A Short Story: Why Transact in Marketplace?
For anyone who is undecided a) if building a transactable offer is worth the effort or b) if leading with Marketplace is superior to legacy procurement processes: Last night while I slept, we closed an enterprise deal in Australia. Yesterday, I created a custom private offer for the customer and sent them the acceptance link with a link to the Microsoft Learn page with instructions on how they accept the offer. Woke up this morning to a Partner Center-generated message confirming the deal was won and done. Yes, we had given them a demo; and yes, we had to get stakeholder commitment . . . but: Zero haggling on price. Zero contract redlines. Zero delays with traditional vendor onboarding etc. Even better, we leveraged our Marketplace Rewards (bar none my favorite GTM program!) to amplify customer value by providing Azure Sponsorship credits to offset the deployment cost. Even more better, this deal hits three of the levers in the FY24 Transact & Grow Incentive Campaign - meaning sometime in the next ~60 days Microsoft is going to send us $40k in free money. 🙂 I share this story not to boast but to inspire and motivate. Nothing's special about us or what we did here - you can 100% replicate this experience simply by taking advantage of the resources Microsoft wants to give you. #MarketplaceChampions #SponsoredIgnite 2025: Drive the next era of software innovation with AI
Artificial intelligence is unlocking new possibilities and redefining what’s achievable. Software companies, startups, ISVs and AI Natives are leading the charge, using AI to speed up delivery, scale effectively, and unlock new business potential. Microsoft empowers software companies to unlock growth through AI-driven innovation, empowers their developers to ship faster and scale through programs, incentive and Microsoft Marketplace. There is clear momentum in AI innovation, led by forward-thinking software companies. For instance, Microsoft Marketplace now offers 4,000+ AI Apps and Agents—more than any other marketplace—as well as additional cloud solutions designed to help customers accelerate their innovation. Software company acceleration at Microsoft Ignite. This week at Ignite, Microsoft is empowering software companies across three key areas: 1. Unlock growth with AI Software companies can access a broad choice of models, tailor them to their use case, and create AI apps and agents that deliver outcomes while using responsible AI to protect data and reduce risk. New announcements: Unified tools catalog in Microsoft Foundry (Public preview) New Microsoft Foundry updates in preview will enable developers to enrich agents with real-time business context, multimodal capabilities and custom business logic through a unified Tools catalog of Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers built with security and governance in mind. The catalog includes Unified tool discovery, deep business integration, new tools for prebuilt AI services, and custom tool extensibility. Managed instance on Azure App Service (Public preview) Enables organizations to move web applications to the cloud with just a few configuration changes, saving the time and effort of rewriting code. Whether .NET web apps are running on-premises or in virtual machines, developers will be able to modernize them into a fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) environment and future-proof their infrastructure. The result is faster app modernization with lower overhead and access to cloud-native scalability, built-in security and Azure’s AI capabilities. Cohere joins Microsoft Foundry’s first-party model lineup (Public preview) Cohere’s leading language models (Command A, Embed 4 and Rerank) are now available directly from Azure, giving customers fast, secure, and compliant access without third-party dependencies. Delivered with Azure-native governance, observability, networking, and billing, Cohere on Azure enables organizations to build high-performance retrieval, classification, and generation workflows at enterprise scale. Introducing Anthropic's Claude models in Microsoft Foundry (Public preview) Microsoft and Anthropic are expanding their existing partnership to provide broader access to Claude for businesses. Customers of Microsoft Foundry will be able to access Anthropic’s frontier Claude models including Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Opus 4.1, and Claude Haiku 4.5. This partnership will make Claude the only frontier model available on all three of the world’s most prominent cloud services. Azure customers will gain expanded choice in models and access to Claude-specific capabilities. 2. Accelerate development Ship faster with AI-assisted workflows, build across clouds and open-source stacks, and use databases that speed data access and analysis to quickly move from prototype to production. New announcements: Systems innovation (Private preview) Remote storage throughput of up to 20 GBps, up to 1 million remote storage IOPS and network bandwidth of up to 400 Gbps, enabling significant performance improvements for the latest Azure VM series. Azure Boost is a server subsystem designed by Microsoft consisting of purpose-built software and hardware that offloads server virtualization processes traditionally performed by the hypervisor and host OS. Various storage and network intensive workloads will benefit the most from these new performance specifications. Microsoft Defender for Cloud + GitHub Advanced Security (Preview) With