Alibaba Cloud is looking to refresh its approach to the channel in a bid to expand its business across Asia-Pacific as it targets 500 global partners in the current financial year.
To help get partners working quickly, the company has launched a new training portal. This includes enhanced product and service training and certifications, as well as resources to improve service capabilities.
This Alibaba Cloud Partner Empowerment Portal has been designed to support managed service providers (MSP) and independent software vendors (ISV) and is tailored towards emerging hot-button technology trends, including AI, security, blockchain, and Web 3.0.
In addition to directly supporting partners in this way, Alibaba Cloud is also pushing to address the regional shortfall in IT skills and capabilities. It has announced a collaboration with training partners that will aim to build the skills of 100,000 individuals across Southeast Asia.
Already, Alibaba Cloud has announced MSPs Rahi Systems, Solutions for Asia and Lightning Cloud as delivery partners for this talent development initiative.
The skills shortage across this region has been particularly severe, making it difficult for partners to invest in platforms and innovation. Alibaba Cloud joins the likes of AWS, Huawei, Microsoft, and LinkedIn in trying to address the shortfall.
Software Skills Are a Key Advantage
Partners with software capabilities also stand to benefit from Alibaba investment via a new ISV acceleration program. Through this program, Alibaba will provide deeper technical support and financial incentives. In addition, the company will invest in co-development opportunities.
Alibaba Cloud has specifically highlighted Southeast Asia as a significant growth opportunity.
“All new initiatives underscore how much value we place on our partners,” Edward Cai, chief commercial officer at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence said. “Together with our partners’ industry know-how, technology capabilities, and market insights, we can deliver significant benefits to our customers.”
Alibaba Cloud has consistently been seen as a challenger brand in the cloud and IaaS space. However, across Asia-Pacific it now has a market share of in excess of 25%. For partners looking for an alternative to the incumbents, the deeper investments the company makes into the region will be increasingly attractive.
For example, in 2021, the company pledged U.S. $1 billion in funding and resources to cultivate a million-strong digital talent pool, empower 100,000 developers, and support the growth of 100,000 technology startups in Asia-Pacific.