Scaling Your ISV Globally

If you are an ISV or a partner with your own IP, there has never been a better time to scale globally.

Cloud marketplaces from AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Akamai are rapidly becoming the preferred way enterprises discover, buy, and deploy software. What used to take months of procurement cycles can now happen in days.

The opportunity is real and growing fast.

Industry estimates suggest that hyperscaler cloud marketplaces will grow from around 16 billion dollars in 2023 to nearly 85 billion dollars by 2028. At the same time, enterprises have already committed hundreds of billions in cloud spend, and increasingly prefer to procure software through those existing commitments.

This is reshaping how software is bought and sold.

For ISVs, hyperscalers offer three powerful advantages.

Global reach
You get immediate access to enterprise customers across regions without building a physical presence.

Faster deal cycles
Customers can procure through existing cloud agreements, reducing friction and accelerating closures.

Co-sell potential
Programs from AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Akamai allow ISVs to work alongside hyperscaler sales teams to enter large accounts.

Initiatives like Akamai’s Qualified Compute Partner program go a step further by helping ISVs package their expertise, train sales teams, and take solutions to a global market.

This is not just visibility. It is active go to market support.

While the upside is clear, experienced ISVs quickly realize that marketplaces alone are not enough.

There are a few practical challenges.

You do not fully own the customer journey.
Marketplace experience, pricing structures, and engagement models are defined by the platform.

Visibility into customer data can be limited.
Understanding usage, behavior, and expansion opportunities is not always straightforward.

Competition is intense.
Thousands of ISVs are listed, and prioritization depends on alignment with hyperscaler strategies.

And most importantly, you are building on a channel you do not control.

This does not reduce the value of hyperscalers. It simply means they are one part of a larger strategy.

The most successful ISVs are not choosing between hyperscaler marketplaces and their own channels.

They are doing both.

They use hyperscalers for reach and credibility, while building their own marketplace or commerce layer to retain control.

This approach allows them to:

In simple terms, they move from being a product to becoming a platform.

As enterprise buying shifts toward digital and self service, marketplaces are becoming the default procurement layer.

But relying only on external marketplaces can limit long term flexibility.

An owned marketplace gives you:

Control over pricing, packaging, and customer experience
Flexibility to bundle and monetize beyond standard listings
Scalability through partner and reseller ecosystems
Visibility into customer lifecycle and growth signals

This becomes especially important as more than half of large B2B transactions are expected to move toward digital and self service channels.

Building a marketplace from scratch requires significant effort across billing, subscriptions, catalog management, partner onboarding, and integrations.

This is where platforms like RackNap can help.

Instead of replacing hyperscaler marketplaces, they complement them.

ISVs can:

This creates a unified commercial model across multiple clouds and customer segments.

If you are looking to scale, a balanced approach works best.

Start with hyperscalers.
List your solutions where your customers already buy.

Invest in co-sell.
Enable hyperscaler sales teams with clear messaging and use cases.

Think beyond listing.
Focus on packaging solutions that are easy to buy and deploy.

Build your own marketplace layer.
Create a platform where you control how your IP and services are consumed.

Enable partners.
Growth increasingly comes from ecosystems, not just direct sales.

Hyperscaler marketplaces are transforming how software is distributed. They are becoming the highways of enterprise buying.

But long term success comes from building more than just presence on those highways.

The ISVs that will lead the next phase of growth are those who combine:

That combination turns a software company into a scalable, global platform business.