All Aboard the ISV Express

Part one – getting enrolled

Four years into providing Consultancy Services, we’ve built and learned a lot (the learning never stops). Along the way, we’ve occasionally found ourselves wishing for a widget / product or app that could make our lives easier.

This got us thinking: why not develop some of these ideas and sell them? So, we decided to take the plunge – alongside our Consultancy work, we’re becoming an ISV (Independent Software Vendor)!

We have hired talented people in the Product Development space to help bring our vision to life and enrolled in Microsoft’s ISV Success programme. There’s no point in creating an amazing piece of software if no one knows about it or if it’s difficult to purchase.

As we embark on this new journey, we thought we would share our experience of becoming an ISV so far.

Why we chose the ISV Success programme

So, what is the ISV Success, and what does it do for you?

How to get on the ISV Success Programme.

Firstly, your company must be a member of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Programme. Luckily, ARRT purchased a Microsoft Action Pack when we formed, so we were good to go.

Next, go to the Microsoft Partner Centre, click on the Membership Icon, and then on the build & publish option under ISV Success menu. This allowed us to enrol.

Enrolment involves providing details about:

Your business.
The products you plan to develop.
The type of customer you plan to sell to (you must be selling to businesses – B2C applications will not be accepted).

Once we submitted our application, it took only a couple of days to be enrolled successfully, and the benefits were made available to us.

What We Have Done Since.

We received an email from our ISV Success Engagement Manager, who set up a 30-minute kick-off call to review the benefits and establish where we are in product development.

We assigned each of our developers a Visual Studio Enterprise subscription, at a normal cost of £3,000 per annum each—and we get 25 of them for free!

We’ve also activated the $5000 USD Azure Credits. Handy Hint: You can’t assign your credit to an existing subscription. A new subscription called Microsoft Azure Sponsorship is created, so you’ll need to move your Azure Artefacts over to save money from your existing Azure Landscape.

What’s Next?.

We have a meeting scheduled with Microsoft’s tech team to go over the deliverables needed for our product to be accepted on the Azure Marketplace. Product development starts soon!

A Note for Anyone Considering Becoming an ISV.

If you’re considering becoming an ISV, the journey may seem daunting, but it’s incredibly rewarding. Microsoft’s ISV Success Programme offers a wealth of resources and support, but it’s essential to have a clear strategy and understand your target market. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the ISV community for advice and tips. We’re excited about where this path will take us and hope to see you on the journey as well!

– RICH