Multiparty Private Offers with SaaSify: Aligning Microsoft Azure IP co-sell with commercial marketplace

At Microsoft Inspire 2023, Microsoft announced some developments focused on integrating the strengths of Azure IP co-selling and the commercial marketplace, with a specific focus on Multiparty Private Offers. In this article, we aim to guide ISVs on these changes, the impact of Multiparty Private Offers on Microsoft commercial marketplace selling, and the role of SaaSify in fueling their SaaS business growth.

As an ISV, you might be wondering what exactly has changed with Multiparty Private Offers. It is easy to be confused, considering both selling through private offers in Microsoft commercial marketplace and Azure IP co-sell existed previously as well. However, with this latest development, Microsoft is bringing together these two, which existed in silos, into one program, with an aim to boost sales for software vendors. Some of the top changes include:

• Earlier private offers could either be extended directly to customers or through partners enrolled in Microsoft CSP. Multiparty Private Offers has widened this scope, enabling all partners registered with Microsoft to extend private offers to their end customers.

• Till now, to be co-sell ready or to be Azure IP co-sell incentivized, ISVs could use contact me listing, however, after six months i.e. after December 2023, all offers must be transactable to leverage co-selling eligible.

• Taking cue from the point above, the initial private offer set up allowed partners to bill the offers from outside Microsoft’s commercial marketplace. However, with Multiparty Private Offers, customers purchase offers through the marketplace and Microsoft bills the customer.

• Subsequently, now, customers are able to utilize their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) to purchase the transactable offers under Multiparty Private Offers, which was not possible earlier when customers purchased Contact Me offers from outside the marketplace.

These changes are ushering in a new era for Microsoft marketplace sales, enabling ISVs to leverage co-selling with a wide range of Microsoft partners and transacting via a simplified process.

Essentially, Multiparty Private Offers enable ISVs to collaborate with other Microsoft partners to sell their SaaS solutions by creating customized private offers, which the latter (seller partners) can sell to their customers via the Microsoft Commercial marketplace. Furthermore, customers with committed cloud consumption can utilize the same to procure these offers via their preferred trusted advisors. For ISVs seeking to leverage the potential of Multiparty Private Offers, there are certain criteria they need to fulfill and SaaSify platform is helping ISVs realize the same:

Launch on Microsoft commercial marketplace with zero engineering

To benefit from Multiparty Private Offers, ISVs need to have a presence on Microsoft commercial marketplace. However, this process of listing your offer on Microsoft marketplace can be technically challenging. SaaSify enables ISVs to go-live on Microsoft commercial marketplace within days, without changing even one line of their code. Our pre-built integration with Microsoft marketplace and SaaS fulfillment APIs have helped 100+ ISVs list their SaaS offers quickly.

Provide transactable offers

To be eligible for Multiparty Private Offers or to reap co-selling opportunities, ISVs must ensure that their offers are transactable. This means that they can be procured via the marketplace and Microsoft takes care of the billing. SaaSify helps ISVs create transactable offers or convert their ‘Contact Me’ offers to transactable offers. We enable software businesses to transact their first Microsoft marketplace sales with end-to-end guidance and technical support.

Private offer automation for co-selling

Like any other private offers, Multiparty Private Offers are defined by customized pricing, terms and other conditions. Invariably, creating these requires a lot of context switching between ISVs CRM and the marketplace platform. SaaSify automation Multiparty Private Offer creation by allowing ISVs to convert opportunities of their seller partners within Salesforce. Simply extend Multiparty Private Offers without the manual work which goes into entering all data about the partners and offer terms.

Commercial marketplace GTM advisory

Having a robust GTM strategy in place can enable you to better leverage marketplace rewards and benefits associated with the commercial marketplace and Multiparty Private Offers. SaaSify assists ISVs with hands-on expert support to create and expand the Cloud GTM strategy, prepare marketing assets and drive marketing execution to leverage marketplace rewards and benefits.

Real-time deal visibility

As you create Multiparty Private Offers with multiple seller partners, it is likely to become challenging with time to keep track of the deals and their status. As an end-to-end offer lifecycle management platform, SaaSify helps ISVs to get real time visibility into all deals extended as a part of Multiparty Private Offers. You can keep track of all sales, including co-selling revenue and monitor multiple sales motions simultaneously to stay informed and proactive throughout the offer lifecycle.

SaaSify expert support and guidance

Finally, such new programs and platform changes can be tricky to keep pace with. As new updates keep coming to the forefront, you might feel lost at times. Fortunately, SaaSify’s expert support will help you navigate through the dynamic changes via 1-o-1 guidance and regular resources on the latest developments. Furthermore, you can always be up-to-date with Microsoft commercial marketplace changes without making any continuous engineering changes to your product.

With SaaSify, you will be able to easily unlock the several benefits and opportunities accompanying Multiparty Private Offers, including:

Sales growth with MACC

Since Multiparty Private Offers are transactable, customers can use their MACC or can count their sale against MACC to purchase the SaaS offer. Since MACC budgets are pre-approved, the conversion rate is higher. At the same time, when customers are able to utilize MACC, they are more open to longer term contracts, leading to a high level of sales visibility and revenue pipeline. The opportunity to utilize MACC serves as one of the biggest motivators for many customers to procure solutions through Multiparty Private Offers, while retaining the servicing and trust of their partners.

Customer expansion with partner networks

There are multiple customers out there who prefer purchasing software through their trusted advisors and Microsoft partners rather than directly through ISVs. By leveraging Multiparty Private Offers, you can tap into this partner network that has a plethora of end customers, who are all new target audiences for you. While the Microsoft partner owns and drives the customer relationship, new deals and customers get unlocked for ISVs, leading to a wider geographical footprint. Furthermore, this gives ISVs a unique opportunity to collaborate with Microsoft partners on customizing offers and deals that best align with the needs and expectations of their customers for a higher conversion rate.

It is extremely evident that Multiparty Private Offers create the perfect synergistic alliance for ISVs to explore the combined potential of the commercial marketplace and co-selling. While creating new sales and growth opportunities for ISVs and seller partners, it also augments the customer buying journey and experience by enabling them to utilize their MACC, leading to higher Azure revenue for ISVs. Whether you already have an offer live and wish to make it transactable or want to go live on Microsoft commercial marketplace to leverage Multiparty Private Offers, get your SaaSify instance to get started!