Microsoft SMB Copilot Bundles — CSP Partners Undercut on Pricing. Are Others Experiencing This?
I want to raise something that's creating real problems for us as a CSP partner, and I suspect we're not alone. Microsoft recently launched the SMB Copilot Business bundles — including a M365 Business Premium + Copilot Business bundle at 25% off. Great initiative. The problem? Through eCommerce (direct), customers can purchase this bundle from 1 seat. Through CSP, the bundle has a 10-seat minimum. This is causing a very specific and common issue: we have customers with well over 10 seats on Business Premium who want to trial Copilot with a small group first — say 3 to 8 users — before committing to a wider rollout. That's a completely reasonable approach. But because CSP enforces a 10-seat minimum on the bundle, we can't offer them the discounted pricing for a small initial rollout. Meanwhile, they can see that if they went direct with Microsoft, they'd get 25% off from just 1 seat. The result? Our customers are asking us why we — their trusted Microsoft Partner — are charging them more than Microsoft itself. Some are outright accusing us of trying to rip them off. These aren't micro-businesses slipping through the cracks. These are established customers with legitimate deployments who simply want to pilot Copilot sensibly before scaling up. We've raised this with Microsoft and the justification we received boils down to: the direct channel serves even the smallest customers, while CSP requires a 10-seat minimum to "ensure sufficient scale and support for partner-led deals" and to "protect partner business interests." With respect, this doesn't protect our interests at all. It actively undermines them. Here's what's actually happening: • Customers who want to trial Copilot on a handful of seats see a better deal going direct and question why they're paying a partner at all • It erodes trust in the partner relationship — the very thing Microsoft says it wants to strengthen • It creates an incentive for customers to move licensing to the direct channel for the trial, fragmenting their management and making our job harder • We're left in the impossible position of either absorbing margin to match the direct price, or losing the customer's confidence • Ironically, it discourages the very Copilot adoption Microsoft is pushing — customers who would happily trial on a few seats are put off by being told they need to commit to 10 or more through us We're not asking for special treatment. We're asking for parity. If Microsoft believes 25% off is the right price for this bundle, let us offer it to our customers too — regardless of how many seats they want to start with. We're the ones providing the onboarding, the training, the support, and the ongoing management. We shouldn't be penalised for it. Is anyone else running into this with customers who want to trial Copilot on fewer than 10 seats? How are you handling the conversation when they come to you asking why Microsoft is cheaper direct? Would love to hear how others are navigating this, and whether there's any appetite to push back on this collectively.
Account Suspended Despite Compliance – Seeking Clarification and Reinstatement
Hello Microsoft Community, My company’s Partner Center account currently shows a Suspended status for both the Indirect Reseller and Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider programs, even though we believe we’ve met all requirements. What we’ve done: Completed all security requirements (MFA enabled, security contact designated) Verified business and legal information is up to date Ensured there are no outstanding payments or compliance issues We received a notice about CSP indirect reseller eligibility (USD 1,000 revenue requirement), but our partner confirms our license spend exceeds this threshold. Our questions: Why is the account still suspended if we’ve addressed the stated requirements? Is there a hidden or unaddressed compliance issue? What specific steps must we follow to have the suspension lifted? Can Microsoft reinstate the account once we provide evidence of compliance? We’re unable to perform critical operations like assigning licenses or accessing partner benefits while suspended. Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any guidance from Microsoft moderators or the community would be greatly appreciated.ICYMI | Upcoming CSP events!
Upcoming events Be sure to register for the latest upcoming digital and in-person events in AI Business Solutions. January 22 (New York) – AI Tour for Partners January 27-29 (EMEA/Americas) – Accelerate Agentic AI – Project Ready January 27-29 (Americas) – Dynamics 365 Solution Architect Bootcamp (AI ERP) January 28-30 (Asia) – Dynamics 365 Solution Architect Bootcamp (AI ERP) January 28-30 (EMEA/Americas) – Accelerate Agentic AI – Project Ready January 29 – CSP Partner Hour February 3-4 (Brazil) – Implementing D365 Contact Center February 3-4 (Asia) – Agent-Powered Business Processes Automation February 4-5 (EMEA) – Agent-Powered Business Processes Automation February 4-5 (Americas) – Agent-Powered Business Processes Automation February 9 (EMEA) – Level Up CSP Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agents, and Dynamics 365 Business Central Sales Bootcamp February 10 (Americas) – Level Up CSP Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agents, and Dynamics 365 Business Central Sales Bootcamp February 10 (EMEA) – Level Up CSP Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agents Technical Bootcamp February 10 (São Paulo) – AI Tour for Partners February 11 (Americas) – Level Up CSP Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agents Technical Bootcamp February 26 (London) – AI Tour for Partners March 10 (Paris) – AI Tour for Partners March 17-19 (San Diego) – AI Agent and Copilot Summit NA March 24 (Seoul) – AI Tour for Partners April 8 (Tokyo) – AI Tour for Partners April 20 (Sydney) – AI Tour for Partners May 5 (Zurich) – AI Tour for Partners On-demand digital events ICYMI – Access content from recent digital events on demand! Scale with Cloud and AI Endpoints Partner Sales Bootcamp Agentic AI + Copilot, Partner Skills Accelerator CSP Marketing Moment Episode 6: Maximize Microsoft 365 Renewals: Upsell with AI and Security value Level Up CSP Copilot and Agents Q2 Sales and Technical Bootcamps
security score requirements > 80 ?
Hi, I’m a distributor and noticed that there has been an update to the One-Page CSP Improvements Campaign – Authorizations One Pager. Previously, the document specified that a security score above 80 was required. However, I noticed that this requirement is no longer mentioned in the latest version I downloaded. Could you please confirm whether this criterion still applies, or if the only current prerequisites are as follows: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) must be enabled for all administrative users in the CSP tenant. A security contact must be designated within Partner Center. Security alerts must be responded to within 24 hours or less (not applicable to indirect reseller partners) I would appreciate your clarification on this matter. Ref https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/security/security-requirements i See On Update Partner Center Have New Tag Topic Mandatory requirements Or actually, just do this and it will pass the requirements section. New One Page Remark : When I click Details, I can't open the file at all Azure Information Protection Even though I signed in with an account Partner to view PDF, I can't open Give message Not Have Permission the file. Please help. Old One PageCustomer CUSTOMER_NAME notified of anomalous activity in Azure subscription
How do others feel about the alerts showing up in the Partner Center? We’ve detected suspicious or malicious activity in this Azure subscription. The customer of this subscription has been notified. What suspicious or malicious activity did microsoft detect you ask? An important security update is available for your Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) resource(s). That's right, there is no suspicious or malicious activity. Microsoft wants people to install an out of band security update and thought sending a notification to all azure customers was the best way to ensure that happened. Half the clients that received this alert aren't even running windows servers! Those that are running windows servers do not have the WSUS role installed. All the clients Microsoft alerted us about to suspicious activity in their subscriptions... Don't use WSUS We did have the pleasure of manually closing every single alert as "ignore" and I'm delighted to know that these alerts didn't count towards the security requirement to have an avg response time of less than 24h. I thought the partner security alerts were to notify us of critical issues microsoft detected in azure subscriptions. This, does not appear to be that. Am I missing something? thoughts?
