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On-Demand Level Up CSP Renew and Upsell Sales and Technical Bootcamps
Now available on demand - a special edition bootcamp seriesis available to replay on how to plan and successfully renew and upsell customers during the January–March moment where a majority of Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) seat renewals will take place. Learn how to sell, manage, and deploy premium SKUs by leading with security and device management and highlighting new features to help drive customer conversations. You’ll also find out how to attach and configure Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents and how to leverage key programs and promos from Microsoft to succeed. Level Up CSP: 1-day sales bootcamp Recorded December 10, 2024 Level Up CSP: 2 Day Technical Bootcamp Recorded December 11 & 12 Register to replay today at: https://aka.ms/LevelUpCSPBootcamp
No reply from support on my case
Hello, Is the Services Hub for partners deprecated? I've created a case (2412110050003195) using my partner account mid-december 2024 and I still haven't been contacted by Microsoft about it. Could someone have a look at my request and at least give me a feedback ? Kr, GeraldUsing the Azure Sponsorship Benefit
I see a lot of praise on the forum for the Azure Sponsorship benefit available through Marketplace Rewards. It's a fantastic benefit that every eligible partner should be familiar with and use. Sharing some of my experiences to help others activate. What it is: Azure Sponsorship is Azure consumption credit - think general compute or storage - that can be used a variety of ways: build out a customer facing trial environment, use for product development costs or my favorite, extend to joint customers to help sweeten and close deals. We find we get the highest return attaching Azure Sponsorship credits to customer deals. Any customer with an Microsoft EA and who is transacting ISV licenses through the Azure marketplace is eligible (as of now) to receive 10% of year one contract value in Azure Credits. Here are some steps I've taken to operationalize: Communication - I've built a detail communication deck covering what the program is and isn't, eligibility requirements and overall process. It describes step by step how to use the program and includes pass through email boilerplate helping account teams communicate to end customers. Targeting - Maybe you'd be surprised at how hard it can be to give away free benefits. I've worked with sales team to identify marketplace deals in the pipeline that need an extra nudge to close. I follow up directly with those account teams to explain and get them comfortable with the benefit and applying to those customers. Processing - Microsoft's form to request Azure Sponsorship credits isn't long, but expect to do some follow up work to capture all the customer details. Don't hesitate to work with the Microsoft Account Exec involved to capture, the ones I've worked with have always been supportive. Also be sure to keep your operations team managing Marketplace transactions in the loop. Now that we've run several customers through the process, our sales team is feeling more confident and we're seeing the number of deals we can influence with this credit grow. Wishing you equal success with this benefit.
Error when registering as a cloud partner Reseller
I can't get my company/entity approved on the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner (PartnerCenter) because it sees another instance of my entity. Originally, I attempted to use my domain https://sivility.combut because that's hosted with Godaddy, Microsoft wouldn't allow the domain to be used to register on the PartnerCenter. So I'm now attempting to register my company under the domain http://www.sivilitysystems.combut it now gives me the error below because it see's the first attempt under the first domain I tried and failed on. So the system automatically rejects me. I need this fixed because I'm an IT Company and have lots of customers relying on me getting this resolved. {"code":2100,"description":"A legal entity matching the request payload already exists when creating the legal entity.","data":[],"source":"PartnerAccountEnrollmentApi"}Exciting opportunity to see significant updates to App Advisor & provide feedback
Hi Marketplace Community! App advisor on the ISV Hub provides self-serve, step-by-step curated guidance to any ISV, wherever they start. App advisor helps ISVs like you build, publish, and sell apps through the commercial marketplace. We are getting ready to launch exciting updates to the app advisor experience and are looking for ISVs willing to meet with us in a 45-minute session to be scheduled between January 20-23, 2025, and provide feedback. This is a great opportunity for you to help shape the future for all ISVs! We are looking for: ISVs who build commercially focused (B2B) apps intended for repeatable sales through cloud marketplaces or are considering doing so. Whether you are a Microsoft partner or not, or have a published app or not, we'd love to get your feedback. Apply here:https://forms.office.com/r/bkJC3HCnYh Can't wait to hear from you.Domain administration not possible with GDAP
Hey everyone, I got resolution to ticket and with it information from Microsoft that Domain registration in behalf of the customer to customers tenant is not supported and will not be in the future as we are moving from DAP to GDAP. This means no domain administration with csp credentials. Do you provide your customers any domains and if so, how are you going to resolve this side of restrictions coming from GDAP? We have been activating the domain for the customer as a service, but now it's going to be pretty much impossible to do in larger scale. Also providing help with issues with domain needs customer to do the operations, so that adds the amount of work needed by the help desk agents with only GDAP active.Immediate Discontinuation of Azure Passes
