Partner Blog | Microsoft Ignite 2026: Build an agenda that moves your business forward
Bring your customers’ next questions to Microsoft Ignite. Whether you’re joining us in San Francisco or online, use the week to explore new capabilities, learn from Microsoft experts, and connect with partners whose experience can inform your next steps. Microsoft Ignite 2026 takes place November 17–20 at the Moscone Center and online. Register now for the experience that fits your plans. If you’re already registered, review what’s included with your pass and start building your agenda. Make partner programming your starting point Start with the Frontier Transformation Partner keynote on Wednesday, November 18 from 9:00–10:30 AM Pacific Time. Join Nicole Dezen, Judson Althoff, Mala Anand, Ralph Haupter, and Stephen Boyle to explore how organizations are redesigning work, scaling AI adoption, and accelerating customer outcomes. This year, we will also welcome AI scientist, entrepreneur, investor, and thought leader Dr. Rana el Kaliouby to the partner keynote. We will also celebrate our 2026 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards winners during the keynote. As our partner guide to Microsoft Ignite 2026 explores, Frontier Transformation brings AI and agents into the way customers work and run their businesses. The Frontier Partner specialization gives partners a way to demonstrate AI agent delivery expertise and customers verified evidence to consider when choosing a provider. Open the Partner Business view of the schedule builder and look for sessions such as: Frontier Transformation: The Next Trillion-Dollar Partner Opportunity Enterprise Frontier Transformation: Defining a New Era of Growth Differentiating at the Frontier: Unlocking Opportunities with the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Co-sell at scale with Microsoft Marketplace Partner Skilling as a Growth Lever for Revenues & Profitability Plan to join me for a session on how Microsoft is bringing AI into the partner journey in Your AI-Powered Partnership: The E2E Partner Experience. The end-to-end walkthrough covers agentic co-sell in Partner Center, sales and upsell recommendations, AI-guided benefits and licensing, and a personalized Partner 360 experience. Look for practical guidance on finding opportunities, managing your partnership, and building your own agents. Explore the full session catalog for the technical learning and product insights most relevant to your customers. Check each listing for its time, delivery format, and recording availability and get AI-powered recommendations for sessions, speaker details, and onsite information. Build the rest of your agenda before the event Choose a few priorities, such as an architecture to validate, a capability your team needs to strengthen, or a customer challenge to solve. Filter the catalog by topic, audience, session type, and technical level, then pair product direction with practical learning across Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents, cloud infrastructure, data, and security. If you serve small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), build on the opportunity to turn AI adoption into recurring revenue by choosing sessions that advance a repeatable service you can deliver and manage. Check reservation requirements as you build your schedule. Some activities like labs require an RSVP. Coordinate with colleagues to cover more topics, identify sessions to attend together, and make time to compare what you learn. If you’re attending in person: Plan your arrival. If your travel schedule allows, collect your badge on Monday, November 16. Before you arrive, check the event website for pickup hours and locations, identification requirements, and security guidance. Get ready for your time onsite. Visit the Microsoft Ignite website and review the latest venue information. Allow time to move between sessions and complete entry procedures. Bring comfortable shoes, a charged device, and a charger. Book certification ahead. If an exam is part of your plan, review the 2026 onsite certification instructions and reserve your slot. Eligible in-person attendees can take one Microsoft or GitHub certification exam at no cost, subject to the offer terms. Registration is required. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Three Horizons: How hosting partners can evolve their business, expand their value, and shape what's next
Hosting and hybrid cloud partners are making infrastructure decisions today that will shape how their businesses evolve and grow for years to come. Rising costs, licensing shifts, and platform uncertainty are adding pressure to existing operations, while customers are looking to you for modernization and AI readiness. The challenge is finding opportunities to grow while strengthening the business you already have. In previous blogs, we explored the pressures and opportunities facing hosting businesses and shared a phased path for hosting modernization with Microsoft Adaptive Cloud. Now the conversation shifts from how to modernize to where to grow, and how that modernization can become the foundation for new managed services and recurring customer value. The Three Horizons framework from the Microsoft Datacenter Optimization (DCO) initiative gives you three independent paths to consider: operate infrastructure better, modernize what you run, and turn data into intelligence. This isn't a sequential