Microsoft Defender for Cloud and GitHub Advanced Security, you can protect cloud-native applications across the full app lifecycle from code to cloud. This natively integrated solution helps connect software developers and security teams while staying in the tools they use every day; to prioritize the most critical risks exposed in production and fix these risks faster with AI-powered remediation. Azure HorizonDB PostgreSQL (Private preview) A new PostgreSQL cloud database service delivering high speed and elastic scalability for building or modernizing mission-critical applications. Integrated with Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft Fabric, Visual Studio Code and more, Azure HorizonDB streamlines development. Modern authentication with Microsoft Entra ID and security features like Microsoft Defender and private endpoints support enterprise-grade protection. 3. Scale with confidence Turn innovation into revenue with Microsoft Marketplace by expanding your reach through the partner ecosystem, unlocking go-to-market benefits, and differentiating with offers that stand out. New announcements: Global release of Microsoft Marketplace (General availability) Microsoft Marketplace — your trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents — is now globally available following its launch in the United States in September. All traffic from legacy storefronts (Azure Marketplace and AppSource) is now redirected to Marketplace.Microsoft.com. Featuring the industry’s largest catalog of AI apps and agents, Marketplace extends the Microsoft Cloud, helping customers accelerate their AI-first transformation with tens of thousands of vetted solutions from our partner ecosystem. These solutions integrate easily with Microsoft products, delivering faster time-to-value. Microsoft Agent 365 (Preview) Extend the existing infrastructure that you use for managing people to agents. Agent 365 equips your agents with the same apps and protections, tailored to agent needs, saving IT time and effort on integrating agents into business processes. It includes leading Microsoft security, productivity and collaboration solutions: Defender, Entra and Purview to protect and govern agents; Microsoft 365 productivity and collaboration apps and Semantic Index to accelerate their productivity; and Microsoft 365 admin center to manage agents. We're already seeing great examples from Devin, Genspark, Glean, Kasisto, Manus AI, n8n, ServiceNow, Workday, and more. Unified programs for software companies – App Accelerate (Public preview) Our Partner Program is focused on delivering more value for software companies, and we’ve identified an opportunity to simplify the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (MAICPP) offers available to software companies today. We're announcing a new offering for software development companies, available in 2026—combining incentives, benefits, and co-sell resources across existing offerings such as ISV Success, and Marketplace Rewards—into one streamlined pathway for partners. App Accelerate brings together ISV Success, Marketplace Rewards, and more into a single-entry point, creating a unified and simplified experience to help partners accelerate their growth through Microsoft Marketplace. Early access to co-sell benefits (Pilot) As part of our new unified offer, we’re creating an additional route for software companies to access co-sell benefits. This pathway is designed for partners who may not have reached the $100K milestone in Marketplace Billed Sales (MBS) or Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) but demonstrate readiness in other critical areas. This early access option is nomination-based, with eligibility determined by criteria such as Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC), customer traction, and pipeline strength. Resale enabled offers (General availability) Analysts estimate nearly 60% of cloud marketplace business will be channel-led by 2030. With a partner ecosystem of 500K+ —Microsoft Marketplace is fully embracing the channel-led Marketplace opportunity with the general availability of resale enabled offers. Resale enabled offers enable software companies to empower channel partners to manage their Marketplace listings through a repeatable model designed for scale. This helps software companies break through to new markets without adding overhead while channel partners maintain their customer relationships while getting the added value of Marketplace. Sales of eligible solutions also count toward customers’ Azure consumption commitments, opening the door to larger, more strategic deals funded by pre-committed cloud budgets—creating stickier relationships and fueling growth. Featured Ignite sessions Whether you're attending Ignite in person or joining online, these sessions are designed to help software companies build smarter, scale faster, and unlock new growth opportunities. Tuesday, November 18 – 1:00pm PT Agents, apps, and acceleration: Helping software companies grow Explore the opportunity for AI apps and agents. Learn how to build experiences that matter and get best practices from other leading software companies. Wednesday, November 19 – 10:15am PT Benefits for accelerating software company success Discover resources available across the build, publish, and grow journey in MAICPP. Hear how peers are using AI investments and go-to-market benefits to grow. Wednesday, November 19 – 5:00pm PT Executing on the channel-led Marketplace opportunity for partners Discover practical strategies across diverse dealmaking scenarios to grow business and deepen Microsoft partnerships. Keep the momentum going—explore more Ignite sessions and activities created with software companies in mind. Let’s create the future together You are redefining what’s possible with AI. Microsoft is here to help you create the future. Get started Get resources to help grow your software development company Use ISV Success to build faster with AI tools, services, and expert support Publish your solution and reach millions of customers on the Microsoft Marketplace Access App Advisor and get step-by-step guidance to build, publish, and sell your app or agentLinkedIn Marketing: Critical Hashtags for Partners
