On day two of AWS re:Invent 2020, Amazon announced a new feature coming to its AWS Marketplace: The ability for its customers to purchase third-party professional services software alongside AWS products. 

The new feature will add software designed to support AWS tools from vendors like MSPs, ISVs, consultants, and more, and will also let the AWS Marketplace app make suggestions for popular services alongside the purchase of AWS software.

“With today’s announcement, software listings in AWS Marketplace will now highlight related professional services offerings, so AWS customers can quickly find the services best suited for their software implementations and purchase them with one click,” Amazon said in a statement.

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Amazon said it saw a gap in the marketplace that it moved to fill with this solution, namely that AWS customers were spending a lot of time and money looking for third-party software for security, analytics, backup and discovery, and other uses. 

The fact that these products were necessary, but only available externally, makes for lost time and complicated billing, Amazon said. By adding them to the AWS Marketplace, Amazon intends to make essential services just another itemized line on a company’s AWS bill. 

Not only does this new feature benefit AWS customers, Amazon said, it also benefits the third-party service providers who are now able to sell their software and support through the AWS Marketplace. 

Bob Cagnazzi, president and CEO of MSP company Presidio, said being able to sell services on the AWS Marketplace has helped his company grow exponentially. “Professional services in AWS Marketplace makes procurement more streamlined for our customers, saving hours of time per purchase, and enables us to better serve our enterprise customers as they deploy and manage their preferred software products from one central catalogue, accompanied by our skilled engineering services,” Cagnazzi said.

When service providers sign up with the AWS Marketplace they fill out forms specifying the type of work they do, service terms, pricing and payment schedules, and other details. Buyers can compare prices, manage procurement, pay bills, and learn about service providers from inside the AWS Marketplace as well.

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Amazon specifically describes professional services on the AWS Marketplace as covering “assessments, implementation, support, managed services, and training” for AWS products. Several major vendors, and countless smaller names, are already available on the AWS Marketplace, including Rackspace, Trend Micro, Cisco, and HPE. 

“By simplifying the often laborious procurement process of vendor quotation, buyer contracting and payment management for professional services, our customers can focus more time on driving faster innovation, instead of spending excessive time on managing third-party software and negotiating services contracts,” said Dave McCann, VP of AWS Migration, Marketplace, and Control Services. 

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