The CMA confirmed what ISVs already knew. Here is what the findings mean for your multi-cloud co-sell strategy and why independent automation matters more than ever.
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UK Cloud Market: Key Findings
UK cloud market
£10.5B in 2024
Annual market growth
~30% per year
Customer switching rate
Still uncommon
Multi-cloud adoption
Less than 1% annually
Vela multi-cloud sync
AWS+Azure+GCP
The UK Competition and Markets Authority completed its cloud services market investigation in July 2025. Key findings: the UK cloud market reached £10.5B in 2024, growing at ~30% annually. Less than 1% of businesses switch cloud provider each year. Egress fees are confirmed as a structural switching barrier. Microsoft licensing practices are found to harm AWS and Google competitiveness. Strategic Market Status designation is recommended for both AWS and Microsoft under the UK DMCC Act. For ISVs, this confirms that multi-cloud co-sell complexity is structural — not temporary.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority completed its cloud services market investigation in July 2025, examining whether competition is working effectively in UK cloud markets. The findings confirm structural concerns that ISV alliance teams have been navigating for years.
Key findings from the investigation:
The UK cloud infrastructure market generated £10.5 billion in 2024, growing at nearly 30% annually since 2020. Microsoft and AWS each hold 30-40% market share in IaaS.
Less than 1% of customers switch cloud provider each year. Multi-cloud is more prevalent but still uncommon for small and medium-sized businesses.
Egress fees, charges for transferring data between cloud providers, are identified as a key commercial barrier to switching and multi-cloud adoption.
Microsoft's software licensing practices are found to adversely impact the competitiveness of AWS and Google in cloud services markets.
The CMA recommended that Microsoft and AWS be considered for Strategic Market Status designation under the DMCC Act, with CMA Board review anticipated in early 2026.
Less than 1% of UK businesses switch cloud provider annually. But ISVs who depend on co-sell programs must maintain active relationships with multiple cloud providers simultaneously, regardless of switching barriers.
The CMA investigation was focused on infrastructure competition, but its findings have direct implications for ISVs managing co-sell programs across AWS, Azure and GCP simultaneously.
The same structural barriers that make it difficult for enterprises to switch cloud providers also make it difficult for ISV alliance teams to manage co-sell programs effectively:
Each cloud provider operates a separate partner portal with distinct submission requirements, field structures, and deadlines
Co-sell program rules differ significantly between AWS Partner Central, Azure Partner Center, and GCP Partner Advantage
ISVs that concentrate co-sell activity on one cloud miss funding opportunities and co-sell credit on the others, even when active deals qualify
Egress barriers that make infrastructure switching difficult reinforce the need for ISVs to operate effectively on all three clouds simultaneously rather than choosing one
The CMA findings suggest these structural barriers are unlikely to resolve quickly. For ISV alliance teams, this means the operational complexity of multi-cloud co-sell is a feature of the market for the foreseeable future, not a temporary inconvenience.
The CMA found that less than 1% of businesses switch cloud providers annually, but ISVs are not choosing one cloud. They are required to maintain co-sell relationships with all three to access the full range of partner programs, funding, and marketplace opportunities.
The result for most ISV teams:
Three separate portal logins for every deal submission
Three different field schemas to map from their CRM
Three separate funding calendars to track and reconcile
Three separate proof of execution requirements when claims are reviewed
No unified view of cross-cloud pipeline, funding eligibility, or co-sell status
The average ISV alliance team manages 3 cloud co-sell programs with separate portals, separate deadlines, and separate documentation requirements. All while keeping their CRM data synchronized manually. The CMA investigation confirmed this market structure is not changing soon.
Vela connects your CRM to all three clouds automatically, one platform independent of any single provider.
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ISVs succeeding across multi-cloud co-sell programs in 2026 share one operational pattern: they have decoupled their co-sell infrastructure from any single cloud provider's native tools.
Rather than managing co-sell through each cloud's native partner portal, which creates the same fragmentation for ISV partners that the CMA found creates structural lock-in for enterprise customers, leading alliance teams use independent synchronization platforms that connect their CRM to all three clouds simultaneously.
