New updates to Partner Center make co-selling easier
Here’s something you might’ve missed that will make it easier to Co-sell on the commercial marketplace. Microsoft recently made an update in Partner Center that many still haven’t noticed - and this change is making it easier to to co-sell. For Active Co-sell deals, the Microsoft seller contact previously was not visible to partners. Now, when you view a co-sell deal, you can see: ✅ Contact information (name & email address) for the Microsoft seller. ✅ A clear handoff trail from co-sell operations to the assigned seller. This isn’t just a UI change - it enables better collaboration. Knowing the Microsoft seller helps streamline communication, prioritize collaboration, and strengthen the co-sell relationship. This transparency makes it easier to align efforts and drive the deal to success. Haven’t checked yet? Explore your Partner Center referrals to see this update in action now!Comparing the Customer Payment Experience: Microsoft AppSource vs. Azure Marketplace
Microsoft AppSource: Audience: Primarily business users, decision-makers, and managers seeking SaaS solutions for productivity and business operations. Payment Process: Portal: Payments are made directly through the AppSource portal, integrated with the user’s Microsoft 365 or Dynamics 365 account. Payment Plans: Limited to simple monthly or annual subscription plans. Users can easily select a plan, enter billing information, and manage payments through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Billing: Users receive invoices via their Microsoft account, with transparent pricing shown before purchase. The straightforward subscription models make it easy for business users to manage recurring payments. Customization: There’s minimal need for customization, with AppSource focusing on ease and simplicity. Only monthly or annual options are available, and users can manage subscription renewals or cancellations through their Microsoft 365 portal. Azure Marketplace: Audience: IT professionals, developers, and large enterprises looking for technical solutions with greater control over payments and infrastructure. Payment Process: Portal: Payments are made through the Azure Portal, where users manage all subscriptions and billing under the Azure Cost Management + Billing section. Payment Plans: More flexible options, including pay-as-you-go, usage-based, and multi-year contracts (e.g., 2-year, 3-year pricing plans). Azure supports complex billing scenarios for long-term cloud solutions. Billing: Detailed billing and cost tracking through the Azure Portal. Customers can configure and monitor spending, allocate budgets, and review detailed invoices for SaaS, infrastructure, and other services. Customization: Azure Marketplace allows for more tailored payment solutions, enabling customers to mix and match SaaS and other cloud services into their payment plans. Enterprises can set up custom budgets, payment alerts, and detailed cost analysis. This tailored payment system makes AppSource ideal for business users wanting ease of use, while Azure Marketplace is suited for enterprises needing flexible, long-term payment options and detailed cost management.New Mastering the Marketplace webinar: ISV to CSP private offers - experience walkthrough
Join us on January 9th for our first new Mastering the Marketplace webinar offering of 2025: ISV to CSP private offers - experience walkthrough. This session will provide a comprehensive walkthrough of the CSP Marketplace and private offer experience. ISV to CSP private offers empower ISVs and partners in the CSP program to grow their revenue by creating time-bound customized margins that suit each entity's business needs through the Microsoft commercial marketplace. This webinar is ideal for ISVs and CSP partners who are looking to partner with and sell their solutions through the marketplace for small to midsized customers. Attendees will: *Gain a comprehensive understanding of the CSP marketplace and CSP private offers, including how to create, manage and sell. *Learn how to operationalize processes that can help manage CSP private offers and transactions more efficiently. *Learn how to expand market reach and access a global customer base to increase visibility. Register here.
AI's Transformative Impact on ISVs
Discover how AI is revolutionizing the software industry in our latest article,“Unveiling the Future of AI Innovation for ISVs.” Gain insights on how independent software vendors (ISVs) are leveraging AI to drive growth, enhance customer experience, and stay ahead of the competition. Explore product innovations announced at Ignite 2024, new AI offerings, and personalized resources designed to empower software companies. Some of the product announcements unveiled at Ignite were to help you grow in the AI -powered experience are below: Azure Machine Learning Updates: New features and integrations, including Azure’s collaboration with Weights & Biases for enhanced model tracking and optimization. Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service Enhancements: Improved tools for developing and deploying AI models, making it easier for ISVs to leverage generative AI. Microsoft Fabric Innovations: Updates designed to help ISVs stay ahead with advanced AI capabilities. AI Readiness Programs: Introduction of Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning workshops and other resources to help ISVs build AI-powered applications. Azure AI Foundry SDK: A new preview tool chain for building, testing, deploying, and managing AI applications with enterprise-grade control. GitHub Copilot for Azure in VS Code: Simplified cloud development with integrated AI assistance directly in the VS Code editor. Read the full article to unlock the potential of AI for your business and join the next wave of digital transformation Unveilingthe future of AI innovation for ISVs | Microsoft Azure BlogLeveraging Azure Sponsorship to Drive ROI and Customer Value
Azure sponsorship credits are available to ISVs participating in ISV Success and Marketplace Rewards are a powerful way to grow sales on the marketplace, to allow customers to try solutions at no initial expense, and to sweeten deals with customers. Here's a little snippet of how we've used the credits at Wiz. Our team executed a three-month campaign to promote offers through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace and utilized over $350,000 in Azure sponsorship credits to close over a dozen competitive deals, driving an ROI over 1000%. We then used our remaining credits to create an Azure Marketplace pipeline for our customers. This helped us save time and close deals quickly. The Azure sponsorship credits allowed us to showcase to our customers the great partnership we have with Microsoft and provide them with even more value to their cloud and security teams. To learn more about how we are maximizing the value of Marketplace Rewards, read our success story: Wiz case study.A story about our journey on the marketplace. I hope it will inspire and help on your journey