journey. You can start with the horizon that fits your priorities today and pursue others as customer needs evolve. Wherever your business is today, there is a place to start, one that builds on your infrastructure investments, expertise, and customer relationships. Horizon 1, Modern Hosting Provider: Operate infrastructure better Many hosting partners, including those using the Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) or Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) offering, manage customer workloads across mixed hypervisors, licensing models, and support arrangements. Horizon 1 focuses on getting more from that existing infrastructure by connecting it to Azure while workloads remain in your datacenter. Azure Arc extends Azure management and governance to the environments you already operate. You can strengthen security with Microsoft Defender for Cloud and use connected Azure services to bring greater consistency to monitoring, patching, and policy management. Azure Arc also creates opportunities to review licensing, including pay-as-you-go for Windows Server 2025, SQL Server and Extended Security Updates for eligible out-of-support workloads. For example, SQL Server instances licensed through SPLA can transition to Azure pay-as-you-go billing through CSP-managed subscriptions, with the required Azure Arc onboarding and recurring billing consent. If you're responding to cost or licensing pressure, Horizon 1 can be a practical starting point. It also provides a foundation for recurring security, governance, and operations services that expand the value you deliver on infrastructure you already manage. Horizon 2, Modern Application Platform: Modernize what you run Horizon 2 focuses on the applications, desktops, and platforms your customers depend on. You can choose deployment options across Azure, Azure Local, and Azure Arc-enabled infrastructure based on workload requirements, data residency, and your modernization plans. With Azure Local, you can run traditional Windows and Linux virtual machines alongside containerized applications on supported infrastructure in your datacenter. Azure Arc brings a consistent management approach across environments, while Azure Migrate provides discovery, dependency analysis, and readiness assessments so you can decide which workloads to modernize first. Desktop modernization creates another service opportunity. Azure Virtual Desktop offers deployment options in Azure and on Azure Local. Azure Virtual Desktop Hybrid extends the service to supported existing on-premises infrastructure through Azure Arc. The right option depends on operating system, licensing, and deployment requirements. You can also build managed SQL, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and AI offerings around supported deployment options that meet customer needs. Each creates opportunities to extend a modernization project into ongoing platform management, governance, and optimization services. Continue reading hereLand Your Offer - Anatomy of Revenue Generating Partner Offer - Part 4 - Cowork
So far this series has followed Copilot from a first trial (Part 1), through funded envisioning (Part 2), to a full rollout (Part 3). Part 4 turns to the newest step on that path: getting people to hand real, multi-step work to Copilot Cowork. This motion is different from the first three. There are no engagement hours to log and no T-shirt sizes to choose. Everything rides on one number: how many more people are using Cowork after three months. Grow that number and the rest follows. Microsoft has also announced that usage-based billing will be on by default for new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licences bought through CSP from 1 December 2026, which removes a setup step between a customer and their first Cowork task. When what counts is the outcome rather than the effort, the winning approach is a fixed sequence you can run the same way for every customer. Where Cowork Fits Among the Copilot Experiences Every activation begins with the same conversation. Customers now have four ways to work with Copilot, and the first step is knowing which one suits which job. Chat Cowork Code Autopilot What it does Secure, fast AI for everyday questions, drafts and ideas Plans and carries out multi-step work across apps, files and systems Turns ideas into dashboards, trackers and apps An always-on personal agent with a name, a role and a goal Best for Quick, focused tasks in one conversation Complex jobs that pull several sources together into a finished result Reusable working solutions people return to Work that unfolds over days, such as chasing decisions and commitments How long it runs Seconds to minutes Minutes to hours, on its own Depends on what is being built Continuously, in the background Typical uses Daily briefing, project summary, content drafts Board preparation, financial close, contract review, campaign launch Team dashboards, recurring-task tools Flagging stalled decisions, resolving calendar clashes Cowork is the right home for work that takes multiple steps, spans two or more apps, and ends in an action such as an update, an approval or a routed request. Purely informational tasks stay in Chat. Built to Repeat: Why This Motion Scales Helping customers move that kind of work into Cowork looks much the same from one tenant to the next, and that is what makes this motion worth building. Design it once, and every new tenant reuses the same steps: The same lead-in. Readiness, licensing and billing checks take about four weeks and follow one checklist. The same assessment. Every pilot user runs one prompt that reads their recent work and tells you whether Cowork fits. The same sixty scenarios. Ten proven scenarios in each of six business functions, landed in the same order over three weeks. The same milestones. 