Building a successful multi-cloud marketplace strategy: why, when, and how

Cloud-first environments represent one of tech's most significant shifts. Over 90% of organizations now use cloud services, and according to Gartner, cloud-native platforms will host more than 95% of new digital workloads by 2025.

As digital transformation accelerated, Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) spotted an opportunity: offering third-party software and services directly to customers through their platforms. AWS pioneered this approach by launching its marketplace in 2012, with Microsoft's Azure marketplace following in 2014 and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in 2018. These hyperscaler marketplaces quickly became essential procurement channels. By integrating purchases into existing cloud spending commitments, organizations began experiencing the benefits of consolidated billing and streamlined procurement. Now, 85% of decision-makers are turning to marketplaces for greater agility and procurement speed according to Forrester’s TEI report on the AWS marketplace. And third-party sales through the marketplaces are expected to reach $85 billion by 2028. 

While marketplace tech sales are thriving, buyers now have new demands.

Around 90% of enterprises have moved to a multi-cloud strategy. More and more businesses are leveraging multiple cloud usage, not only to optimize performance but also to manage risk, reduce costs, and ensure business continuity. 

What does this mean for procurement? Should you, as an ISV seller, expand your presence across all hyperscalers? The answer to these questions depends on several factors. Let's examine these considerations and outline how to execute a strategy that drives growth while delivering value for both you and your customers.

Why does a multi-cloud marketplace strategy make sense?

For ISV sellers, embracing a multi-cloud marketplace strategy offers clear advantages. Instead of limiting distribution to one cloud provider's marketplace, companies can strategically position their products across multiple hyperscalers. This approach allows companies to reach more customers and aligns with the multi-cloud trend we discussed earlier. By meeting customers in their preferred buying environment and leveraging each marketplace's unique strengths, sellers can build a more flexible go-to-market strategy that drives growth while reducing platform dependency risks.

And there’s more. You can also:

1. Meet your customers’ demand for flexibility

As we saw before, there are a variety of reasons for your customers to adopt a multi-cloud strategy, And many of those extend to procurement. More than ever, businesses need flexibility. Offering a multi-cloud solution means giving your customers the freedom to choose the cloud environment that best suits their needs—whether that’s for compliance, security, pricing, or performance. By listing your products across multiple hyperscalers, you cater to a diverse set of customers who may have existing commitments or preferences with different cloud providers.

2. Work around budgetary objections 

Many customers already have cloud commitments with a particular hyperscaler. By listing your product across multiple clouds, you allow them to leverage these commitments to reduce costs and overcome budgetary constraints, offering a more compelling value proposition. You’re not just selling your product—you’re enabling your customers to maximize the value of their existing investments.

3. Safeguard against technical churn 

A common challenge with cloud migrations is the technical churn when customers need to switch providers. A multi-cloud approach minimizes this churn by providing customers with smoother transitions across cloud platforms, making it easier for them to move workloads as their needs change.

4. Reach newer, larger customer cohorts 

By engaging with multiple hyperscalers, you can reach a much wider range of customers. Each cloud marketplace has its own ecosystem, which includes unique cohorts of customers who may not be reachable through a single cloud provider. This expanded reach can help you increase your market share and revenue potential.

5. Grow your partnerships, and hence partner-influenced revenue 

Working with multiple hyperscalers offers a number of benefits, including co-marketing opportunities and access to exclusive tools and resources. These relationships can help you grow your business more quickly and sustainably.

6. Double down on infra security 

A multi-cloud strategy provides inherent advantages when it comes to security and risk management. By distributing workloads across multiple cloud providers, you can reduce the risk of a single point of failure and improve fault tolerance—making your system more resilient.

While this list of advantages is compelling, you will still need to consider the effort and resources required for such a project.

When should you build a multi-cloud marketplace strategy?

It’s crucial to evaluate the right time for you as a seller before you scale your current marketplace motion beyond a single CSP.  Not every business will immediately benefit from an expansion across multiple clouds, so consider these factors when deciding whether it's the right move:

Product alignment

- If your product is already compatible with multiple cloud platforms—for example, if it can seamlessly integrate with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud—you're in a good position to take advantage of the multi-cloud trend.

- If you're planning to expand your product’s capabilities to support more cloud platforms, it’s a clear signal that it's time to start thinking about multi-cloud marketplace strategies.

Customer alignment

- Where are your customers’ product environments? Are they using a single cloud provider, or do they have a multi-cloud strategy already in place? If most of your customers use multiple cloud platforms, offering your product in each of these environments makes sense.

- Understanding where your customers are in terms of cloud consumption is key. If you have a mix of AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud users among your target audience, listing your product across those platforms can help you meet them where they are.

Financial viability and operational readiness

- Expanding to multiple clouds isn’t cheap or easy. Consider whether the additional market opportunity justifies the investment, and if so, take the plunge.

