Introduction: A Moment of Acceleration

The pace of change has become the defining characteristic of the AI era. As Marc Monday puts it, quoting Bill McDermott, “The pace of change has never been this fast and it’ll never be this slow again.”

And inside ServiceNow’s rapidly expanding partner ecosystem, that accelerating change is creating unprecedented opportunity for partners.

In this episode, I spoke with Marc Monday, GVP of Americas Partnerships & Channels at ServiceNow. Marc and I dive into how ServiceNow is approaching AI, why partners remain essential, and why orchestration - not infrastructure - is becoming the most critical layer in the enterprise tech stack.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The Partner Role in an Agentic World

ServiceNow’s AI strategy is focused on meeting customers where they are. That means working with the infrastructure, data, and applications they already have - not forcing costly rip-and-replace motions.

Marc emphasizes that this is exactly where partners shine.

“Partners bring a deep level of specialization in customer understanding, and partners know how to move fast and meet the market where it is.”

ServiceNow has five partner routes to market - consulting and implementation, resellers, service providers, hyperscaler co-selling, and tech/build partners. Increasingly, partners combine multiple motions, creating IP, offering managed services, and developing apps.

Marc’s view is simple: focus on outcomes, not taxonomy.

“If we fall into that legacy taxonomy, sometimes it hamstrings what the partner is providing.”

Workflow Orchestration as the New Control Tower

One of the big ideas Marc shares is the rise of the orchestration layer - the system that coordinates agents across the enterprise.

ServiceNow sits across the data layer, application layer, and now agentic workflows, giving it a unique ability to coordinate how work actually gets done.

“At the end of the day, it’s about workflow orchestration and what that control tower is going to look like.”

This orchestration layer determines which agent acts first, what data it accesses, and how steps flow across systems. It’s the enterprise equivalent of air traffic control.

Real Value: Pragmatic AI, Not Whiz-Bang Demos

Marc shares an important reminder - the most meaningful AI value often comes from eliminating the everyday “administrivia.”

“If you talk to a user, they can tell you right away… This is the administrivia that just takes the air out of my day.”

Partners play a crucial role in discovering these real-world use cases, mapping processes, and turning small but painful inefficiencies into major productivity improvements.

Where the Opportunities Are Emerging

ServiceNow is seeing strong opportunity across four primary areas:

1. Autonomous IT

Hardware management, IT service delivery, systems improvement.

2. Security

AI is increasing both complexity and opportunity across the security surface.

3. CRM and Customer Experience

Extending ServiceNow’s strong CSM foundation.

4. Cross-Application Interoperability

Where agents, workflows, and orchestration combine.

Throughout all of these, partners act as the translators connecting enterprise reality with AI-enabled execution.

Co-Sell: It Depends - Because It Must

When I asked Marc about co-sell motions, his answer was delightfully honest:

“It depends. It really does depend what is the customer’s expectation.”

ServiceNow supports store listings, deal registration, partner-led opportunities, and multi-party co-sell with hyperscalers.

Marc’s team brings together the right partner and the right opportunity at the right time.

The Road Ahead

Marc’s final insight was about trust and flexibility - two things customers need most right now.

“Customers need flexibility. Customers need partners that can meet them where they are.”

As AI accelerates, orchestration becomes more important, partners become more essential, and the opportunities multiply.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

Few leaders in the industry understand ecosystem transformation like Gretchen O’Hara, the longtime Microsoft executive, former Splunk channel leader, and now Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Business Development at Sage.

In this episode, Gretchen shares her early impressions of Sage, why she joined, and how she sees AI reshaping partner opportunity across the world.

This conversation offers an inside look at the major announcements coming out of Sage Future for Partners in Barcelona - including Sage’s new Finance Intelligence Agent, next generation Sage X3 Cloud, and Sage AI Developer Solutions built with AWS Bedrock.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Why Gretchen Joined Sage

Gretchen has spent her career building partner ecosystems at massive scale. Yet she says Sage had something unique - a deep, community-driven network of partners rooted in finance, accounting, and operational systems.

One quote from the transcript captured her motivation perfectly:

“I always had an eye on Sage… I was really envious of what Sage had in terms of that deep partner commitment and this inherent community that has rallied around Sage.”

She also saw something else: the finance function as one of the first places where AI will deliver real, practical value.

“I knew that AI is gonna have very practical impact… and I think this is where you’re gonna see a lot of this in full production first.”

Sage’s 40 years of financial data, combined with its cloud first and AI first ambitions, made the move compelling.

A Complex and Growing Ecosystem

Sage works with a uniquely diverse partner mix: global SIs, accounting firms, MSPs, ISVs, VARs, and developers.

