Partner Blog | Copilot monetization for SMBs: Start with Copilot Chat, scale with agents
This post kicks off a five-part series for Microsoft partners on the Copilot monetization opportunity for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Each post follows a repeatable approach aligned to the Microsoft Customer Engagement Methodology (MCEM) and the Win Formula—from building credibility as Customer Zero to driving adoption and measurable outcomes, then extending value with agents and specializations. If you’re looking for practical ways to turn your customers’ AI interest into secure, scalable outcomes and repeatable revenue, you’re in the right place. SMBs want proof, not hype. They want an AI path that fits how they work today, stays governed, and delivers results. SMBs are the backbone of the global economy, accounting for 90% of all firms with around 400 million enterprises worldwide, according to the World Economic Forum’s SME Resource Hub. At the same time, 82% of leaders are rethinking core aspects of their strategy and operations, under constant pressure to do more with less. That combination is driving a shift from AI curiosity to AI decisions. Continue reading herePartner Blog | January 2026 skilling kickoff: Turn readiness into growth
A new year is a natural planning moment. Partners are navigating various pressures and opportunities, including fast-moving AI, shifting cloud workloads, rising security expectations, and data becoming a bigger part of every solution motion. In that environment, skilling can’t be treated as an optional add-on. It’s a core business priority that supports what partners care about most: winning work and delivering it with confidence. That’s the lens I’d encourage you to bring into 2026 planning. Not what courses should we take, but what technical and sales capabilities do we need to build so we can execute more consistently across sales and delivery. How data makes the case for readiness and enablement In December 2025, Forrester Consulting published a Total Economic Impact study, commissioned by Microsoft, on the partner opportunity for the Microsoft skilling and enablement offerings. The study modeled a composite organization based on interviews with partners who experienced the offerings. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Expanded partner benefits are now available: What’s new in February 2026
Expanded partner benefits are now available across the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. These updates reflect continued investment in the tools, resources, and support partners rely on to build, differentiate, and grow, and they incorporate feedback we hear consistently across the ecosystem. If you read our January post about planning ahead for the February refresh, this is the follow-up: the new benefits are now rolling out, and partners with eligible offers will find them in Partner Center as they become available. What’s new You’ll find a range of meaningful additions designed to empower you to move faster with AI, support security needs, and improve go-to-market execution. Highlights include: Copilot additions in select offers: The FY26 refresh introduces new Copilot-related benefits across parts of the program, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Microsoft Dragon Copilot (per user) in select partner offers where available. Security benefits expansion: Security-focused benefits have been broadened, including additions such as Microsoft Defender Suite, Microsoft Entra Suite, and Microsoft Intune Suite in select offerings. Azure credit updates: Azure benefits are being updated across multiple offers, including new additions and increases in value for certain cloud benefits. These credits are designed to support solution development, testing, and expansion of your practice. Go-to-market resources: As partners continue to access marketing benefits and resources through the program, Microsoft is simplifying discovery and execution—so you can bring campaigns to market with less friction. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Introducing Partner Marketing Center Pro
Across the ecosystem, partners are moving quickly to support customers on their frontier transformation journey. You’re building AI solutions, strengthening security, and modernizing data estates—and you need messaging that can keep pace with your delivery. To support your go-to-market efforts and make campaign execution more efficient and impactful, we are introducing a new partner marketing experience: Partner Marketing Center Pro. Partner Marketing Center Pro is an AI-driven hub that brings key marketing tools into one convenient, intuitive platform. Now, you can run end-to-end marketing campaigns powered by AI, with key features including asset customization, intelligent translation, comprehensive campaign reporting, and an AI assistant that supports you through each step. Partner Marketing Center Pro is developed with modern, AI-powered marketing capabilities designed for you to generate targeted demand, personalize outreach at scale, and move faster from launch to measurable results. Over the coming months, we will continue adding new features that strengthen targeting, streamline execution, and improve performance insights across your campaigns. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Simplify and scale operations with the latest technical and API enhancements
Partners are navigating rapid shifts in customer priorities, and many of you are doing it while modernizing the systems that run your business. Security, compliance, and reliable integrations aren’t side work anymore. They’re foundational to protecting customers and keeping day-to-day operations moving. That’s why Microsoft is rolling out a set of security, technical, and commerce updates designed to strengthen the partner ecosystem, modernize integrations, and reduce the risk of service disruption. Some changes are already in effect, and several more are coming soon. This post gives your technical teams a clear view of what’s changed, what’s next, and what to do now so you can stay compliant and maintain continuity. These updates are part of our continued effort to strengthen the partner and customer experience across the ecosystem. Recent improvements strengthening partner security and reliability Over the past few months, we’ve made progress on several technical and API enhancements to support consistent workflows and give partners clear, actionable paths to meeting requirements. By understanding what’s changing and why, partners can optimize their systems early, prevent avoidable delays, and create smoother end‑to‑end commerce and operational workflows. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Protecting customer trust with fraud prevention and resilience
Fraud is not just a security issue. It is a business risk that can erode customer trust, disrupt operations, and create real financial exposure, including revenue loss or customer churn. For Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners, that risk is amplified by privileged access across customer environments and responsibility for billing and provisioning. Microsoft fraud prevention work underscores the scale of what the ecosystem is facing. According to an August 2025 white paper, Three Lessons from Microsoft’s Fight Against Fraud, the company stopped $4 billion in fraud attempts, blocked around 1.6 million bot sign-ups per hour, and rejected 49,000 fraudulent partnership enrollments. These are not edge cases. They reflect the operating environment partners see every day: impersonation, account takeover, synthetic identities, and abuse patterns that look legitimate until they cause damage. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Cloud & AI Platforms, Part 5: Innovating with Azure AI apps and agents.