Important breaking news that has immediate impacts to TSPs delivering courses that currently use an Azure Pass. Effective immediately, Microsoft is discontinuing the use of Azure passes and recalling any Azure Passes in use by students and trainers. Why is Microsoft removing the Azure Pass option? As a part of the commitment to provide the best possible learner experience, Microsoft was in the process of moving away from using Azure passes to provide cloud access to course labs. The lab experience via the Lab Hosters (LH) removes friction for learners (i.e. activation and support considerations) and provides a more uniform training experience for our learners regardless of their location. Recently, Microsoft has experienced a significant increase in potential fraud and unintended use of Azure services, resulting in the immediate discontinuation of Azure Passes. Which courses are impacted by the discontinuation of the Azure Pass? The following course will not have labs available until end of January: SC-200T00: Microsoft Security Operations Analyst Lab Hosters are working quickly to convert the following courses to non-Azure Pass. Please consult directly with your Lab Hoster to find out the status of what they have available. AZ-2001: Implement Security Through a Pipeline Using Azure DevOps AZ-2008: DevOps Foundations: The Core Principles and Practices AZ-400T00: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps solutions SC-300T00: Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator All localized versions of labs for these courses are offline. An ETA on when they will be available will be provided at a later date. Please consult with your Authorized Lab Hosters to see if your delivery will be impacted as a result of not having Azure passes. Additional information can be found in the attached FAQ. DanHow to Manage Access to Azure Subscriptions in CSP as an Indirect Provider?
Hi, I have a question about managing access to Azure subscriptions in the CSP model as an Indirect Provider (Distributor). Granting Access to Customers: What is the correct way to grant access to Azure subscriptions for customers? Are there any recommended practices or tools to simplify this process? Automation: Is it possible to automate the process of granting access? If yes, what tools or scripts could be helpful? Permissions: What permissions are required to smoothly assign such access? Is it necessary to configure GDAP (Granular Delegated Admin Privileges)? Or is using a Foreign Principal sufficient? I’m looking for detailed insights to understand the differences between these approaches and to choose the best solution. Thanks in advance for any tips and guidance! 😊Action Pack or Learning Action Pack
Hi We are a training company who recently became a Microsoft partner and we are trying to decide whether to purchase an Action Pack or a Learning Action Pack. We would like to explore training Power BI courses. Therefore we need an access to software and also materials. It would also be beneficial if we could provide exams or exams vouchers to our learners (if we understand correctly we can give learners vouchers, like PL-300 and they can take exams online with Microsoft?). I've searched and found the following - "A Microsoft Action Pack provides a set of resources for partners to familiarize themselves with Microsoft technologies and build solutions, while a Learning Action Pack is specifically designed for partners who want to focus on delivering Microsoft training services." It seems to me that a Learning Action Pack gives access to coursewares, whilst Action Pack gives access to software. Is my understanding correct? Does this mean we need to purchase both? Could you please clarify what would be the best option for us? Many thanks, Sue.Ongoing Issue with Employment Verification in Microsoft Partner Program
Hello I am experiencing a persistent issue with the Employment Verification process in the Microsoft Partner and Reseller programs. When attempting to resolve the issue by clicking “Fix Now” after a rejected verification, I am continuously redirected back to the Identity Verification step. Even after completing the identity verification, I am sent back to Employment Verification, only to be rejected again. This creates a loop, and every time I click “Fix Now,” I am not given the option to upload any documents, but instead, I am redirected to the previous step, making it impossible to proceed. This issue has been ongoing for 50 days, and I have contacted Microsoft Support many times. Unfortunately, I continue to receive the same generic responses, asking for the same documents to be uploaded. After submitting them, there is no further follow-up, and the issue remains unresolved. It seems as though I am receiving automated responses without any real resolution. What adds to the frustration is the contradiction in the process: The exact same documents I submitted for Developer Verification, which were successfully processed and authorized, are being rejected for the Partner and Reseller programs, despite being identical in every way. Given the significant impact this issue is having on my business, I am reaching out to the community for assistance. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem, or is there any guidance on how to resolve this? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and support.Action Center - Items will not clear
Each time I login into my Partner account I have the following mandatory action item to complete: The frustrating part is that according to my billing profile the link was / is completed: And I know that this is correct as I am getting billed for Azure various services (i.e. VMs, Storage, etc.) Like another item that I am chasing down - I am unable to submit a Support Ticket due to what I refer to as the Ai loop - when I ask the system a question and it can't answer there is no option for me to continue with the Support Request submission.