50 active users and $2,500 of monthly Cowork usage in Month 1, held through Month 3. Reuse that compounds. Scenarios that work become shared Cowork skills, so each new tenant starts further ahead than the last. That consistency is what makes the motion predictable. The twelve-week activation does not need to carry a customer fee: Microsoft's partner programs reward the growth it creates, and what you realise rises as the customer brings more users on board. The monthly service that follows adds a further layer on top of that, one that keeps building long after the activation window closes. Package and sell it through whichever route your customers already use, whether directly, through your distributor, as a private offer, or as a listing in Microsoft Marketplace. The packaging is the easy part once the activities are the same every time. Sixty Scenarios Across Six Functions The most reusable of those activities is the scenario library: ten scenarios per function across all six, landed during Month 1. Each one is real delegated work, not a single prompt. Function Ten scenarios to land Executives Executive command centre; inbox triage at scale; board pre-reads; cross-org leadership briefs; weekly meeting synthesis; decision briefings; delegated memo and deck; performance analytics; relationship briefings; out-of-office handoffs Sales Meeting prep and follow-up; RFP responses; branded pitch and proposal; account research briefs; pipeline gap analysis; pipeline risk reviews; renewal and QBR prep; expansion identification; customer onboarding; ROI value stories Marketing Branded asset sets; launch activation kits; messaging and positioning docs; performance readouts; content drift audits; campaign kickoff; event command centre; customer-signal synthesis; competitive response; post-launch optimisation Customer Service Case-intake briefs; root-cause diagnosis; knowledge-cited replies; SLA-risk triage; stalled-case outreach; manager interventions; escalation handoffs; voice-of-customer synthesis; service operations review; coaching and training Finance and Operations Close and variance packages; weekly business review; reconciliation reviews; audit evidence packages; RFQ response builder; procurement bid-to-award; regulatory response; master-data automation; expense itemisation; market intelligence reports Legal Playbook contract review; draft from precedent; portfolio key terms extraction; playbook from precedents; map how contracts fit together; tracked-change editing; obligations and deadlines tracker; final draft check; case chronology; regulatory gaps Add Each User's Own Workflows with the Cowork Investment Advisor The sixty scenarios are a proven starting list. The Cowork Investment Advisor, the agent behind the Cowork Investment Assessment used throughout this playbook, finds the work that is specific to each person. It reads their Work IQ signals (emails, meetings, documents, chats and collaboration patterns) and returns: Persona: the role their work patterns point to, so you know which of the six functions to draw scenarios from. Top three workflows: the user's own tasks that qualify for Cowork, each rated Light, Medium or Heavy. Cost and return: estimated credits, pay-as-you-go and pre-purchase cost, and the return on that spend. Verdict: Yes (two or more qualifying workflows across two or more teams), Yes with a pilot (one workflow) or Not yet (none). A workflow only qualifies when it runs multiple steps, moves data between two or more apps, ends in a business action, includes decision points and tracks its own progress. Purely informational work is pointed to Copilot Chat, Copilot Pages or scheduled prompts instead. Choose the format that fits who is running it: a prompt any Copilot user can paste into Copilot Chat, an Agent Builder version a team lead can share, or a pre-built agent IT can deploy across the organisation. Run it alongside the scenario rollout, not ahead of it, and feed its results into the Customer Cowork Estimator to size credit spend. The Rules of the Window, Made Simple Scenarios and the assessment build the usage. A short set of rules decides when that usage counts. Which customers fit: at the August 2026 baseline, the customer has Microsoft 365 Copilot with Cowork enabled, fewer than 50 Cowork monthly active users and less than $2,500 of monthly Cowork consumption. At least half of their Copilot licences and Cowork consumption must come through CSP. Strategic 500 customers are excluded. What starts the clock: the first month the customer reaches at least 50 Cowork monthly active users and at least $2,500 of monthly Cowork consumption becomes Month 1 of a three-month window. What decides the payment: both thresholds must still be met in Month 3. Month 2 does not count towards qualifying, but it builds the usage Month 3 is measured on. How much: $50 for each qualified new user. Qualified new users are the lower of two numbers: Month 3 users minus August users, or extra monthly consumption divided by $50. The payment is at least $200 and at most $12,500 per tenant, which is 250 