Azure ISV Benefits and Open AI Opportunities

As an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), you're likely looking for ways to expand your business and reach new customers. Azure offers a range of benefits that can help you achieve this goal.

With Azure, you can tap into a global market of over 200 million businesses, giving you access to a vast potential customer base. This is a significant opportunity for ISVs to grow their business and increase revenue.

One of the key benefits of using Azure is the ability to build scalable and secure solutions that meet the needs of your customers. By leveraging Azure's robust infrastructure, you can create applications that are reliable, efficient, and easy to use.

Azure also provides a range of tools and resources to help you develop and deploy your solutions quickly and efficiently. This includes the Azure Marketplace, which offers a one-stop-shop for ISVs to list their solutions and reach a wider audience.

Growing your business with Azure ISV is a game-changer. You get customized guidance based on your AI development scenario, whether it's integrating pre-built AI services, extending co-pilot, or building your own AI model/copilot.

The Azure ISV program offers exclusive access to the latest AI models, such as Llama3 and GPT-4, produced by top companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Hugging Face. This means you'll always have the most advanced tools at your fingertips.

You can access the latest models with Azure credits, which can be used to build your solution and accelerate code development. The Core Package offers $5,000 in credits, while the Expanded Package provides a whopping $25,000.

One of the most valuable benefits of the Azure ISV program is the 1:1 support from experts. You'll get 24/7 access to the Azure Support Plan, including one-hour response times, and can connect with independent software vendor (ISV) communities to ask questions and learn from other builders.

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Here are the details on the support packages:

Some partners gain access to additional benefits, such as a $126,000 (USD) value package for the first year, based on prior performance and a desire to transact on the marketplace. Others get invited to these benefits based on their Certified Software Designation status.

When deploying ISV solutions on Azure, it's essential to consider the different deployment models available.

ISV solutions often fit into one of three deployment models: pure SaaS, customer-deployed, or dual-deployment SaaS.

Each deployment model has its unique considerations for Azure landing zones.

A pure SaaS model is a good choice when you want to provide a fully managed service to your customers, as it's the most straightforward to set up and manage.

In a customer-deployed model, the ISV solution is deployed on the customer's premises, which can be beneficial for organizations with strict security or compliance requirements.

Dual-deployment SaaS models offer the best of both worlds, allowing you to offer a managed service while also giving customers the option to deploy on their own premises.

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There are three main deployment models for ISV solutions: pure SaaS, customer-deployed, and dual-deployment SaaS. These models have different considerations for Azure landing zones.

In the customer-deployed model, customers purchase software from ISVs and deploy it into their own Azure subscriptions. This can be initiated from the Azure Marketplace or done manually using scripts provided by the ISV. Customers often deploy multiple products from different ISVs into their Azure subscriptions, combining them to create solutions.

ISVs should consider the following questions when building customer-deployed solutions: Should a customer deploy the solution into its own dedicated subscription or into an existing subscription that contains related workloads? How should customers establish network connectivity between existing workloads and the solution?

Some customer-deployed solutions involve the organization providing management and updates for the solution deployed within the end-customer's Azure subscriptions using Azure Lighthouse or Azure Managed Applications. This can be done by ISVs, Solution Integrators (SIs), and Managed Service Providers (MSPs).

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The customer-deployed model is considered a standard application workload from the perspective of Azure landing zones. ISVs should have a good understanding of Azure landing zone concepts, especially when migrating existing customers' workloads to Azure.

Here are some key considerations for the customer-deployed model:

In the dual-deployment SaaS model, SaaS solutions interact with or use resources deployed in customers' Azure subscriptions. This deployment model is sometimes called dual deployment SaaS or SaaS hybrid. ISVs should refer to the Azure landing zone for guidance in structuring their own Azure environment to host their SaaS service and ensuring proper interaction between their deployments in customers' Azure subscriptions and their customers' landing zones.

ISVs building dual deployment SaaS solutions should consider the following questions: Have we reviewed all considerations for building both pure SaaS and customer-deployed solutions? Which components of the solution should be hosted in the ISV's Azure subscriptions, and which components should be customer-deployed? How can we ensure secure provisioning and interactions with resources deployed in the customers' Azure subscriptions?

The Azure landing zone conceptual architecture recommends a specific management group hierarchy, but ISVs may have different requirements.

You can choose to adopt different practices than what the landing zone conceptual architecture recommends.

SaaS ISVs often organize their cloud environments by modeling their software development lifecycle environments in a sequence. This requires deployment first to a Development environment, then to a Test environment, then to a Staging environment, and finally to a Production environment.

Azure RBAC rules differ between environments, with DevOps, SaaSOps, development, and test teams having different levels of access to different environments.

