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NicholasPalmer's avatar
NicholasPalmer
Copper Contributor
Dec 02, 2024

Question about the new Partner Benefits options

We are a small ISV that has been in the Partner program (Now CSP) almost since it's beginning. For most of the time we have been in the program we have maintained our eligibility by having our software certified. 

But then Microsoft changed the requirements to be mostly revenue based and we were no longer able to maintain our Gold level (or silver level). We were still able to purchase the benefits that we use as a legacy Gold partner. 

But now it appears that Microsoft is getting rid of this next year. So I'm wondering what our best option or options are going forward. I've seen several emails about a new certification process as well as some new options for benefits.

Based on our renewal date it appears that we will have to transition to the new benefits options. With the legacy Gold partner benefits, we currently have a monthly Azure benefit of $100 plus I believe some kind of reduced licensing cost for our Azure VMs related to our MSDN subscription which comes from the legacy Gold partner benefits.

I found information about the new offerings here https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/partnership/compare-programs

I've reviewed the different offerings and it looks like the Partner Success Core Benefits and either the ISV Success Core Package or the ISV Success Expanded Package would be appropriate 

So that leads to my two questions:

First, do we have to select and purchase both a benefits package and a software offering?

Second, with our current legacy Gold partner benefits we'd annually renew our Azure benefits from the MPN site and that would flow directly to our Azure subscription. Will this stay the same with the new benefits?

Thanks
Nick

Partner Center Security
tech question or issue
  • MartijnElfers's avatar
    MartijnElfers
    Steel Contributor
    Dec 12, 2024

    I'm not that knowledgeable about the ISV programs from Microsoft, but maybe this helps: 

    1: What do you mean with "software offering"? For the Benefit Packages these can always be purchased by partners. There's no requirement for a partner to buy such a package, except for having a PartnerID of course. 

    2: This would work the same as before. The Azure credits you get thru Benefit Packages are the same type of Azure credits used for the Legacy Competency or the new Designation/Specialization statuses. 

    • NicholasPalmer's avatar
      NicholasPalmer
      Copper Contributor
      Dec 13, 2024

      MartijnElfersthanks for the response. I replied to this yesterday but I don't see my response so I'm reposting. Sorry if this is a double post.

       

      I think I got confused when reading about the different options for the different Benefit Packages. I reviewed the options and I understand what is provided.

      In reviewing the benefits it looks like the ISV Success Core and Expanded Packages provide Visual Studio professional subscriptions (without monthly Azure credit). But this is different than the Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise subscription that we currently get with the Legacy Gold package.

      So while we wouldn't be getting the monthly Azure credit with the Visual Studio professional subscription, we would get the bulk benefit. But what I'm worried about is losing Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise subscription which I believe we have used when setting up our Azure and DevOps infrastructure. 

      I've tried to look thru all the different ways to become a Solutions Partner again, but as far as I can find, all the options have a sales requirement for attaining the Solutions Partner designation which we have never been able to meet. We had previously qualified for the Solutions Partner designation by having our software certified.

      But I did find the Solutions Partner* with certified software** option which appears to have several options that don't have a sales requirement. Would attaining that designation get us any additional software benefits in the Solutions Partner program?

      Thanks

       

       

      • MartijnElfers's avatar
        MartijnElfers
        Steel Contributor
        Dec 17, 2024

        I believe you still get an Azure credit with a Visual Studio Professional, it's just less then for VS Enterprise. I also think that VS Azure credits are meant to be used for personal development/training purposes, not really for company dev purposes. So if that's the case, you might want to migrate your Azure resources to a different subscription. 

         

        If Solutions Partner with certified Software is the right option for you totally depends on the business you do as a company. You mentioned you're an ISV, so I would assume this is not a match. 

        Probably already read this, but here's more info: Introduction to Solutions Partner with certified software designations - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn

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