This delivers three outcomes the native portal experience cannot:
The CMA investigation findings land at a particularly relevant moment for AWS ISV partners. On September 30 2026, AWS is completing its migration of the standalone Partner Central portal into the AWS Management Console, moving to the AWS Partner Central API for Selling as the required integration method for all co-sell submissions.
ISVs still using legacy S3-based ACE connectors after September 30 lose access to co-sell pipeline submissions, funding programs, and reseller approvals entirely. There is no grace period.
This migration event illustrates exactly the dynamic the CMA described: a dominant cloud provider updating its platform requirements creates an urgent compliance burden for ISV partners. One that requires either dedicated engineering resources or an independent automation layer that absorbs the change.
Vela completed migration to the AWS Partner Central API for Selling ahead of the September 30 deadline. Vela customers carry no exposure to this compliance event.
For ISVs evaluating co-sell automation tools right now, the question to ask every vendor is direct: are you live on the AWS Partner Central API for Selling today, or are your customers carrying September 30 exposure?
September 30 2026 is not a soft guideline. ISVs on legacy connectors lose co-sell access permanently. Ask your vendor one question: are you live on the AWS Partner Central API for Selling today?
Given the CMA findings and the active AWS migration deadline, UK and EU ISV alliance teams have a specific audit checklist worth running before September 30 2026.
AWS Partner Central API
Is your co-sell vendor live on the AWS Partner Central API for Selling? Confirmed in writing?
Azure Intent Field
Is the mandatory Intent field being auto-populated on every co-sell submission? Missing this field causes submission rejection.
GCP Partner Advantage
Are qualified GCP opportunities being registered in GCP Partner Advantage, or is GCP co-sell still running on manual process?
MDF Calendar
Do you have a single view of open MDF windows across AWS, Azure and GCP with expiry dates visible before they close?
CRM Attribution
Can your CFO pull a clean cross-cloud co-sell revenue number in under 24 hours, or does that require manual reconciliation across three portals?
GDPR Compliance
For UK ISVs: confirm your co-sell automation vendor handles data residency requirements for GDPR compliance.
AWS and Microsoft hold 30-40% IaaS share each.
Less than 1% of customers switch cloud provider annually.
Egress fees are a structural barrier to multi-cloud adoption.
The UK CMA completed its cloud services market investigation in July 2025. Key findings: the UK cloud infrastructure market reached £10.5B in 2024, growing at ~30% annually. AWS and Microsoft each hold 30-40% IaaS market share. Less than 1% of customers switch cloud provider annually. Egress fees are identified as a structural barrier to switching and multi-cloud adoption. Microsoft licensing practices are found to harm AWS and Google competitiveness. SMS designation is recommended for both AWS and Microsoft under the DMCC Act.
The CMA findings confirm that cloud market fragmentation is structural and unlikely to resolve quickly. For ISV alliance teams this means managing separate co-sell programs across AWS Partner Central, Azure Partner Center, and GCP Partner Advantage simultaneously with different submission requirements, funding deadlines, and field schemas. ISVs that treat one cloud as primary risk missing co-sell credit and funding on the others.
September 30 2026. AWS is migrating the standalone Partner Central portal into AWS Management Console and requiring all co-sell integrations to use AWS Partner Central API for Selling. ISVs on legacy S3-based ACE connectors after this date lose access to co-sell pipeline submissions, funding programs, and reseller approvals permanently. No grace period.
Yes. Vela is live on AWS Partner Central API for Selling ahead of September 30 2026 deadline. Vela customers carry no exposure to this migration event. Migration takes 30 minutes and requires credentials only.
GCP Partner Engagement Funding offers up to $80K per qualified co-sell opportunity through GCP Partner Advantage. Vela surfaces GCP funding eligibility per deal directly inside Salesforce and HubSpot so teams see available funding without logging into GCP Partner Advantage manually.
Vela handles data residency requirements for UK and EU ISVs syncing partner opportunity data to US-headquartered cloud platforms. Contact Vela team for technical review of specific data handling requirements.
One CRM connection. AWS, Azure and GCP synced automatically. No portal switching. No missed deadlines. No September 30 exposure.
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