Small and medium-sized businesses are under growing pressure to innovate, reduce costs, and maintain competitiveness in a digital-first economy. Many are discovering that cloud computing is no longer a future option but a present necessity. It provides on-demand access to computing power, data storage, applications, and development tools—without the overhead of managing physical infrastructure.
Cloud-based solutions allow these businesses to scale quickly, deploy services efficiently, and introduce new revenue models with reduced operational risks. Whether it’s a small accounting firm looking to centralize its data or a retail business expanding to online channels, the cloud is enabling smarter, faster, and more agile operations.
Yet, the complexity of the cloud landscape can be intimidating. There are many service options, security frameworks, compliance obligations, and pricing models to understand. This is especially true when it comes to platforms like Amazon Web Services, which offers hundreds of services and configurations. While AWS can provide unmatched flexibility and power, many SMBs find it difficult to navigate without expert guidance.
Why AWS is a critical player in the cloud space
Among all the cloud providers available today, Amazon Web Services has emerged as a global leader in cloud infrastructure. It supports businesses of every size with an extensive catalog of services, including compute, storage, networking, databases, machine learning, analytics, and more. Each of these services is designed to be modular, scalable, and pay-as-you-go, making AWS an attractive platform for both startups and established enterprises.
The broad geographic reach, high availability, and robust security measures of AWS make it particularly appealing to SMBs that need reliable performance without investing in expensive hardware or a large IT team. From a technical standpoint, AWS offers the capability to host websites, run virtual machines, analyze data, manage backups, and deliver applications to customers all over the world.
However, the same qualities that make AWS powerful also make it complex. For a small business owner or IT generalist, the process of choosing services, architecting solutions, estimating costs, and implementing best practices can be overwhelming. That’s where managed service providers can make an immediate and valuable impact.
The unique role of managed service providers in the AWS ecosystem
Managed service providers have long been trusted by small and medium-sized businesses to deliver outsourced IT support, infrastructure management, and system maintenance. As the technology landscape has evolved, MSPs have increasingly taken on the role of cloud advisors. For MSPs, this shift represents a major growth opportunity.
By extending their service offerings to include cloud consulting, implementation, and ongoing support on platforms like AWS, MSPs can build long-term value for their clients while expanding their own business. Helping SMBs move to the cloud is no longer a one-time project—it’s an ongoing journey that includes optimization, compliance, security, scaling, and continuous innovation.
AWS recognizes the vital role that MSPs play in supporting SMBs. That’s why they have created the AWS Partner Network, which is a comprehensive support program designed to help MSPs build skills, acquire clients, and grow revenue through the AWS ecosystem.
Introduction to the AWS Partner Network
The AWS Partner Network is a global community of partners who leverage AWS technologies to deliver services or solutions to customers. It includes consulting firms, resellers, software providers, and managed service providers. The network is built to support these partners with technical training, certifications, go-to-market resources, and financial benefits.
For MSPs, joining the AWS Partner Network marks the first step in establishing a formal relationship with AWS. It provides access to resources that are not available to the general public, such as partner-specific training, opportunity management platforms, and promotional tools.
One of the most accessible entry points into the AWS Partner Network for MSPs is the Services Path. This pathway is structured specifically for organizations that provide professional or managed services to clients. It helps MSPs build foundational knowledge, gain technical accreditations, and prepare for more advanced engagement with AWS.
What is the Services Path and why does it matter
The Services Path is a tailored progression track within the AWS Partner Network. It is designed to help service-oriented partners grow their AWS practice by focusing on enablement and competency development. For MSPs, it acts as both a roadmap and a qualification framework.
Upon entering the Services Path, MSPs are granted access to a range of tools and support through a central platform known as Partner Central. Here, partners can manage their AWS business, track certifications, and monitor performance indicators using the Partner Scorecard. This scorecard provides visibility into how well a partner is doing in areas such as sales, training, customer satisfaction, and engagement.
By following the steps in the Services Path, MSPs gradually gain access to more advanced benefits such as marketing funds, co-selling support, and eligibility for partner programs. These incentives are designed to reward growth, skill-building, and client success.
