The co-sell glossary.

Co-sell is a motion in which a partner and a cloud or software provider pursue the same customer opportunity together, each contributing something the other cannot. The provider brings account relationships, funding programs, and commercial mechanisms; the partner brings delivery capability, domain expertise, or software.

Every major ecosystem runs a version of it, and every one of them grades the pipeline partners bring — none of them supply it.

Opportunity flow a partner created: they identified the account, opened the conversation, and brought the resulting opportunity to the provider. Before the partner acted, the deal was in nobody's pipeline.

It is the only category of pipeline a partner fully controls, and the only one that scales independently of a partner manager's allocation.

A deal that already existed — provider-originated or inbound — which the partner affected through technical validation, architecture, or a delivery commitment. The test is counterfactual: if the partner had not existed, the deal would still be in the provider's pipeline.

The account-side reason an opportunity is timely: an observable fact about the account, a source that makes it checkable, and a consequence that makes it urgent. A why-now is valid only if it would still be true had the partner never existed.

Fit, intent data alone, and the partner's own quota or capacity are not why-nows. Dated forcing functions, visible resource commitments, structural changes, and a stakeholder who said so are.

A recorded assessment of an account — who they are, why the offering fits, and what makes now the moment — produced before outreach is sent rather than reconstructed afterwards from a call note. Accounts that do not fit carry the written reason they were excluded.

The refusals are the load-bearing part: a qualification system that never excludes anything is not qualifying.

The layer that decides which accounts to pursue, when, and with what offering — upstream of the execution infrastructure that sends the messages. It answers the strategic questions an AI SDR is not designed to answer.

Execution infrastructure for outbound: deliverability, channel coordination across email, LinkedIn, and calling, reply routing, and message delivery. The strategic questions — which accounts, when, with what offering — sit upstream of it in the intelligence layer.

Provider funding allocated to a partner for marketing and demand-generation activity, typically claimed against agreed activities and reported afterwards. Available in some form across most major partner programs.

The criteria a cloud provider sets governing when a partner is eligible for co-sell support, attribution, and incentives on an opportunity. They exist to prevent channel conflict, and they are the usual reason a partner does not receive credit for work they genuinely did.

Formally notifying a provider of a deal you are pursuing, in order to claim it and gain protection from channel conflict. Frequently confused with sharing a co-sell opportunity: registration stakes a claim, co-sell asks for help. In the Microsoft ecosystem the term means something narrower still.

The layer of the co-sell stack that assumes nothing already exists — it finds the account before it is in any CRM, opens the conversation, and produces an opportunity that did not previously exist. The other three layers (account mapping, workflow, marketplace transaction) all consume its output.

The AWS program and system through which partners and AWS share customer opportunities to co-sell. Partners register opportunities they have sourced, and AWS refers opportunities to partners — two distinct flows evaluated by different criteria.

The AWS portal where partners manage their program participation, opportunities, and co-sell activity. Its API for Selling lets partner systems synchronise opportunities two-way rather than re-keying them by hand.

Frequently confused with Microsoft's Partner Center. They are different portals belonging to different companies — see docs/ecosystem-terminology.md.

An opportunity the partner found and submitted to AWS through ACE, asking AWS to help accelerate it. Evaluated on whether the partner has genuine account intelligence and a real stakeholder relationship — not on the partner's competency profile.

An opportunity AWS found and referred to a partner. The routing decision is capability-based — competencies, specialisations, certifications, regional fit, and delivery track record determine which partner receives it.

An AWS-generated assessment returned on shared co-sell opportunities, expressed as a score with a trend, alongside the co-sell motion AWS routed the opportunity to and its recommended next actions.

It describes how an opportunity is assessed after it is shared. It does not tell a partner which opportunities to create.

An AWS program that funds and structures customer migrations to AWS, typically in assess, mobilise, and migrate phases, with partner-delivered work eligible for funding at defined stages.

An AWS Marketplace mechanism allowing a channel partner to resell an ISV's software to an end customer under negotiated terms, with the transaction flowing through Marketplace.