new users. When: 45 days after the window closes, paid as a rebate. It comes on top of your CSP consumption earnings. How often: once per customer tenant for the life of the incentive. If Month 3 falls short, the window lapses and a new one can start the next month both thresholds are met. June 2027 is the last month a window can start. Who can claim: partners with a Solutions Partner designation in Modern Work, Business Applications, Infrastructure, Data & AI or Digital & App Innovation, plus $1M (direct bill) or $25K (indirect reseller) of trailing 12-month revenue. Indirect resellers can qualify with 25 capability points instead of a designation. No Copilot specialization is needed. Attribution: the same partner must be transacting partner of record for both the Copilot licences and the Azure subscription that carries the Cowork consumption. Term: 1 September 2026 to 30 June 2027. What You Do in Each Stage Those rules shape a motion with four stages: Qualify, Activate, Sustain and Reward. Qualify (four weeks before Month 1): confirm you meet the partner requirements and finish your Partner Center setup. Find customers who meet the August baseline. Set yourself as transacting partner of record for licences and consumption. Move Cowork billing onto a CSP Azure plan with Owner or Contributor access, so Partner Earned Credit applies, and switch on the default spending policy. Activate (Month 1): two independent tracks run side by side; the assessment can start in the lead-in, and neither waits for the other. Assess the work: ask each pilot user to run the Cowork Investment Assessment, either as an agent or by pasting its prompt into Copilot Chat. It reviews three to six months of their work and answers Yes, Yes with a pilot, or Not yet, showing where Cowork adds the most value. Land the scenarios: roll out the six functions on a weekly rhythm: Executives and Sales in week 1, Marketing and Customer Service in week 2, then Finance and Operations and Legal in week 3. Keep usage unblocked: budget about $50 per user a month (roughly 5,000 credits) and set a Cowork spending limit of 250,000 credits or more a month, with alerts, so usage can reach the week 4 milestone without hitting a cap. Sustain (Months 2 and 3): save the scenarios that work as shared Cowork skills any team can reuse, and add pilot users to keep active users above 50. Check users, credits and attribution every week in Cost management in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Approve credit requests quickly and recover any dip before Month 3. Reward (after Month 3): calculate qualified new users, expect payment about six weeks after the window closes, and move the customer onto the monthly managed services. The tenant can only be paid once, so the next activation payment comes from the next tenant. Every Step, Week by Week Each stage breaks down into the steps below, and the same plan works for any eligible tenant. Timing is recommended pacing, not a program rule. Wk 1 is the first week of Month 1, and negative weeks are the lead-in before it. ID Stage Activity Timing (week) Exit Criteria Pre-req Customer fit Customer meets the August 2026 baseline Aug 2026 Copilot with Cowork enabled; under 50 Cowork users and under $2,500 monthly consumption; at least half bought through CSP; not Strategic 500 Q1 Qualify Confirm partner eligibility Wk -4 Solutions Partner designation and $1M (direct bill) or $25K (indirect reseller) trailing 12-month revenue Q2 Qualify Enrol and finish Partner Center setup Wk -4 to -3 Partner program agreement, incentive enrolment and CSP authorization in place; identity, tax and banking details accepted Q3 Qualify Find eligible customers Wk -3 Customer meets the August 2026 baseline Q4 Qualify Set attribution Wk -2 One partner is transacting partner of record for the Copilot licences and the Azure subscription carrying Cowork consumption Q5 Qualify Set up Partner Earned Credit and cost management billing Wk -2 to -1 CSP Azure plan with Owner or Contributor access (or Azure Lighthouse); default spending policy on, billed pay as you go A1 Activate Run the Cowork Investment Assessment Wk -2 to -1 Each pilot user rated Yes (2+ workflows across 2+ teams), Yes with a pilot (1 workflow) or Not yet A2 Activate Land Executives scenarios Wk 1 For example: command centre, board pre-reads A3 Activate Land Sales scenarios Wk 1 For example: pipeline risk reviews, RFP responses A4 Activate Land Marketing scenarios Wk 2 For example: launch activation kits, campaign kickoff A5 Activate Land Customer Service scenarios Wk 2 For example: SLA-risk triage, stalled-case outreach A6 Activate Land Finance and Operations scenarios Wk 3 For example: close and variance packages, audit evidence A7 Activate Land Legal scenarios Wk 3 For example: playbook contract review, obligations tracker A8 Activate Reach both thresholds Wk 4 50+ Cowork users and $2,500+ monthly consumption; attribution confirmed; spending limit of at least 250,000 credits a month S1 Sustain Turn proven scenarios into shared Cowork skills Wk 5 to 8 (Month 2) Skills reusable across teams; pilot users added to stay above 50 S2 Sustain Watch usage every week Wk 1 to 12 Users, credits and attribution checked weekly; limits tuned; dips fixed before Month 3 S3 Sustain Hold or grow usage Wk 9 to 12 (Month 3) Both thresholds still met and attribution unchanged; Month 3 results set the payment S4 Sustain Start a new window if needed Wk 13+ A new window