Building your company profile in Partner Central
When an MSP joins the Services Path, one of the first steps is to complete a company profile in Partner Central. This profile functions as a business card within the AWS ecosystem. It highlights your company’s focus areas, industry expertise, customer success stories, and solution offerings.
By clearly defining your strengths and specialization, AWS can better align your business with relevant customer opportunities. For example, if your company focuses on data migration and serves healthcare clients, AWS teams can direct leads to you when a healthcare company is looking for a data migration partner.
The more complete and specific your profile, the better your chances of being noticed by AWS account managers and other partners. This profile also helps you build credibility with potential customers browsing the AWS Partner Finder tool.
The value of the Partner Scorecard
The Partner Scorecard is a performance tracking tool that helps MSPs measure their progress within the AWS Partner Network. It consolidates metrics across several categories, such as the number of certified individuals on your team, customer references, partner-led opportunities, and participation in AWS programs.
The scorecard is more than just a progress tracker—it is a strategic planning tool. It shows you where your company is excelling and where there is room for growth. For instance, if your score in the technical enablement category is low, that may be a signal to increase training and certifications. If your opportunity submission rate is high but customer references are missing, it may be time to focus on documenting success stories.
AWS uses this scorecard as part of its internal partner evaluation process. As such, improving your score can lead to better support, more referrals, and faster access to program benefits.
Training and upskilling opportunities through AWS
For an MSP to succeed in the AWS ecosystem, technical proficiency is essential. AWS provides a variety of training resources specifically for partners. These resources are available in several formats to suit different learning preferences, including self-paced online courses, live virtual classrooms, and in-person workshops.
MSPs can start with the AWS Cloud Practitioner training, which covers basic cloud concepts, AWS core services, billing models, and compliance. This is followed by more advanced certifications such as AWS Solutions Architect Associate, AWS Developer, AWS Security Specialty, and others. Each certification aligns with specific roles and specializations.
In addition to individual certifications, team-wide accreditations and technical validations are important. These help demonstrate your organization’s overall capability and qualify you for AWS competencies, which we will explore in the next part.
Laying the groundwork for a successful partnership
Joining the AWS Partner Network is more than a technical or business decision—it is a commitment to delivering value to your clients and growing your capabilities as a modern MSP. By taking full advantage of the resources, tools, and training available through the APN, your company can build a strong foundation for long-term success.
This initial investment in learning and setup pays off over time. MSPs that are active and engaged in the APN benefit from increased visibility, better alignment with AWS account teams, and access to opportunities that would be difficult to pursue independently. The partner ecosystem is designed to help you scale your business and meet the evolving needs of your clients.
The importance of specialization in the AWS ecosystem
The AWS platform is vast. With over two hundred fully featured services spanning compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning, Internet of Things, security, and beyond, trying to master it all is not practical, especially for small and midsized managed service providers. While it may be tempting to offer every AWS service to every possible client, this generalist approach often leads to shallow expertise and diluted value.
Instead, the most successful MSPs in the AWS ecosystem are those that commit to a focused area of specialization. Specialization allows you to build deep technical skills, craft repeatable solutions, and gain credibility with clients and AWS alike. It also makes it easier to create a compelling message for your sales and marketing efforts.
By identifying your niche early, you reduce complexity, accelerate onboarding, and position your business to offer more impactful services. You also make it easier for AWS account teams to refer opportunities to you that align with your strengths.
How to choose your AWS niche
Choosing a niche requires careful consideration of your existing client base, technical expertise, and long-term business goals. Start by looking at the industries you already serve. Are you supporting a concentration of clients in legal, financial services, healthcare, education, retail, or manufacturing? Industry familiarity gives you a competitive edge in understanding client needs, pain points, and compliance requirements.
Next, assess your current capabilities. Do you have experience with application modernization, cloud migration, cost optimization, security architecture, or remote infrastructure management? These areas of technical focus can guide you toward specific AWS services and competencies that align with your skills.
It’s also important to evaluate the types of challenges your clients are bringing to you. Are they struggling with data backups, remote access, performance bottlenecks, or security concerns? Aligning your niche to solve common client problems increases your relevance and value.