A negotiated, customer-specific price and set of terms transacted through a cloud marketplace rather than listed publicly. Often preferred by buyers because marketplace spend can draw down an existing commitment.

AWS's transaction channel for software and professional services. Purchases made through it can count toward a customer's negotiated cloud spend commitment, which is frequently the reason a buyer prefers to transact there.

An AWS co-sell program for software partners whose products are available in AWS Marketplace, providing access to AWS sales teams and co-sell incentives. Distinct from ACE, which is the mechanism through which opportunities are shared.

An AWS technical review of a partner's software against a defined set of best practices, commonly a prerequisite for participation in AWS software partner programs.

A negotiated AWS agreement in which a customer commits to a level of spend over a term in exchange for discounting. Purchases that draw down against that commitment — including qualifying Marketplace transactions — are commercially attractive to the customer.

The overall AWS partner program, within which partners hold paths, tiers, competencies, and specialisations that signal capability to AWS and to customers.

An AWS validation that a partner has demonstrated expertise in a specific technical or industry area. Competencies influence which AWS-originated opportunities route to a partner; they carry much less weight on partner-originated submissions.

The AWS role that manages a book of partners, evaluates the opportunities they submit, and decides where to spend limited time. A PDM assessing a partner-originated opportunity is making a resource-allocation decision, not approving a form.

The correct name for the partner action of putting an opportunity into ACE for AWS to see. Partners commonly say “register” or “submit to ACE”; both misstate the motion, which is a decision to share something you already own, not a request for permission.

An AWS field on opportunity insights expressed as High, Medium, or Low. Distinct from the Opportunity Quality Score, which is a 0–100 measure, and from CosellMotion, which is a routing label. Partners routinely conflate the three.

The AWS routing label applied to a shared opportunity, indicating how AWS intends to engage — for example field-engaged or partner-led. It is assigned by AWS, not chosen by the partner, and it is not a program a partner applies to.

An AWS validation of proven delivery depth in a defined technical or industry area, sitting above a competency. Like competencies, specializations mainly influence which AWS-originated opportunities route to a partner; they carry far less weight on opportunities the partner originates.

Microsoft's portal where partners manage program membership, referrals, marketplace offers, and customer relationships. Its Referrals API exposes the referral record to partner systems.

Not to be confused with AWS Partner Central. Getting this wrong in front of a Microsoft partner is an immediate credibility loss.

Microsoft's capability credential within the AI Cloud Partner Program, awarded across solution areas and earned through a measured combination of performance, skilling, and customer success.

The Microsoft metric underlying Solutions Partner designations, combining performance, certified skills, and customer-success measures into a score against a threshold.

A Microsoft status indicating a partner's software offering has met the requirements to be co-sold with Microsoft sellers, unlocking incentives and seller engagement.

A customer's contractual commitment to Azure spend over a term. Qualifying marketplace purchases can draw down against it, which is often why an enterprise buyer prefers to transact through the marketplace.

The Microsoft program under which partners sell, provision, bill, and support Microsoft cloud services directly to customers, owning the commercial relationship.

Microsoft’s current partner program, which replaced the Microsoft Partner Network. Writing “MPN” in 2026 dates the writer immediately; the partner identifier is now a PartnerID rather than an MPN ID.

Microsoft’s analogue to the AWS Opportunity Quality Score. Each Partner Center referral carries a score with an explanation of what makes it strong, and outbound opportunities are scored High, Medium, or Low. It is surfaced in the interface and is not exposed through the Referrals API.

Since March 2026 all inbound co-sell referrals are auto-checked for completeness and quality at submission. Very little has been written about this by third parties.

The Microsoft status that unlocks full co-sell participation for a software solution. Four requirements: USD 100,000 in Azure Consumed Revenue or Marketplace Billed Sales over a trailing twelve months, Microsoft technical validation, a reference architecture where required, and a transactable Marketplace offer.

It sits above “co-sell ready” on the solution ladder, and is a prerequisite for a purchase to count toward a customer’s MACC.