Concerns related to the annual changes Microsoft Partner incentives and certification programs
I am reaching out to express few concerns related to the annual changes Microsoft Partner incentives and certification programs. It has been a trend that with each year, the benefits partners receive appear to be decreasing. Additionally, the complexity involved in obtaining these incentives and certifications has been consistently increasing, making the process more challenging for us. The recent FY23 program was particularly concerning for partners, as we observed a significant 90% reduction in the PAL incentives. Furthermore. and solution partner hard requirements become mandatory, adding to the overall difficulty. Main issues: Issue Description Recommended Solution Consumption calculation for the "Workload Accelerator" incentive appears to be nonsensical. "Workload Accelerator" consumption only includes consumption of specific service and disregards the usage of complementary services such as VM's, Storage, Bandwidth, and so on. To illustrate, AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) workload maps to "Data and App Innovation" and is eligible for "Workload Accelerator" incentive. However, AKS runs virtual machines in the background. The consumption of these VMs is registered under a VM's workload (mapped to Azure core) and doesn't qualify for a "Workload Accelerator" incentive. It is important to note that the majority of AKS consumption is VMs and the service's own consumption is relatively minimal. For instance, one of our customers who has based his entire infrastructure on AKS has a monthly VM consumption of $680K, but the AKS consumption itself is a mere $4K. Change "Workload Accelerator" incentive to include the consumption of all services that are related to the main workload service Cancellation of TPOR Rebate Following PAL Registration on EA Customers When a PAL is registered on an EA customer, the LSP partner is unfortunately experiencing a loss of the 1.5% TPOR rebate on all ACR. This registration is leading to substantial losses as instead of receiving 1.5% on all ACR, partners are only receiving 2% on specific workloads. The current arrangement doesn't appear to be logical as the TPOR rebate is associated with the financial dealings with the customer, whereas PAL is tied to Azure service work. There is no rational reason for these two to be linked. It's like owning a restaurant where your star attraction is a fizzy, irresistible Coke. But the moment you hire a waiter (the PAL in this case), you turn to your faithful Coke and say, "Sorry mate, your days of earning are over, we've got a waiter now!" It's nonsensical, to say the least. It's not as though the waiter will be replacing the Coke. They both serve completely different roles, just like TPOR is for financial work with the customer, and PAL is for service work. Allowing partners to benefit from both TPOR and PAL on the same customer. Azure Growth Consumption Incentive calculate method The Azure Growth Consumption Incentive currently sums up the consumption of all customers for its calculation. This means a partner could put in significant effort to increase consumption for one customer, but if another customer, for instance due to bankruptcy, reduces consumption, the overall growth can turn negative, and no incentive would be received. To put it into perspective, consider this analogy: it's as though we're in a marathon race, and a partner's diligent efforts to increase a customer's consumption are represented by one runner sprinting towards the finish line. However, if another runner (symbolizing another customer) suddenly halts or slows down due to fatigue (or in our case, bankruptcy), the average speed of all runners decreases. Despite the sprinter's hard work, the overall pace is compromised. It would be more reasonable to calculate growth individually for each customer, rather than summing all the customers together. By treating each runner in our marathon as an individual competitor, their efforts can be accurately evaluated and rewarded, mirroring a fairer calculation of partners' incentives. Absence of Benefits for Partners on Marketplace Consumption Currently, partners receive no rebate, incentive, or other benefits from marketplace consumption. This doesn't contribute towards ACR. In those time of high interest rates, this essentially implies that every marketplace purchase made by customers is a financial loss for partners. This is because we, as partners, shoulder the burden of financing and interest costs. It is essential to devise a formula that ensures partners also profit from marketplace consumption. This adjustment would help mitigate the financial loss currently experienced and provide an incentive for partners to promote marketplace sales. Difficulties in Enrolling and Maintaining Active Solution Partner Certification Achieving and maintaining active Solution Partner certification feels like an uphill battle. It involves passing a substantial number of exams and demonstrating consistent growth in consumption, customer base, and deployment numbers. It's like trying to spin multiple plates at the same time, without letting any of them fall. Achieving certification requires accumulating 70 points with at least one point from all five sections: performance, Intermediate Skilling, Advanced Skilling, Deployments, and Usage growth. Keeping the certification active can be even more challenging, almost akin to playing a never-ending game of Whac-a-Mole. Just when you think you've got everything under control, one section can unexpectedly drop to zero, forcing you to constantly be on your toes. We recommend considering a revision in the certification requirements and the maintenance process. One suggestion could be to eliminate the need for at least one point in every section. Instead, a total of 70 points across all sections Short Expiry Duration of Certification Exams Acquiring solution partner and advanced certification requires a considerable number of individuals to pass a vast number of exams. However, a thorny issue is the limited validity period of these exams, which is only one year. The renewal process requires taking online exams annually, which