Meet the channel manager: Amazon Web Services

Stefan Jansen joined Amazon Web Services in 2013 after a two-decade IT career including channel roles at EDS Australia and Microsoft.

Journey

After finishing my business degree at university in The Netherlands, I was attracted to the rapid innovation happening in the IT sector. When I migrated to Australia in 2001, I quickly moved into a channel-type position and have had various similar roles over the years.

I was the first channel alliance manager at EDS outside head office. I then worked at an alliance level at Microsoft where I had the honour of implementing new models around cloud services in the early days. I also worked on ERP and CRM services.

I grew up in a small retail family and I pride myself on being able to understand what a partner needs.

Launch of the partner program

Like Amazon, AWS innovates rapidly. Our platform added 700 new features and functions last year, and 95 percent of that came from customer feedback. The channel business is evolving at the same rate and is also based on customer feedback. When I joined AWS two-and-a-half years ago, the channel program was young. We are now launching new features and functions to the program almost daily.

Program elements

If you want to be customer-centric, you need to offer customers services in the easiest, fastest ways possible. We have changed the way we allocate resources. Many of our channel team is in the field. Our AWS marketplace is removing the heavy lifting for customers to procure software running on AWS. In terms of joint engagement, we have no conflict between direct and indirect. Our direct sales force works hand-in-hand with our partners.

Margins in cloud

The conversation is not about margin per se. That is the wrong conversation. It is about how you can add value on top of a platform that is becoming so broad and available on a global scale. It is changing the traditional linear vendor-distributor-reseller model.

Types of partners

We have technology partners and consulting partners. Think about technology partners more as startups. They start building their solution on top of the AWS platform, then we turn them into a partner model, supporting them in customer engagements. We all know about someone like an Atlassian being one of our most successful ISVs, but also think about MYOB and Xero.

Consulting partners include high-end influencers like Deloitte and PwC as well as large system integrators like Datacom and SMS.

Let’s not forget our born-in-the-cloud partners. Their businesses are set up in a way that requires the same high level of agility and specialisation that our customers are asking for, such as security or DevOps. Companies like Versent didn’t really exist a few years ago, yet they have built a very successful business off the back of the cloud.

Then there are the established MSPs like Bulletproof, Melbourne IT and Base2Services. We were excited to share the recent announcement about Rackspace now offering their [fanatical support on AWS in Australia].

Partner Summit

The Partner Summit is a half-day event for AWS partners. It is ideal if you are new or have been around for a long time and want to become a partner. We are excited to have Terry Wise, our global VP for channel and alliances, here. He has been running the channel business since day one..

Lessons learned

If there is one lesson I’ve learned, it’s to never lose sight of the end customer. In a channel role, the biggest pitfall is becoming too obsessed with driving outcomes related to programs. Those are very important assets for ourselves and for the channel. They are enablers, and we at AWS continue to invest but never lose sight of the end customer.

CRN and iTnews are exclusive media partners of the 2016 AWS Summit. Make sure to drop by our stand at the conference, which takes place on 27-28 April at the Horden Pavilion in Sydney. The AWS Partner Summit is on 26 April at the Sofitel Wentworth.

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