The middle rung of Microsoft’s Azure solution ladder, between “in market” and “Azure IP co-sell eligible.” Partners frequently assume co-sell ready unlocks incentives; it does not — that is the IP co-sell eligible tier.

Revenue billed through Microsoft Marketplace, and from FY27 the primary mechanism by which co-sell contribution is recognised. Microsoft has stated that PRACR no longer operates as a broad co-sell mechanism, making marketplace the main path for co-sell at scale.

This is the largest and least-discussed change in the Microsoft partner ecosystem going into FY27.

A narrow post-win step in the Azure IP co-sell motion, not the act of sharing a referral. It requires a won deal carrying an IP co-sell eligible solution, a value of at least USD 25,000, and a Microsoft-managed customer account.

Leave at least 72 hours between creating a deal and marking it won, or registration may be rejected.

Microsoft’s umbrella term for a lead or co-sell opportunity record in the Partner Center Referrals workspace. It is the rough equivalent of an opportunity in AWS ACE, and the naming difference is a common stumbling block for partners working across both ecosystems.

Where shared referrals now land in the Partner Center Leads tab, following the retirement of the Qualified Referral Program at the end of March 2026. CRM integrations that depended on QRP have had to move to the Partner Center Referrals APIs.

Microsoft’s 2026 bundle combining ISV Success, Marketplace Rewards, Azure IP co-sell, and certified software designations. Announced July 2026 and arriving from September 2026, with existing partners transitioning at renewal. Much of the market still refers to its predecessor, App Accelerate.

Microsoft’s current single marketplace brand at marketplace.microsoft.com. “Azure Marketplace” and “AppSource” are historical names; using them as current branding dates the writer.

Google Cloud's partner program, with tiers and a competency framework signalling partner capability. This is the current name — 'Google Cloud Partner Advantage' is retired and using it dates the writer.

Google Cloud's validation of partner expertise in a technical or industry area. Google Cloud uses 'competencies'; 'specialisations' belongs to a superseded vocabulary.

Google Cloud’s measure of partner contribution — pre-sales and post-sales work on opportunities that reached closed/won. It feeds the Capability dimension of the competency framework. Google’s vocabulary of record is “opportunity” and “validated closed/won,” not “deal registration.”

The higher of the two levels in the Google Cloud competency framework, which measures partners on two dimensions: Capacity, meaning certifications and sales credentials, and Capability, meaning contribution to validated closed/won opportunities. Competencies are independent of partner tier.

The Google Cloud Partner Network tiers, in ascending order. Diamond is the newest and is described by Google as intentionally selective. Tiering is independent of the competency framework — a partner can hold advanced competencies at any tier.

Google Cloud’s channel-partner private offer. Qualifying purchases through an authorised channel partner draw down 100% of the final private-offer price against the customer’s commitment, subject to a cap of 25% of their minimum commitment.

Distinct from a standard ISV private offer, and from the AWS CPPO, despite the similar shape.

Applying a marketplace purchase against a customer’s existing Google Cloud committed spend. Google’s vocabulary is committed spend and committed use discount (CUD); writing MACC or EDP for Google is an ecosystem error — those belong to Microsoft and AWS respectively.

Google’s reseller commerce tool for Google Cloud and Workspace. Google’s own documentation does not describe it as a co-sell or deal-registration platform. Never write the bare acronym “PSC” — Microsoft used the same initials for a now-retired predecessor of Partner Center Referrals.

SAP's partner program, structured around Build, Sell, Service, and Run engagement models, with tiers from Registered through Platinum.

SAP's packaged business-transformation offering bundling software, infrastructure, and services to move customers to a cloud ERP model — a primary motion partners position around.

SAP's offering aimed at mid-market customers adopting cloud ERP, with a faster, more standardised implementation path than a full transformation programme.

Salesforce's marketplace for applications and consulting services, and the primary route through which ISV partners distribute software into the Salesforce ecosystem.

Salesforce's validation of partner expertise across defined solution and industry areas, used alongside consulting-partner tiers to signal capability.