AI agents on Microsoft Fabric for faster retail merchandising decisions
For our latest in the Partner Spotlight series, we’re highlighting a partner building business-ready AI agents on Microsoft Fabric, so organizations can turn governed enterprise data into faster decisions and automated workflows. I connected with the team at Lucid Data Hub to learn how Lucid Agents Hub brings agentic experiences directly to customers’ data in OneLake, helping retail teams move beyond manual reporting and into repeatable, insight-driven action. About Venu Amancha, Founder & CEO, Lucid Data Hub builds business-ready AI agents that run directly on enterprise data within Microsoft Fabric. Our platform, Lucid Agents Hub, enables organizations to move beyond reporting and into automated, insight-driven workflows without moving data outside their existing security boundaries. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ [JR] Who is your solution designed for, and what does it help them do? [VA] Lucid Agents Hub is designed for teams who need to make frequent, high-impact decisions from large volumes of operational data especially merchandising teams, buyers, and store operations leaders in retail. Instead of spending hours assembling recaps and interpreting dashboards, they can receive agent-generated insights and clear, actionable recommendations on a predictable cadence. The AI agent eliminated that manual cycle entirely. It now surfaces those insights automatically, every week, in minutes. One example is our Retail Sales Performance AI Agent, which automates the weekly sales insights cycle for merchandising teams and buyers by analyzing millions of rows of weekly sales, item, and store data across banners and store clusters. [JR] Can you give an example of how the Retail Sales Performance AI Agent solved a customer’s problem? [VA] At Heritage Grocers Group, merchandising teams spent 5+ hours every week manually building sales recaps. They could see what happened—but not why. Buyers lacked a clear view of category trends, item-level performance, quantity shifts, and store-cluster patterns. The Retail Sales Performance AI Agent eliminated that manual cycle. It now surfaces those insights automatically every week in minutes detecting item-level declines, identifying fast-moving margin-positive SKUs, flagging underperforming items by store cluster, and delivering recommendations directly to buyers and store managers. [JR] Which Microsoft technologies or services are foundational to what you’re building? [VA] The solution runs natively on Microsoft Fabric, using OneLake as the unified data layer. Our agents operate directly on enterprise data and inherit existing governance and access controls without additional configuration. Outputs flow into the dashboards, collaboration platforms, and reporting workflows customers already use, so insights show up where decisions get made. Microsoft Fabric was a deliberate choice, not just a default. Our enterprise customers especially in retail already have their critical data living in the Microsoft ecosystem. OneLake means there’s a single, governed copy of that data. No duplication, no movement, no additional risk surface. Our agents read directly from that layer, which means the security and compliance boundaries that customers have already invested in carry over automatically. The value of building on Fabric goes beyond the technical architecture. It fundamentally changes how enterprise buyers evaluate and procure a solution like ours. When IT and security teams see that agents operate entirely within their existing Fabric environment with role-based access controls, workspace permissions, and audit logs they already control. It removes the largest barrier to enterprise adoption: trust. Procurement conversations that used to require months of security review cycles are now dramatically faster. What we didn’t fully anticipate was how much Fabric’s native integration capabilities would simplify end-to-end delivery. Going in, we expected to spend significant engineering time on data pipeline infrastructure. What we found instead was that Fabric’s data ingestion, lakehouse, and compute layers fit together in a way that let our team focus almost entirely on agent logic and business outcomes, not infrastructure plumbing. That shift in where we spend our effort has meaningfully accelerated how quickly we can deploy for new customers and extend to new use cases. [JR] How are you using AI today in Lucid Agents Hub, and what business outcomes have customers seen? [VA] We use Microsoft Azure AI Foundry for core AI and language model capabilities, and Microsoft Fabric Copilot (Fabric IQ) as the data and compute backbone. Together, they power agents that analyze weekly sales data across banners and store clusters, generate narrative-quality insights at the category and SKU level, and deliver clear recommendations without human intervention in the analysis cycle. 5+ hours of weekly manual effort eliminated Item-level sales declines and fast-moving margin-positive SKUs surfaced automatically Top-growth categories and underperforming items identified by store cluster Recommendations delivered directly to buyers and store managers weekly This all leads to faster decisions, stronger merchandising actions, and measurable improvements in product mix, availability, and overall sales performance. [JR] Any architectural decisions or best practices you’d recommend to other partners building agents? How did you approach building securely? [VA] We designed the solution as a coordinated set of specialized agents one for data ingestion, one for validation, and one for insight generation and delivery. Each agent owns a focused task, and together they run as a connected, end-to-end workflow. This makes the system easier to maintain, consistent in its logic, and straightforward to extend to new banners, categories, or use cases. Agents run entirely within the customer’s Microsoft Fabric environment data never leaves the customer’s security perimeter. All access controls, role-based permissions, and governance policies are inherited directly from Fabric. [JR] What motivated you to publish on Microsoft Marketplace? And did you use any Microsoft tools or benefits to support your publishing process? [VA] Publishing on Microsoft Marketplace was a straightforward decision. It gives enterprise customers immediate confidence that they’re procuring from a trusted, Microsoft-validated source instead of navigating a separate vendor relationship. It also simplifies procurement transactions