Accelerating AI Innovation with Microsoft Marketplace: Key Takeaways from AI Tour London
At the recent AI Tour in London, I had the opportunity to connect with partners and customers to discuss how organizations are accelerating artificial intelligence adoption through the marketplace ecosystem. One theme came through clearly: Microsoft Marketplace is becoming a key platform for discovering, purchasing, and scaling AI solutions - and ultimatley enterprise wide deploying through partner-led private offers. In my latest article, I share key takeaways from the event, including how developers and channel partners are using Microsoft Marketplace to bring AI innovations to market faster, simplify procurement for customers, and drive new growth opportunities across the partner ecosystem. Read the full article to learn how Microsoft Marketplace is helping organizations move from AI experimentation to real business impact—and what these insights mean for partners building and selling AI-powered solutions. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/marketplace-blog/how-microsoft-marketplace-is-accelerating…AI-powered automation for Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell
Tune in to learn how software development companies can use AI‑powered automation to simplify buying through Microsoft Marketplace, streamline Microsoft Marketplace private offers, and maximize the effectiveness of co-selling opportunities. Join Jon Yoo, Co-Founder & CEO at Suger, as he explores how reducing operational friction in Partner Center can help you accelerate deal velocity, improve collaboration with Microsoft sellers, and drive Azure adoption. What you will learn: How to simplify Microsoft Marketplace private offers by automating the connection between your customer relationship management (CRM) systems and Partner Center, enabling faster deal execution and a better buying experience. How to improve Microsoft IP co‑sell engagement with automated referral validation, accurate account targeting, and stronger alignment with Microsoft sellers. How AI helps accelerate Azure adoption and partner success by reducing Marketplace complexity, improving data accuracy, and scaling go‑to‑market operations. How do I participate? Select Add to calendar to save the date, then click the Attend button to save your spot, receive event reminders, and participate in the Q&A.* If you can’t make the live event, don’t worry. You can post questions in advance and catch up on the answers and insights later in the week. This session will be recorded and available on demand immediately after airing. It will feature AI-generated captions during the live broadcast. Human-generated captions and a recap of the Q&A will be available by the end of the week. * Don’t see the Attend button? Sign in to your Marketplace Tech Community account or register for the Tech Community and join the conversation!Issues with Support
Hi we have been a partner for years, but lately there has been some issues with our account we have a few support tickets and the tickets stay open with no activity, we also tried to get our partner manager to help, (we got a new one this Jan) and they could/did not do anything either, just wanted to check with the community if y'all had any advice on this and how we can get this escalated since some of the tickets do have some business impact to our day to day businessHow do you actually unlock growth from Microsoft Teams Marketplace?
Hey folks 👋 Looking for some real-world advice from people who’ve been through this. Context: We’ve been listed as a Microsoft Teams app for several years now. The app is stable, actively used, and well-maintained - but for a long time, Teams Marketplace wasn’t a meaningful acquisition channel for us. Things changed a bit last year. We started seeing organic growth without running any dedicated campaigns, plus more mid-market and enterprise teams installing the app, running trials, and even using it in production. That was encouraging - but it also raised a bigger question. How do you actually systematize this and get real, repeatable benefits from the Teams Marketplace? I know there are Microsoft Partner programs, co-sell motions, marketplace benefits, etc. - but honestly, it’s been very hard to figure out: - where exactly to start - what applies to ISVs building Teams apps - how to apply correctly - and what actually moves the needle vs. what’s just “nice to have” On top of that, it’s unclear how (or if) you can interact directly with the Teams/Marketplace team. From our perspective, this should be a win-win: we invest heavily into the platform, build for Teams users, and want to make that experience better. Questions to the community: If you’re a Teams app developer: what actually worked for you in terms of marketplace growth? Which Partner programs or motions are worth the effort, and which can be safely ignored early on? Is there a realistic way to engage with the Teams Marketplace team (feedback loops, programs, office hours, etc.)? How do you go from “organic installs happen” to a structured channel? Would really appreciate any practical advice, lessons learned, or even “what not to do” stories 🙏 Thanks in advance!