involves continuously tracking exam expiration dates. It's perplexing why this duration is only a year. When we look at professionals like doctors, lawyers, or holders of other tech certifications, once they pass an exam, they're certified for life. Ironically, Microsoft stands out with this one-year-only validity. Moreover, with current technology, an AI model like ChatGPT could easily pass these online exams, which questions the point of such frequent renewals. A recommended change would be to extend the validity of these certifications. Making them valid for life, or at a minimum, for a period of five years would be a significant improvement. This adjustment would align the process more closely with other professional certifications and alleviate the ongoing burden of annual renewals. Inactive Partner Communities There was a time when partner communities thrived on Yammer, where partners from around the globe could exchange information and assist one another. Microsoft representatives were also present to answer queries, fostering an active and helpful environment. However, two years ago, Microsoft chose to shut down these Yammer communities and transition to a new platform. The new site, unfortunately, has resulted in segmented and underactive communities, as it's divided into small, country-specific groups. This segmentation has deterred its use, and the once-bustling communities now stand largely inactive. It would be advantageous to revert to the well-liked Yammer communities. These broader, globally inclusive communities provided an active platform for information exchange and cooperative problem-solving that added significant value to partners. Reinstating such a setup could revitalize the partner communities and foster a vibrant and productive environment.About Preconsented applications
Hello, I am trying to more effectively administrate our customers via Microsoft Graph API, and are trying to follow this guide: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/auth-cloudsolutionprovider This is where I don't get things working: Additionally, as a partner developer, you can build apartner-managed appto manage your customers' Microsoft services. Partner-managed apps are often calledpreconsentedapps because all your customers are automatically preconsented for your partner-managed apps. This means when a user from one of your customer tenants uses one of your partner-managed apps, the user can use it without being prompted to give consent. Partner-managed apps also inherit Delegated Admin Privileges, so your partner agents can also get privileged access to your customers through your partner-managed application. I have attempted to use Microsoft Graph via Powershell, HTTP, both delegated and user-methods, nothing seems to be working. If trying Connect-Mggraph -ClientId "***partnermultitenantappid***" -TenantId "****customertenantid****", I get this error: AADSTS90099: The application '****' (*****) has not been authorized in the tenant '*****'. Applications must be authorized to access the customer tenant before partner delegated administrators can use them. This gets solved if I log in to the tenant directly and add the application as per normal. But that eliminates the whole point about something being pre-consented. I have followed all the steps and I have added the application as a serviceprincipal for the AdminAgents group, which I have confirmed is also assigned to the PartnerRelationship with all permissions. The Partner relationship has all rights minus Global Administrator as part of the steps of troubleshooting the issues ive encountered thus far. What am I missing? Again reading from the article: Partner-managed apps also inherit Delegated Admin Privileges, so your partner agents can also get privileged access to your customers through your partner-managed application. Final question: Is it only possible to authenticate to customer tenants with delegated authentication, or is it possible with even application authentication as well?
Join the next IAMCP partner meeting January 23
You're invited to join us in-person or virtually on January 23! IAMCP'sTOLA Chapter (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas) rotates monthly and hosts chapter meetings in Austin, Houston and Dallas.All meetings are hybrid and anyone is welcome to attend, no matter where you are! 😃 Join us online or in-person (lunch included) in Houston at the Microsoft office - 750 Town and Country Blvd., Ste. 1000 Houston, Texas 77024 11:00am-1:00pm CST Register Here >Applied Skills & ARB Guidance Document - Partner Feedback Requested
Hello TSPs, One of the recurring pieces of feedback we get are questions regarding the relationship between Applied Skills and Advanced Role-based (ARB) courseware. In October, we released a document titled Applied Skills and ARB Certs Suggested Guidance which aims to bridge that knowledge gap between the products. We'd like to get your input on the usefulness of that document and what ways we can alter and improve it (or create others) to best suit your needs. Please take a moment to complete this feedback survey. The survey includes both scale and free-form questions, and all results will go directly to the product team. You'll also find the document linked in the header of the survey for easy access. Thank you in advance for your time.
Events
Description: "In this session you will learn about the payouts process lifecycle for the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace, how to view and access payout reporting and what payment processes are suppo...
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Description: Marketplace Rewards is part of ISV Success and offers sales and marketing benefits to help ISVs accelerate application sales on the Microsoft commercial marketplace.
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Recent Blogs
- 17 MIN READWe continue to expand the Azure Marketplace ecosystem. For this volume, 95 new offers successfully met the onboarding criteria and went live between January 1 and January 8, 2025.Jan 17, 2025
- 5 MIN READMicrosoftin Kumppanitunti on joka toinen perjantai klo 10–11 järjestettävä tekninen webinaari, joka on tarkoitettu Microsoftin kumppaneille.Jan 17, 2025