run through an established Microsoft channel; so, customers can move faster than in traditional sales cycles. And it expands our reach to buyers already operating in the Microsoft ecosystem who actively look to Marketplace for solutions. We actively use Marketplace Rewards, which has been valuable for amplifying go-to-market efforts and accessing Microsoft co-marketing resources. We also leverage AI-enabled Marketplace Listing Optimization and related Marketplace content guidance provided through Marketplace Rewards. We used this support primarily to improve our marketplace messaging, positioning, and listing content so it would better resonate with enterprise buyers evaluating solutions within the Microsoft ecosystem. [JR] What key takeaways would you share with other partners building and publishing agents? Any unexpected wins or challenges along the way? [VA] Building and publishing agents can be a complicated endeavor. To other partners, we’d say, start with workflows that are repetitive and directly tied to decisions weekly merchandising recaps are a perfect example. Think end-to-end, not task by task. And build on governed enterprise data from the start, because that’s what drives trust and adoption. An unexpected win was how quickly merchandising teams adapted. Receiving plain-language summaries broken down by banner, store cluster, category, and SKU was more accessible than navigating dashboards. Teams made faster, more confident decisions without needing to interpret raw data themselves. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Closing reflection Lucid Data Hub shows how agents built on Microsoft Fabric can turn governed enterprise data into repeatable, decision-ready insight helping teams act faster while keeping security boundaries and access controls intact.Optimizing Azure spend with Microsoft Marketplace
As someone deeply involved with Microsoft Marketplace product marketing team, I was excited to host our recent customer office hour session with Trunal Bhanse, CEO of Clazar. Our conversation focused on using Microsoft Marketplace to optimize Azure spend. The session explored how organizations can leverage Marketplace as a strategic procurement engine and maximize their cloud investments. Setting the stage: Marketplace as a growth engine Every organization today is striving to become a frontier firm—enriching employee experiences, reinventing customer engagement, and reshaping business processes. With AI at the center of transformation, the question often arises: should we build or buy AI solutions? If buying, how do we procure them efficiently and securely? That’s where Microsoft Marketplace comes in. It’s your trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents, offering the largest catalog in the industry. Marketplace is fully integrated with Microsoft Cloud, providing a seamless experience from discovery to deployment. Whether you need standard contracts, private offers, or multi-year agreements, Marketplace adapts to your procurement needs and ensures your transactions are visible in the Azure cost management portal. Azure spend optimization: The power of Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) A major focus of our session was the Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC). This agreement allows organizations to commit to a certain level of Azure consumption in exchange for discounted rates. The beauty of MACC is that eligible Marketplace transactions decrement your commitment dollar-for-dollar. That means when you purchase MACC-eligible solutions through Marketplace, you’re directly funding your cloud investments and maximizing your discounts. Our conversation covered how to identify MACC-eligible solutions using tools like Azure Marketplace Compass, the Azure portal, and Marketplace storefront. With over 4,000 eligible solutions available, most organizations can find the software they need and align it with their MACC commitments. This approach is especially valuable at fiscal year-end or when budgets are tight, allowing you to leverage your commitment for critical investments. Operationalizing Marketplace procurement To truly optimize spend companies should start with an inventory of all solutions currently deployed or planned for procurement across their organization. By mapping this inventory against MACC-eligible offers, they can ensure every purchase maximizes commitment and discounts. Security and governance are also paramount. Marketplace enables role-based access controls and private marketplaces, so only authorized employees can procure approved applications. This walled-garden approach gives administrators full control over what’s available for procurement. Partner solutions and automation To bring the MACC optimization process to life, Clazar provided a live demonstration of their platform which specializes in automation of this process. Their solution enables organizations to seamlessly match their software inventory against MACC-eligible offers, giving procurement and finance teams consolidated visibility into spend and streamlining the entire procurement workflow. With robust integrations for single sign-on-systems and automated dashboards, Clazar empowers customers to instantly identify eligible applications and make faster, more informed decisions about their Azure Marketplace investments Microsoft Marketplace is more than a procurement platform—it’s a strategic lever for optimizing Azure spend, accelerating innovation, and simplifying operations. By aligning purchases with MACC commitments, organizations unlock savings, streamline processes, and gain unparalleled visibility into their cloud investments. To learn more, watch the full recording of our conversation here: Using Microsoft Marketplace to optimize Azure spend - Microsoft Marketplace Community Resources Microsoft Marketplace: Microsoft Marketplace | cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) benefit: Azure Consumption Commitment Benefit - Marketplace customer documentation | Microsoft Learn Cost management for Microsoft Marketplace purchases: Cost management for Microsoft Marketplace purchases - Marketplace customer documentation | Microsoft LearnImprove Marketplace outcomes with AI-powered listing recommendations in App Advisor
