Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan: New, Revamped Global Ecosystem to Fuel AI-Driven Growth

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has announced the launch of its revamped Artificial Intelligence (AI)-focused partner ecosystem plan, known as “Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan” during the Alibaba Cloud Partner Summit 2024 through a series of new initiatives—including an AI partner accelerator program, an enhanced incentive program and a revitalised global strategy for service partners.

The initiatives for the Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan aim to foster the growth of global partners and accelerate the development and deployment of cutting-edge AI and cloud computing solutions for businesses across various industries worldwide.

“At Alibaba Cloud, we believe that collaboration is the key to unlocking innovation and driving growth. Our global partners are not just participants, they are the architects of a new digital landscape in the AI era.” Selina Yuan, President of International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence said during the summit. “Today, with our revamped global partner ecosystem known as Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan, we are committed to supporting our global partners to jointly reap the benefits of AI era and meet the diverse business demand of global customers.”

Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan: New AI-Focused Partner Ecosystem Initiatives

To meet the surging demand for AI technologies from the global customers, Alibaba Cloud debuted AI Alliance Accelerator Program as part of the Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan to build a dedicated AI partner ecosystem through collaboration with 50 AI technology partners and 50 channel partners in 2025.

This program offers selected AI technology partners enhanced technical support focused on AI, expanded distribution channels, collaborative go-to-market resources, and dedicated AI consulting services. Meanwhile, chosen channel partners will benefit from increased financial incentives and market development funds for their AI-related initiatives.

By leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s AI capabilities and its global technology ecosystem, the initiative, which is crucial to the Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan, aims to enhance partner enablement and accelerate diverse partners’ digital transformation journey. It also seeks to empower global partners to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the AI era, reaching a broader customer base through Alibaba Cloud’s extensive distribution network of channel partners

Alibaba Cloud, through its Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan, also unveiled an enhanced global system for its service partners: the Revitalised Service Partner Program. This initiative focuses on cultivating new service partners by upskilling channel partner and technology partners with targeted training and empowerment, equipping them with necessary capabilities of consulting, implementation and managed services to diversify their revenue stream and deliver a comprehensive service to the customer. It also seeks to empower existing service partners by expanding their offering to include both product reselling and service delivery.

Additionally, leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s Generative AI capabilities, the company has collaborated with service partners to jointly develop the Managed Large Language Model Service and other AI-focused services to foster an AI partner ecosystem and address the diverse digital transformation needs of global customers.

Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan Extends Strategic Team Ups

Meanwhile, Alibaba Cloud pledged to extend new strategic partnerships with 18 service partners including Whale Cloud, Bespin Global, Cognizant Worldwide, Deloitte, Accenture, and FPT out of the existing 50 global standard service partners via enhanced resource sharing and capability complement, aiming to build a comprehensive service system that meets diverse needs of global customers.

In addition, the company also released its Synergistic Incentive Program as part of the Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan. It is designed to strengthen the collaboration between its global technology partners and channel partners, fostering a vibrant and dynamic ecosystem. The program introduces an expanded go-to-market pathway, enabling technology partners to boost revenue by leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s extensive channel network while channel partners gain access to a broader product portfolio, increasing sales opportunities and enhancing profit margins. This initiative drives mutual growth and reinforces Alibaba Cloud’s commitment to empowering its partners and nurturing a robust global ecosystem.

Enhanced Collaborations with Global and Regional Partners

In order to support global customers to reap the benefit of digitalisation in the AI era, Alibaba Cloud has also announced enhanced collaboration, through the Alibaba Cloud Partner Rainforest Plan, with innovative technology and channel partners, both globally and regionally, to provide cutting-edge cloud computing and AI products and solutions, fostering a thriving and sustainable ecosystem.

In Indonesia, Alibaba Cloud has reached a strategic partnership with Telkom Indonesia to provide innovative and effective AI-supported cloud solutions for the Indonesian community. Additionally, this collaboration aims to develop the digital talent increasingly needed in Indonesia to realise the vision of Indonesia Emas 2045.

In Japan, Alibaba Cloud has partnered with Securai, a Japanese company that provides cloud services and information security solutions, to meet the booming digital transformation requests by Japanese businesses. In particular, Securai will localize Alibaba Cloud’s Zstack service for the Japanese market and provide operational support for the stable continuation of the service. Alibaba Cloud’s Zstack is an enterprise-grade cloud platform designed specifically for enterprise customers based on the Apsara distributed operating system for enhanced self-ownership, security compliance, and autonomous O&M.

In Thailand, Alibaba Cloud signed a MoU with Yell Group, a leading creative digital company based in Thailand. This collaboration aims to address the growing demand for Generative AI and to empower the creative media industry with scalable and reliable cloud-based solutions.

Leveraging cutting-edge Generative AI, the company develops applications to support creators in their visual endeavors. To promote industry-wide adoption of AI-driven solutions, Yell Group will utilize Alibaba Cloud’s robust cloud computing capabilities to enhance scalability in the creative sector. Additionally, the partnership will introduce Alibaba Cloud’s media solutions, such as Elastic Desktop Service (EDS) and Object Storage Service (OSS), to foster innovation and growth in this dynamic field.

Alibaba Cloud currently works with about 12,000 partners worldwide, including Salesforce, Fortinet, IBM and Neo4j.