Welcome to the monthly partner release notes for the Microsoft commercial marketplace! The marketplace is central to how we help you reach more customers, simplify sales, and unlock growth. Dive into this month’s roundup of announcements and updates to stay informed about the latest marketplace developments.
Don’t miss an update! Subscribe to the “Partner Digest” label to get notified whenever a new Marketplace Partner Digest hits the community blog. Check out this community post for how-to guidance on configuring your settings.
🚀 Noteworthy Highlights
ICYMI: Marketplace fiscal year closes May 31, 2025! Reminder that Microsoft offers a 50% reduced agency fee for all renewals done through private offers.
This fee reduction automatically applies when you claim either an existing marketplace agreement or an off-marketplace sale as a renewal in Partner Center. This helps you maximize your margins—no extra steps required—while maintaining strong customer relationships.
Resources:
- For steps on how to receive the discount, check out the documentation.
Improvements to App Advisor
App advisor is a self-serve, always-on tool that provides curated guidance, resources, and benefit information right when you need it, after answering a few questions. We’ve launched an improved version of App advisor—now available in the US, with a global rollout coming soon. This update provides a more intuitive and streamlined experience, ensuring you can easily get guidance within a user-friendly interface.
Explore the updated App Advisor tool and take the guesswork out of getting your app to market.
🌟 ️Partner Resources
Discover exclusive resources aimed at helping you get the most out of the marketplace! Explore these helpful resources, blogs, and much more below:
Partner blog series: Capturing the marketplace opportunity by selling path
Check out the first two blogs of a four-part series, where we break down how to maximize your marketplace opportunity across different selling paths:
- Part one: Discover how making the marketplace a core part of your go-to-market strategy can help you close deals faster and increase deal sizes. Read it now
- Part two: Learn how always-on selling with the digital self-serve motion can help you grow your sales pipeline. Read the blog.
There’s still more to come! Stay tuned for the final two blogs coming in April and May, in which we’ll share tips and strategies to maximize success when selling with partners (through multiparty private offers and CSP private offers) and with Microsoft field sellers.
New Co-sell Coaching series launching on April 2
Join us for the new marketplace Co-sell Coaching, where Microsoft partners will walk you through their best practices on how to co-sell effectively through the marketplace, and host a live Q&A along with Microsoft co-sell subject-matter experts. In the first event in this series featuring Carve Partners, you will learn how to get started the right way, unlock faster growth, maximize your impact, engage Microsoft sellers, and more. Register here.
Mastering the Marketplace webinars
Whether you’re new to the marketplace or focused on growing sales, our Mastering the Marketplace webinars cover a broad range of business and technical session topics to help accelerate your marketplace success. Check out these upcoming webinars, register, and mark your calendars. All times are listed in Pacific Time.
- March 25, 9:00 am: Developing your virtual machine offer
- March 26, 9:00 am: Developing your container offer
- March 27, 9:30 am: Get your SaaS transactable offer on Azure Marketplace in two weeks
- April 1, 9:00 am: ISVs - Learn how to use the multiparty private offers campaign in a box
- April 2, 9:00 am: Creating your first offer in Partner Center
- April 7, 9:00 am: ISV to CSP private offers - experience walkthrough
For the complete MTM schedule, visit aka.ms/MTMwebinars.
April customer office hours
Invite your customer to our next office hours on April 30 at 8:30 am PT, the marketplace team will walk through new marketplace functionality that helps further streamline financial operations to help organizations be more efficient. We’ll also dive into new private offer enhancements in flexible billing and more that help safeguard organizations from shadow IT while fueling innovation. Register here.
Channel partner office hours: New marketplace assets and ask the experts Q&A
Join us on March 27 at 8:30 am PT to explore new marketing and product assets designed to help influencers and decision-makers better understand the Microsoft commercial marketplace. We’ll also discuss how to use the Modern Procurement Playbook to navigate the procurement process when closing your marketplace deals. Register here, and submit your questions in advance when registering. Pre-submitted questions will be addressed in the Q&A portion at the end of the event.
⏰ Recent & Upcoming Events
Catalyst 2025
The Microsoft commercial marketplace team will be at the Catalyst conference, hosted by Partnership Leaders in Seattle on May 13 – 15, 2025. Join Jason Rook, Sr. Director of Product Marketing, for a conversation about the value of the marketplace and learn how to activate the channel opportunity. Register here.
Microsoft Build 2025
Mark your calendars! Microsoft Build returns to Seattle on May 19 – 22, 2025. Visit the event page to sign up for registration notifications and to receive the most up-to-date information about the event.
💬 Share Your Feedback!
We truly appreciate your feedback and want to ensure these Partner Release Notes deliver the information you need to succeed in the marketplace. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can continue to improve the content to best support you, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Thank you!
Microsoft