Over the past two decades working in the Microsoft partner ecosystem, I’ve seen how much effort it can take for small software development teams to navigate the path from building solutions to publishing to selling successfully enough to build a business around the products we work hard to build. What stands out to me now, however, is how much that experience has become more streamlined and actionable. App Advisor is one of the clearest demonstrations of Microsoft’s commitment to helping software development companies succeed, and in many ways, it represents the pinnacle of that evolution. Selling through Microsoft Marketplace has always been a high-impact growth channel for our team at Breakthru. But like many software companies, we’ve had to balance speed with precision—especially when it comes to optimizing listings that directly drive demand. With App Advisor—and now AI-powered Marketplace listing recommendations—we’re able to continuously improve how we show up in Marketplace without introducing risk or guesswork. We have more control and clarity than we have ever had before. Want to try the AI-recommendations for your listing? Go to aka.ms/ImproveMyListing Why App Advisor became a core part of how we operate I’ve been working in the Microsoft partner ecosystem for over 20 years. That’s a lot of technological changes. Over that time, however, Microsoft has never wavered from enabling partners with resources to build and grow. In fact, Microsoft has historically provided so much information, it was sometimes challenging to find the most relevant next step. After all, knowing what to do is one thing, knowing how to do it correctly and when is another. App Advisor closes that gap. It doesn’t just point you in the right direction. It meets you where you are and helps you get to where you need to go next. What makes App Advisor especially valuable for us is how practical and actionable it is. Instead of relying on external consultants or piecing together information across different resources, we can go directly to App Advisor and get clear, structured guidance. That saves time, reduces ambiguity, and helps us execute with more confidence across everything from publishing to sales motions. As it has evolved, it’s become more than a resource. It’s a system that helps you: Understand how to build, publish, and sell effectively Navigate Marketplace requirements without relying on external consultants Improve your execution across the entire lifecycle What’s new: AI-powered Marketplace listing recommendations The latest addition—AI-powered Marketplace listing recommendations—builds directly on that foundation. For us, Marketplace listings are a primary driver of inbound demand. In the Teams App Store, especially, visibility translates directly into installs, usage signals, and ultimately sales conversations. That raises the stakes. Any change to a listing—new messaging, updated screenshots, revised positioning—can impact uptick and performance. Historically, we were averse to making any changes. Now, that dynamic has changed. With AI-powered recommendations, we know what performs well, and as a result we can easily: Validate listing quality before and after updates Identify gaps in areas like keywords, messaging, and structure Make improvements without risking performance regression Iterate more frequently with confidence The ability to revalidate our listings and maintain a high-quality score as we evolve our messaging is incredibly valuable. What this means in practice This isn’t just about optimization. It’s about a different kind of operational fluency. Instead of treating our Marketplace listings as a static asset, we treat it as dynamic, continuously improving service. For example, this new App Advisor feature helped us identify that we needed to improve our key words. While our listings were strong in structure and clarity, optimizing key words would improve discoverability. That’s the kind of targeted feedback that drives meaningful outcomes. It not only shortens the feedback loop significantly but also removes uncertainty from the process. How this fits into the bigger picture What stands out most is how this feature fits into the broader App Advisor experience. It’s not a standalone tool. It’s part of a system designed to help software companies: Build with Marketplace readiness in mind Publish with clarity and compliance Sell with stronger positioning and visibility That continuity matters. It ensures that what you build, how you position it, and how you present it in Marketplace are all aligned from the start. If you’re already selling through Marketplace—or planning to—this is, in my twenty-plus-year experience with Microsoft, one of the fastest ways to improve outcomes without adding overhead. Review your current listings and run them through the AI-powered recommendations. You’ll quickly see where to focus. Ready to get started? aka.ms/AppAdvisor Explore how to optimize your listing and improve Marketplace performance today: aka.ms/ImproveMyListingMicrosoft Marketplace Partner Digest | April 2026
April kickstarts a fast-paced quarter of accelerated opportunity as partners line up new co‑sell motions and expand channel‑led sales—including resale‑enabled offers—to reach more customers across global markets, all while rapidly building and publishing transactable AI apps and agents to Microsoft Marketplace to meet growing customer demand. ✨ Microsoft Cloud AI Partner Program This month brings several important updates to Specializations and Solutions Partner designations, including revised performance criteria for the Small and Midsize Business Management specialization and new skilling options across Modern Work, Teams, and Digital & App Innovation. Microsoft is also evolving specializations to better reflect the shift toward AI—introducing the Secure AI Productivity specialization, retiring the Adoption and Change Management specialization, and preparing to merge several existing specializations into streamlined, solution‑aligned offerings. Learn more 🆕 What’s new in Partner Center MFA enforcement for Partner Center APIs Partner Center is now enforcing multifactor authentication (MFA) for all app + user API calls, with full enforcement as of April 1, 2026. Any requests made without a valid MFA token will be blocked with a 401 response and error code 900421. All APIs already support MFA, so update your systems now to avoid disruptions, strengthen security, and align with Partner Center requirements. Learn more 📈 Go-to-market with Microsoft Marketplace Microsoft has released a new collection of Azure go‑to‑market assets built specifically for SMB audiences, giving partners step‑by‑step guidance, tailored messaging, and ready‑to‑use materials to drive demand in a rapidly expanding market projected to surpass $1 trillion by 2030. This content library equips