Amazon business
Integration central: AI-Powered Partner Integration for scalable growth
Process
What is Amazon Business Integration Central?
Today, AB’s Go-To-Market teams throughout the organization manually assist buying customers and integration partners for integration feature onboarding & management. Managed buying customers typically start with basic L1 Punchout integration, eInvoicing followed by complex integrations for nuanced use-cases. A typical integration enablement involves three/four internal Amazon Business team PoCs, customer PoCs and lasts for ~140-180 calendar days. This onboarding time is governed by several factors controlled by buying customers, integration partners and AB. 70-75% of this onboarding time is spent in solutioning, configuration set up, testing and launch activities, performed using a set of disparate offline/online tools by customers, AB’s GTM teams and system integrators. Disjointed onboarding tools and experiences introduce inefficiencies, inaccuracy and data handling risks, it also caps our integration onboarding rate (determined by serving capacity) and hence the rate to unlock business objectives and growth.
As of today, we have ~300 partners who interact with AB’s customers and provide either standard/customized integrated solutions or services. They may or may not provide technical integration capabilities depending on the type of product/service they offer. We have 200 technical partners today, 90% of them are managed by our business development teams and onboarded to AB via a white-gloved experience provided GTM teams. Integration features adoption requires technical pitch (sometimes accompanied by business pitch), sharing of technical guides to these partners and thereafter working with them throughout the integration journey, supporting them in GTM activities, training, post integration launch support etc. A typical technical integration takes 2-4 months, depending on the integration use-cases, solution readiness on AB’s side and partner’s tech team availability. Contrasting this scale and speed with other Amazon’s integration focused organizations, 1.5K integrators onboarded themselves on to Selling Partner APIs in 2023, contributing to total of 161K new seller registrations ($1.9B GMS) from 3P integrations. Partner integrations unlock new business registrations and deepen engagement with existing businesses via integrations. From our current managed 39 partners, we have 1.7% penetration within their existing customer base overall (4% within CPS focused partners).
The opportunity
Integrated customers usually interact with AB through 3rd party systems such as E-Procurement systems, ERPs, accounting and expense manage solutions, among others. The nature of these interaction creates a complex environment of both external and internal actors we need to consider to provide a relevant and driven experience for integrated customers. Some of the key actors involved are:
Buying customers (e.g., L-ENT like Siemens) who want to build their own integrations (e.g., Meta) or use an existing third-party integration solution (e.g., Brutus using Coupa) with or without customization,
Independent software vendors (e.g., Coupa, Intuit) who build different kinds of integrations with us (shopping & ordering/eInvoicing/User Management etc.),
Independent solution providers (Sreyo, OneEach) who build integrated solutions for customers (e.g., donation driver),
Implementation partners (e.g. Genus consulting, modali consulting) who act as an interface between (1) and (2) and do implementation in both AB & 3P systems
Consulting partners (e.g., cross country consulting) who provide strictly advisory services to (1) on integration implementation.
Internal stakeholders such as, Customer Advisors, Business Development, ProServe, Global Integrations, and Customer Service agents.
Needs and opportunities for Integrators/Partners
* AB integrators (especially cXML) do not have an onboarding & management experience to build, showcase and monitor their integrations.
* 70% of CPS integrations in US today are implemented either by external consultants or by AB internal teams. They have to use buying organization’s admin credentials for integration onboarding and troubleshooting.
* Lack of testing, troubleshooting & monitoring capabilities: We currently do not offer testing and monitoring environments for our customers which result in production issues and impact trust.
* Our App Center today supports only API-integrated partners which creates confusion amongst partners.
* Our partners today have no tools to share potential leads with our internal teams and system integrators in our network. This is holding us from realizing a massive $5.5B known customer opportunity in NA & EU.
* Extending to legal entities still a challenge. In case of MLE with lot of LEs, going live is a difficult task where each LE has to be moved to active manually
* Current Developer experience for APIs (powered by spectrum) has multiple friction points for AB, it is tailored for selling partners.
* Partners in AB are modeled as customers, resulting in off system mapping between customers and partners resulting in a starting point for multiple manual processes.
Key use cases for Integrators/Partners
Create integrated solutions for business customers by integrating with AB’s integration capabilities to grow their business
Build Integration with minimal effort investment; https://www.make.com/en
Test integrations (Custom or standard) to ensure it works
Monitor existing integrations performance
Trouble-shoot issues
Onboard customers by marketing the integration - may or may not involve sales motion and technical assistance
Create a custom integration to support the specific needs of a Buying Org
Test integrations (Custom or standard) to ensure it works
Monitor existing integrations performance
Trouble-shoot issues
Offer integration enablement services to business customers/Set up an existing integration between AB and a system used by the Buying Org
Offer integration maintenance services to business customers
Offer consulting services to customers on integrations with AB
Where do we want to go?
Our product vision is to create a network where both – integration partners/builders (supply-side) and AB’s business buying organizations (demand-side) interact with each other and we as AB enable them to grow their business with this interaction. We act as facilitators to help buying organizations increase their procure to pay process efficiency, while reducing integration partner (builder) and AB GTM (facilitator) teams’ cost to serve.
We envision a dedicated one stop shop for integrators, which will essentially give integrator builders an overview of all AB’s integration capabilities and guide them build, test, launch, and manage integrated solutions on their own. It enables integration service providers to list their integration services in App Center which customers can request for. For simplified customer onboarding, we will have a set of onboarding APIs which partners will integrate with and keep necessary AB and partner configurations in sync. Self-service discovery mechanisms for AB integrations such as AWS Marketplace, Selling Partner App Store in addition to AB’s App Center, will generate customer leads for integrations.
