Accelerating Cloud Adoption Where It Actually Gets Stuck
A dual motion for Partner Marketing (MDF) and Strategic Account Acceleration — using an AI Adoption Sandbox to activate partners, enterprises, and cloud credits where momentum stalls most.
Explore the Framework
The Cloud Adoption Reality
Most enterprise cloud programs are not failing because of budget or intent. They stall because of context. Credits are issued, MDF is allocated, partners are engaged — and yet meaningful adoption remains elusive. Enterprises lack a structured, safe environment to explore AI use cases. Partners struggle to generate sustained engagement beyond a single event or webinar cycle. MDF campaigns produce impressions, not traction.
The pattern is consistent across cloud providers: the infrastructure is ready, the incentives exist, but the connective tissue between cloud investment and enterprise action is missing. Campaigns expire. Credits go unallocated. Pipeline stalls before it starts.

Core Insight: Credits and MDF alone don't create adoption. Context does. The missing layer is not more spend — it's a shared, structured environment where cloud, partner, and enterprise align around real use cases before committing resources.
What Is the AI Adoption Sandbox?
The AI Adoption Sandbox is not a consulting engagement or a one-time workshop. It is a persistent, structured environment that gives enterprises, partners, and cloud providers a shared system of record for AI use case discovery, prioritization, and roadmap planning — built on top of your cloud infrastructure from day one.
Use Case Discovery
A structured process to surface, document, and validate AI use cases across business units — mapped to data availability and strategic priority.
Governance & Guardrails
Built-in design guardrails for data handling, security posture, and AI ethics — so enterprises can explore without regulatory exposure.
Data & Security Mapping
Each use case is assessed against data readiness, access controls, and compliance requirements before any cloud resource is committed.
Prioritization & Roadmap
Use cases are scored and sequenced into an actionable roadmap — giving cloud sales, partners, and enterprise stakeholders shared visibility into next steps.
Think of it as infrastructure, not consulting — a reusable platform layer that generates compounding value across every partner and enterprise account it touches.
Proposition #1
Partner Marketing MDF Activation
Transform MDF from event-based spend into a persistent, high-signal enterprise engagement asset that compounds over time.
The MDF Gap
Cloud providers invest significantly in Market Development Funds to drive partner-led growth. In practice, MDF is overwhelmingly spent on webinars, event sponsorships, and one-time campaigns — activities that generate attendance metrics but rarely produce sustained enterprise relationships or measurable cloud consumption.
Partners lack the high-quality engagement artifacts needed to keep enterprise buyers in motion after an event ends. Without a durable, co-branded asset that enterprises return to, MDF spend expires with the campaign cycle.
The Reframe
The AI Adoption Sandbox becomes a reusable, MDF-backed platform asset — not a one-off marketing deliverable. MDF funds the deployment and curation of a shared environment that multiple partners activate simultaneously, and that enterprises continue to use between sales conversations.
How Partner Marketing Works: The Mechanics
The MDF activation motion follows a clear, repeatable four-step flow that converts a single cloud provider investment into sustained enterprise engagement across multiple partners and accounts.
The structural shift here is fundamental: enterprises are not invited to a pitch — they are invited into a working environment where they can evaluate real AI use cases relevant to their industry. This changes the nature of the engagement from transactional to consultative, extending the partner relationship well beyond any single event and turning MDF spend into long-lived, measurable enterprise touchpoints.
Why This Is Powerful for the Cloud Provider
The MDF activation motion delivers a fundamentally different ROI profile than conventional partner marketing — one that compounds rather than expires.
One Investment, Multiple Partners
A single MDF-backed sandbox deployment serves multiple SIs, ISVs, and startups simultaneously. The cloud provider's investment scales across the partner ecosystem rather than being siloed to a single partner campaign.
Neutral, Ecosystem-First Positioning
The sandbox is not a vendor pitch environment. It positions the cloud provider as the trusted, neutral AI adoption layer — the infrastructure that makes partner and enterprise AI ambitions achievable.
High-Quality Enterprise Signal
Use case exploration generates real behavioral data: which enterprises are engaged, which use cases are prioritized, and which accounts are ready for deeper cloud investment. This is signal that a webinar attendance list cannot provide.
Partner Marketing That Compounds
Unlike campaigns that expire at the end of a quarter, the sandbox remains active, accumulates use cases, and continues to generate touchpoints — turning a fixed MDF investment into a growing engagement asset.
Proposition #2: Cloud Credit Acceleration
Cloud credits are one of the most powerful tools in enterprise BD — and one of the most underutilized. The problem is rarely cost. Enterprises that receive cloud credits frequently fail to consume them within the allocation window, returning value to the provider and leaving strategic relationships underdeveloped.
Where Credit Programs Stall
Enterprise stakeholders know credits are available. What they lack is clarity on where to apply them first. Without a structured process to evaluate AI use cases against data readiness, security posture, and business impact, credits remain abstract. Security and compliance teams create friction. Business units disagree on priority. The credits expire unused.
This is not a budget problem. It is a decision-making problem — and it requires a structured environment to resolve it, not more sales pressure.
The Core Insight
Credits don't fail because of cost.
They fail because of uncertainty.
Enterprises need a validated, sequenced set of use cases before they can confidently commit cloud resources. The sandbox provides exactly that structure — turning credit allocation from a leap of faith into a calculated, justified investment.
How Cloud Credit Acceleration Works
The credit acceleration motion is a structured, four-stage process that moves enterprise accounts from credit issuance to active, use-case-backed consumption — closing the gap between intent and execution.
Deploy
Sandbox is deployed for a strategic enterprise account, co-branded with the relevant cloud provider and partner.
Map
Use cases are logged and assessed against data readiness, security and governance posture, and quantified business impact.
Align
Cloud credits are explicitly mapped to validated, prioritized use cases — creating a clear, defensible rationale for each credit allocation.
Activate
Credits move from "available" to "activated" — backed by use cases that enterprise stakeholders have already validated and approved.

