AWS Marketplace VP Matt Yanchyshyn On AI-Driven Procurement And Agent Mode

As enterprises accelerate AI adoption, the way they discover, evaluate, and buy software is undergoing a quiet but profound shift. Cloud marketplaces, once seen primarily as digital storefronts, are now emerging as strategic procurement engines - combining AI-led discovery, automated pricing, and faster paths to deployment. For CIOs, procurement leaders, and finance teams, this evolution is reshaping how value is realised from cloud investments.

In this conversation, Thomas George, Managing Editor, CIOL, speaks with Matt Yanchyshyn, Vice President of Marketplace & Partner Services at Amazon Web Services, to unpack how AI-driven capabilities such as Agent Mode are transforming enterprise buying journeys. From reducing procurement friction and accelerating time-to-value to enabling a hybrid model of self-service and enterprise sales, Yanchyshyn outlines why marketplaces are becoming central to the next phase of cloud and AI adoption.

Matt, you've spent over 13 years at AWS and now lead Marketplace globally. From that vantage point, what has fundamentally changed in cloud marketplaces over the years—and why are they becoming critical to AI discovery, deployment, and procurement?

The key difference today is the speed and scale of AI adoption. When we launched the AI Agents and Tools category in AWS Marketplace earlier this year, we expected about 50 listings. Instead, we started with over 800; within months, that number surpassed 2,000—a growth rate we’d never seen before.

This mirrors the SaaS shift a decade ago companies moved from server-based to cloud-based subscriptions. Now, this acceleration is stronger, as customers, from startups to large enterprises, actively purchase through self-service and private offers.

Today, the Marketplace has over 30,000 listings from more than 6,000 sellers. Over 64% of AWS partners are active on Marketplace. That scale makes it central to how customers combine AWS services with partner solutions in almost every workload they run.

 AWS recently introduced Agent Mode. How does this change the way enterprises evaluate and procure software compared to traditional RFP-driven processes?

Traditional procurement—especially in large enterprises—is slow and document-heavy. You're asked to compare options, validate pricing, and verify functional and security requirements. You often run long RFP or RFQ cycles. All that takes significant time.

Our strategy is to reduce friction at every stage of the journey. Agent Mode accelerates research and comparison, letting customers describe requirements in natural language or upload documents, then generate dynamic comparisons and refine results interactively. Instead of trying to anticipate every possible requirement in a listing, customers now generate personalised comparisons on demand. The experience is dynamic and guided. It's also significantly faster, helping customers derive value more quickly.

Does this mean AI-driven procurement will replace long enterprise sales cycles, or will it remain a hybrid model?

It will be a hybrid model that combines traditional enterprise sales processes with AI-driven procurement methods. Enterprises will continue to use established sales cycles for complex purchases while leveraging AI-based tools to enable faster, self-service transactions.

Our most successful Marketplace sellers—companies like MongoDB and CrowdStrike—run both product-led growth through self-service and sales-led growth through private offers and co-selling. Agent Mode strengthens the self-service motion, especially for new logo acquisition. Enterprise features like purchase orders and private offers accelerate formal procurement.

The real innovation is Express Private Offers, which sit between full self-service and manual negotiation. Sellers define pricing rules, and AWS can automatically generate private offers based on those rules. That allows sales teams to focus on large, complex deals, while mid-market and standardised deals move faster with lower operational overhead.

 AWS Marketplace is ahead of other cloud marketplaces. How do you sustain that differentiation?

We prioritise continuous, customer-driven innovation.

We're the only cloud marketplace offering Express Private Offers with on-demand personalised pricing and conversational, agent-based discovery through Agent Mode. But differentiation isn't accidental.

Internally, the engineering organisation runs with 100% AI tooling adoption. This year, we achieved a 31% increase in productivity and shipped 27% more features than last year. We use the same AI and agents we help partners use to sell.

I often say: don't believe Matt—believe the roadmap. The velocity of what we ship speaks for itself.

 Procurement teams and finance stakeholders are very different personas from cloud architects. How are you addressing that gap?

You're right. Large enterprises involve procurement, finance, legal, security, and governance. Many organisations don’t use the AWS console, so we've added support for purchase orders, APIs, EventBridge notifications, and ERP integrations, enabling teams to reconcile Marketplace purchases within existing systems.

With Agent Mode (an advanced automation feature) and Multi-Product Solutions (which allow grouping products), customers can export comparisons, proposals, and pricing in local currencies for sharing. Marketplace now supports every persona involved in the buying decision process.

 Is time-to-value becoming the key competitive KPI for cloud marketplaces?

Absolutely. Research shows that 25% of SaaS applications are rarely used after purchase. Buying isn't success—adoption is.

That's why we're investing in deployment acceleration. Quick-launch workflows, guided partner setups such as CrowdStrike, and temporary IAM delegation help customers deploy in minutes rather than weeks.

Reducing time-to-value boosts renewals, retention, and customer success for everyone.

Marketplaces are evolving beyond storefronts toward autonomous commerce. How is AWS Marketplace preparing for that future?

Agent Mode already supports MCP integration, allowing connections with procurement tooling and automation workflows. Marketplace has had APIs and event notifications for years, and we're expanding those capabilities. We recently completed the acquisition of Phoenix.ai, which provides AI-powered procurement storefronts and builds on initiatives such as Buy with AWS. This is especially important for regulated industries that require customised buying workflows.

Our aim is to automate routine tasks—discovery, evaluation, and provisioning—so customers can benefit from their purchases as quickly as possible.

Finally—looking ahead in the next two years—where do you see AWS Marketplace?

It's hard to predict beyond a year. In the next year, we'll focus on agentic capabilities, deeper procurement integration, and serving all buying personas.

Success isn't just about more listings. It's about customer success—fewer clicks, faster deployment, and clear value. If we achieve that, everything else follows.