How do we deliver this vision to Partners? The vision is comprised of investments on 4 strategic pillars 1) E2E development environment, 2) Comprehensive monitoring and troubleshooting, 3) Integrations marketplace, and lastly 4) Partner community and network.
Breaking down the pillars into blocks and functional types, I created an information architecture diagram illustrating how they fit and interact. This strenuous exercise helped me visualize the system’s components and their relationships. Overlaying the user flow, I had a functional blueprint for all tasks and permutations.
Using a similar approach, I visualized interactions for managing an individual or organization with an Amazon Business buying account and an Amazon Developer account. This included switching between account types, granting temporary access to a third-party developer account, and treating the account as a shareable, editable asset with guard rails around sensitive information. This opened up possibilities for customers to delegate tasks to vetted service providers.
Design & Decisions
End-to-end development environment:
Integrators/Partners will have access to a dedicated development environment that caters to their needs, allowing them to discover, build, and manage integrations and services within Amazon Business. Through guided workflows, customization capabilities, and AI powered development partners will be able to speed up time-to-market while offering solutions that speak to the needs of their customers. This development environment will include:
Dedicated partner account and developer console
A centralized hub for partners and integrators to build and manage solutions within Amazon Business.
Guided end-to-end building workflows and environment
Flexible workflows that cater to all needs, and levels of expertise, offering step-by-step resources, and guidance to streamline app building.
Streamlined collaboration capabilities
Seamless collaboration between partners, customers, and AB facilitating the deployment of solution directly in the customer environment, and the creation of solutions collaborative across actors.
Workspaces enable partners to act on behalf of other organizations
Partners can add people to their builds to co-create applications
Intuitive solution building
Self-service building tools simplify the creation of custom procurement solutions, little-to-none coding required.
AI powered development
AI-driven recommendations and tools to accelerate app development and enhance creation workflows.
The following statements highlight the core minimum requirements to address customer challenges and opportunities related to this area of the vision:
2. Comprehensive monitoring, and troubleshooting
Through—real-time—analytics, notifications, and testing environment; Integrators/Partners will be able to track the performance of their integrations, identify and remediate any issues in a timely manner thought self-service workflows or automated flows.
Actionable analytics and insights
Deep visibility into performance with real-time analytics and actionable insights to optimize results.
Automated testing and diagnostics
Built-in testing tools and automated diagnostics powered by AI to ensure high-quality and reliable implementations.
Smart alerts and visibility over issues
Proactive alerts and comprehensive monitoring that enable partners to react and stay ahead of issues, ultimately delivering a best-in-class customer experience to their users.
The following statements highlight the core minimum requirements to address customer challenges and opportunities related to this area of the vision:
3. Integrations marketplace
Integrators/Partners market their integrations—and services—across Amazon Business. Working with AB they will be able to participate in marketing campaigns and understand the performance of their integrations in the marketplace.
One-stop-shop
Centralized marketplace for all integration needs for buying organizations where partners can list, manage, and promote their applications and services.
Integration services beyond applications
Partners can expand their impact by providing implementation and consulting services to customers directly through the Amazon network. Capturing new partners, and enabling another growth opportunity for services to buying organizations.
Be-spoke campaigns and offers
Marketing tools to promote applications and services, build brand visibility, and drive customer engagement—bridging the gap between development and marketing.
The following statements highlight the core minimum requirements to address customer challenges and opportunities related to this area of the vision:
4. Partner resources and network
Access a centralized hub of documentation, and resources to streamline the development journey, while enhancing skills and earning certifications to gain trusts with customers. Engage with a dynamic community of developers and Amazon Business teams to co-create and innovate in procurement solutions.
Centralized documentation and resources
Easily access comprehensive documentation, code, and guidance in one place, simplifying development and learning.
Trainings and certifications
Empower partners to grow their skills and reassure customers showcasing with certified partners to team with.
Developer community
Leverage a community of developers and AB specialist to exchange ideas, solve questions, and innovate on Amazon Business.
Joint collaboration across partners and AB
Work across partners and Amazon Business representatives to deliver best-in-class solutions and innovations for buying customers.
The following statements highlight the core minimum requirements to address customer challenges and opportunities related to this area of the vision:
Conclusion
With this product vision, we shift our GTM strategy from feature-focused to solution-focused, widening our integration pipeline and increasing integration features’ adoption. This will drive new business customer registrations and reduce cost to serve.
From the App center with 15 apps and limited marketing, we’ve observed new customer registrations and integration enablement. We’ve also generated 100+ integration leads from API documentation hub. With our product vision, we’ll double down on GTM collaboration with integration partners, empower customers to solicit their interest in AB integrations, and further generate high-confidence leads. Self-service onboarding and management capabilities will cater to customers with standard integration requirements.
Relying on external consultants or internal teams to set up and monitor integrations can be costly and time-consuming. Our self-service experiences have reduced customer onboarding dependency on Global Integrations by 70-80%. With a solution-focused onboarding and management experience, customers can adopt bundled integrated solutions based on their procurement goals, increasing their spend and stickiness with AB. Higher integration adoption rates will drive 2-3X higher business for our partners and increase customer stickiness with AB. A unified integrated onboarding experience will mitigate failure points and bottlenecks, resulting in delays, production shortages, and costly exception management. Automation will provide accurate data and reliability, reducing manual intervention in the Procure to Pay process and focusing on driving growth for customers, partners, and AB teams. An integration ecosystem will ensure higher data privacy and security, forcing a platform-based approach to integration features to manage tech debt and OE. This will align AB with AWS’s functionality, providing a well-defined robust service and managed APLs from a central account-specific console. On the business side, the self-service integration ecosystem will bring in $5-7B incremental OPS over a three-year horizon.