distributors, resellers, and service providers with everything needed to engage SMB customers at scale—from solution plays and sales resources to campaign‑ready materials—helping partners build pipeline, deepen customer conversations, and grow recurring cloud revenue. Partners can explore the full Azure SMB content collection to activate these assets in upcoming campaigns and accelerate their cloud practice growth. Explore resources to engage Azure SMB customers Reduced Microsoft Dragon Copilot pricing Partners can now access a full library of Dragon Copilot training and go‑to‑market resources, including sales pitch decks, messaging and positioning guides, demo materials, FAQs, data sheets, infographics, and more—each with detailed descriptions to help teams understand how and when to use them. These materials are designed to help Dragon Copilot partners confidently market, sell, and support the solution with consistent, enterprise‑ready content. Access Dragon Copilot partner assets Plus, new Microsoft Dragon Copilot partner resources Additionally, Microsoft has announced a reduced list price for the Dragon Copilot per‑user license, effective May 1, 2026, across all current geographies. This update simplifies pricing, expands competitiveness, and retires the separate Physician Practice offer, consolidating all capabilities into the standard license. A new per‑encounter consumption model for ambient and generative AI capabilities will also launch on May 1, making usage easier to understand and manage. Together, these changes create a more streamlined, cost‑effective path for partners to drive Dragon Copilot adoption and growth. Read the announcement Marketplace offer optimization recommendations in App Advisor Microsoft has introduced a new AI‑powered Marketplace listing optimization capability in App Advisor, giving partners instant, personalized recommendations to improve the clarity, quality, and discoverability of their public Marketplace listings. The tool evaluates listings across six key categories—from value proposition to grammar—and provides targeted guidance aligned with Marketplace best practices, helping partners iterate faster without manual review cycles. Available free and on demand in the US, this capability enables continuous optimization so partners can strengthen engagement, improve search visibility, and stand out in an increasingly competitive catalog. Get recommendations for your Marketplace offer 💡Stay up to date with regular Partner Center announcements 📅 Marketplace events The Marketplace trainings and events calendar is updated with new trainings, live demos, and partner‑focused sessions designed to help software companies and channel partners accelerate co‑sell, private offers, and Marketplace‑first sales growth. Catch up on recent webinars and register for upcoming events that break down proven strategies, best practices, and highlight tools and resources to strengthen your Marketplace motions. Recent events Why Azure belongs in your multi-cloud strategy April 2, 2026 This event helps Marketplace‑aligned software companies understand why incorporating Azure into their multi-cloud strategy can boost customer acquisition, deal velocity, and co‑sell success. Partners will hear how to replicate solutions for Azure, tap into Microsoft funding programs, leverage tools that speed time‑to‑market, and convert modernization efforts into sustained Marketplace growth 🎥 Watch the recording Upcoming events Seamless private offers: From creation to purchase and activation April 15, 2026 (8:30 AM PDT) Next week’s session with Stephanie_Brice and Chr_Brown will provide partners an end‑to‑end look at how to execute seamless private offers—from creating them in Partner Center to extending them across channel‑led sales motions such as multiparty private offers, CSP private offers, all the way through customer purchase and activation. With a live demo, guidance on resale enabled offers and flexible billing schedules, and time for Q&A, attendees will see exactly how private offers work in practice to streamline deal execution and accelerate Marketplace business growth. Register to attend Maximize selling with Microsoft and Marketplace ROI April 28, 2026 (8:30 AM PDT) Partners will learn how to simplify their Microsoft co‑sell motions, unlock underutilized incentives, and automate manual Partner Center tasks using WorkSpan. Drawing on workflows that have powered more than $5B in co‑sell revenue, this session covers how to apply for Azure sponsorship, earn and activate Marketplace Rewards benefits, and use WorkSpan’s AI‑powered platform to drive earlier seller actions and stronger partnership execution. It’s a practical guide to capturing more value from the Microsoft ecosystem. Register to attend Revisit past sessions and see the full calendar of Marketplace community events for partners and customers. Whether you’re expanding co‑sell motions, publishing new AI‑powered solutions, optimizing private‑offer execution, or tapping into updated programs like Dragon Copilot, the opportunities to reach more customers and accelerate growth continue to expand. As always, we welcome your insights and feedback—let us know what topics you’d like to see covered in a future post so we can continue shaping this digest around what matters most to you.Using App Advisor to build, publish, and grow in Microsoft Marketplace
In a recent partner office hour webinar, experts walked through how to build, publish, and optimize Marketplace offers using App Advisor, complete with a live demo of the platform in action. This article summarizes the key insights from that session and highlights how you can apply them to your own Marketplace journey. Navigating the path from idea to a successful Microsoft Marketplace offer can feel overwhelming. With countless resources, technical requirements, and go-to-market decisions to make, many software companies struggle to stay focused on what matters most. That’s where App Advisor comes in. App Advisor is a self-service, end-to-end guidance experience designed to help you build, publish, and grow high-performing marketplace offers, all with tailored, actionable recommendations based on your specific scenario. In this article, we break down how App Advisor supports every stage of your offer journey and how you can use it to drive better outcomes faster. What is App Advisor and why it matters App Advisor brings together curated Microsoft guidance, interactive tools, and AI-powered recommendations into a single experience. Instead of searching across scattered