Exclusive: As AWS Turns 15, Doug Yeum Predicts Even More Innovation

… “key distribution partners,” Yeum said.

Those initiatives parallel the AWS channel’s ongoing efforts to push the envelope. For instance, Yeum wants to mirror the changes ISV Partner Path enables “with other types of partners.”

He could not yet discuss specifics when he talked with Channel Futures.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to make announcements [soon] about what we’re doing there,” he said.

The takeaway, he noted, is AWS is “ensuring our partners are the most differentiated partners.”

What About the Traditional Telecom Agent Channel?

Telecom agents are, by now, no strangers to the cloud world. Indeed, much of the “cloud” movement started with voice over IP telephony. But agent involvement in cloud technologies tends still to be more connectivity- and apps-related. Cloud infrastructure and software development remain more in the ISV/reseller/SI arena. Even so, there’s opportunity for worlds to collide, especially as agents themselves keep moving toward that cloud-first target.

Yeum, for his part, is open to working with partners AWS has not previously encountered. That’s because the company has no “cookie-cutter approach” to the indirect channel, he said.

“For me, it’s about listening to what partners are trying to accomplish,” he said. “We want to play an important role in helping them transform. … I feel like we have the muscle to actually do that with any partner.”

So, heads up, telecom agents — masters and subs alike.

“If there are partners that have built their businesses in a different era [and] around a different business model but want to continue to be successful and relevant, [we have] open arms,” Yeum said. “Come and talk to us. … I would be very open and very willing to engage the type of partner that you’re talking about.”

On Working with New AWS CEO Adam Selipsky

AWS’ Adam Selipsky

July will mark Yeum’s second full year at the helm of the AWS channel. By that time, he will have been working with new AWS CEO Adam Selipsky for about three months. (On March 23, AWS named Selipsky as Jassy’s replacement.) Yeum said he looks forward to collaborating with the “longtime Amazonian” who returns to the company after five years as CEO of Tableau. Selipsky worked for Amazon from 2005-2016.

Selipsky, Yeum said, holds a lot of similarity to Jassy.

“They both represent and demonstrate our leadership principles to the fullest,” Yeum said.

He indicated that choosing a former insider for the AWS CEO role was a savvy move.

“It’s great to have someone like Adam who understands the culture we have here,” Yeum said. “We’re unusually customer-focused, unusually longterm-oriented, we are all builders. … I believe Adam embodies our culture exceptionally well and think he’s going to become a great CEO for our business.”