In this episode, Igor sits down with Christina, a Senior Customer Solutions Manager (CSM), and Alicia, a Senior Manager, to explore the critical role of CSMs at AWS. They discuss how CSMs help accelerate customer and partner goals through a unique blend of technical expertise and business acumen. The conversation covers the diverse career paths that lead to CSM roles, from consulting and software development to education and healthcare.

Christina and Alicia explain how CSMs operate differently for each customer based on their cloud maturity level - from simple lift-and-shift migrations for nascent customers to complex co-innovation projects with digitally native organizations. They emphasize that success criteria are uniquely defined for each customer, requiring CSMs to understand not just the technical requirements but also the business outcomes and human change management aspects of cloud adoption.

The episode highlights how CSMs serve as trusted advisors who bridge the gap between technology and business, working across AWS's ecosystem to deliver end-to-end customer experiences. With over 600 CSMs worldwide and growing, the role continues to evolve as technology advances, particularly in areas like generative AI and agentic solutions. For partners, CSMs provide the same customer-obsessed approach, helping navigate AWS's complex ecosystem and achieve market success through strategic integrations and early adoption programs.

• Alicia Retzlaff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciaretzlaff/
• Christina Bucio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-bucio-aa329953/
• Igor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igor-alekseev-b6425835/

Igor sits down with Welly Siauw, Principal Partner Solutions Architect at AWS, to explore the game-changing IAM Temporary Delegations feature that's simplifying how AWS partners onboard and manage customer accounts. They dive deep into how this feature eliminates the friction of traditional onboarding processes, where customers previously had to navigate complex documentation and manually configure IAM roles and permissions. Now, partners can request temporary, limited permissions that customers can review and approve through a streamlined console experience, complete with AI-generated human-readable permission descriptions. The conversation covers advanced patterns like read-only discovery followed by deployment permissions, admin delegation workflows for enterprise environments, and day-two operations for ongoing feature updates. With robust security controls including CloudTrail logging, permission boundaries, and revocation capabilities, this feature represents a new standard for partner-customer trust and operational efficiency. Current adopters include major partners like CrowdStrike, Databricks, Sentinel One, and HashiCorp, with the feature available to ISV Accelerate partners with AWS Marketplace listings.

Guest

**Welly Siauw** - Principal Partner Solutions Architect, AWS

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wellsiau/

Links:

* https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies-temporary-delegation.html

* https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies-temporary-delegation-partner-guide.html

* https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/streamline-customer-onboarding-and-accelerate-time-to-value-with-aws-iam-temporary-delegation/

Igor and Sri kick off 2026 by diving deep into the most significant AWS re:Invent 2025 announcements that are reshaping the cloud landscape. They explore the revolutionary Amazon Nova family expansion, including the multimodal Nova Omni and the game-changing Nova Forge program for custom frontier models. The discussion covers massive infrastructure advances like S3 Vectors supporting 2 billion vectors per index, the powerful Graviton 5 and Trainium 3 Ultra servers, and transformative developer tools like Lambda Durable Functions. They also examine how AWS Transform Custom is revolutionizing legacy modernization, cutting execution times by 80% and transforming mainframe applications from years-long projects into months-long initiatives. This episode provides partners with essential insights into leveraging these innovations for building, scaling, and transforming their cloud solutions.

blog link: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/top-announcements-of-aws-reinvent-2025/

Sri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sraghavan24/

Igor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igor-alekseev-b6425835/

In this episode, we sit down with Michelle Hoover, Senior Vice President of Global Alliances at Cloudera, to explore how you and your enterprise can move beyond AI "science experiments" to production-ready solutions. We hear compelling customer stories, including how a pharmaceutical company cut drug development cycles from 10 to 5 years and how a pharmaceutical company uses agentic AI to save lives in humanitarian crises. We cover Cloudera's evolution from Hadoop pioneer to AI platform leader, their strategic partnership with AWS, and practical approaches you can use to implement agentic AI in regulated industries. We also discuss overcoming marketplace adoption challenges, leveraging AWS funding programs, and Cloudera's vision for "data anywhere, AI everywhere" through their unified platform approach that you can adopt.