documentation, you get step-by-step, personalized guidance aligned to: Your app type and architecture Your chosen marketplace offer model Your current stage in the journey The result? Less guesswork, faster execution, and higher-quality marketplace offers. The four key stages of the Marketplace journey 1. Discover: Validate the opportunity Before building, it’s critical to understand the business value of Microsoft Marketplace. App Advisor helps you: Evaluate the business opportunity of building on Microsoft technology Understand the value of selling through marketplace Explore available partner benefits and incentives A standout feature here is the Marketplace Value Calculator, which allows you to: Estimate revenue potential Compare transaction costs vs. benefits Generate a business case to share with leadership 2. Build: Accelerate development with confidence In the build phase, App Advisor connects you with: Code templates and reference architectures SDKs, APIs, and technical documentation Free tools, cloud credits, and development resources A newly integrated Quick Start Development Toolkit helps you: Match your app idea to proven development patterns Access deployable code repositories Speed up time-to-market with ready-to-use solutions You also gain guidance on building secure, compliant, and well-architected applications, ensuring your solution is marketplace-ready from the start. 3. Publish: Simplify offer creation and launch Publishing in Microsoft Marketplace involves multiple steps—from selecting the right offer type to configuring listings and pricing. App Advisor simplifies this by: Helping you choose the right marketplace offer type Guiding you through pricing models and selling options Providing step-by-step Partner Center instructions Highlighting common pitfalls and certification requirements The platform dynamically adapts guidance based on your selections, ensuring you only see what’s relevant to your scenario. 4. Grow: Optimize, sell, and scale Publishing your offer is just the beginning. Growth requires continuous optimization and active selling. App Advisor supports this with: AI-powered listing optimization Receive a quality score for your marketplace listing Get actionable recommendations across key areas like value proposition, content clarity, and visual assets Improve discoverability and customer engagement by connecting to your offer so you can edit today Go-to-market and sales guidance Learn how to promote your offer effectively Use tracking tools and analytics to refine performance Access co-branded marketing assets and toolkits Advanced selling strategies Create private offers with custom pricing and terms Partner with resellers and channel partners Scale through CSP and multi-party private offers Unlock benefits and incentives Earn cloud credits and marketplace rewards Leverage co-sell opportunities with Microsoft sellers Accelerate deals with incentives and partner programs The benefits of using App Advisor throughout the journey Using App Advisor consistently across all stages delivers significant advantages: ✔ Personalized guidance- No more generic documentation, get recommendations tailored to your app, technology, and goals. ✔ Faster time to market- Reduce delays with step-by-step instructions, pre-built templates, and streamlined workflows. ✔ Higher quality listings- AI-driven insights help you create compelling, optimized marketplace listings that convert. ✔ Improved discoverability- By following best practices, you increase your chances of being found and chosen by customers. ✔ Better sales outcomes- Access tools and strategies to promote, track, and close deals more effectively. ✔ Continuous optimization- Return anytime to refine your listing, improve performance, and unlock new growth opportunities. App Advisor is valuable for everyone Whether you're: A first-time publisher exploring marketplace opportunities An experienced software development company scaling multiple offers A marketing or sales stakeholder optimizing performance App Advisor provides value at every level. Watch the full webinar 👉 Be sure to watch the complete recorded session to see a detailed demo of App Advisor, showcasing how to navigate each stage and apply best practices in real time to get the most out of your Microsoft Marketplace journey. Partner office hour: Build, publish, and optimize marketplace offers with App Advisor By integrating App Advisor into your workflow, you’re not just building marketplace offers; you’re building better, faster, and more successful ones. Get started with App Advisor App Advisor is publicly available and free to use. Partners are encouraged to explore the experience firsthand and share feedback directly within App Advisor. App Advisor: https://aka.ms/appadvisor Marketplace Community: https://aka.ms/community/marketplaceGet personalized, fast recommendations for your Marketplace listing to boost your discoverability
First impressions matter on Microsoft Marketplace. In a growing and increasingly competitive catalog of apps and agents, the quality of your listing often determines whether a customer discovers, clicks, tries, or moves on. But most software companies are left guessing. Is your value proposition clear enough? Are your benefits compelling? Are you aligned with Marketplace best practices? Now, you don’t have to guess. Try it now: https://aka.ms/ImproveMyListing Why speed matters in a crowded Marketplace Marketplace visibility is competitive. Customers are comparing multiple solutions quickly. If your listing is unclear, vague, or missing key details, you may not get a second chance. Traditional listing optimization required: Trial-and-error updates, Waiting for manual review cycles, Interpreting best-practice documentation, Delayed feedback after publishing or guessing about feedback. Now, you can move at the speed of AI. This agentic capability, trained on the best practices of listings and the extensive experience of Marketplace Reward expert editors, scans your public Marketplace listing and delivers: Targeted, focused recommendations, A clear rating across six critical categories customers care about, Immediate guidance aligned to Microsoft Marketplace best practices. Anyone can get objective feedback in seconds — not weeks. "To make sure that the quality of our listings stays at a consistently high score is going to be really valuable for us and we can make changes to our listings more often and with more confidence." -Dan Langille, VP Mover Engagement and Customer Experience, Breakthru How the AI-powered listing