodology and strategy as well as a ‘delivery how-to’ derived from our own customer implementation and migration projects.

• Marketing: Once you become a Standard and higher-tier APN Partner, you gain access to an APN Logo distinguishing your firm’s type and tier within the APN. You are also invited to create an AWS Partner Directory listing for your firm, which is a valuable benefit to enable AWS customers to discover and learn more about your firm’s solutions and services. As an Advanced or Premier APN Partner, you become eligible for Market Development Funding (MDF), intended to help support qualified marketing activities that are a part of a broader marketing initiative. Premier APN Consulting Partners and Advanced APN Technology Partners are also eligible for an AWS-written case study featuring your firm, which is featured on the AWS site, promoted by AWS and provided for you to use on your website and to promote with your customers.

• Business Enablement: Once you become a Standard or higher-tier APN Partner, you’ll receive [or you’ll be eligible for] $2,500 in free AWS usage credits, which offsets the cost of the APN Program fee. There are a number of APN funding packages that Standard, Advanced, and Premier APN Partners are eligible to apply for. Standard APN Partners can apply for the APN FastTrack Funding Package, which is intended to help your firm as you build your business on AWS and work to qualify for a higher APN tier. Advanced and Premier APN Partners can apply for the Acceleration Funding Package, meant to assist in increasing your capacity for delivering AWS Solutions, and to help accelerate the adoption of your solution on AWS. Additionally, Premier APN Consulting Partners are eligible for 2 free weeks of AWS Professional Services engagement on qualified opportunities.

• Programs: Qualified Standard, Advanced, and Premier APN Consulting Partners are eligible to apply for the AWS Channel Reseller Program, the recently-launched AWS Managed Service Program, and the APN Competency Program. Advanced APN Technology Partners can apply for the APN Competency Program. APN Competencies help customers identify APN Partners who have proven expertise and experience in solution areas of interest to their business.

New 2015 APN Requirements

In addition to the new benefits we’ve released, we’ve changed the requirements for Standard, Advanced, and Premier APN Partner tiers. Our customers continue to ask us for help in identifying successful APN Partners to work with, and we want to ensure that we’re setting a high bar for APN Partners at each tier. It’s important to note that you have until June 2015 to comply with the new requirements at your current tier.  The annual APN Program fee is $2,500/year which you’ll be charged upon renewal of your APN membership. This is offset by the $2,500 in AWS Usage Credits your firm will now receive annually.

2015 Requirement Changes for APN Consulting Partners:

To ensure our Consulting Partners are well-trained on AWS, we have increased the AWS Business and Technical Accreditation requirements and added new AWS Certifications requirements.  To ensure our top APN Partners have deep experience on AWS, we now require our APN Partners have public customer references.

As AWS has grown, so have our APN Partners’ businesses on AWS, so we have increased the minimum direct and influenced billing requirements for the Advanced tier and defined direct and influenced billing requirements for the Premier tier. Finally, we’ve made public a number of additional requirements to successfully achieve APN Premier Consulting status, which is our highest APN tier. For example, those who wish to apply for the Premier tier will need to be an APN Competency holder, have an AWS Partner Practice Plan in place, have a dedicated Partner Alliance Manager for AWS and a dedicated Project Manager for AWS projects on staff, and must adhere to AWS security best practices. To see the specific 2015 requirements, click here.

2015 Requirement Changes for APN Technology Partners:

Standard and Advanced APN Technology Partners are now required to have a product in general availability on AWS.  Increased customer reference requirements have replaced our billing requirements, which better reflect the business models of our Technology Partners. We’ve also announced a number of additional requirements at the Advanced APN Technology tier, our highest tier for APN Technology Partners. If you wish to apply for the Advanced Technology tier, you’ll need to have a validated support statement for AWS on your website, pass an AWS technical review of your solution, complete an APN Partner Practice Plan, complete business enablement documentation, and have a dedicated Partner Alliance Manager for AWS on staff. To see the specific 2015 requirements, click here.

To learn more about what the specific requirements entail, I recommend downloading the 2015 APN Program Guide from the APN Portal. If you have additional questions or would like to learn more about utilizing the new benefits and meeting the new requirements, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your AWS Partner Manager.

We can’t wait to work with you in 2015. Thank you for being a valuable member of the APN community!

– Dorothy Copeland, Global Partner Program Leader, AWS