“There’s not one type of partner that Sage works with… we have SIs, advisors, accounting consultants, ISVs, VARs, MSPs - all building capabilities in this new cloud and AI world.”

For Gretchen, the opportunity is to unify and accelerate this ecosystem - not just through programs and incentives, but through AI driven capabilities that help partners differentiate and grow.

Inside Sage Future for Partners: AI Takes Center Stage

Just a few weeks into the job, Gretchen was dropped straight into Sage’s global partner event in Barcelona. And Sage delivered several major announcements that will shape partner strategy for years to come.

1. Sage AI Developer Solutions (built with AWS Bedrock)

This initiative lets partners build and deploy certified AI agents and workflows directly within Sage Copilot.

“We announced the Sage AI for Developers program… leveraging AWS Agentic AI Marketplace to speed partners’ ability to build AI agents embedded right into Sage.”

For partners, this means new revenue streams, faster innovation, and a clear place to bet in the agentic AI era.

2. Finance Intelligence Agent

Sage also revealed its flagship AI Agent for CFOs and finance teams - prebuilt, trusted, and immediately usable.

“We announced one of our own agents, the Finance Intelligence Agent… so partners can provide instant value without having to build anything themselves.”

This agent connects Sage’s Close, AP, Assurance, and Time agents, creating a unified intelligence layer for finance operations.

3. Sage X3 Cloud

A next generation cloud deployment of Sage’s manufacturing and operations platform.

“We recommitted to our partner ecosystem that X3 is a big bet for Sage… partners were extremely excited about the deeper industry strategy.”

Across these announcements, a consistent theme emerged: industry depth + AI agents + partner led innovation.

Partner Profitability, Enablement, and Co Innovation

Gretchen emphasized that partner success is not just about revenue - it is about making sure Sage partners are able to build and manage profitable, sustainable business models when working with Sage.

“If you can’t have a profitable practice, then you start looking somewhere else… and I want all my partners to stay with Sage.”

Sage’s strategy includes:

* Helping partners build recurring ARR based businesses

* Reducing implementation time with cloud and AI

* Supporting partners as they expand into adjacent practices

* Deepening technical and business enablement

And importantly, Gretchen sees co innovation as central.

“We want to co innovate with our partners… bring more value together to our mutual customers.”

Measuring Success: Shared Outcomes

When asked how Sage measures partner success, Gretchen cited:

* Growth and co sell wins

* Marketplace innovation

* Partner IP

* Expansion into new markets

* Customer success metrics

* Capacity and delivery strength

But measurement itself is evolving, especially as influence, indirect impact, and AI driven services become more important.

The Road Ahead

Gretchen closed with a call for partners to prepare for the AI empowered future, balancing today’s opportunities with tomorrow’s shifts.

“Have one step in the future so that as the market shifts, you’re there with us to support that long term.”

This episode is essential listening for partners, ISVs, SIs, accountants, and anyone watching how AI is reshaping the finance and ERP ecosystem.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

Scaling a Modern Partnership Function at Epsilon

At AWS re:Invent, I had the opportunity to chat with Chandos Quill, Senior Vice President of Channels and Alliances at Epsilon, for a rich discussion about building a partnership discipline inside a global data and marketing technology organization.

Chandos brings deep experience across data, ad tech, and marketing platforms - and her work at Epsilon demonstrates how a focused, disciplined approach to alliances can unlock entirely new routes to market.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Who Epsilon Serves and Why Partners Matter

Chandos began with a quick overview of Epsilon’s role within Publicis Groupe. Epsilon is the data, technology, and services arm that helps brands acquire customers and deepen relationships with existing ones. As she put it, the mission is simple - bring data driven solutions to marketers that drive meaningful outcomes.

But the real story comes through the evolving role of partners. Infrastructure providers, Martech platforms, ad tech channels, and specialized point solutions all play a part.

“What we’ve tried to do is within each of those categories of partners, we focus on the most important thing that Epsilon can bring to add value on top of the partners’ technology or products.”

Building a Partnership Function from the Ground Up

When Chandos joined Epsilon a year and a half ago, partnerships existed only in pockets across the business - organic, siloed, and ad hoc. Her charter was to build a centralized function that aligned tightly with corporate direction and product strategy.

“We had a few pockets of people doing partnerships, but we didn’t have a centralized partnership function.”

The first year focused on talent assessment, team formation, defining strategy, and building foundational systems - including tracking, measurement, and aligning the field around partner value.

Quality Over Quantity

Epsilon works across several categories of partners - infrastructure players like AWS and Databricks, technology platforms like Adobe and Salesforce, ad tech channels, and point solution integrations. But Chandos emphasizes disciplined focus.

