Allison Johnson joined Inside Partnering for a wide-open conversation about what it takes to succeed as an ISV inside AWS today.

From the rapid rise of agentic, to how partners should think about AWS Marketplace, to the mechanics behind SCAs, she offered a clear view into how AWS is evolving its partner motions and what ISVs can do to stay ahead.

A Role Built for Today’s Moment

Allison is Director of the Americas Technology Partners team at AWS, overseeing a huge and diverse portfolio - from some of the largest infrastructure players to biz-apps, industry specialists, emerging GenAI companies, and born-on-Bedrock startups. She also manages teams dedicated to SAP.

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Her vantage point touches nearly every corner of the AWS partner ecosystem. And as she put it, this is a uniquely energizing moment to be in her seat.

Allison described meeting a colleague after visiting startups building on Bedrock. On the drive back, she told her: “We’re so lucky to have these jobs.” That energy runs throughout the conversation - AWS feels like it is in the middle of a generational shift, and ISVs are at the center of it.

Agentic - What ISVs Need to Know

Across every partner segment, Allison is hearing the same thing: ISVs are trying to understand how to build agents, how to integrate AI into their applications, and where to start with AWS.

To support that, Allison challenged her own team to build internal agents using AWS’s AI stack. They created what she calls an “agent check ride process” - building automations using Q, Kiro, Flow, and other tools so the team could speak from experience.

The result is a hands-on understanding of how agentic development works, what simplifies the process, and what blocks partners typically hit.

On the ISV side, the agentic options fall into a few buckets:

* Build your own using Agent Core

* Use off-the-shelf agents like Q for Business, Q Developer, or Connect for customer service

* Tap into Agent Marketplace, launched in July and already expanding rapidly

* Lean on workshops and SA support to accelerate custom builds

Allison noted that each partner’s AI motion is unique. But all successful paths include learning the tools firsthand, closing internal knowledge gaps, and positioning agentic as a value driver across the product.

Marketplace - Still the First Route to Co-Sell

Marketplace remains one of the most important levers for ISVs. As Allison put it plainly, Marketplace is “the first route to market for ISVs who want to do anything around co-selling with our reps.”

The platform has evolved from early days as a full-price self-service listing model into a global procurement engine with private offers, flexible pricing, SaaS free trials, pay-as-you-go, SaaS options, professional services, multi-currency, and more.

A few key themes from Allison:

* Marketplace is now simply how customers want to buy

* Procurement teams are pushing for it because it reduces friction

* ISVs increasingly win competitive deals because they can transact through AWS

* The international expansion (including India just recently) is accelerating partner reach

* Many sales leaders inside ISVs are now mandating ACE entries and Marketplace motions

Her early story about writing the first CPPO contract by hand in 2017 captured just how far Marketplace has come. That one deal helped trigger years of innovation - and ISVs today see the benefits.

Strategic Collaboration Agreements - When They Matter

SCAs are not for everyone. Allison made that clear. AWS has thousands of partners, and only a small percentage engage in SCAs.

They are most effective when an ISV is already scaling, has meaningful AWS revenue, and is ready to lean into deeper joint build, joint marketing, and co-sell motions.

The core structure typically covers:

* Co-Build - integrations, console visibility, embedding AWS services, GenAI components

* Co-Market - campaigns, webinars, sales events, demand creation

* Co-Sell - revenue, pipeline, ACE entries, industry targeting, field alignment

But the true unlock is sales alignment. As Allison said, without sales buy-in, “it doesn’t go anywhere.”

Quarterly business reviews, performance-based funding, and goal tracking reinforce the discipline needed to make SCAs successful for both sides.

Industry Alignment - Practical, Not Prescriptive

AWS’s field realigned around industries in early 2024. But that doesn’t mean ISVs need to mimic AWS’s structure.

Instead, Allison recommends a realistic approach: identify the two or three industries where you already have traction and focus co-sell motions there. That alignment helps AWS reps understand where the ISV can support their accounts and makes early wins much easier.

The Evolving Channel - CPPO, GSIs, and Distributors

Allison shared a fascinating look at how channel partners have changed:

* Software companies now sell services

* GSIs are often now software builders

* Resellers often have become MSPs

* Distributors are listing AWS-linked catalogs

CPPO, launched in 2018, was a major accelerator. Today, CPPO is fully aligned with direct Marketplace functionality, including pricing, reporting, payments, and discovery tools.

Channel partners now drive a huge portion of Marketplace transactions - and the lines between ISV, SI, MSP, and reseller are more blurred than ever.

A Conversation Filled with Insights

Allison brings a voice shaped by nine years inside AWS Marketplace, AI, and partner development - and decades of broader channel experience before that.

For ISVs navigating agentic, Marketplace, or co-sell inside AWS, her guidance is gold: start with clarity, learn the tools firsthand, build the right alignment, and treat AWS like the strategic engine it can be.

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