I would like to share my experience with publishing transactable apps on the Microsoft commercial marketplace, the Microsoft 365 App Certification Program, Marketplace Rewards, and certified software designations. Starting with publishing our apps on to the marketplace: We have several apps that operate within the context of Microsoft 365, including apps for Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Copilot Agent, Office, and SharePoint. We have been in AppSource for many years and have customers worldwide. We developed an in-house license application to manage our customers' licenses. Before the commercial marketplace, we managed all invoicing and license management manually. Now, everything has become much easier. We have published monetized SaaS apps connected to the AppSource apps. Using the SaaS Fulfillment API, we integrated the purchasing process with our in-house license application. We have gained numerous benefits, including: Significant time savings in the invoicing and billing process, as purchasing, adding, removing, or cancelling licenses is automated and managed by Microsoft Customers appreciate the ability to manage licenses themselves, finding it easier Improved market awareness due to promotion in the marketplace And new customers are joining regularly. It is also important to mention Marketplace Rewards, which offer various benefits. For example, customer case stories can be published through Marketplace Rewards on Microsoft customer case stories. Here is a link to our latest story: Microsoft Customer Story - Design for Leisure improves efficiency 30% with iGlobe solutions and Microsoft Planner. Additionally, the Transact & Grow Incentive Campaign has provided us with financial incentives through marketplace sales, as well as Azure sponsorship credits to offset deployment costs. Considering these advantages, there is potential to make the apps CSP Ready as well: https://aka.ms/P2PeBook. Equally important is obtaining the Microsoft 365 App Certification. Certification confirms that an app solution is compatible with Microsoft technologies, compliant with cloud app security best practices, and supported by Microsoft. This is significant because: It provides certification from Microsoft, confirming app security and compliance It saves time in the sales process, as security and compliance are already verified It makes the app easier to find on AppSource, the Commercial Marketplace, and in the Teams App admin portal, where it will be listed in a special category Achieving sales in the marketplace, having customer case stories, and obtaining the Microsoft 365 App Certification provides the foundation to obtain Certified Software Designations, which come with additional benefits and opportunities for co-selling with Microsoft. Today two of our apps have achieved the Certified Software Designation for Modern Work. Soon iPlanner Pro for Teams that includes a Copilot Agent will follow as well. I share this story not to boast but to inspire and motivate others. There is nothing exceptional about us or our experience here – it can be completely replicated by leveraging the resources that Microsoft provides.Was it all very easy…. No. Is it doable? Yes!Partner Opportunity to Contribute to the Copilot Roadmap
Microsoft Partners - We're sharing an opportunity with you to contribute to the Copilot roadmap. Voice your company's thoughts on what features and capabilities Microsoft should build to help ISVs build, deploy, and monitor Copilots. Complete this survey (5-10 mins) by EOD 11/22 to influence the Copilot roadmap: https://forms.office.com/r/nv6EPTfYFhFAQs from ISVs – learn how to use the Multiparty Private Offers Campaign in a Box
ISVs – learn how to use the Multiparty Private Offers Campaign in a Box is a webinar offered regularly through theMastering the Marketplace series. In this webinar, Alliances, Marketing, and Sales leaders can learn more about how to use this campaign to: Educate internal sales and channel teams on multiparty private offers Recruit and enable channel partners to sell with multiparty private offers Promote your marketplace capabilities to your Microsoft contacts Market your applications to customers through channel partners Attendees can also participate in a short Q&A following the session. Below is a list of recent and frequently asked questions on this topic. Please add your additional questions related to Campaign in a Box in the comments section! _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Q1: is there a difference in the experience for direct or indirect partners? will the offer show up the same way for the direct partners and the indirect partners in PartnerCenter? A1: There is no difference between direct and indirect providers in how the offer shows up in Partner Center. Q2: Where can we learn more? A2:https://aka.ms/PartnerMPOCampaign Q3: How do we know MPO availability by EMEA country? A3: It is currently (as of November 2024) available in the UK, Canada, and USA. EU and Japan are coming next, but there are no specific dates at this time.) Q4: Where can I access the MPO Partner list? A4: You can access it here after signing in to your partner account. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Additional Resources: Multiparty private offers overview - Marketplace publisher | Microsoft Learn Multiparty private offers (for ISVs) - Marketplace publisher | Microsoft Learn Multiparty private offers (for channel partners) - Marketplace publisher | Microsoft LearnCertified Software GA - Marketplace Rewards
Marketplace Rewards is far and away my all-time favorite Microsoft program, and it just got even better with extra benefits for partners that hold a Certified Software designation! The Certified Software program is now generally available, and it will do the heavy lifting for you in four areas: your Microsoft co-sell playcard (which gets uploaded to MSX upon completion for easy discovery by Microsoft sellers), nurture emails you can use with customers and/or to raise visibility with Microsoft sellers, a solution FAQ document, and a 2-page solution brief. Extra incentive to earn a Certified Software badge if you don't already have one + four more reasons to love your Marketplace Rewards engagement manager. 🙂 #MarketplaceChampions #SponsoredMarketplace roadmap sneak peek - now available to partners!
We've got some exciting news to share about our marketplace roadmap: Partner-Exclusive Roadmap Preview: We've just released a detailed presentation outlining our vision for the future and recent updates. This is available exclusively to Microsoft partners (it requires partner sign in to access). New Blog Post:I've published a blog post here in the community highlighting key points from our roadmap. It's a great way to get a quick overview of what's coming. Your Action Items: Check out the above updates, and share your thoughts! We'd love to hear your feedback on these updates, especially on how some of the recent releases have impacted your business.
