Skip to content
The Critical Cloud Partner Programme

Bring us the operational risk.
We own it, 24×7.

Critical Cloud is the trust layer for AI operations. Partner with us to add enterprise-grade cloud operations around your offer, without putting a 24×7 ops team on your payroll. You make the introduction; we qualify, deliver and pay.

15 min
First incident response
24×7
Incident ownership
200+
Cloud projects delivered
ISO 27001Cyber Essentials Plus · Powered by Datadog
Independently verified
Critical Cloud in one line

We operate the stack. The customer owns the product.

We operate, secure and govern the AWS and Azure stack your customers' services run on: observability, incident management, reliability, security operations, cost control and change discipline. We do not take ownership of their application, model or business logic.

That boundary is exactly what makes us a useful partner. We strengthen the services around your customer's product without competing for ownership of the product itself.

The gap we fill
Dev firms build excellent products but don't always want to run them round the clock.
Security specialists assess controls but may not operate the platform.
Advisers identify operational risk but need a trusted team to fix it.

Critical Cloud fills that gap, built for tech-led SMBs that need enterprise-grade coverage without an enterprise-sized team.

Why this programme exists

A complete proposition: without the 24×7 payroll.

We are not building a directory of logos. We are building a small network of organisations that make one another more valuable to the customer.

Capability

A credible operational layer to add around your existing offer.

Trust

A trusted place to send customers whose in-house teams are overstretched.

Proposition

A stronger, more complete offer without a 24×7 ops function of your own.

Pipeline

New opportunities through joint account planning and reciprocal introductions.

Reward

A progressively higher referral rate as you create more deal flow.

Access

Direct access to named people who make decisions and show up.

The three partner tracks

Three ways to work together.

They describe how we work together, not status tiers. One is not better than another, and a partner may use more than one where there is a genuine fit.

Track 01

Referral

Spot a genuine operational need and make a warm, permissioned introduction. We qualify, sell, contract and deliver.

OpenProgressive fee
View how it works
Track 02

Co-Marketing

Put both names behind one clear offer, create credible joint materials and take it to a defined audience.

Campaign-ledCurated
View how it works
Track 03

Strategic Alliance

Build repeatable, co-branded solution plays with shared pipeline, GTM investment and quarterly reviews.

Invitation-ledCo-sell
View how it works
Referral Open · subject to acceptance
Track 01
Purpose

Create a qualified introduction.

Customer proposition

Critical Cloud's existing services.

Delivery

Critical Cloud delivers; you make the connection.

Commercial model

Progressive referral fee (7.5% to 12.5%).

Governance

Referral Terms and opportunity registration.

Best-fit partners

Fractional CTOs and CISOs, independent advisers, board members, investors and operating partners, consultants, cloud specialists and trusted customer advisers.

Progressive referral rewards

We reward repeat deal flow, not membership.

The rate rises as you create more qualifying business. The count is cumulative across the active partnership and does not reset annually. There is no cap.

Deals 1–3
Getting started
7.5%
Deals 4–10
Building flow
10%
Deal 11 onward
Top rate · no cap
12.5%

A deal's rate is set when the customer contract is signed and stays fixed for that deal. Earlier deals are not retrospectively repriced.

Estimate your fee

Commission is calculated on Eligible First-Year Service Revenue, the net managed-service fees received in the customer's first 12 months. Drag to model a deal.

Eligible first-year revenue £80,000
£10k £300k
7.5%
£6,000
Deals 1–3
10%
£8,000
Deals 4–10
12.5%
£10,000
Deal 11+

Illustrative only. Excludes VAT, cloud consumption, licensing and pass-through costs. Paid quarterly, within 30 days of quarter end, on revenue received.

Who fits

The strongest opportunities share a signal.

Critical Cloud is built for tech-led businesses on AWS or Azure across the UK, Ireland and EMEA, typically 50 to 500 employees.

On-call is crushing the team

Senior engineers pulled off product, incidents depending on a few people, no credible out-of-hours cover.

AI workloads moving to production

The business needs stronger visibility, runtime control, cost governance and accountable human oversight.

Regulated or audit-sensitive

Finance, insurance, healthcare or public sector, where outages and weak change control become board-level issues.