“My message to all of our partners is we’re leaning in on the ones that really matter and continuing to grow and scale those versus signing up 20 or 30 new ones.”

With finite resources and a mandate to prove value, prioritization is essential. The goal is not breadth - it’s depth.

A Breakthrough Moment with AWS Marketplace

A major milestone came recently when Epsilon transacted its first large deal through AWS Marketplace. The impact was immediate - seller excitement, internal visibility, and growing alignment with AWS.

“We actually closed an extremely large deal through the Marketplace… and it’s gotten the attention of our sales people.”

This opens new opportunities for Epsilon sellers accustomed to working with Marketing and Line of Business buyers, as AWS provides access to IT and procurement relationships that accelerate deal velocity.

Enabling Sellers for a New GTM Motion

For many sellers, partnering with AWS requires a shift in mindset. They now have the opportunity to jointly navigate enterprise accounts from two different entry points - Marketing and IT.

“Some of our sellers are kind of newer to that idea of how you can use an AWS partner to help us get those relationships with IT, get those relationships with procurement, get our deals through faster.”

Much of Chandos’s 2026 agenda centers on sales enablement - making these motions repeatable, predictable, and valuable for both sides.

Data Privacy and the Future of Clean Rooms

As a global data provider, Epsilon is deeply invested in privacy, compliance, and responsible data stewardship. This extends to partnerships as well.

Chandos noted that clean rooms are becoming increasingly important as brands seek to collaborate on data without exposing sensitive information. Epsilon is integrating its clean room technology with infrastructure partners to support enterprise scale use cases.

AI, Personalization, and One to One Marketing

AI’s role is expanding rapidly across Publicis and Epsilon. Chandos described a future where AI helps marketers achieve the long sought ideal of true one to one engagement.

AI will shape everything from audience creation, to content personalization, to cross channel orchestration. And partners play a massive role in aligning the technical stack and data foundation needed for that future.

The Road Ahead

Chandos is clear that the partnership journey at Epsilon is still early. The foundation is built, the internal momentum is growing, and the first Marketplace wins are creating confidence.

Her focus now is steady growth, demonstrable value, and scaling the GTM with partners that matter.

This is the type of transformation that reshapes how a company goes to market - and Chandos is right in the middle of it.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

Jessica Alexander spent nearly nine years at CrowdStrike, architecting one of the most successful AWS partnerships in the software ecosystem - a relationship that has driven more than $2B in marketplace transactions.

Jessica is now Founder and CEO of Skematic, where she’s encapsulating those learnings into an AI-powered platform designed to help ISVs navigate AWS programs, messaging, alignment, and execution far earlier and far more effectively than most can today.

It is rare to hear this level of clarity about what truly makes an AWS partnership work. Jessica lived it. And now she is scaling it.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The Early Days at CrowdStrike - And Why Marketplace Was Hard

When Jessica arrived in 2016, CrowdStrike was already a strong product - but its AWS motion was immature. They saw an opportunity to partner deeper with AWS, both to differentiate and to build a 360 relationship that included buy-from, sell-with, and sell-through motions.

“We initially launched our marketplace listing and thought there’s gonna be a whole bunch of people who are gonna show up. And nobody showed up.”

This is the moment almost every ISV experiences. Marketplace is not magic. It is a multi-year internal and external enablement effort.

CrowdStrike learned that success required educating customers on how to take advantage of AWS EDP (Enterprise Discount Program) funds, influencing AWS sellers, and aligning internal teams that had never collaborated this way before.

“It was a five year journey to develop that flywheel of how do we do private offers, how do we scale marketplace transactions.”

That flywheel eventually became legendary - but only because the company invested deeply in internal alignment.

Why Internal Alignment Is the Real Secret to AWS Success

Jessica emphasized repeatedly that AWS partnership success is not just an alliance-led motion.

It is organizational.

“We think of partnerships as who we partner with externally, but the key to success is how you partner internally.”

At CrowdStrike, she created a global specialist team that “spoke AWS,” navigated EDP ownership, trained the sales organization, and partnered closely with product, finance, and marketing.

One of her biggest internal allies might surprise people:

“One of my early allies internally was our finance team because they saw how fast marketplace transactions reduced our daily sales outstanding.”

This internal partnership became one of the catalysts that helped CrowdStrike scale its marketplace motion faster than nearly anyone else in the industry.

Why Skematic Exists

After advising many startups, Jessica saw the same repeated pattern:

ISVs want to partner with AWS. But they do not know:

• When they are ready

• What programs apply to them

• How to build their messaging

• Who internally needs alignment

• What AWS expects

• Or how to operationalize the entire motion

So she built Skematic to solve this.