When you are posting on LinkedIn, there are a number of Microsoft hashtags you should be using at the bottom of your posts to help increase your visibility. This question has come up in different discussions with partners about how to get their messages seen by more of their audience organically. Thanks to the article from Tricycle-Europe who did the work for me on this. Top hashtags for Microsoft partners: #MicrosoftPartner #Microsoft365 #Azure #DigitalTransformation #CloudComputing #Cybersecurity #MSPartner #MicrosoftTeams #PowerBI #AI And, in general, the top 100 hashtags for LinkedIn can be found at this article by Taavi Lindmaa is absolutely worth checking out! Edited to include the answer to Raj's add below: Raj: In order to find followers for each Hashtags, one can just enter the hashtag in LinkedIn search and go to that page to see the followers' count. JL: It's not as intuitive as you might think, but here are 3 ways to get to that info (with some assistance from Bing AI-Powered Co-pilot): Type a hashtag into LinkedIn’s search bar, then find it in any of the posts that come up and open it. You’ll see the hashtag’s follower count at the top, and current trending posts using that hashtag 1 . There are also some apps that can get to this info a little faster, such as a free app called LinkedIn Hashtag Analytics. This app helps get more insights into hashtags on LinkedIn, and helps you discover related hashtags and potential reach scores. You can also manually search for a hashtag on LinkedIn by pasting this URL string into your browser and add the keyword at the end. The below example is searching for the hashtag Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23socialmedia. Replace “socialmedia” at the end with the hashtag you want. You’ll see how many posts have used that hashtag in the past year. 😊 Here's some related source info for more: 1. bing.com 2. blog.hootsuite.com 3. linkedin.com 4. vistasocial.com 5. blog.hootsuite.com 6. inlytics.io 7. engage-ai.co 8. brandmentions.com -J.L. ISV Success Program Engagement Manager for Teams PartnersMarketplace Community - Upcoming AI Events
**Updated 6/3/2025** ISV Success is now supporting a series of AI-focused events to help partners maximize the AI opportunity when building and publishing solutions to the commercial marketplace. These events are open to all partners on marketplace – participation in ISV Success is not required to attend. Stay updated on the latest offerings by subscribing to this post, where we will be regularly updating our list of upcoming events and sharing links to recent events. Full instructions on how to subscribe are posted at the bottom of this post. Check out our upcoming AI events below and comment with any of your questions! _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ISV AI Envisioning Day Trainings We are excited to announce the launch of two new ISV AI Envisioning Day training courses introducing tools and frameworks to leverage in building AI applications that drive innovation and business value. Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions This session guides you through the process of identifying and prioritizing business use cases for AI solutions. You will learn how to structure each use case to assess its viability, differentiate its value, and explore learning opportunities. Practical advice and actionable steps will be provided to help you kickstart your AI projects and accelerate time-to-market. Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions In this envisioning session, you will learn how to effectively plan, build, and deploy your AI solution. You will be empowered with tools and frameworks to guide you through the technical and business considerations to evaluate when determining the best approach to use in building your AI application. Whether you’re just beginning to identify and prioritize AI use cases or are ready to begin planning, building, and deploying solutions, you’ll learn the steps to make AI a reality in your organization. Both ISV AI Envisioning Day training courses will run monthly in multiple time zones and are delivered in English. Check back for upcoming session dates and times. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ISV Security Series The ISV Security Series is designed to empower ISVs to not only defend against current threats but also anticipate and prepare for future challenges. Whether you are just starting your security journey or looking to enhance your existing strategies, this series provides the insights and resources you need to succeed. Join us in creating a safer digital ecosystem – one that fosters innovation without compromise. Register for the upcoming session at aka.ms/asiaisvsecurity June 2025 Safeguard Data Security & Privacy in AI-Driven Applications Explores how to implement robust data security and privacy measures tailored to AI applications, from handling user data responsibly to meeting regulatory requirements and mitigating risks. July 2025 Build Secure AI & Copilot Experiences with Microsoft's Framework Learn how to create secure and reliable AI and Copilot experiences using Microsoft’s robust security framework & AI ready infrastructure. August 2025 Zero Trust for ISVs: Importance and Implementation Strategies This session breaks down why Zero Trust matters and provides practical steps to implement its core principles, including least privilege access, tenant isolation, and continuous verification. September 2025 Security Essentials for Marketplace Publishing This session equips ISVs with the knowledge to meet Azure Marketplace security requirements, safeguard customer data, and ensure compliance with platform standards. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Copilot Developer Camp Join us for the Copilot Developer Camp—an immersive workshop designed for professional developers eager to expand their skills with Copilot for Microsoft 365 or create custom copilots. This free, one-day workshop, held right after the AI tour, aims to equip developers, ISVs, and tech enthusiasts with the knowledge and hands-on experience needed to enhance and extend Copilot’s capabilities for Microsoft 365. This is an in-person workshop offered in multiple locations. It is aimed at Developers, ISV partners, product centric companies, and enterprise developers. You will walk away with an understanding of the capabilities of Microsoft 365 Copilot and its extensibility AI models. See the different methods to develop Copilot agents utilizing Microsoft 365 Copilot's AI and orchestration on how to create a custom engine agent using Azure AI Studio and Teams AI library. How to develop a Declarative agent that includes a Build custom action for your agent via API plugins. Check here for upcoming dates and locations: Copilot Developer Camp Registration _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Build and extend your own agents using pro-code capabilities Microsoft Copilot Studio and building custom agents. Agents are AI-powered productivity tools designed to enhance everyday tasks by leveraging large language models (LLMs). Are you a developer interested in exploring advanced aspects of using Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and building custom agents using professional coding techniques? Join our on-demand workshop to learn how to leverage pro-code capabilities and build intelligent agents that assist users across various domains. Workshop Agenda Day 1: Extend Microsoft 365 Copilot with declarative agents Build custom engine agents with Teams AI library and Microsoft 365 Agents SDK Day 2: Develop your own agents in Azure AI Foundry Day 3: Build your own agents with Semantic Kernel for a fully controlled end-to-end AI experience Secure and govern copilots Call to Action Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your skills and build powerful agents with pro-code capabilities. Register now for this on-demand session and take the next step in your development journey! For more training opportunities, visit us at the Partner Skilling Hub. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Azure AI Foundry Council & AI Visionaries The Azure AI Foundry Council & AI Visionaries is excited to deliver new AI webinars to enhance your learning and help you navigate the future of AI. Check back for June sessions coming soon. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Day: AI Fundamentals Join us for Azure AI Fundamentals, a free virtual training designed to build your technical expertise in AI and machine learning on Microsoft Azure. This course will dive into core AI concepts and foundational workloads, offering hands-on insights into Azure AI services that power intelligent applications. You'll explore machine learning models, computer vision, and natural language processing (NLP) capabilities such as sentiment analysis, language detection, and key phrase extraction. With guidance from Microsoft experts, you’ll gain the skills needed to analyze and automate workflows, develop AI-driven solutions, and ensure responsible AI use across applications. Use the link below to see the full list of upcoming sessions available for registration. Multiple dates and time zones are available, and new sessions are added frequently. Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Day: AI Fundamentals _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to this post If you're not a member of the Tech Community already, create an account at techcommunity.microsoft.com Select "subscribe" from the 3-dot dropdown in the upper-right corner of this post. Under "Notification Settings," select "Notify me of Any edits & comments on knowledge bases articles I subscribe to," then select to receive updates to this post either immediately, daily, or weekly (I recommend weekly). Manage your subscription settings so that you can receive email updates on new events. Manage these settings by selecting your profile icon in the top right corner of the community, selecting "My Settings," and selecting "Subscriptions & Notifications." You can also subscribe to the entire marketplace community which will provide you with regular updates on all marketplace discussion topics happening in this forum. To do this, click "subscribe" in the upper right corner of the marketplace community homepage.