The Key Shift: From generic cloud credits issued to an account → to use-case-backed credits aligned to specific, validated enterprise priorities. This changes the credit conversation from a sales motion into a strategic planning exercise.
Why This Matters for Cloud Sales Teams
Credit acceleration is not just an enterprise benefit — it directly improves the performance metrics and strategic position of cloud sales and strategic account teams. The sandbox gives sales leaders a structured, repeatable mechanism to move accounts from credit issuance to active consumption without creating internal friction.
60%
Faster Credit Consumption
Validated use cases reduce the internal deliberation cycle, compressing time-to-activation significantly.
3×
Stronger Renewal Conversations
Accounts that activate credits against real use cases have a concrete roadmap — making expansion and renewal discussions outcomes-driven.
90
Days to Measurable Signal
A structured sandbox deployment produces engagement data, use case logs, and credit activation evidence within a single quarter.
The sandbox reframes the role of the strategic account team: rather than managing credit logistics, they become the architects of the enterprise's AI roadmap — a position that dramatically strengthens long-term account relationships. Credits become strategic bets, not giveaways.
The Combined Flywheel
The MDF activation motion and the credit acceleration motion are not independent plays. When deployed together, they form a self-reinforcing adoption flywheel — each stage generating the conditions that accelerate the next.
MDF Brings Enterprises In
Partner marketing investment funds sandbox access, attracting enterprise accounts into a structured AI exploration environment.
Sandbox Creates Clarity
Use case discovery and governance mapping give enterprises the confidence and structure to commit cloud resources.
Clarity Unlocks Credits
Validated use cases provide the internal justification enterprises need to activate cloud credits against real priorities.
Usage Deepens Platform Commitment
Active credit consumption drives cloud platform depth, increasing switching cost and strengthening renewal position.
Success Becomes Partner Reference
Successful accounts generate case studies and references that fuel the next cycle of partner marketing and enterprise acquisition.
This is a closed-loop cloud adoption flywheel — a compounding system where every successful enterprise account makes the next one easier and more defensible to close.
Why This Is Low Risk for the Cloud Provider
Every new motion raises the same question from internal stakeholders: does this conflict with existing programs? The AI Adoption Sandbox is explicitly designed to be additive — a complement to current MDF structures and credit programs, not a replacement. It does not require a new organizational unit, a new budget line, or changes to existing partner agreements.
What It Does Not Require
Replacing or restructuring existing MDF programs
Changes to current cloud credit issuance or tracking processes
New partner agreements or program tiers
Large-scale organizational commitment before proof of value
What It Does Deliver
A measurable pilot with 2–3 partners and 3–5 enterprise accounts
Quantifiable outcomes within a 60–90 day window
Real engagement data — not campaign impressions — from target enterprise accounts
A scalable playbook that field teams can replicate across regions and segments

The sandbox is designed to integrate with, not disrupt, your current partner and credit infrastructure. The lowest-risk entry point is a tightly scoped pilot with defined success metrics — producing evidence before requiring scaled commitment.
Ideal Pilot Structure
The fastest path to organizational confidence is a scoped, time-bound pilot that produces real data from real accounts — not a proposal review cycle or a proof-of-concept without defined success criteria.
1
2–3 Partner Organizations
Select a mix of SIs and ISVs already active in your partner ecosystem. Prioritize partners with existing enterprise relationships in target verticals.
2
3–5 Strategic Enterprise Accounts
Choose accounts with issued but underutilized credits, or accounts in active expansion conversations where AI use case clarity is the blocker.
3
MDF-Backed Sandbox Deployment
Fund the deployment through existing MDF allocation. The sandbox serves as the co-branded, co-funded engagement platform for the pilot cohort.
4
60–90 Day Measurement Window
Track four metrics: engagement depth per account, number of AI use cases logged, cloud credits activated, and partner participation quality.
"Start small. Learn fast. Scale what works."
The pilot is designed to produce a replicable playbook — not just a one-time result. Every insight from the first cohort becomes the foundation for the next wave of partner and enterprise activation across your cloud GTM organization.