“We’re hoping to simplify this with Skematic and help ISVs navigate the process a lot faster, a lot earlier, with fewer resources.”

Skematic is an AI platform that generates partnership pathways, creates better together stories, aligns executive teams, and provides prescriptive, personalized recommendations based on where an ISV is in their AWS journey.

It also includes coaching for the first three months to ensure companies set the right strategy and internal structure.

“The goal is for the platform to be prescriptive and personalized - contextually aware of where the ISV is and how to market to their AWS customer.”

And it is built entirely on AWS using Bedrock and Claude Sonnet.

Scaling What Used to Require Full-Day Workshops

Jessica compares Skematic directly to the workshops historically run by AWS partner leaders.

“We want to make this programmatic and accessible to more people. Jen [Dawson] was one person. I’m one person. How do we scale this across thousands of software companies?”

This is where Skematic becomes transformational - taking the manual, human bottlenecks of cloud GTM and turning them into intelligent automation.

Founding a Company After Years of Partnership Leadership

Jessica describes founding Skematic as the most energizing step of her career.

“You jump out of the airplane and realize you don’t have a parachute - but then you realize there’s no bottom. I’m doing what I love doing.”

The reception from AWS has been strong. AWS sees Skematic as a capacity multiplier: helping more ISVs become partner ready, program eligible, and marketplace capable earlier in their lifecycle.

What’s Next for Skematic

Skematic is continuing to evolve with deeper AWS integrations, more automated workflows, portfolio-level insights for investors and accelerators, and expanded guidance mapped directly to AWS programs.

And this is only the beginning.

Startups today want to grow the way CrowdStrike did.

Skematic is giving them the roadmap Jessica spent nearly a decade building out.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

At AWS re:Invent, I had the opportunity to sit down with Rick McConnell, CEO of Dynatrace, for a conversation that touched on observability, AI, partner ecosystems, and what it takes to build software that “just works” at global scale.

Rick has led multiple high growth businesses throughout his career, and Dynatrace is no exception. But what stood out most in our discussion was the clarity of his vision for where the world is heading - and why observability is at the center of it.

In Rick’s words:

“Our vision is to help large organizations deliver software that works perfectly.”

For Rick, this isn’t just an aspiration. It is becoming a requirement in a world where consumers expect flawless digital experiences every time they tap a screen, transfer money, book a flight, or check a bag.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Cloud Scale, Data Explosion, and the End of Manual Operations

Rick explained that cloud growth and AI adoption are fundamentally changing the nature of operating software environments. According to him, the sheer complexity of modern cloud systems has made manual management impossible.

“It is rendering the ability to run software environments manually simply impossible.”

Organizations can no longer rely on traditional network operations centers scanning dashboards for “the needle in the haystack.” Instead, AI powered observability must guide every stage of detection, triage, and remediation.

With AI development accelerating the creation of new software loads and generating even more data, Rick says the challenge intensifies:

“Now you’re developing software loads even more rapidly, you’ve got even more data - further data explosion.”

This is why he sees observability not as an optional IT investment, but as critical infrastructure.

The Emergence of Agentic, Autonomous Operations

One of the most compelling parts of our conversation was Rick’s view of where observability is heading next. He believes we are entering an era of agentic, autonomous operations where large categories of incidents will be auto prevented, auto optimized, or auto remediated.

“A reasonable percentage of incidents can be avoided completely through agentic AI.”

Rick used a simple but powerful example. If Dynatrace detects that a cloud environment is about to run out of storage, why should a human intervene?

An agent should automatically handle it - provisioning new storage, notifying the right teams, and preventing customer impact before it ever occurs.

This is where observability becomes the connective tissue for an entire ecosystem of agents working together across platforms like AWS, ServiceNow, Atlassian, GitHub, and even Nvidia.

Why Trustworthy Data Matters

Rick emphasized that autonomy is only as good as the data behind it.

“If you can’t rely on the underlying answer, then the action that would be taken autonomously is not the right action.”

And this is where Dynatrace differentiates itself. Trustworthy, precise data is required for any AI agent to take action confidently. The partnership between Dynatrace and AWS, including the new Bedrock integration, is designed to enable organizations to build these agentic systems safely.

Partner Ecosystem as a Growth Engine

Rick’s commitment to partnerships is unmistakable. He shared that more than 80 percent of Dynatrace’s deals are now partner influenced or partner sourced.

“More than 80 percent of our deals go through partners.”

AWS is central to this. Dynatrace runs on AWS infrastructure, co sells with AWS teams, and continues to expand integrations that bring observability directly into customers’ AI and cloud modernization initiatives.

But GSIs and ISVs also play a major role, especially as customers look for end to end interoperability across the modern software ecosystem.