Most Azure customers use separate Azure subscriptions for each application team, but using separate management groups for each environment is not recommended.

However, SaaS ISVs may have good reason to use environment-specific management groups in some situations.

You might need to apply policies or role assignments to groups of subscriptions in a noticeably different way than in the archetype management group.

Consider creating child management groups that correspond to each environment under the archetype management group.

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Azure OpenAI Service provides ISVs with unprecedented capabilities to create intelligent, adaptive, and highly customized applications.

With Azure OpenAI Service, you can build your own AI and large language models in a private enterprise-grade environment. This allows you to innovate and develop applications quickly.

You'll also get access to curated resources, community guidance, and go-to-market support through ISV Success, which includes cloud sandboxes and developer tools.

ISV Success participants will receive benefits with a retail value of more than USD125,000 to jumpstart their innovation.

Here are some key benefits of Azure ISV Success:

If you're building a pure SaaS solution, you might be wondering how to deploy your software in Azure. In a pure SaaS model, your software is deployed fully in your Azure subscriptions, and end customers consume it without deploying it in their own Azure subscriptions. This is great for small ISVs who don't need to use multiple Azure subscriptions to deploy their resources right away.

Examples of pure SaaS software include email-as-a-service, Kafka-as-a-service, and cloud-data-warehouse-as-a-service. These types of solutions are perfect for the SaaS model because they can be easily scaled up or down as needed.

As you scale, Azure's subscription limits can affect your ability to scale within a single subscription. To plan for your future growth, review the enterprise-scale landing zone design principles, particularly subscription democratization, and familiarize yourself with the architectural approaches for multitenancy.

Here are some key questions to consider when building a pure SaaS solution:

Azure OpenAI Service is revolutionizing the way Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) innovate, providing them with unprecedented capabilities to create intelligent, adaptive, and highly customized applications.

By leveraging Azure OpenAI Service, ISVs can build their own AI and large language models in a private enterprise-grade environment, giving them a competitive edge in the market. This is a game-changer for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve.

ISV Success participants receive benefits with a retail value of over $125,000, including cloud sandboxes and developer tools, curated resources, community guidance, and go-to-market support.

Azure OpenAI Service also enables ISVs to innovate with Azure Cognitive Services and low-code technology with Microsoft Power Platform, helping them develop apps quickly. This is a huge time-saver for developers who can focus on building innovative applications rather than spending hours on repetitive code.

By the end of the year, ISV Success participants will also have GitHub Copilot included in their benefits, allowing them to use an AI pair programmer to spend less time on repetitive code and more time building innovative applications.

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Some notable examples of ISVs who have seen success with Azure OpenAI Service include DataStax, Profisee, and Tanium. They've all reported significant growth in marketplace sales and have closed multiple six-figure deals through the Microsoft commercial marketplace.

Here are some key benefits of Azure OpenAI Service for ISVs:

At Microsoft Inspire, we're excited to share the latest in AI technologies and connect you with experts who can help you get started. We invite you to partner with us by joining ISV Success today.

By partnering with us, you'll join a community of innovators who are shaping the future of cloud computing. You'll gain access to expert guidance, real-world solutions, and the resources you need to succeed.

Over 85 percent of our enterprise customers with Microsoft Azure consumption commitments are actively buying through the marketplace, looking to maximize the value of their cloud spend. This presents a huge opportunity for ISVs like you to tap into this market and grow your business.

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To get started, you'll need to register on the Microsoft Partner Center and comply with all the legal and technical requirements. This will give you the foundation you need to publish your solutions on the Azure marketplace.

Here's a quick checklist to get you started:

By following these steps, you'll be well on your way to partnering with us and unlocking the full potential of the Azure marketplace.

You can create AI-powered applications across the Microsoft Cloud with Azure, Microsoft 365, Security, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform through ISV Success. This program provides benefits with a retail value of over USD 125,000 to jumpstart your innovation.

ISV Success offers cloud sandboxes and developer tools, curated resources, community guidance, and go-to-market support to help you succeed. You'll also receive AI trainings to stay current on the latest AI capabilities.

Azure OpenAI Service allows you to build your own AI and large language models in a private enterprise-grade environment. This service, combined with GitHub Copilot, simplifies the app development process and reduces the time and effort required for building AI capabilities.

With ISV Success, you'll have access to benefits that include cloud sandboxes, developer tools, curated resources, community guidance, and go-to-market support. These benefits have a retail value exceeding USD 125,000.

Here are some of the benefits you can expect from ISV Success:

By joining ISV Success, you'll gain a competitive edge and be able to elevate your app development. You'll also have access to best-in-class developer tools, cloud credits, one-to-one technical consultations, and training resources.