We dive into the ultimate guide for AWS partners attending re:Invent 2025 in Las Vegas, December 1st-5th. We break down the must-attend keynotes including Matt Garman's CEO address and Ruba Borno's Partnership Advantage session, explore the new ISV track and partner experience offerings, and share practical Vegas survival tips from comfortable footwear to staying hydrated in the desert. We discuss the AWS Partner Network booths, specialized tracks for consulting partners, interactive chalk talks and workshops, plus networking opportunities and the legendary re:Play party. Whether you're a first-timer or seasoned veteran, we cover everything you need to maximize your re:Invent experience, from certification discounts to trying Amazon's Zoox self-driving taxis, ensuring you're prepared for what Sri calls "the most important event on anybody's calendar in the tech world."

More info:

* https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/know-before-you-go-an-aws-partners-guide-to-reinvent-2025/

To reach us:

* aws-partner-unplugged-podcast-hosts@amazon.com

We explore the critical role of consulting partners in the AWS ecosystem through our conversation with Daniel from Zensar, an AWS Advanced Partner specializing in data modernization and AI adoption. We dive into how Zensar bridges the gap between innovative AWS ISV products and enterprise-scale implementations, discussing their modular cloud-native platform that integrates with core AWS services like Redshift, Glue, Bedrock, and SageMaker. We examine real-world success stories, including helping an insurance company cut operational costs by 30-35%, and explore how consulting partners are leveraging generative AI to transform both their internal processes and client outcomes. The conversation highlights the importance of co-creation partnerships and proven frameworks in moving enterprises from "data chaos" to measurable data products that deliver tangible business value.

Links:

• https://zensar.com/tech-services/data-analytics-and-ai
• https://www.zensar.com/tech-services/artificial-intelligence/zenseai/zenseaidata
• https://www.zensar.com/tech-services/artificial-intelligence/echo-ai-services
• https://www.zensar.com/tech-services/data-analytics-and-ai/visualization-and-analytics-services
• https://www.zensar.com/tech-services/data-analytics-and-ai/generative-ai-services
• https://www.zensar.com/tech-services/data-analytics-and-ai/data-engineering-services

To reach us:

• aws-partner-unplugged-podcast-hosts@amazon.com
• Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangomezglobal/

In this episode, we dive deep into the latest AWS Partner Network blog highlights from August and September, showcasing the remarkable breadth of partner innovation. We explore the launch of AI agents and tools in AWS Marketplace, revealing how autonomous software is revolutionizing enterprise solutions through natural language search and sophisticated orchestration. We discuss strategic approaches for open source founders navigating commercialization with AWS Global Startup Program support, then shift gears to examine how generative AI is breathing new life into legacy COBOL systems through containerization on Amazon ECS. We conclude with compelling vertical AI applications, from Deepgram's voice AI transforming healthcare documentation to Deepbrain AI's deepfake detection technology helping law enforcement distinguish real from synthetic media, demonstrating how specialized AI solutions are tackling high-stakes enterprise challenges across industries.

Blog Links:

* https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/pioneering-ai-detector-by-deepbrain-ai-with-aws-rekognition/

* https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/modernizing-healthcare-with-generative-voice-ai-using-deepgram-on-aws/

* https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/modernize-cobol-workloads-with-amazon-eks-powered-by-generative-ai/

* https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/building-your-open-source-commercial-strategy-with-aws/

* https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/aws-partner-guide-to-ai-agents-and-tools-in-aws-marketplace/

To reach us:

* aws-partner-unplugged-podcast-hosts@amazon.com

In this episode, we discuss the growing adoption of Apache Iceberg as a modern data lake format,

exploring how it's becoming the preferred choice for customers migrating from on-premises to cloud

-native architectures. The conversation covers AWS's deep integrations with Iceberg through

services like Amazon S3, AWS Glue Data Catalog, and SageMaker Lake House, as well as how key

partners like Starburst and Snowflake are enhancing the ecosystem with powerful connectors that

enable federated querying, flexible catalog management, and seamless data interoperability. We

highlight how organizations can easily migrate existing Parquet and ORC data lakes to Iceberg

without rewriting underlying data files, and emphasize that this shift represents a move toward

future-proof data architectures focused on ease of use, consistent governance, and reduced

development time rather than just cost optimization.

Contact us:

• aws-partner-unplugged-podcast-hosts@amazon.com
• Antony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antony-prasad-thevaraj-04398518/

Links:

• https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/storage/build-a-managed-apache-iceberg-data-lake-using-starburst-and-amazon-s3-tables/
• https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/use-apache-iceberg-in-your-data-lake-with-amazon-s3-aws-glue-and-snowflake/