As we wrap up this Cloud & AI Platforms series, I want to focus on where many partners are investing next: building AI apps and agents that move beyond experiments and into production, at scale, with trust built in. Across industries, AI is reshaping how applications are designed, built, and delivered. We are witnessing the shift from point solutions to systems, with Copilots and agents that can reason, act, and collaborate across workflows. That shift is creating both urgency and opportunity for partners. According to IDC research, 68% of global enterprises surveyed are already using generative AI, and another 26% plan to adopt it in the next 12 months. At the same time, organizations are rapidly moving from prebuilt generative AI apps toward customized or custom-built solutions, with IDC projecting that shift from 40% today to 70% in the next 24 months. 1 This is exactly where Azure AI apps and agents come in, empowering customers to operationalize AI faster while keeping security, governance, and oversight front and center. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Simplify and scale operations with the latest technical and API enhancements
Partners are operating in an environment where security, compliance, and operational reliability are core to earning and retaining customer trust. At the same time, many partners are modernizing their systems and integrations to keep pace with a rapidly evolving commerce and services landscape. To support this shift, Microsoft is delivering a set of security‑first, API‑driven, and commerce‑aligned technical updates across Partner Center and related platforms. These changes are designed to reduce risk, improve resilience, and simplify how partners integrate with Microsoft platforms—all while supporting more consistent, scalable operations across customer lifecycle scenarios. Some updates are already in effect, with additional changes rolling out over the coming months. This post highlights what’s new, what’s coming, and, most importantly, how these improvements empower partners to strengthen security posture, streamline operations, and avoid disruption as enforcement milestones approach. Recent enhancements strengthening partner security and reliability Over the past few months, we’ve made progress on several technical and API enhancements to support consistent workflows and give partners clear, actionable paths to meeting requirements. By understanding what’s changing and why, partners can optimize their systems early, prevent avoidable delays, and create smoother end‑to‑end commerce and operational workflows. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Unlocking the profitability multiplier: Maximizing revenue with Microsoft Marketplace
As organizations look to build their AI-first strategies, Microsoft partners are central to turning that ambition into customer outcomes and advancing frontier transformation. Customers are asking for guidance on how to right-size their cloud and AI investments to maximize impact without compromising on security or governance. At the same time, expectations are rising—software companies need mechanisms to scale their software and shorten time-to-value while channel partners need to curate AI solutions that map to specific customer outcomes. Speed is becoming a key differentiator and Microsoft Marketplace is designed to accelerate how we go to market and sell together. To better understand the overall value of Marketplace, we asked Omdia to study the partner revenue opportunity. The findings estimate Marketplace is a $300 billion partner revenue opportunity by 2030. Continue reading here Don't forget to follow the Marketplace discussion board and join in on the conservation!Partner Blog | Unlock growth with proactive renewals
The small and medium-sized business (SMB) cloud market continues to grow rapidly. Internal projections, informed by IDC market trends, estimate that the SMB cloud market will reach $777 billion 1 in FY26. A significant share of customer renewals occur in Microsoft Q3, making now a critical moment for Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners to prepare and act with intention. Renewals are integral to that growth because they protect recurring revenue, deepen account relationships, and create natural opportunities to expand service and solution offerings through upsell. When approached strategically, renewals allow partners to address customers’ evolving business needs while introducing modern security and AI capabilities that drive additional value across the account. Microsoft internal data shows that on-time renewals drive 20% more revenue than late renewals. When a subscription lapses, partners risk revenue contraction and missed opportunities to introduce new capabilities. Renewals are no longer routine; they are strategic, and the strongest outcomes result from starting conversations early and engaging customers well before a contract approaches its expiration date. The Partner Guidance Deck provides a clear framework for driving CSP renewals, including sales guidance for hero scenarios and key investments and levers available to maximize the moment. When you connect renewal cycles with the right mix of secure AI productivity solutions, you can create long-term account value and build momentum across your AI Business Solutions practice. Why timely renewals matter A proactive renewal motion offers several advantages. Continue reading here
