projected cost savings
seamless migration process
for Co-Sell, Private Offer and Marketplace data
About DataStax
DataStax has helped hundreds of the world’s leading enterprises, like Audi, Bud Financial, and Capital One, build smart, high-growth AI applications at unlimited scale on any cloud.
DataStax helps developers and companies successfully create and innovate with a one-stop Generative AI stack that provides faster, easier paths to production for relevant and responsive GenAI Apps. They deliver a RAG-first developer experience with first-class integrations into leading AI ecosystem partners, working with developers’ existing solution stacks.
DataStax needed better cloud marketplace support to fuel their growth.
Cloud marketplace listing services are necessary to any GenAI company’s ability to scale quickly. They enable self-service transactions, automated interactions, and offer management to, in theory, streamline the entire marketplace process and help grow exponentially.
But DataStax realized unreliable record syncs and disjointed data visibility were inhibiting their ability to grow efficiently.
“We had issues where the offer would show up as accepted, but it actually wasn't,” said Abhishek Reddy, VP, Partner Strategy & Operations at DataStax.
The issues were manageable when there were only a few in-flight marketplace deals and plenty of time, but became acute at the end of the quarter.
“The process didn’t inspire confidence in the field that we could close time-sensitive deals without issues,”Abhishek Reddy, Partner Strategy & Ops Leader, DataStax
With little confidence in the process to reflect accurate, up-to-date information, DataStax’ sales team wasted crucial hours during high-leverage periods to double-check confirmations and perform tasks redundant to their listing platform.
And internally, the fractured data dashboards made it harder to analyze and drive meaningful insights from partnership-originated opportunities.
“The AWS partner portal can only see certain deals and they can't see deal values. Marketplace can't see all the deals either. They can only see deals [and deal values] that are transacted through the Marketplace,” Reddy explained. “SFDC has all of our deal pipeline, but it has no insights on which were co-sell deals.”
DataStax was struggling with the inefficiencies of disunified dashboards. Without a comprehensive view of their partnership performance, they were forced to manually sift through and consolidate scattered data across multiple platforms to properly understand the landscape of their partnerships, leading to a slower, weaker analysis of their partnership growth.
And while these immediate failings in platform performance and partitioned data hampered their growth in the short term, it was their provider’s unfavorable pricing structure that raised concerns for DataStax regarding the viability of an ongoing partnership.
“Other vendor options presented to us had pricing models tied to DataStax Marketplace revenue. As our revenue grows, their pricing also increases, which was not justifiable.”Abhishek Reddy, Partner Strategy & Ops Leader, DataStax
DataStax’s popular genAI tools were driving explosive growth, and they knew they couldn’t leverage their cloud partnership at scale without a reliable, efficient, and value-aligned solution.
Imagining progress and uncapping growth potential with WorkSpan
Reddy had a vision of a cloud marketplace solution that would not only deliver consistent results when it mattered most, but also help DataStax work and spend more efficiently across all deals and partnerships.
Migrations are a daunting process, and too many companies live with underperforming products and partnerships due to ignorance of better solutions, a bias toward the status quo, or a perceived inability to implement change.
But DataStax recognized the high financial and emotional costs of maintaining a failing system.
“I wanted a unified view of Co-Sell and Marketplace and I had a great experience with the WorkSpan team on the co-sell product. So when I found out WorkSpan was also adding the marketplace feature, it just made sense.”Abhishek Reddy, Partner Strategy & Ops Leader, DataStax
The cohesive growth they sought required more than just a new platform. DataStax needed an attentive and reliable partner that aligned with their long term cloud strategy.
“The commitment that we saw from WorkSpan Co-Sell gave us the confidence to move to the marketplace solution,” said Reddy.
“We saw that once we were facing issues, WorkSpan’s complete team stepped in—Leadership, Engineering, Product, everyone—to make sure things went smoothly. Even more than the features, it’s the support we have from WorkSpan that gives us confidence.”Abhishek Reddy, Partner Strategy & Ops Leader, DataStax
When asked why WorkSpan was “the obvious choice” to service DataStax’s cloud marketplace listings and offer management, Reddy pointed to trust in WorkSpan’s superior product, considerable support, and significant cost savings.
“It was about building confidence with the sales team that they can close deals through the marketplace, even on the last day of the quarter,” said Reddy.
“We know that WorkSpan values customers…WorkSpan was more responsive, more in tune with what we needed. We weren't just one of the customers. We felt like we were paid close attention to – And the fact that the cost worked out much more favorably just helped us push it over the line.”
After Reddy championed WorkSpan’s benefits internally – the superior product, workflows, and cost savings – WorkSpan joined forces with DataStax to migrate their entire AWS Marketplace listings quickly and accurately.
“The speed of implementation and delivery was insanely fast. We signed the contract with four or five days to go in March, we were ready and we moved off [our previous provider] in less than a week.”
Improvements in short order
With WorkSpan running all their AWS marketplace integrations, DataStax reported immediate returns in team efficiency and partnership strategy. Analysis that once required manually collating numerous files and reports could now be viewed instantly on a single dashboard.
“As a partner leader, it makes my storytelling of how the partnership is growing infinitely easier. I can just go on to SalesForce or the WorkSpan portal and get a unified view of the business, which tells me how the relationship is growing and helps me tell that story to internal and external stakeholders.”Abhishek Reddy, Partner Strategy & Ops Leader, DataStax
And the efficiencies gained through WorkSpan’s Marketplace features impacted far more than just time saved for one department. It allowed multiple teams within DataStax to gain immediate alignment and make real-time decisions around strategy and budgeting.
“It's not just about the view that you see. Even in terms of internal workflows—what your Sales teams are used to, what your Deal teams are used to, the kind of dashboards that Leadership is used to, you don't want them to [have to] learn multiple systems.”
And the late-stage inaccuracies and unreliability DataStax previously suffered?
Gone with WorkSpan.
Reddy described the relief of having an offer management process his team could trust, as opposed to the old process that would occasionally send incorrect reporting on whether private offers had been accepted.
“WorkSpan has this whole API-led approach, especially to private offers, and I've seen the difference,” said Reddy. “The platform catches inaccuracies so it's already giving me a more reliable way of dealing with reporting. Their technology approach to that issue is a big differentiator, and it really helps.”
WorkSpan’s automated offer sync, bulk management tools, and immediate client support gave DataStax the confidence it once lacked to scale their Marketplace operations.
“I haven't faced any issues with the platform, and the team has always been available for any upgrade enhancements that we’ve wanted,” said Reddy.
And WorkSpan’s flat pricing structure alleviated fears DataStax once held regarding the costs of scaling with their previous marketplace service.
DataStax projects to save 40% of their total cost thanks to the WorkSpan Marketplace migration.
Said Reddy, “I can see WorkSpan as a long-term partner because you guys have a clear pricing model that makes sense to me.”
A brighter future for DataStax
In one week, WorkSpan migrated DataStax’s entire AWS Marketplace listing. DataStax not only gained substantial increases in workflow efficiency, but also invaluable boosts in confidence that their listing and private offers would perform as expected and deliver accurate reporting when they needed it most.
WorkSpan’s responsive support and clear pricing removed massive concerns DataStax once held regarding their ability to scale Marketplace operations efficiently and sustainably.
“The customer support that WorkSpan has...the tool works great. It simplifies your workflows.”
So what’s next for DataStax?
“We are excited about partnering with WorkSpan,” said Reddy, “and automating further workflows within DataStax to improve operational efficiencies across multiple teams.”