Growth has outpaced operations

The platform is now commercially important, but observability and resilience haven't matured at the same speed.

Datadog is underused

Alert noise, inconsistent tagging, uncontrolled logs or weak dashboards are reducing its value.

Enterprise ops, no enterprise headcount

The business can't justify recruiting, tooling and retaining a full 24×7 CloudOps or SRE function internally.

Where we're unlikely to fit

App or model development only · GCP-only with no AWS or Azure · very early businesses with no production workload · commodity licence resale or lowest-cost helpdesk. A quick "not for us" beats wasting your credibility or the customer's time.

What we deliver

The services behind your introduction.

Referral commission is earned on these eligible services. Other services can be made referral-eligible by written agreement.

Critical Support

24×7 incident management plus monthly improvement engineering across reliability, security, cost, performance, automation and governance.

When a partner needs an accountable CloudOps and SRE layer around a production service.

Critical Support Lite

A right-sized managed service for smaller or single-cloud environments, with lighter cover and improvement capacity.

When a smaller customer needs operational maturity without the full flagship service.

Critical Response

Incident-response cover for AWS and Azure, without the full proactive improvement service.

When a customer has day-to-day capability but needs dependable evening, weekend or 24×7 incident ownership.

Managed Datadog

Ongoing Datadog platform management: signal quality, configuration governance, cost control and continuous improvement.

When a partner needs Datadog to stay clean, useful and governed after implementation.

The Critical Standard

Five principles behind every partnership.

01

Customer problem first

The partnership solves a real problem. No alliances merely to announce them or collect badges.

02

Clear boundaries

The customer always knows who is responsible for what. Accountability is never blurred.

03

Human ownership

Automation accelerates analysis. A named person remains accountable for the outcome.

04

Customer control

Customers keep access to their own platforms, data and dashboards. No hidden tooling.

05

Mutual value, measured

Outcomes, qualified pipeline and profitable delivery for both sides. We stop what isn't working.

Why your name is safe on the introduction

A partner you can put in front of serious customers.

A referral, co-branded campaign or joint service reflects on your reputation. Critical Cloud is built to deserve it.

First accredited

The world's first Powered by Datadog accredited managed provider. Datadog certified one managed provider globally. We are it.

Transparent by design

Customers keep direct access to their operational data and Datadog environment. No black box.

Clear boundary

We operate the stack; we don't take your customer's product. We complement, never compete.

Built by operators

Founder-led by people who built and exited a managed service business before.

Common questions

How the programme works.

No joining fee and no pay-to-play tier. Referral relationships are accepted where the partner can legally receive commission and the introduction is appropriate. Co-Marketing and Strategic Alliance relationships are selected on fit, quality and the likelihood of mutual value.
Eligible First-Year Service Revenue: the net managed-service fees actually received in the customer's first 12 months for Critical Support, Support Lite, Response and Managed Datadog. It excludes VAT, cloud consumption, licensing, pass-through costs and renewal revenue after the first year.
An accepted registration covers the named customer, the identified need, the registered partner and an initial 120-day protection period. Protection is extended while meaningful, documented customer activity continues. We protect the work that creates a real opportunity, not blanket lists of names.
We calculate referral fees quarterly and provide a commission statement. Subject to the corresponding customer revenue being received and a valid invoice supplied, payment is made within 30 days of quarter end. No commission is due on revenue Critical Cloud does not receive.
Yes, where there is genuine fit. A consultancy might refer an immediate opportunity, run a co-marketing campaign, and later form a Strategic Alliance around a repeatable joint service. The tracks describe how we work together, they are not status tiers.
We'll say so quickly and honestly. App or model development only, GCP-only environments, very early businesses with no production workload, or commodity licence resale are common examples. A fast "not for us" protects your credibility and the customer's time.
Getting started

Make a referral, or talk through an alliance.

Send the customer's name, contact, known requirement and one line on why it fits. We'll confirm receipt and registration status within two working days.

01

Email a founder

Send the details direct.

02

Make a warm intro

Copy us into an email to the customer with the context.

sales@criticalcloud.ai →
03

Explore an alliance

A working session, not a long application form.

Book a call →
Make a referral Book a partner call