Why This Matters to Partner Leaders

For those working in the partner ecosystem, Rick’s message is clear:

The future belongs to platforms that work together.

The value flows to organizations that can interoperate across AI, cloud, and observability layers.

And autonomous operations will require coordinated action across multiple partner solutions.

Rick summed it up simply:

“It really isn’t just about observability anymore. It is about an end-to-end ecosystem of software that works well together.”

For partner leaders helping customers navigate AI, digital transformation, and cloud modernization, this episode offers a blueprint for where the market is heading - and how collaboration multiplies value.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

At AWS re:Invent this week, AppDirect and Tackle.io made a major announcement in the “partner tech” world: AppDirect is acquiring Tackle to extend AppDirect’s $1billion marketplace business into cloud marketplaces.

I had a chance to catch up with John Jahnke, CEO of Tackle, and Emanuel “Bert” Bertolin, CRO of AppDirect to dive into some details about the acquisition and how they see it impacting the broader market for ISVs, distribution, marketplaces, and cloud GTM.

The announcement created some big buzz in the cloud GTM and partner technology market. Both leaders shared why this combination matters and how it could change the distribution landscape for thousands of ISVs.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Why AppDirect Acquired Tackle

AppDirect has spent 15 years building a subscription commerce and marketplace platform serving telecom providers, global enterprises, and a fast-growing advisor community. As Bert explained, the long-term vision has been a single integration that gives an ISV access to all AppDirect marketplaces.

“Our vision was always to have a catalog that once you integrate it in, you could access all of the AppDirect marketplaces.”

The rise of hyperscaler marketplaces made this vision even more important. ISVs today face expanding distribution choices - should they build their own marketplace, lean into hyperscalers, or pursue channel marketplaces?

AppDirect’s answer is simple: you should not have to choose.

“Do I have my own marketplace? Do I go onto the hyperscaler marketplaces? Our answer is both.”

Adding Tackle expands AppDirect’s reach into cloud marketplaces, where Tackle has been a leading platform for ISV listing, co-sell, and transacting motions.

Tackle’s Perspective: Unifying Marketplaces and Expanding Possibilities

For Tackle, the announcement capped off what John described as an already massive re:Invent week.

“Taking our biggest event of the year and adding an acquisition on top was like gas on the fire.”

Tackle has always been focused on helping ISVs sell more and sell faster through cloud marketplaces. As they evaluated AppDirect earlier in the year, the scale of AppDirect’s reach - including 400+ marketplaces - immediately stood out.

“We’ve always been exploring a lot of marketplaces to see what’s going on… and we didn’t really know at first that AppDirect powers 400 marketplaces.”

Both teams quickly saw the potential of connecting Tackle’s hyperscaler expertise with AppDirect’s catalog, advisor network, and global distribution footprint.

Expanding Distribution for ISVs

One of the biggest themes in the conversation was how this merger expands distribution opportunities for ISVs. AppDirect brings a marketplace platform used by telcos, enterprises, and 14,000 technology advisors.

“We also operate a marketplace where we have 14,000 technology advisors that buy and draw services from there.”

These advisors function as MSPs, consulting shops, and technology brokers who can sell through referral or resell motions - creating valuable long-tail distribution.

AppDirect also works with about 1,000 providers, ranging from SaaS ISVs to telecom and even energy suppliers in deregulated states. That means ISVs who integrate through Tackle or AppDirect could theoretically reach:

* Hyperscaler marketplaces

* Hundreds of enterprise and telco marketplaces

* A large advisor community

* Additional commerce channels across hardware, services, and energy

This combination gives ISVs a single integration with multiple distribution paths.

Creating a Unified Cloud GTM Engine

Both leaders emphasized that nothing changes for Tackle customers. Instead, the merger adds new paths to revenue.

“Nothing changes for Tackle customers. We’re going to continue to stay laser focused on innovating with the hyperscalers.”

New opportunities include:

* Deeper integration with AWS, including Buy with AWS

* A “Tackle plugin” to power hyperscaler access for AppDirect marketplaces

* Unified onboarding for ISVs across multiple distribution channels

* Connecting ISVs with AppDirect’s advisor-driven demand engine

John summed up what this means for Tackle customers:

“There’s a lot to help people sell more.”

Why This Matters for Buyers and Sellers

As procurement becomes more complex, companies are seeking simpler ways to manage software, telecom, energy, hardware, and cloud spend. AppDirect’s goal is to make procurement easier through unified catalogs and consolidated purchasing.

“We’re looking at how do we simplify procurement and how can you get a lot of products on one bill, one MSA, a simple procurement process.”