optimization works The experience is intentionally simple. Sign in to App Advisor using your Partner Center account, Select your published publicly available Marketplace offer, Receive personalized recommendations in seconds. Anyone at your organization can use this feature, no special permissions required. Your listing is evaluated across six categories that directly impact discoverability and engagement: Value proposition Solution description Information quality Presentation Clarity and coherence Grammar and style Each category receives a 1–5 score. You see exactly where to improve and why. After reviewing your recommendations, you can edit your listing in Partner Center, republish, and rescan after 24 hours to measure progress. No waiting. No guesswork. No cost. Built on Microsoft expertise This AI capability is trained on Marketplace best practices and the editorial methodology used by Microsoft experts reviewing thousands of listings. You’re not receiving generic AI suggestions. You’re getting structured, Marketplace-aligned guidance designed to help your listing: Improve clarity and positioning Increase search discoverability Strengthen engagement signals Better communicate value to buyers Because insights are AI-generated, you should review and validate each recommendation before publishing changes. But the speed and structure dramatically reduce friction. Designed for software companies who want to stand out Marketplace is not just a publishing channel. It is a competitive sales surface. High-quality listings: Convert more trials, Communicate value faster, Generate stronger engagement, Differentiate you from similar offers. This capability democratizes listing optimization. Previously constrained by availability, it is now available on demand to any organization with a public Marketplace listing in the US. Have multiple listings? Scan them all. Iterate as often as you need. Stop waiting. Start optimizing. What this means for your Marketplace growth Optimization is no longer a one-time activity. It becomes an iterative advantage. Scan. Improve. Republish. Rescan. Over time, this creates compounding improvements in discoverability and engagement — helping your app or agent rise above the noise. Ready to improve your listing today? Visit https://aka.ms/ImproveMyListing Sign in, select your offer, and get recommendations in seconds.Unlock 5 powerful App Advisor capabilities to sell faster on Microsoft Marketplace
Software companies building apps and agents move quickly. But speed alone isn’t enough. Teams also need clear guidance on development decisions, publishing steps, and how to bring solutions to Microsoft Marketplace. App Advisor helps streamline that process. App Advisor helps streamline the process for anyone, with no barriers to start. However, when you sign in and authenticate, the experience becomes even more powerful. Here are 5 reasons to authenticate in App Advisor. 1. Manage multiple app or agent projects in one place Many software companies work on several apps or agents at once. Each may be at a different stage — from early design to publishing. Signing in to App Advisor unlocks multi-project save, allowing you to manage multiple projects in one place, complete with step-by-step guidance. This allows you to: Track several apps or agents simultaneously. Save project name and development progress. Connect to correlating existing Partner Center offers. Resume work later on offers without restarting the process. Save your progress on each app or agent across different devices and browsers. Instead of recreating your progress each time, your work is now saved and organized. You can access any of your projects whenever you want to work on them in the Your projects section of App Advisor above the steps. 2. Get personalized guidance based on your benefits When you sign in, App Advisor can personalize recommendations to your current benefit membership and help guide you to the next step. Guidance adapts based on: Your Microsoft AI Cloud Partner program membership. Your eligibility for benefits based on ISV Success or Azure IP Co-Sell. Your Marketplace Billed Sales (MBS) and Marketplace Rewards benefits. This helps reduce time spent searching through documentation and surfaces the most relevant guidance for your scenario. The result: clearer decisions and faster development cycles. 3. Start Marketplace offers directly from App Advisor Signed in users can create Marketplace offers directly inside App Advisor, which will create your record in Partner Center. Supported offer types include: SaaS offers. Azure Container offers. Azure Virtual Machine offers. These represent the majority of Marketplace listings today. Want to use a different Marketplace offer type? No problem! App Advisor can still curate guidance for you based on your desired offer type. Once started, the offer is automatically saved in Partner Center, allowing your team to continue configuration without losing progress. After choosing your offer type, additional guidance within App Advisor is focused on steps applicable to that offer type. This simplifies the transition from development to publishing. Sign up for partner programs without leaving your workflow. 4. Signing in also allows you to enroll in partner programs directly within App Advisor. You can start sign-up for programs such as: ISV Success. Publisher enrollment. Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (if applicable). This makes it easier to unlock benefits like development resources, go-to-market support, and cloud credits while staying focused on building your solution. After you are enrolled, App Advisor continues to personalize content based on that membership. 5. Coming soon: Instant recommendations for your Marketplace offers A new capability launching soon will allow software companies to sign in, choose a publicly available Marketplace offer, and get actionable recommendations to improve the listing in seconds. Directly within App Advisor. By scanning your listing, App Advisor will quickly provide recommendations to help you: Improve listing quality. Increase discoverability. Boost engagement from the right customers. You’ll receive targeted suggestions in seconds, based on an AI model trained on best practices for Microsoft Marketplace listings and on expert editorial feedback. You’ll then be able to click right to your listing in Partner Center and implement your recommendations. This empowers you to improve your listing without waiting for any manual review. Ready to unlock the full App Advisor experience? Authenticating in App Advisor turns it from a guidance tool into a workspace designed to help you build, publish, and sell apps and agents on Microsoft Marketplace. Sign in to App Advisor to save your projects, receive personalized recommendations, and move faster toward Marketplace success.Microsoft Marketplace Partner Digest