Looking for advice on collaborating with complementary Microsoft partners
a { text-decoration: none; color: #464feb; } tr th, tr td { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; } tr th { background-color: #f5f5f5; } Hi everyone 👋 My name is Martin Rojze. I’m focused on the Microsoft data platform, with a specialization in Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. My work is centered on helping organizations design, implement, and scale modern analytics and reporting solutions on Azure, with a strong emphasis on real world business outcomes rather than just dashboards. As demand for end to end solutions continues to grow, I’m looking to deepen collaboration with complementary Microsoft partners, for example partners who focus on Dynamics 365 or Business Central Data engineering, data science, or AI App development including Power Apps, custom apps, or ISVs Security, governance, or change management I’d really appreciate advice from partners who have successfully built co sell or referral relationships, specifically What has worked and what has not when partnering with other Microsoft partners How you structure collaboration so it’s mutually beneficial and scalable Tips on aligning around go to market, co selling, or delivery without stepping on each other’s toes If you’re a partner interested in collaborating around Fabric and Power BI led analytics engagements, or if you’re willing to share lessons learned, I’d love to connect and learn from your experience. Thanks in advance and looking forward to the discussion. MartinStreamline your Marketplace deals with AI-powered automation
Navigating the operational complexity of Microsoft Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell workflows can slow deal velocity and add friction between your CRM and Partner Center. In the latest blog post, How to streamline Microsoft Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell with AI powered automation, Kyle Heisner from Suger, shares practical insights on automating these processes, reducing manual work, and boosting accuracy with AI-driven integrations. Whether you’re managing plan configuration, validating co-sell referrals, or closing the loop from quote to cash, this article highlights where AI can serve as a co-pilot — helping your team operate more efficiently and accelerate Marketplace success. Want to learn more: Join the live session on March 11 to learn directly from the experts and get your questions answered. AI-powered automation for Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell - Microsoft Marketplace CommunityHow to streamline Microsoft Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell with AI-powered automation
Kyle Heisner is a veteran GTM and Cloud Marketplace leader at Suger with extensive experience helping software companies scale through strategic partnerships and co-sell programs. He is known for transforming complex cloud ecosystems into clear, repeatable revenue motions. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For software development companies selling through Microsoft Marketplace, the operational path from publishing a listing to closing a Marketplace private offer often feels like managing two separate businesses. You have your internal sales motion in your CRM, then you have the structured, plan-driven world of Partner Center. Bridging the gap between these two worlds — specifically configuring plans, managing billing terms, and maintaining accurate IP co-sell referrals — can create significant operational overhead. This guide walks through the key operational challenges of Marketplace private offer and IP co-sell workflows and shows how Suger's automation and AI capabilities reduce manual effort at each step. Mastering Microsoft’s Marketplace private offers The most common friction point for sellers new to Microsoft is the concept of the plan. In the Microsoft ecosystem, you cannot simply define a loosely structured contract with arbitrary dates; you must define explicit plans, billing terms, and pricing per term within Partner Center. If your CRM quote does not align perfectly with a pre-configured Microsoft plan, the transaction fails. The key is creating a reliable translation layer between your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar) and Microsoft Partner Center — one that maps your negotiated commercial terms to Microsoft’s required structure without forcing your sales team to become experts in portal navigation. Here's what that looks like in practice: Map deals to pre-defined Microsoft plans Whether your pricing is flat rate or per user, the goal is to ensure every CRM opportunity maps correctly before an offer is generated. With a CRM-native integration (such as Suger's Salesforce connector), a seller can click "Create Private Offer" and the system automatically: Identifies the correct Microsoft Plan ID Matches the negotiated term duration Aligns the offer with Microsoft's billing engine, no manual configuration required Close the loop from quote to cash Suger connects your CRM directly to Partner Center. Here's what the flow looks like: Opportunities are converted into Marketplace private offers without switching tools Once a customer accepts, the resulting entitlement syncs back to your system automatically Subscription data maps to your revenue recognition workflows and ERP The loop between the Microsoft commercial marketplace and your finance stack is closed, no re-keying required How to automate IP co-sell referrals and reduce rejection rates Achieving IP co-sell incentivized status is one of the most effective ways of unlocking access to Microsoft sellers and Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments (MACC). However, maintaining the operational