Meanwhile, product-led growth and AI-driven discovery are reshaping how customers find and adopt software. John highlighted how this trend ties directly to marketplace innovation.

“AI is forcing every company to rethink their business model for product-led growth.”

Together, the two companies plan to address not only enterprise private offers but also user-led discovery and frictionless purchasing motions.

The Road Ahead

Both Tackle and AppDirect acknowledge there is a lot of integration work to do. But they also emphasized how aligned their visions are.

For ISVs, the promise is clear: more distribution, more channels, more buyers, and fewer integration points.

For channel partners and advisors, the opportunity expands from cloud marketplaces into a wider commerce ecosystem with more ways to generate demand and revenue.

And for enterprises, procurement gets simpler.

This merger positions both companies to redefine cloud GTM and marketplace-driven growth - and judging by their enthusiasm at re:Invent, they are only getting started.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Inside Partnering, I sat down with Sanjay Bhakta, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Condé Nast, live from AWS re:Invent.

Sanjay leads all product, engineering, data, and enterprise technology across one of the world’s most iconic media companies. His team builds and operates the platforms behind brands like Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, and more.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Condé Nast is 115 years old, yet its technology transformation over the past few years has been nothing short of remarkable. When Sanjay arrived, the organization operated across 13 separate markets, each with its own tech stack, CMS, processes, and infrastructure.

His mandate: unify the company under a modern, global platform that accelerates content creation, improves customer experience, and enables sustainable innovation.

“When I started we used to operate as 13 separate markets, each with its own tech stack. The goal was really to bring everything together into one global consolidated platform.”

A Unified Global Platform Built on AWS

The move to AWS was a strategic step in simplifying and accelerating engineering, infrastructure, and content delivery. It also brought major operational benefits.

“Moving to public cloud and getting out of the multiple data centers we had has helped drive a lot of cost out from an infrastructure standpoint. And it allows us to innovate faster and scale quickly.”

The company now deploys features globally with unprecedented efficiency. A change built once can be rolled out across brands and regions nearly instantly.

Sanjay emphasized that AWS Marketplace has become an important accelerant for onboarding tools and vendors.

“It makes it really easy to onboard a partner when you’re going through the Marketplace. AWS stands behind it and it helps us get things out to market fast.”

This model also supports Condé Nast’s committed cloud spend and ensures tighter integration across the tech stack.

AI for Both Internal Efficiency and Consumer Experience

Sanjay’s team began their AI journey focusing on internal use cases in engineering, DevOps, QA, rights management, and content workflows.

Today leveraging AWS Bedrock, AI supports coding, testing, deployments, contracts processing, and internal automation.

Externally, AI enhances personalization, recommendations, pricing, newsletters, segmentation, and more.

“We are doing both. Early days we focused a lot on internal use cases. We use AI extensively for code generation, testing, deployment, and many internal workflows.”

A standout example is their new contracts and rights clearance system.

“It used to take us weeks to clear rights for a particular asset. Now that all the contracts are in the system, it’s almost instantaneous.”

And on the consumer side, innovation is accelerating quickly.

Condé Nast partnered with OpenAI to launch a natural language powered smart recipe tool for Bon Appétit, enabling dynamic customization and dietary adjustments.

They also launched AI powered image search for Vogue, enabling access to tens of millions of runway images through natural language search.

Brand Identity at Scale

Unifying platforms does not mean standardizing brand expression. Each iconic Condé Nast brand maintains its own voice, identity, and aesthetic.

Sanjay described a delicate balance: build globally reusable capabilities while ensuring each brand’s unique personality shines through.

“Brand expression has been crucial. We want each brand to express themselves with their own voice and look and feel. We build reusable capabilities, but brand expression has to be unique.”

This approach allows the company to innovate globally while preserving the creative integrity of world renowned editorial teams.

Harnessing the Power of Data and Generative AI

A major next step for Condé Nast is vectorizing its vast content archives across tens of millions of images, decades of articles, and deep editorial metadata.

This will open new monetization opportunities and enable real time LLM powered retrieval at scale.

“Our next challenge is to vectorize all of the content we have - tens of millions of images - and make it easily accessible for LLMs in real time.”

From editorial workflows to customer applications, generative AI is now central to the future roadmap.

A Team Powered by Purpose and Innovation

Sanjay closed by underscoring the strength of his technology organization and the collective mission ahead.

“I’m very blessed to have a fantastic team. All the credit goes to them. We are hyperfocused on what we can do next.”

Condé Nast’s transformation story is a powerful example of how a heritage brand can reinvent itself through platform consolidation, cloud scale, and AI driven acceleration.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

Few leaders sit at the intersection of product, engineering, and hyperscaler partnership the way Deepak Arora does.