Once you have evaluated your strengths and the needs of your clients, research the AWS competencies and programs that support those areas. This alignment is key to building credibility in the AWS ecosystem.
The role of AWS competencies in MSP success
AWS competencies are designed to validate and promote AWS Partners who demonstrate technical expertise and proven customer success in specialized areas. Earning a competency is a rigorous process that includes technical audits, case study submissions, and demonstrated certifications.
For MSPs, AWS competencies serve as a badge of credibility. They help differentiate your business in a crowded market and signal to AWS and prospective clients that your organization has real-world experience in a particular domain.
There are several categories of competencies available, such as:
- Migration
- Security
- DevOps
- Data and analytics
- Digital workplace
- Machine learning
In addition to functional competencies, AWS offers industry-specific competencies such as:
- Healthcare
- Education
- Financial services
- Retail
- Public sector
Achieving one or more of these competencies opens the door to increased visibility, co-selling opportunities, and inclusion in AWS customer searches for specialized partners.
Starting with the migration competency
For many SMBs, the first step in their cloud journey is migration. This could mean moving on-premises workloads, file servers, databases, or entire applications to AWS. Because of this demand, the AWS Migration Competency is one of the most valuable certifications an MSP can pursue.
To qualify, an MSP must demonstrate the ability to plan, execute, and manage complex migration projects. This includes establishing secure architectures, minimizing downtime, optimizing cost, and helping clients adopt cloud-native operations after the move.
Pursuing the migration competency requires case studies of past migration projects, technical validations, and team certifications. However, once achieved, this competency significantly boosts your credibility and opens the door to collaboration with AWS migration teams.
Understanding vertical market competencies
If your MSP serves regulated industries or has developed strong domain knowledge in specific sectors, pursuing an industry vertical competency can be a strategic advantage. For example, the AWS Healthcare Competency is ideal for MSPs that support hospitals, clinics, or medical software vendors. It validates knowledge of HIPAA compliance, data security, and healthcare-specific solutions.
Similarly, the AWS Financial Services Competency demonstrates expertise in working with banks, insurance companies, and financial software providers. These industries have strict compliance and governance requirements, and AWS wants to ensure that partners serving them understand these complexities.
These vertical competencies are particularly valuable because clients in regulated industries often prefer to work with partners who have demonstrated credibility in their sector. They also increase your visibility in AWS directories and help differentiate your business during the partner selection process.
How to build experience toward your chosen competency
Once you’ve chosen a niche and identified a target competency, the next step is to build a portfolio of experience. Begin by focusing on existing customers who might benefit from AWS services in your chosen area. For instance, if you want to pursue the migration competency, identify current clients who are good candidates for moving workloads to AWS.
Start small if necessary. Even a modest migration project, such as moving a file server or a single application, can provide valuable experience. Document the process, capture metrics around performance, downtime, cost savings, and client satisfaction. These case studies will become part of your competency application later.
In parallel, invest in training and certifications for your team. The AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification is often a foundation for technical validation. From there, you can expand into specialty certifications aligned with your focus area, such as AWS Certified Security or AWS Certified Data Analytics.
Also, ensure your team is familiar with AWS best practices, Well-Architected Frameworks, and cost optimization techniques. This will prepare you for the technical reviews that are part of the competency application process.
Leveraging training programs and hands-on learning
AWS offers extensive training resources that can help you build knowledge and prepare for competencies. These include self-paced digital training, instructor-led classes, and certification prep courses. The content is available for different roles—technical, sales, and business development—and covers both foundational and advanced topics.
Hands-on learning is equally important. Consider spinning up sandbox environments in AWS to test configurations, run simulations, and gain practical experience. This not only helps reinforce learning but also allows your team to experiment without the pressure of a live client project.
Also, take advantage of practice exams and online study groups. Encouraging your team to pursue certifications together can create momentum and improve accountability. When your entire organization speaks the same AWS language, project execution becomes smoother and client confidence grows.
Building repeatable solutions and delivery models
As your MSP gains experience in your chosen niche, begin documenting processes, creating reusable templates, and standardizing delivery models. This turns ad-hoc projects into scalable offerings.
For example, if you specialize in small business migrations, you might develop a repeatable three-phase model that includes assessment, planning, and execution. You can create templates for discovery questionnaires, security baselines, cost estimation tools, and post-migration checklists.
Packaging these elements into a formalized service offering makes it easier to train your team, speed up delivery, and ensure consistent results. It also gives you a clear product to market to new clients.
These repeatable solutions are valuable assets when pursuing AWS programs and competencies. They show that your business can reliably deliver AWS services at scale.
Developing your AWS partner reputation
Reputation matters in the AWS partner ecosystem. While technical skill and certifications are important, AWS also looks for partners who deliver excellent customer experiences, show initiative, and engage constructively with the AWS team.
Focus on collecting positive feedback and testimonials from your clients. Request permission to use case studies and performance metrics in your marketing and AWS submissions. Engage with AWS partner managers, attend AWS events, and participate in webinars and community forums.
Document your success stories and align them to AWS goals such as cost savings, increased agility, better performance, or compliance improvements. The more value you can demonstrate, the more likely AWS is to promote and support your business.
Aligning business strategy with your niche
Once your niche is established, it should guide your broader business strategy. Tailor your sales pitch, website messaging, proposal templates, and onboarding process to emphasize your specialization. For example, if you focus on cloud cost optimization, highlight your expertise in identifying waste, resizing workloads, and implementing automation.
If your target audience is in healthcare, ensure your sales team understands HIPAA compliance and the specific business challenges in that space. Use language that resonates with your ideal clients, and position your MSP as a trusted expert in their world, not just a generic cloud provider.
Also, consider how your marketing channels support your niche. Write blog posts, record webinars, and produce whitepapers that speak directly to your ideal client profile. Educational content builds authority and attracts the right type of inbound interest.
Preparing for growth with the right foundation
As your AWS business grows, your initial niche will help you stay focused, build momentum, and achieve consistency. It provides a foundation for hiring decisions, training programs, go-to-market campaigns, and technical investments.
Eventually, you may expand into adjacent niches or add new competencies. But starting with one clear focus ensures you build a deep understanding of AWS and the value it brings to your clients. This depth becomes your differentiator in a competitive marketplace.
Turning AWS expertise into a scalable business
Once your managed service provider business has developed technical expertise and a clear AWS niche, the next step is scaling that foundation into a sustainable and growing practice. Mastery of cloud services and certifications is essential, but growth comes from creating repeatable processes, accessing broader client opportunities, and taking full advantage of the AWS partner ecosystem.
AWS provides several structured programs and platforms to help MSPs scale. These are designed to extend your reach, improve operational efficiency, and create new client acquisition channels. However, the key to leveraging them successfully lies in aligning your internal business processes with AWS workflows and maintaining a proactive, collaborative relationship with AWS partner teams.
Introduction to the APN Customer Engagements (ACE) program
The AWS APN Customer Engagements program, often referred to as ACE, is one of the most powerful tools available to MSPs seeking to grow their AWS business. It provides a secure, shared platform for AWS partners and internal AWS sales teams to collaborate on customer opportunities.
Through the ACE program, you can submit leads and sales opportunities, track their progress, and receive co-selling support directly from AWS. This program enables your MSP to gain visibility into AWS pipelines, share insights with AWS account managers, and jointly pursue deals that match your service offerings and technical capabilities.
Participating in ACE is more than just a procedural step—it’s a business strategy. It allows you to work closely with AWS sales teams, gain referrals, and position your business as a trusted partner for customers migrating to or optimizing their use of AWS.
Submitting opportunities and collaborating with AWS sales
To start using ACE, your organization needs to meet a minimum partner tier requirement and must have a complete and up-to-date company profile in the Partner Central portal. Once these prerequisites are in place, your sales and business development teams can begin submitting customer opportunities to AWS.
Each opportunity submission includes details about the customer’s requirements, the solution being proposed, expected project timelines, and the value AWS services will bring. The more specific and well-documented your opportunity, the higher the chances of AWS engaging actively.
Once an opportunity is accepted into the ACE pipeline, AWS sales teams may provide co-selling support, such as helping with presentations, offering proof-of-concept funding, or connecting with the right customer stakeholders. AWS teams can also share competitive intelligence, suggest additional services, and help with technical resources that elevate your proposed solution.
Opportunities submitted through ACE are treated seriously by AWS. They serve as a record of your sales activity and impact, and they contribute to your partner scorecard. MSPs who consistently submit well-qualified opportunities through ACE tend to receive more attention and referrals from AWS over time.
Gaining access to partner benefits through ACE
The ACE program also unlocks a range of benefits that help you scale faster and more efficiently. These include financial incentives, marketing funds, go-to-market support, and promotional opportunities.
One of the most valuable incentives is access to the AWS MDF program, or Market Development Funds. These funds can be used for activities like customer webinars, demand generation campaigns, paid advertising, event sponsorships, and lead generation. By using MDF strategically, your MSP can run larger and more sophisticated marketing programs than your internal budget might allow.
Another benefit is the opportunity to be included in AWS customer-facing materials and sales campaigns. When you demonstrate a successful track record in ACE, AWS may choose to highlight your company in case studies, webinars, or success stories that are promoted to thousands of potential customers.
ACE also facilitates collaboration with other partners, such as system integrators, software providers, or distributors who may complement your services. This creates new revenue paths and joint service offerings that can increase your deal size and expand your market reach.
Driving marketing success with AWS Partner Marketing Central
Alongside ACE, another critical platform for MSP growth is the AWS Partner Marketing Central platform. This self-service tool provides a centralized location for accessing and executing co-branded, AWS-approved marketing campaigns tailored for partners.
With Partner Marketing Central, you can quickly launch email campaigns, download branded digital assets, customize landing pages, and access campaign templates aligned to specific AWS services or customer needs. These materials are professionally designed, compliant with AWS branding standards, and pre-approved for joint marketing use.
This tool is especially helpful for MSPs that may not have large marketing teams. You can run sophisticated campaigns without needing to create every asset from scratch. Templates cover a wide range of services such as cloud migration, cost optimization, security, and more, allowing you to match campaigns with your niche and targeted customer personas.
Additionally, many campaigns come with analytics and performance tracking tools that help you monitor engagement and measure return on investment. The more actively and effectively you use these tools, the more visibility your MSP gains in AWS marketing pipelines.
Creating a joint go-to-market strategy
One of the most impactful ways to grow your AWS business is to work directly with AWS partner development managers and account managers to build a joint go-to-market (GTM) plan. This plan outlines your business goals, targeted industries, key offerings, and expected outcomes from the partnership.
A well-structured GTM plan includes your top priorities, such as launching a new service bundle, increasing lead generation, or entering a new market segment. It also defines how you’ll allocate resources, which AWS programs you plan to leverage, and how your MSP will contribute to mutual success.
Once this plan is approved by AWS, you may receive dedicated AWS sales support, access to pilot funding, and priority consideration for regional promotions and campaigns. AWS may even help you identify events to attend, speaking opportunities to pursue, and media coverage options to increase your exposure.
Creating this level of alignment with AWS shows that your MSP is not just a technical provider, but a strategic partner. It also positions you for long-term collaboration and shared success in scaling your AWS offerings.
Starting with your existing customer base
While the programs and platforms discussed so far offer new channels for customer acquisition, one of the most efficient ways to grow your AWS business is to start with the customers you already serve.
Begin by conducting a review of your existing customer base. Identify which clients are still running on legacy infrastructure, have aging hardware, or face operational bottlenecks that cloud solutions could resolve. Look for common workloads such as file servers, websites, backup systems, or line-of-business applications that can be moved to AWS.
Once you have a list of qualified candidates, initiate discovery sessions to understand their business needs and concerns. Use what you have learned from AWS training to position the right services, estimate costs, and highlight the long-term benefits of moving to the cloud. Keep the conversation focused on business outcomes such as increased agility, better security, reduced downtime, and improved cost management.
Your existing clients already trust you. This trust gives you a head start in positioning AWS as a value-added service, rather than a disruptive change. As you help clients transition successfully, you’ll build use cases and testimonials that support future sales efforts.
Packaging AWS services for SMBs
Small and medium-sized businesses often require simplicity, clarity, and predictable pricing when adopting new technology. As an MSP, one of your goals should be to translate the flexibility of AWS into manageable service packages that SMBs can easily understand and adopt.
Instead of offering raw AWS services, bundle them into solutions with clear deliverables and pricing models. For example:
- Cloud Essentials Package: Backup and disaster recovery using AWS S3 and Glacier
- Secure Office Package: AWS WorkSpaces for remote desktops with integrated MFA
- Business Continuity Package: EC2 instances with automated failover and monitoring
- Migration Starter Pack: Lift-and-shift of legacy applications with post-migration support
By bundling services, you simplify the sales process, reduce friction during onboarding, and make it easier for clients to evaluate the value of AWS. You also create a framework for upselling additional services as the client needs evolve.
These packages also make your offerings more repeatable, reducing delivery time and increasing margins. Once developed, they can be promoted through your marketing channels and partner platforms like ACE and Partner Marketing Central.
Investing in sales enablement and client education
To scale effectively, your sales team must be able to confidently communicate the value of AWS to non-technical stakeholders. This requires ongoing sales enablement, including training on AWS fundamentals, common objections, pricing models, and competitive positioning.
AWS offers partner-specific sales enablement content, webinars, and playbooks to help with this effort. Use these materials to train your account managers, sales reps, and customer success teams on how to lead effective cloud conversations.
In parallel, invest in educating your clients. Host webinars, publish how-to guides, record explainer videos, and offer one-on-one assessments. SMBs are more likely to move forward with cloud projects when they understand the value and feel supported throughout the process.
Education also strengthens your relationship with clients and positions your MSP as a trusted advisor rather than just a service provider.
Measuring success and refining your strategy
As your AWS practice grows, you need a system to measure progress and continuously refine your approach. Set clear goals for pipeline growth, deal velocity, certification targets, and customer satisfaction. Track these metrics monthly and use them to guide decisions about where to invest time and resources.
Review your Partner Scorecard in AWS Partner Central regularly. Monitor your performance in the ACE pipeline. Evaluate the ROI of your marketing campaigns. Identify which service packages are performing well and which need refinement.
Use this data to adjust your go-to-market strategy. You may discover that a particular industry is more responsive than others, or that certain service packages have higher conversion rates. You might also find that co-selling with AWS leads to larger deals with shorter sales cycles.
Scaling your AWS business is not just about doing more—it’s about doing what works, and doing it more efficiently. Data-driven insights help you stay agile and maximize every opportunity.
Preparing for a long-term partnership with AWS
Growing your AWS practice is a journey. It requires more than just technical knowledge—it involves business alignment, process discipline, proactive engagement, and a commitment to client success.
By participating actively in programs like ACE, using marketing tools, collaborating with AWS sales teams, and building internal capabilities, your MSP can grow far beyond its original footprint. You’ll be seen not just as a service provider, but as a strategic partner helping customers navigate the future of technology.
Enhancing your AWS offering through cloud marketplaces
As your AWS business grows, operational efficiency becomes just as important as technical proficiency. Managing billing, procurement, support, compliance, and customer onboarding can quickly become overwhelming, especially for MSPs working with small and medium-sized businesses that expect fast, reliable service with minimal administrative burden.
This is where cloud marketplaces come in. Marketplaces act as intermediaries between cloud service providers like AWS and MSPs, offering a centralized platform where you can buy, manage, and deliver cloud solutions more efficiently. These platforms are designed to streamline operations, consolidate billing, offer technical resources, and help you scale faster without increasing complexity.
For MSPs building an AWS practice, partnering with a reputable cloud marketplace provides immediate operational advantages, educational support, and go-to-market benefits that complement what AWS already offers through its partner network.
Simplifying procurement and billing workflows
One of the biggest operational hurdles for MSPs offering AWS services is billing. AWS uses a consumption-based pricing model, which can be difficult to predict, track, and reconcil, —especially across multiple customers. Inconsistent usage, dynamic costs, and complex invoices can strain internal accounting teams and confuse end clients.
Cloud marketplaces simplify this process by acting as billing aggregators. They consolidate AWS invoices, offer pre-configured billing models, and often provide tools to split usage by customer, service, or project. Instead of managing dozens of AWS accounts and invoices manually, your MSP can use the marketplace platform to generate clear, client-ready billing reports.
Some marketplaces even offer automated billing alerts, cost forecasting, and markup tools, allowing you to offer managed pricing packages with confidence. This makes it easier to productize your AWS offerings and avoid unpleasant surprises related to usage overages or billing disputes.
Offloading operational overhead to improve scalability
As your AWS client base grows, the operational workload expands alongside it. Tasks like account setup, service provisioning, credential management, cost optimization, and license tracking can quickly consume technical and administrative bandwidth.
Cloud marketplaces are designed to reduce this overhead. Many provide centralized consoles that allow you to provision and manage AWS accounts, deploy services, monitor health, and implement security best practices—all from a single interface. This saves your team hours of manual work and reduces the risk of misconfigurations or inconsistent deployments.
These platforms may also include built-in support tools for automating ticket routing, tracking SLAs, and integrating with remote monitoring platforms or PSA systems. This creates a more streamlined, scalable support model for your MSP.
By offloading routine and repetitive tasks, your team can spend more time focusing on higher-value activities such as architecture planning, customer strategy, and solution development.
Gaining access to specialized training and enablement
Another advantage of working with a cloud marketplace is access to curated training content and enablement programs focused specifically on AWS services and partner development.
While AWS itself offers robust training resources, marketplaces often provide additional learning paths designed to meet the specific needs of MSPs. These may include courses on how to price AWS services, how to pitch migration projects to SMBs, or how to implement cost-saving architectures using native AWS tools.
Educational offerings often include:
- On-demand video training modules
- Virtual workshops led by cloud architects
- Instructor-led bootcamps
- Platform-specific certification paths
- Sales enablement materials for business development teams
These training programs are typically structured to help your team move from beginner to advanced quickly, focusing not just on technical concepts, but on the business and operational context that makes those concepts practical for SMB clients.
By participating in marketplace-led education, your team stays sharp, aligned with industry standards, and ready to take on larger, more complex AWS projects with confidence.
Using marketplace incentives and funding programs
In addition to educational support, many cloud marketplaces offer funding and incentive programs to help you build your AWS business faster. These programs are designed to reduce financial barriers for both MSPs and their clients, making cloud projects easier to start and complete.
Common marketplace incentives include:
- Credits toward AWS services for new customers
- Subsidized training and certification fees
- Sales bonuses for new client acquisitions
- Co-marketing funds for lead generation campaigns
- Discounts for bundled services or multi-year agreements
These funding programs are especially valuable when trying to convert hesitant or cost-conscious SMBs. You can offer free assessments, subsidized proof-of-concept projects, or reduced upfront costs to encourage adoption. From your MSP’s perspective, this reduces risk while increasing conversion rates and long-term revenue potential.
Incentives also help differentiate your business from competitors who may not have access to the same financial support or onboarding assistance.
Leveraging expert support and architecture guidance
AWS is a flexible and powerful platform, but it comes with technical complexity that many MSPs need help navigating, especially when building advanced solutions or optimizing cost, performance, and security.
Cloud marketplaces often provide expert technical support, solution architecture guidance, and hands-on assistance to help you design, build, and deliver best-in-class AWS solutions. This support may come in the form of:
- One-on-one consultations with cloud architects
- Architecture reviews and optimization reports
- Help desk support for provisioning and deployment
- Assistance with workload assessments and migrations
- Technical validation before launching packaged offerings
These expert services act as an extension of your team, especially when you’re scaling quickly and can’t immediately hire additional engineers. They also reduce the chance of costly mistakes and allow your MSP to deliver higher-quality solutions to your clients without increasing your internal workload.
Creating AWS-ready packaged solutions through the marketplace
As your AWS business matures, marketplaces can help you turn your knowledge into repeatable, packaged services. These are pre-built offerings that bundle AWS services, implementation guidance, support models, and pricing structures into a productized format.
Examples of packaged offerings include:
- A “Cloud Backup and Recovery” solution for small law firms using AWS S3 and Glacier
- A “Remote Desktop Infrastructure” bundle using AWS WorkSpaces
- A “Website Hosting and Security” package using EC2, Route 53, and AWS WAF
- A “Disaster Recovery as a Service” plan with automated failover
These packages can be marketed directly through the marketplace platform, increasing your visibility and enabling customers to engage without extensive custom scoping or proposals. They also make it easier for your sales team to sell AWS solutions without deep technical involvement in every conversation.
Well-structured solutions help you deliver consistent results, reduce delivery time, and improve customer satisfaction. Over time, you can refine these offerings based on feedback and create a library of go-to services that make your AWS business more scalable and profitable.
Improving client retention and lifetime value
Cloud marketplaces also provide tools that help MSPs improve client retention and increase customer lifetime value. These include subscription management tools, client usage reports, renewal notifications, and integration with your CRM or PSA systems.
By having greater visibility into client usage patterns, cost spikes, or underutilized resources, your team can proactively offer optimization reviews, cross-sell opportunities, or early intervention if clients are considering switching providers.
The ability to manage multiple clients through one dashboard, automate renewals, and monitor usage trends gives your MSP the control needed to scale without sacrificing service quality.
Over time, this contributes to a more stable client base, better forecasting, and stronger recurring revenue streams.
Building long-term profitability and sustainability
Ultimately, the goal of any AWS practice is to build a profitable, sustainable business that grows with customer demand and evolves with the cloud. Cloud marketplaces are not a shortcut—they are a strategic platform that helps MSPs simplify operations, accelerate sales, and deliver greater value to clients at every stage of their cloud journey.
By integrating a marketplace into your AWS business model, you create the conditions for predictable growth:
- Repeatable service offerings that can scale across clients
- Operational tools that reduce complexity and support automation
- Training programs that keep your team ahead of the curve
- Marketing and funding programs that drive new business
- Financial models that improve cash flow and reduce risk
These are the ingredients that turn a technically capable MSP into a business-focused AWS expert with the infrastructure and strategy needed to compete at the next level.
A unified cloud journey for MSPs and SMBs
Small and medium-sized businesses continue to adopt cloud technology at a rapid pace. Their expectations are high, and their tolerance for complexity is low. They want cloud solutions that work, providers they can trust, and partners who understand their business challenges—not just their infrastructure.
As an MSP, your value lies in bridging this gap. With the right knowledge, tools, and support from AWS and cloud marketplaces, you can guide your clients through the cloud journey confidently and effectively.
The most successful AWS MSPs are those who:
- Choose a niche and go deep
- Earn AWS competencies and certifications.
- Engage actively with AWS partner programs
- Build packaged service that clients understand
- Streamline operations with marketplace support.
In doing so, you not only grow your cloud business, you empower your clients to succeed in a digital-first world. And in that shared success, your AWS practice becomes more than just a service—it becomes a strategic engine of transformation.
Final Thoughts
The cloud is no longer a distant vision—it is the present and future of IT for small and medium-sized businesses. As these organizations increasingly turn to the cloud to become more agile, efficient, and competitive, they are looking for trusted partners to guide them. This is where managed service providers have a critical role to play.
Amazon Web Services offers unmatched breadth, scale, and innovation. However, for SMBs, the AWS ecosystem can feel complex, overwhelming, and expensive if not approached strategically. Your role as an MSP is to remove that complexity, deliver clarity, and translate AWS’s powerful capabilities into real-world solutions your clients can understand and benefit from.
By aligning your business with AWS and leveraging the support of programs, certifications, and cloud marketplaces, you’re not just offering cloud infrastructure—you’re delivering transformation. From choosing a niche to building competencies, from co-selling with AWS to simplifying billing, every step you take brings your clients closer to success and positions your business as an indispensable partner in their growth.
Getting started may seem daunting, but with a streamlined, strategic approach, you can build a scalable AWS practice that is technically sound, operationally efficient, and commercially successful.
The path to AWS success is not about doing everything—it’s about doing the right things with focus and consistency. Start small, grow intentionally, and always keep your clients’ business goals at the center of your cloud strategy.