March marks a strong quarter of momentum across the Microsoft Marketplace ecosystem, with partners scaling their businesses while delivering high quality customer experiences—directly, through the channel, and alongside Microsoft. From monetizing AI innovation to streamlining post purchase workflows and co-selling motions, partners continue to turn Marketplace readiness into real, repeatable growth. This month’s digest highlights the insights, updates, and opportunities helping software companies meet customers where and how they choose to buy. Articles worth reading As more partners race to build AI apps and agents, the real differentiator is turning that innovation into recurring revenue through scalable sales motions. Microsoft’s Brady Bumgarner shares how App Advisor helps teams think about monetization well before they publish an offer, empowering partners to launch with confidence and scale faster. 🚀 Learn more about AI app and agent monetization Brady also breaks down how combining Marketplace transactable offers with Azure IP co-sell readiness turns co-selling into a true growth engine. More partners are leveraging the insights and guidance available through App Advisor to build repeatable co-selling muscle memory. 🔄️See how co-selling with Microsoft can accelerate your business growth As customers move to AI‑first architectures, cloud cost optimization is becoming a core decision lens—not just an operational concern. In this post, Justin Royal explores how customers are rethinking cost, performance, and governance as continuous disciplines. For sellers, this has clear implications: customers increasingly expect flexibility in how solutions scale, perform, and are paid for, and those expectations should shape how software companies build, package, and position offers on Marketplace. 💸 Explore how customers are optimizing cloud spend as AI adoption scales Accelerate your Marketplace growth by delivering a seamless customer experience after the click. Marketplace Fulfillment APIs automate activation, entitlement, and subscription management so you can reduce friction, speed time‑to‑value, and scale globally with confidence. Explore how these APIs—and new Microsoft reference code—help product teams integrate faster and support every customer at every stage. 🔍 Discover how Marketplace Fulfillment APIs streamline and automate critical post purchase workflows Marketplace updates Dragon Copilot solutions in Microsoft Marketplace On March 5, we announced preview of Dragon Copilot solutions for Microsoft Marketplace. This enables software companies to build and sell AI apps and agents that integrate with Dragon Copilot, while allowing customers to discover and purchase solutions that work with their existing Microsoft investments. Software companies can build and publish their solutions using one of three offer types: Dragon Copilot Physician Apps and Agents (in preview now) Dragon Copilot Clinical App Connectors (coming soon) Dragon Copilot Radiology Apps and Agents (coming soon) Dragon Copilot is built for care teams including physicians, nurses, and radiologists and is already operating with more than 100,000 clinicians relying on it daily to support care for millions of patients each month. Steps you can take to get started: Read through our documentation on how extensions for Dragon Copilot work and how to build your own Check out the sample repo with sample code, and more Contact dragon_extensions@microsoft.com to inquire about joining preview 🐉 Learn how Dragon Copilot solutions are modernizing Healthcare Recent events How to build a Microsoft Marketplace channel practice In his recent webinar, Darren Sharpe highlights how partners are increasingly building their channel businesses with Microsoft Marketplace at the core—using it as a channel-led, Marketplace delivered growth engine. As buying shifts toward lineofbusiness leaders and decentralized procurement, Marketplace brings together discovery, governance, and enterprise purchasing in one place. Darren shares how partners that align sales, alliances, and operations around Marketplace are better positioned to drive repeatable growth, meeting customers where and how they choose to buy. 🎥 Watch on demand Inside Azure IP co-sell: What high-performing software companies do differently Get an insider’s view of what truly moves the needle for Microsoft Marketplace and Microsoft Azure IP co-sell success. Guest speaker Barbara Treviño breaks down the signals Microsoft prioritizes when assessing submission strength—helping software development companies understand what great looks like across architecture, messaging, evidence, and sequencing. You’ll learn why high performing software development companies approach readiness differently, and how that difference translates directly into smoother approvals and stronger GTM impact. 🎥 Watch on demand AI-powered automation for Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell 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. 🎥 Watch on demand 📅 Coming up Partner office hour Build, publish, and optimize Marketplace offers with App Advisor Wednesday, Mar 18, 2026, 8:30 AM PDT Tune in for live demos and proven best practices on using App Advisor, Microsoft’s guided experience for Microsoft Marketplace success! Learn what App Advisor is, how it works, and how it can help partners accelerate Marketplace offer creation. Walk through key stages of the experience from validating value to publishing and optimizing your listing. ➡️ Get the meeting details Customer office hours Charting your AI strategy for manufacturing with Marketplace Wednesday, Mar 25, 2026, 9:30 AM PDT Build, buy, or blend? Gain the insights you need as a manufacturer to scale AI apps and agents across the factory floor using Microsoft Marketplace. We’ll go beyond AI theory and focus on practical manufacturing scenarios—connecting factory equipment, IoT, and enterprise systems into a unified foundation that enables analytics, digital twins, and AI agents. ➡️ Get the meeting details In-person events Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026 Microsoft Marketplace is sponsoring Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026 in Las Vegas, with interactive sessions, booth conversations, and private meetings focused on helping channel partners understand how Marketplace can simplify software purchasing for their customers. Partners can expect to learn how the expansive catalogue of products and services available from thousands of software companies delivered through channel-led sales capabilities are Marketplace enabled and accelerate AI‑ and cloud‑led sales through Marketplace. 📆 April 13-16, 2026 📍The Venetian Resort, Las Vegas ➡️ See the details and learn how to register Microsoft AI Tour Our series continues, coming to more cities around the globe. Bringing in‑person opportunities for partners to connect with Microsoft experts, explore innovation and get inspired. ➡️ Find your city and registerScale your sales growth with negotiated deals and reselling with ease