As Global CTO for AWS Solutions and Head of Engineering for the MENA region at Publicis Sapient, Deepak brings a perspective that blends co-building with AWS, co-selling with field teams, and delivering AI-powered outcomes to customers on the ground.

This conversation took place live at AWS re:Invent.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Who Publicis Sapient Is in the AWS Ecosystem

Deepak opens by grounding the discussion in the broader mission of Publicis Sapient.

“We are a products and consulting company focused on digital business transformation for our customers.”

Their partnership with AWS is deep and expanding.

“We are the premier partner for AWS… and we have around 15 solutions on AWS Marketplace, and majority of these are backed by AI and data.”

That positioning sets up the kind of co-development work his team leads globally.

Co-Build, Co-Market, Co-Sell - The Full Cycle

Deepak breaks partnering into a full lifecycle, starting with co-build.

“We work with AWS solution architects and leads, and think about what kind of technologies and solutions we need to take to our customers.”

Solutions begin as horizontal capabilities but quickly take on industry-specific expression. Publicis Sapient blends AWS native services, open-source technologies, and their own platforms such as Slingshot and Bothi.

Once a solution clears AWS vetting, the teams shift toward joint GTM motions.

“There is a heavy part of co build and then there is a co-market side of the things… and then obviously there is a co-sell part.”

The co-sell alignment is increasingly industry-driven, mirroring AWS’ organizational structure.

Why Delivery Experience Matters in a CTO Role

One of the most compelling aspects of Deepak’s perspective is that he doesn’t just build solutions - he oversees delivery across the MENA region.

“In that role, I get to learn what is working on production… and then feed that back into the solution thinking.”

This creates a rare feedback loop: real-world outcomes inform product strategy, which then feeds back into new offerings and accelerators.

Horizontal Platforms With Industry Depth

Two flagship platforms anchor Publicis Sapient’s AI product strategy:

Slingshot – AI SDLC and Modernization Platform

“Slingshot brings efficiencies of 50 to 60% in time to market and productivity across the SDLC.”

It supports everything from requirements to design, development, launch, and production operations. Slingshot integrates directly with AWS capabilities, including Bedrock, application modernization tooling, and the broader AI ecosystem.

Bothi – Enterprise Agentic Platform

“Bothi is an enterprise agentic platform that facilitates agent creation on AWS.”

It provides horizontal agentic capabilities, which Publicis Sapient molds into vertical use cases across travel, banking, retail, and more.

Dealer GPT and Other Industry Solutions

“We have a solution called Dealer GPT, which optimizes sales and operations for automotive clients.”

This blend of horizontal and vertical accelerators is shaping their push toward being a people plus product company.

Becoming a Product-Led SI

Deepak described a major shift underway.

“We are transitioning from just a consulting based organization to a people plus product organization.”

This evolution positions Publicis Sapient differently in the AWS ecosystem - not just implementing AI, but creating foundational platforms that enhance AWS’ own offerings.

Using AWS Announcements to Accelerate Customers

Deepak emphasizes AWS’ complementary capabilities rather than overlap.

“We work backwards from customer outcome… and come up with a complementary set of offerings.”

For example, Slingshot integrates with AWS’ Transform modernization program to create a holistic modernization + migration story.

Marketplace as the Front Door for Productization

Publicis Sapient has long used the AWS Marketplace for solution accelerators, but re:Invent 2024 marks a turning point.

“We are seeing a transition into more product and activation play… it should be bought, purchased, and provisioned from the Marketplace.”

This creates an end-to-end experience AWS field teams can champion.

“It makes it easy for our customers, makes it easy for AWS, and makes it easy for ourselves as well.”

This shift also unlocks transactable listings, quota retirement, and pre-commit drawdowns.

What’s Next for Publicis Sapient and AWS

A big focus now is enabling SaaS-like provisioning of PS products through Marketplace.

“If a customer is interested in a SaaS offering of our products, it should be bought, provisioned, and set up at a click of a button.”

From co-build to co-sell to co-deliver, Deepak’s team is building a model that scales globally while staying connected to real customer needs.

Closing Thoughts

This conversation highlights a truth about modern ecosystem partnerships: the most powerful alliances are built by teams that combine product mindset, engineering discipline, and shared accountability for customer outcomes.

Publicis Sapient and AWS are moving in that direction quickly - and Deepak Arora sits at the center of it.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

AWS re:Invent is always buzzing with energy, but this year’s conversations feel different. AI is no longer a concept - it is a driver reshaping the way partners build, modernize, migrate, and deliver solutions for customers on AWS.

Few people sit closer to this transformation than Rohan Karmarkar, Managing Director for Partner Solutions Architecture at AWS.