- Make sure your internal team has the resources to handle the increased complexity of managing multiple cloud listings and customer relationships. Ensure that operations, sales, marketing, and engineering teams are ready to support these initiatives.

Proving your Cloud GTM model before going multi-cloud

Before you scale to multi-cloud growth, it is important to test and establish your Cloud GTM model with your current single cloud listing. 

This is important for a few reasons.

The first is that each cloud marketplace comes with its own set of technical requirements, listing processes, billing integrations, and operational nuances. By starting with a single marketplace, your team can get each of them right. In our conversation with ​​Alex Balcanquall, Senior Director, Marketplace Strategy & Operations, Cloud Software Group, he speaks about the unanticipated operational aspects of Cloud GTM, from payment cycles to tax implications, that need to be conquered before getting submerged under multi-cloud complexity. By focusing on a single listing first, you can develop expertise in that area and establish workflows that will serve as blueprints for future marketplace expansions. This makes all efforts to scale much more streamlined and effective.

The second reason to start with a single listing is that it allows you to test and optimize your cloud GTM strategy in a controlled environment. You can experiment with different pricing tiers, packaging options, and promotional strategies while gathering meaningful data. This focused testing ground allows you to identify what resonates with customers, understand common friction points, and refine your approach based on real market feedback. The insights gained from this process are invaluable in shaping a successful multi-cloud strategy that can be confidently rolled out to other marketplaces.

Success metrics from your initial marketplace listing will also provide concrete data to inform and justify expansion to additional marketplaces. By tracking key performance indicators like conversions, deal size, and customer acquisition costs, you can build a compelling business case for multi-cloud investment. This data-driven approach helps secure internal buy-in, allocate resources effectively, and set realistic expectations for performance on other platforms. The learnings and benchmarks established can be applied to other marketplace listings, helping to accelerate their launch and optimization.

How to build and execute a multi-cloud marketplace strategy

Now that we’ve established the “why” and “when,” let’s address how you can begin building a multi-cloud marketplace strategy. It is important not to underestimate the lift involved, regardless of the success of your pilot listing. The expansion still involves strategic planning, effective partnerships, streamlined operations, and the right tools.

Streamline the listing process and minimize engineering demand

Expanding to multiple clouds shouldn’t mean that you have to hire more engineers. Use tools that automate the process of listing, tracking revenue, and reporting. For example, Clazar helps companies list and manage products across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, all from a single interface. This minimizes the technical lift and ensures a more efficient post-listing process. By simplifying your approach, you can expand to multiple marketplaces without overburdening your engineering or operations teams.

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‍Incorporate multi-cloud into your sales playbook

Sales teams need to be aligned with your multi-cloud strategy. This means updating your sales playbook so that it accounts for how to sell across different hyperscaler ecosystems. Make sure your team understands the unique value propositions of each cloud platform and how to position your product effectively in those environments.

Don't make your AEs leave the CRM

The most effective way to drive sales adoption is by making sure that you aren’t adding unnecessary steps or complexity to your sales team's workflow. You can do this by keeping your AEs on your CRM even while executing multi-cloud marketplace transactions. By allowing AEs to extend and track private offers or upload co-sell opportunities right from within the CRM, you can reduce the learning curve of navigating not just one but three additional marketplace portals.

Establish effective partnership with all hyperscalers

Building relationships with the major hyperscalers is the first step in expanding your product’s availability. These platforms offer different benefits, like various programs, financial assistance, co-branding opportunities, and technical resources. By building strong relationships with key decision-makers at the leadership and rep levels, you ensure that your product is positioned for success within each marketplace.

Manage cross-cloud revenue tracking and visibility

Managing multiple cloud listings requires tracking revenue, disbursements, and collections across different platforms. The key challenge here is to avoid juggling between multiple cloud portals and your internal analytics systems. A unified tool like Clazar allows you to track revenue in real-time, provide visibility into performance, and generate reports across all hyperscalers from a single place. Simplifying cross-cloud revenue recognition ensures that you understand where every dollar is coming from and can more accurately map payouts to customers and sales deals in your CRM.

Monitor and optimize multi-cloud performance

After launching your product across multiple clouds, continuously monitor its performance and usage. Look for patterns, identify opportunities to optimize pricing or product offerings, and keep up with changes in the market or technology. Reports from different hyperscaler sources should be analyzed regularly to ensure you’re meeting customer expectations and adjusting your strategy when necessary.

Remember that the cloud landscape evolves quickly. Be ready to iterate on your multi-cloud strategy, responding to new customer demands, hyperscaler changes, and market shifts. Flexibility is key to maintaining long-term success.

If you want to take the plunge and expand your presence across the three hyperscalers, Clazar can help you manage this lift with ease. 

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