97% Enterprise AI Success Rate & MongoDB's Winning Cloud GTM Strategy
Hi, it's Roman from Partner Insight. Welcome to my weekly newsletter on winning Cloud GTM strategies and key trends in marketplaces and tech partnerships.
Two major stories are reshaping enterprise tech as we enter 2025: First, new JP Morgan research reveals 97% of AI adopters are seeing tangible benefits, with large enterprises achieving 1.5X higher success rates - pointing to a widening competitive gap in AI adoption.
Second, MongoDB's dual 2024 achievement of AWS Tech Partner of the Year (NAMER) and GCP Tech Partner of the Year (Marketplace) offers a masterclass in Cloud GTM strategy. We'll break down how they're winning in co-selling with hyperscalers despite competing with their native offerings, and what it means for your marketplace growth.
💡 Before we dive in:
Join me this Thursday. January 9th, for an online workshop where I'll break down the 5 mindset shifts driving $1M+ marketplace deals - insights distilled from helping 200 alliance leaders scale their revenue.
Plus, our next Cloud Marketplaces Mastery Cohort 9 kicks off next Tuesday, January 14th - only a few spots remain.
Now, let's examine why large enterprises are pulling ahead in AI adoption.
97% AI success rate, but large enterprises are 1.5X ahead - new research reveals. Here's why
A striking insight from new JP Morgan research caught my attention: while 97% of AI adopters report tangible benefits and 80%+ of AI projects meet ROI expectations, there are 3 patterns that leaders must understand on AI adoption.
1. AI investments are already delivering strong returns
The data on AI implementation benefits is compelling and consistent across multiple studies:
Morgan Stanley (400 respondents, June 2024):
50% reported ROI meeting expectations
40% reported exceeding expectations
Ernst & Young (500 respondents, May 2024):
Positive ROI seen in:
77% Operational efficiencies
74% Employee productivity
72% Customer satisfaction
Enterprise Technology Research (1,800 respondents, October 2024):
97% of leading GenAI adopters reported tangible benefits from deployments
Google Cloud (2,500 respondents, April 2024):
74% reported positive ROI from GenAI investments
84% successfully transformed a GenAI use case into production within six months (Think about it - 6 months to production is impressive)
2. Scale creates a compound advantage in AI
The most striking finding: the larger the company, the higher the success rate of AI implementations. Companies with $10B+ in revenue are 1.5x more likely to report breakthrough AI results (ROI exceeding expectations) compared to sub-$1B firms.
Among reasons why larger enterprises benefit more from AI could be:
Dedicated MLOps teams and mature data infrastructure reduce implementation costs and accelerate time-to-value
Established governance frameworks that accelerate AI deployment while managing risk
Extensive data across business units provides richer training material for AI models, driving higher accuracy and value
Large cloud commits make AI purchases through marketplaces effectively "pre-budgeted"
Priority access to hyperscaler resources and ISV roadmaps enables faster problem resolution
3. The adoption curve is steepening
Morgan Stanley's latest survey (3Q24) shows 70% of CIOs expect AI in production by 2025, with ~38% already having it in production in 2024. This puts AI adoption on pace to significantly outstrip both internet and computer adoption curves.
But here's what many miss: if ROI from AI is clearly there, enterprise customers aren't merely buying AI capabilities - they're investing in proven success patterns. They are scaling their strategic advantage.
"So: AI adoption is on track," concludes JP Morgan.
What's your take - are you seeing this enterprise-first pattern in AI adoption?
🎯Online Workshop on Jan 9: 5 Mindset Shifts That Drive $1M+ Cloud Marketplace Deals
After helping 200+ alliance leaders scale their marketplace revenue, one pattern emerged crystal clear: Success in 2025's $380Bn marketplace opportunity isn't about listing more products—it's about fundamental shifts in approach.
In this tactical 60-minute session, you'll discover:
How top performers are capturing enterprise cloud commits strategically instead of pursuing random deals
The framework that helped alliance leaders generate $200K+ revenue within 8 weeks of getting listed
Key trends reshaping Cloud GTM for ISVs and partners in 2025
Proven strategies to make your product essential to cloud-customer conversations
Real examples of companies transforming marketplace traction results through these shifts
This isn't theory—you'll get actionable frameworks from our Cloud GTM Leader course, which has helped 200+ alliance leaders scale their marketplace presence. We'll share real examples, specific tactics, and pitfalls to avoid.
This workshop kicks off our 2025 programming, leading into Cohort 9 of our comprehensive Cloud GTM Leader course starting January 14th.
MongoDB's Multi-Cloud Playbook: How they Win While Competing
MongoDB in 2024 won AWS Tech Partner of the Year (NAMER) after winning GCP Tech Partner of the Year - Marketplace. Here's 📊 3 insights we can learn from their Cloud GTM strategy:
MongoDB (~$2Bn in ARR in FY25) offers database software, including cloud-hosted on AWS, Azure, and GCP and self/managed, giving customers flexibility to deploy workloads across/multi cloud and on-prem.