rhythm of sharing referrals is often a manual burden involving repetitive data entry and frequent validation errors. Microsoft requires specific data hygiene — missing a solution ID or targeting an unmanaged account can cause a referral to fail or be routed to the wrong Microsoft account team. Validate before you submit When your sales team advances a deal in a CRM, the integration should validate the data against Microsoft's schema requirements before the referral is submitted to Partner Center. Suger does this automatically, checking for: Valid solution IDs Required contact details Overall field completeness This significantly reduces "Referral Declined" rates. Know whether you're working with a managed or unmanaged account One of the most common co-sell challenges is knowing who at Microsoft to work with. Managed accounts (those with a dedicated Microsoft account team) and unmanaged accounts require different approaches. A system that surfaces this distinction in your CRM — as Suger does — ensures your deal is routed to the correct seller, which accelerates deal support and improves approval rates. What's next: AI agents that operate your Microsoft GTM for you Suger is expanding these automation capabilities into fully AI-powered agents designed to handle the remaining manual steps in the Marketplace private offer and co-sell workflow, so software companies selling through Microsoft Marketplace can focus on closing deals, not configuring portals. Here's a summary of how Suger's AI agent capabilities map to the manual work they replace: Capability Manual work it replaces Impact for sellers AI-assisted listing creation Writing plan descriptions for every variation Better searchability, faster publishing Co-sell signal detection Reps manually flagging deals for co-sell Higher referral acceptance rates Automated field mapping Configuring CRM-to-Partner Center mappings Setup in minutes, not hours Partner intelligence Tracking which Microsoft relationships drive pipeline Data-driven co-sell strategy Pre-submission validation Troubleshooting failed referrals and offers Higher first-pass approval rates Together, these capabilities make Suger's AI agent an operational co-pilot for software companies on Microsoft Marketplace, reducing complexity, surfacing the right opportunities faster, and helping teams execute co-sell workflows with greater accuracy. For software companies looking to get started today, the practical steps above (plan mapping, referral validation, managed account detection) are where automation delivers the most immediate impact. To learn more and ask questions, attend the AI-powered automation for Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell session on March 11th. If you are unable to attend, the session will be recorded for on demand viewing after.How to Build a Microsoft Marketplace Channel Practice: A Partner Guide to Scalable Growth
For Microsoft partners looking to make Marketplace a repeatable, scalable growth channel, this article outlines what it really takes to succeed. It breaks down how top partners structure their teams, align ownership across sales, alliances, and operations, and activate Microsoft Marketplace as a core part of their co-sell and go-to-market strategy. With practical frameworks, best practices, and real-world guidance, this resource helps partners drive pipeline, accelerate deal velocity, and grow alongside Microsoft through Marketplace. Read the full article: How to build a Microsoft Marketplace channel practiceTurn Microsoft Marketplace into a true growth engine
Many software companies publish their solution in Microsoft Marketplace and wait—hoping growth will follow. The fastest‑growing partners take a different approach. By combining a transactable Marketplace offer with Azure IP co‑sell eligibility, sellers unlock a powerful growth engine. Co‑sell ready offers consistently drive larger deals, faster close rates, and direct access to Microsoft’s field sellers, while allowing customers to apply purchases toward their Azure commitments. When Marketplace and co‑sell work together, partners move faster, sell bigger, and accelerate their enterprise sales motion. Read the full article and learn more about accelerating growth through the Microsoft Marketplace: Accelerate massive growth by co-selling through Microsoft Marketplace with App Advisor guidancePipeline Prioritization with Marketplace Propensity Scoring
A note of gratitude to the Marketplace Rewards team + a recommendation for my partner peers: Marketplace Propensity Scoring has proven to be an exceedingly powerful tool for prioritizing pipeline and accelerating sales cycles. Offered as a Marketplace Rewards benefit, propensity scoring provides you with a score that ranks your pipeline prospects by their likelihood (0 to 100) to transact through Marketplace. We combine this with our co-sell conversations a) to help our buyer identify who on their own IT team has the necessary permissions to buy through Marketplace and b) to gain insight into the customer's MACC status (ie, are they behind pace and therefore keen to decrement via Marketplace purchases). We've shaved a full month off our historical sales cycle since implementing this into our process three quarters ago. Side note on another way valuable way to use this benefit: We also lead with Marketplace in opportunities with a propensity score of 0. Three times we've been successful in being a customer's first-ever Marketplace transaction. It took a lot more effort, but we do it because it demonstrates for our Microsoft friends our commitment to the co-sell motion . . . and they LOVE it when we help them establish a precedent on which they can build the customer's Marketplace muscle. #MarketplaceChampions