Negotiated deals are one of the most effective ways to grow larger, more flexible sales through Microsoft Marketplace. They let you align pricing, billing, and terms to how customers prefer to buy, without changing how your app or agent is built. That last point matters. Negotiated deals don’t require you to create a new app or agent. Instead, they let you repackage existing, publicly transactable offers with customized terms for specific customers or partners. The result is faster deal execution without added development overhead.Accelerate massive growth by co-selling through Microsoft Marketplace with App Advisor guidance
Co-selling with Microsoft is one of the most powerful growth levers available to software companies to sell to enterprises. But on its own, co-sell is not a strategy. The real acceleration happens when you combine them. When you publish a transactable offer in Microsoft Marketplace and make it Azure IP co-sell eligible, you unlock joint selling with Microsoft’s global field organization— and that changes the trajectory of your business. Here’s how to turn Marketplace plus co-sell into a growth engine. Why Marketplace & co-sell drive larger, faster deals Data consistently shows that co-sell deals outperform non-co-sell deals: Co-sell deals are ~ 30% larger, Co-sell deals close up to 2x faster, Microsoft sellers are incentivized to prioritize Azure IP co-sell eligible solutions. When your offer is transactable in Marketplace and co-sell eligible, three important things happen: Microsoft sellers can confidently introduce your solution to their enterprise accounts, Customers can apply purchases toward their Azure consumption commitments, Your offer becomes visible inside Microsoft’s internal sales systems. This reduces friction in procurement, increases executive visibility, and accelerates deal velocity. You’re no longer selling alone. You’re selling with leverage. The following is high-level guidance of the steps to start co-selling Want to skip right to the curated guidance? Go to App Advisor Step 1: Publish a transactable offer in Marketplace Co-sell begins with Marketplace readiness. To unlock Azure IP co-sell benefits, you must publish a transactable offer through one of these marketplace offer types: Software as a service (SaaS), Azure Application, Azure Container, Azure VM. If you sell apps or agents built on Microsoft 365 or Copilot, link your solution to a transactable SaaS offer to qualify. To see how Abnormal Security made the most of co-selling, see the blog and corresponding Co-Sell Coaching call. Step 2: Create a co-sell ready solution in Partner Center When publishing your offer, you can create a co-sell solution to activate visibility with Microsoft sellers. Inside the Referrals workspace in Partner Center: Create a co-sell solution, Classify your solution using Microsoft taxonomy, Upload required marketing collateral: Solution one-pager, pitch deck, reference architecture diagram (required for SaaS), Enter the link to your product's website to help Microsoft sales teams and channel resellers learn more about your solution, Add geographic sales contacts. This listing tells Microsoft sellers: Who to contact, What your solution does, Which Azure services it uses, Why they should bring you into a deal. Clear positioning drives seller confidence. Seller confidence drives joint opportunity. Step 3: Achieve Azure IP co-sell eligible status To become Azure IP co-sell eligible, you must meet performance or technical validation requirements. You can qualify by: Reaching $100K USD in trailing 12-month Marketplace billed sales or Azure Consumed Revenue (this is the fastest path to meeting that requirement) or Passing Microsoft technical validation confirming your solution is primarily built on Azure This status matters because: Customers can count the purchase toward Azure consumption commitments, Microsoft sellers are financially incentivized to include your solution, Your offer is labeled Azure benefit eligible. Customers being able to decrement their Azure consumption commitments can help draw engagement and interest to your app or agent. Step 4: Use referrals to build momentum High-performing software companies don’t just wait for Microsoft to bring opportunities. They submit referrals to help sell co-sell their app. Submitting referrals: Increases your visibility to Microsoft sellers, Signals strategic partnership depth, Opens doors to new seller collaboration, Provides insight into customer Azure commitments. Small actions compound. Referral discipline builds pipeline resilience. For more information about referrals, visit Generate, manage, and nurture leads step in App Advisor. Step 5: Use Marketplace Rewards to amplify co-sell Marketplace Rewards benefits strengthen your co-sell motion: Customer propensity scoring to prioritize Marketplace-ready buyers, Azure sponsorship credits to help close competitive deals, Microsoft seller webinars and solution spotlights. This is how you differentiate inside the ecosystem — not just with customers, but with Microsoft sellers. The growth shift: from independent seller to ecosystem player Software companies that treat Marketplace merely as a checkout page miss some amazing opportunities. Those that combine: Transactable offers, Azure IP co-sell eligibility, Strong co-sell collateral, Referral discipline, and Marketplace Rewards. Move from transactional selling to ecosystem selling. The result: Larger average deal sizes Shorter sales cycles Stronger executive alignment Increased visibility inside Microsoft accounts You’re no longer trying to break into enterprise deals. You’re already in the room. Ready to put your co-sell strategy into motion? Visit App Advisor to learn more about how to accelerate your growth with co-sell.