Deep Cloud Integration + Field Sales Alignment = Win-Win
MongoDB's CEO Dev Ittycheria emphasizes partnerships with hyperscalers as crucial for growth. He highlighted deep cloud integrations, close field collaboration, and marketplace focus: "We partner very closely with AWS, Azure, and GCP in the field."
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Beyond winning Tech Partner of the Year (NAMER), CEO highlighted in Dec that Mongo with AWS "closed a ton of deals this past quarter.
Some of them very, very large deals. We're doing integrations to some of the new products like Q and Bedrock and the engagement in the field has been really strong."
Microsoft Azure
After a measured start, their partnership gained momentum.
"We've closed a large number of deals. We're part of what's called the Azure native IC service program and have a bunch of deep integrations with Azure, including Fabric, Power BI, ... and Azure OpenAI Studio.
And we're also one of Azure's largest marketplace partners."
Google Cloud
Ittycheria emphasized that incentive alignment with cloud teams drove co-sell growth.
"GCP made some comp changes... that were favorable to working with MongoDB that we saw some results in the field, and we're focused on closing on -- closing a handful of large deals with GCP in Q4."
Navigating Co-opetition Through Customer Value
How does MongoDB thrive when every cloud has their own database offerings?
This million-dollar question faces companies starting to sell on marketplaces:
Ittycheria's insight is revealing:
"since day one, the hyperscalers have been bundling their database offerings with every offering that they have and that's been their predominant strategy...
I think we've executed well against strategy because databases are not like a by-the-way decision. It's an important decision. And I think the hyperscalers are seeing our performance and realize it's better to partner with us."
💡 Success in cloud partnerships requires technical integration and field alignment. It's not about avoiding competition – it's about being so compelling that hyperscalers choose to partner despite having competing offerings.
Bonus: The AI Workload Reality Check
MongoDB's position in data layer, provides unique visibility into AI adoption patterns:
"We predominantly see most of the AI workloads in the cloud, but there are definitely lots of customers who are looking at using open source LLMs, in particular, things like Llama, and running those workloads locally."
This confirms the growing trend we discussed that AI and Cloud adoption are deeply interconnected.
Cloud GTM's Defining Year: Thank You, Happy 2025 & Road Ahead!
I'm amazed how cloud marketplaces transformed enterprise software distribution last year. For companies leveraging cloud and AI platform shifts for growth, 2024 was a year of breakthroughs.
Record-Breaking Numbers That Tell the Story
Hyperscalers added $1.8T in market cap, cloud commits hit $380B, and enterprise marketplace deals reached record volumes. With almost half (47%) of software companies now using marketplaces, 2024 marked the establishment of cloud GTM as a mainstream growth engine.
Leaders Who Made It Happen
I'm humbled that our community, courses, and content played a part in this transformation. Nearly 200 alliance leaders mastered cloud GTM in our programs, many scaling from zero to significant marketplace revenue, while others accelerated their traction with more advanced strategies.
This success wouldn't be possible without our incredible course mentors shaping the next generation of cloud GTM leaders:
Jonathan Kingsepp
Alex Balcanquall
Niall Ruane
Brian Laing
David Mauer
Mike Marzano
Daniel Roppert
Rolf Heimes
Special thank you to 60+ senior leaders from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Google Cloud, and top ISVs who generously shared their expertise in our events and courses. While too many to list here, your contributions have been invaluable.
And a heartfelt gratitude to Jay McBain for delivering transformative keynotes that shaped our community's understanding of the partner ecosystem evolution.
Building Something Bigger Than Ourselves
What makes this community truly special is your dedication to excellence and willingness to help others grow.
Through joining our courses and events, reading our weekly newsletter, LinkedIn discussions, and YouTube content, you’ve helped to create a vibrant ecosystem of cloud GTM knowledge sharing.
Thank you for being an essential part of this journey!
As we enter 2025, Cloud GTM isn't just mainstream—it's rapidly accelerating
With AI driving a new wave of products built and distributed through hyperscalers, cloud marketplace presence is becoming the default go-to-market channel.
It’s going to be an exciting year and we lined up a robust calendar of courses, in-person events, and content to help you succeed.
🎯 Enroll in Cloud GTM Leader Course starting on January 14th
It all starts with Cohort 9 of our course, which kicks off January 14th! Don't miss out on your chance to join this transformative program recognized by Canalys as a Top Education Program for Channel & Partnership professionals.
Here’s to a Transformative 2025!
Wishing you all a year filled with marketplace expansion, breakthrough partnerships, and transformative growth.
Questions? Reach out at courses@partnerinsight.io
P.S. If you find these insights valuable, please share this newsletter with your network - it’s free.
And if there are topics you'd like us to explore in future editions, just hit reply - I'd love to hear your thoughts.