In this episode, Rohan breaks down how partners are accelerating modernization, how AI is reducing complexity, and why co-engineering between AWS and partners is entering a new era.

Modernization Is Accelerating - Not Slowing Down

For years, customers approached modernization slowly, often choosing lift and shift of their old applications because deeper transformation was risky and unpredictable. According to Rohan, that era is over.

“Modernization’s going to be accelerated. Partners are building those capabilities and there are many customers who are like, I don’t want to just migrate as is.”

AI-enabled tools inside AWS - including AWS Transform, Kiro, and Agent Core - are changing the economics of modernization. Refactoring, testing, and code transformation are no longer entirely manual, expensive, or slow.

“There are so many aspects of the modernization journey that are now going to be faster, more predictable, more secure.”

This trend is creating a market-wide shift. Customers are no longer asking whether they should modernize - they are asking how fast they can do it.

AI Is Not Separate from Modernization - It Drives It

One of the biggest insights from Rohan is that AI sits at the center of modernization, not beside it.

“AI is the driver for modernization in many cases.”

While partners use AI to accelerate code migration and testing, they are also embedding AI into the very applications being modernized. The transformation becomes a loop - AI speeds up modernization, while modernization makes AI adoption possible.

This is especially true for partners building new data patterns and industry-specific workflows across AWS.

How Partner Solutions Architecture Works with ISVs, GSIs, and SIs

Rohan leads the Partner Solution Architecture (PSA) team, one of the most technical and influential partner-facing groups inside AWS. Their responsibility is simple - work directly with partners to ensure their architectures, solutions, and integrations are optimal on AWS.

“My team is responsible for making sure that partners make the right technical decisions and architectural decisions as they build solutions.”

For ISVs, this means building deeper integrations and better together capabilities with AWS services.

For GSIs and SIs, this means designing and delivering migration, modernization, and industry-specific offerings that align with AWS best practices.

Both motions are accelerating as customers demand cloud-native, AI-embedded solutions.

How AWS Connects Partners with the Field

Field alignment remains one of the most critical motions for partner success, and Rohan’s team plays a central role. After partners build offerings with PSA, AWS drives awareness through account teams, ensuring customer conversations land in the right place.

This leads to repeatable co-sell motions: partners innovate, PSA validates, and the AWS field scales.

Co-Engineering Is Increasing Across AWS

Rohan shares that AWS engineering works more closely than ever with partners.

“Some of these partnerships are very deep. There is co-engineering between our engineering org and the partner engineering org.”

This results in:

* New service features influenced directly by partner feedback

* Shared roadmap thinking

* Co-built industry accelerators

* Stronger interoperability between partner products and AWS services

For partners, this means the opportunity to shape the platform itself.

The New Excitement: Agents, Dev Tools, and Marketplace

When asked what excites him most about this year’s announcements, Rohan highlighted several categories:

* New AWS Marketplace innovations

* Enhancements to AWS Transform

* Dev tooling

* AI security

* New compute and Lambda capabilities

* Autonomous agents for security, DevOps, and more

“I’m super excited about the agents that we are launching for security, for DevOps, as well as key autonomous agents.”

For partners, these agents open entirely new opportunities for automation, managed services, and acceleration.

A Team of Trusted Technical Advisors

Rohan closes the discussion by emphasizing the role his team plays for partners:

“They act as the real trusted advisors - the unofficial CTOs - who help partners make the right technical decisions.”

Partners come to AWS for guidance, clarity, and confidence - and PSA delivers exactly that.

Final Thoughts

This conversation reveals something essential about the moment the ecosystem is in right now. Modernization is no longer a burden - it is a strategic unlock. AI is not an add-on - it is the accelerant. And AWS partners are entering a phase where co-engineering, co-innovation, and co-sell are more aligned than ever.

If you’re a partner building on AWS, this episode delivers a clear message:

The tools exist, the acceleration is real, and now is the time to build.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

Tuesday morning’s live session from Las Vegas was packed with energy - and major updates from AWS that will shape the year ahead for partner leaders.

Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Asher Mathew and I walked through some key announcements, the implications for ISVs and GSIs, and the importance of partner leaders as strategic drivers of revenue, innovation, and customer success. The ecosystem is moving fast - and so are the expectations for those leading it.

Asher also shared a preview of what’s coming from Partnership Leaders, including the Catalyst event next summer, which is set to be one of the most important gatherings for anyone building and scaling partner ecosystems.

If you missed the livestream, you can watch the replay here. Let me know what stood out to you from this year’s re:Invent signals.

🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships.

Let’s build the future of partnering - together.

📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career.

Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it.

🎧 Want more conversations like this?

💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com

Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com

🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips

Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe