AWS Partner Network: Essential training resources for systems integrators

The AWS Partner Network (APN) equips systems integrators (SIs) with essential training resources to deliver transformational cloud solutions. This guide helps SI alliance leaders navigate APN offerings—from building custom solutions to accelerating growth through co-selling and funding. We’ll explore key resources to strengthen your AWS practice, providing a roadmap for your team’s technical and business development.

This guide covers five essential training areas that will help SIs scale solutions to better serve AWS customers:

1. Co-build resources
2. AWS Marketplace fundamentals
3. Solution technical validation through Foundational Technical Reviews (FTRs)
4. Go-to-market (GTM) readiness and support
5. Co-selling preparation

Before diving in, ensure you have basic familiarity with AWS services and have completed the following prerequisites:

• An AWS Partner Network (APN) account
• Access to AWS Partner Central
• An AWS Skill Builder account

Essential training resources for SI success

Step 1: Co-build resources

As an AWS Partner, accessing the right training resources and funding benefits is crucial for building successful solutions and accelerating your go-to-market strategy. AWS provides support through multiple channels, from proof of concept (POC) development funding and Innovation Sandbox access to AWS Certifications and marketing development funds—all designed to empower your cloud journey and solution development success.

Learning and development resources

At the heart of the AWS Training portfolio is AWS Skill Builder, an online learning center that caters to all skill levels—from cloud beginners to experienced builders. This platform offers flexible, self-paced learning paths to align with your team’s development goals. Complementing this is the AWS Partner Learning Plans, which provide structured, role-based training paths specifically designed for partners, allowing teams to progress at their own pace while following prescriptive guidance.

Professional development and certification

Professional development is further enhanced through AWS Certifications, which validate your team’s technical expertise and can help demonstrate your organization’s capabilities. To stay current with the latest AWS innovations and best practices, partners can leverage PartnerCast webinars, offering both live interactive sessions and on-demand resources covering business strategies and technical deep-dives.

Funding and support programs

AWS provides support for practical implementation through various funding mechanisms and programs. The AWS Partner Funding Benefits program offers support including:

• Training discounts and credits
• APN Innovation Sandbox credits
• Marketing Development Funds (MDF)
• POC development funding

The AWS Partner Funding Benefits (1 hour 30 minutes) course provides an overview of AWS Partner funding benefits.

Solution development and go-to-market success

By developing industry-specific solutions, partners are experiencing up to a 40% higher win rate on opportunities and a 60% increase in average deal size, as reported in the 2024 Forrester Wave for Cloud Migration and Modernization Services.

All partners, regardless of their AWS journey stage, can now position their solutions in Partner Central, enabling direct opportunity sharing and enhanced visibility that can help improve sales cycles. The AWS Partner Central Solutions – Process and Value course (30 minutes) provides comprehensive guidance on solution onboarding, helping partners effectively create and update various solution types to increase visibility and accelerate co-selling opportunities.

Step 2: AWS Marketplace essentials

The AWS Marketplace is a digital catalog where customers find, buy, deploy, and manage third-party software. SI alliance leaders need to become adept in using this platform to drive successful product listings and sales.

• The AWS Marketplace seller guide (60 minutes) delivers comprehensive insights from basic setup to advanced selling techniques, enabling informed decisions about resource allocation and go-to-market planning.
• For detailed pricing structure and business alignment, check out our AWS Marketplace pricing models guide (20 minutes).
• The AWS Marketplace seller workshop and Selling in AWS Marketplace course (4 hour) provide comprehensive, step-by-step guidance for AWS Marketplace sellers to create various product listings, including SaaS, container, machine learning, and professional services offerings.
• Preparing a Private Offer for your AWS Marketplace Product guides you through the process and requirements for creating and customizing private offers for your AWS Marketplace products.
• Introduction to AWS Marketplace Channel (1 hour 30 minutes) provides an overview of channel programs and opportunities, establishing the foundation for marketplace strategy.
• Channel Partner Private Offer (CPPO) enables partners to provide wholesale pricing on software and professional services to authorized channel partners, allowing them to manage customer relationships, pricing, and contractual agreements in AWS Marketplace.

To support marketplace readiness, your solutions should meet AWS technical standards and best practices. This brings us to the next step in your AWS partnership journey, the Foundational Technical Review (FTR).

Step 3: Technical validation and competencies

A Foundational Technical Review helps SI partners identify best practices that can support customer success, address potential risks, and work toward improved outcomes.

• The FTR Readiness Series: FTR 101 (20 minutes) course outlines process requirements and preparation steps for alliance leaders to plan resource allocation. For FTR requirements and best practices, review the AWS Foundational Technical Review Guide found in Partner Central.
• Validate and Publish Service Partner Offerings via FTR (50 minutes) helps partners to prioritize building best practices critical to customer success, reduce customer risk, and improve customer outcomes. These sessions provide alliance leaders the knowledge to complete the FTR process. Find the complete checklist and calibration guide here to help you prepare and validate your service offering requirements.

After completing the FTR, partners can elevate their AWS relationship to the next level through strategic programs like the APN Customer Engagement (ACE) program and collaborative co-selling initiatives.

AWS Specialization Partners are validated against a high technical bar for demonstrating domain-specific technical expertise and repeat customer success. Partners can achieve specializations across AWS services, industries, use cases, and workloads. This is done by participating in a Service Delivery or Competency program.

• APN Navigate for AWS Competency (60 minutes) offers pathways to help you achieve competency designations, providing resources including playbooks, case study templates, and program requirements for all AWS Competency types.

There are many programs such as AWS MSP Program, and the AWS Well-Architected Program that can also be explored. How Does the Well-Architected Partner Program Help Differentiate a Partner in AWS APN? (60 minutes) covers how the Well-Architected Partner Program helps partners stand out in the APN ecosystem. AWS Partner designations and competencies serve as powerful differentiators, validating partners’ specialized expertise and technical proficiency, while making it easier for customers to find and engage with the right partners for their specific business needs.

Step 4: Co-marketing resources

Marketing Central: Your one-stop resource hub

AWS Partner Marketing Central serves as your platform for accessing pre-built, partner-ready marketing resources and campaigns.

To access Marketing Central:

• Log in to AWS Partner Central
• Navigate to “Market” in the top menu
• Select “Marketing Central”

The Marketing Concierge Service can also connect eligible partners with a Virtual Partner Marketing Manager (vPMM) to optimize your marketing initiatives.

Professional marketing development

• The Marketing Academy (4 hour) course covers how to develop a strong marketing strategy with AWS resources and support.
• How to Create Effective Go-to-Market Offerings for Risk-Free Customer Architectures (60 minutes) is tailored for business-focused audience, providing valuable insights on effectively presenting the well-architected solution to your customers.
• Presenting the AWS Marketplace Value Proposition (15 min), AWS Marketplace: Roadmap to GTM Success – Campaign Post Launch (25 min), and Growing Your Business with AWS Marketplace (60 minutes) courses guide sellers through post-launch GTM campaign strategies, focusing on campaign asset creation, KPI measurement, and lead qualification best practices, complementing the pre-launch course to provide a complete GTM success roadmap.

Sales and Collateral Development

A successful joint go-to-market strategy hinges on well-crafted sales collateral that effectively communicates your value proposition. The cornerstone of this preparation is the Field Ready Kit, a tool designed to accelerate sales conversations and capture customer interest. The Field Ready Kit consists of two components:

• Sales Brief: A two-page guide highlighting your solution’s key selling points
• Solutions Brief: A reference guide demonstrating technical value and implementation success

These components come together to form your Better Together Story—a narrative that showcases how your partnership with AWS delivers unique value to customers.

Enhanced visibility and discovery

Maximize your solution’s visibility through multiple channels:

• AWS Marketplace
• Partner Solutions Finder (PSF)

AWS PSF lets customers find partners by industry, use case, workload, solution, or AWS Certification. Partners immediately receive a PSF profile once reaching the validated stage.

Step 5: Co-selling with AWS

Co-selling represents a strategic collaboration between AWS and its partners, creating synergies in customer engagements, and the partnership begins when you share opportunities through the APN Customer Engagements (ACE) Program.

Essential Co-Selling Resources

To help partners excel in this journey, AWS offers several key training resources:

• Co-selling with AWS (35 minutes) covers co-selling fundamentals, best practices, and AWS Partner funding programs, providing the foundation for successful collaboration.
• Scaling Co-sell and AWS Marketplace Journey Through Partner Central APIs (60 minutes) enables partners to streamline co-sell operations using Partner Central APIs and enabling seamless integration with AWS CRM and ACE Pipeline Manager for enhanced efficiency.
• Sales Essentials Learning Plan (5 hours) is a program designed for customer-facing partner professionals and offers deep insights into cloud solution positioning and effective co-selling strategies.

Through these resources, partners can develop the skills and knowledge needed to build successful, scalable co-selling relationships with AWS and drive mutual business growth.

Conclusion

These AWS Skill Builder resources are designed to help both alliance leaders and SI partners structure their AWS partnership journey more effectively. The training covers everything from listing solutions on AWS Marketplace to preparing for Foundational Technical Reviews, engaging in co-selling through ACE, and accessing AWS funding. They’re designed to help you navigate the partnership process and get the most from your AWS Partner Network membership.

To learn more about the impact of AWS Training across partner organizations, check out our previous blog post: New research quantifies the value of AWS Training and Certification for AWS Partners.

Stay connected with the AWS Partner community through Partner Central, and visit the APN Blog for the latest program updates and opportunities. Whether you’re just starting or are more experienced, AWS Training and Certification is here to help.

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