opens the next month both thresholds are met; June 2027 is the last start R1 Reward Work out qualified new users End of Wk 12 Lower of (Month 3 users minus August users) and (extra monthly consumption ÷ $50), rounded down R2 Reward Apply the rate and limits End of Wk 12 $50 per qualified user as a full rebate; $200 minimum, $12,500 maximum per tenant R3 Reward Receive payment ~Wk 18 Paid 45 days after the window closes R4 Reward Keep growing through managed services Wk 19+ The activation payment does not repeat for this tenant; from here, managed services carry the growth: Cowork adoption and support and AI FinOps and governance every month, plus Cowork scale-out to new teams, and to new tenants that can start their own window Layer by Layer: What One Tenant Returns Run those steps on one tenant and three returns stack up during the window. Here is how they add up for a customer that starts from zero Cowork usage. Earning How it is worked out 50 new users At the cap: 250 new users Cowork CSP Activation Incentive $50 for each qualified new user, paid 45 days after Month 3 $2.5K $12.5K CSP incentive on Copilot Credits† 13% of monthly Cowork consumption (3% core plus 10% growth), over the three months ~$0.98K ~$4.88K Partner Earned Credit† 13% of monthly pay-as-you-go Cowork consumption on the customer's CSP Azure plan, while you hold eligible admin access, over the same three months ~$0.98K ~$4.88K Total per tenant, per window ~$4.5K ~$22.3K † Illustrative. Assumes $50 of monthly Cowork consumption per new user, so $2,500 a month at 50 users and $12,500 a month at 250. The CSP incentive is paid 60% as rebate and 40% as co-op. The 13% Partner Earned Credit rate is a planning figure; the rate that applies is the one in the Partner Center price list. Check every figure against the latest Microsoft Commercial Partner Incentives Guide. When Partner Earned Credit applies. All of the following must be true: You hold an active Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program agreement and bill the customer's Azure plan through CSP. The Cowork consumption runs pay-as-you-go on that Azure plan. Reservations, savings plans, Spot virtual machines, and Marketplace or third-party products are excluded. You have admin access to the subscription through an eligible Azure role: the default admin on behalf of (AOBO) access, Azure Lighthouse, or user or service-principal accounts linked with Partner Admin Link. The role must sit at subscription, resource group or management group level, because root scope alone does not count. As an indirect reseller, your indirect provider grants you that role on the customer's subscription. The access stays in place. If the customer removes it, or the subscription moves to a new partner who does not set it up again, the credit stops. The credit is worked out daily and shows as a lower price on your invoice, not as a separate line. See Partner Earned Credit for managed services for the full rules. Those returns grow in two ways. First, the CSP incentive and Partner Earned Credit do not stop after Month 3. They continue every month the customer keeps using Cowork. Second, the activation payment is once per tenant, so the real scale comes from running the same twelve weeks across many tenants. To find them, filter the AI Business Solutions & Security Insights (ASPX) dashboard for customers you manage that have Copilot, Cowork usage below 50 users and a CSP relationship. Then line up a new cohort each month. The last window can start in June 2027, so every month you wait is one fewer cohort. How the Offer Fits Together: A Twelve-Week Run Plan The picture below puts one tenant's journey on a single page: the twelve weeks across the top and the returns underneath. Read it from left to right: Lead-in (four weeks before Month 1): eligibility, attribution, Partner Earned Credit and Default Spending policy are settled, and pilot users are rated by the assessment. Month 1 (weeks 1 to 4): two functions land each week, Executives with Sales, then Marketing with Customer Service, then Finance and Operations with Legal. Week 4 is the milestone: 50 users and $2,500 of consumption. Months 2 and 3 (weeks 5 to 12): champions, role-based training and new users run throughout. Proven scenarios become reusable skills in Month 2. Weekly monitoring keeps both numbers above the line until the final Month 3 check. Payout (about week 18): qualified users are calculated and the ~$2.5K activation payment arrives. The ~$0.98K CSP incentive and ~$0.98K Partner Earned Credit build up month by month along the way, bringing the window to about $4.5K per tenant before any managed services. Beyond the Payout: Services That Grow With Every New User The payout closes the activation, not the relationship. Keeping Cowork useful takes work every month, so group the services into three families: run adoption, support and FinOps as one subscription after Month 3, and add security and scale-out as the customer needs them. Service family What you run Cadence What the customer gets Cowork adoption and support Usage health monitoring: track active use by team and follow up on drop-offs 4 hours a month Drop-offs caught within the month. Each lapsed user means about $5.2K a year of time savings lost Cowork adoption and support Change management and enablement: champion network and role-based training 5 hours a month Each extra active user adds about $5.2K a year of time saved for about $600 of Cowork spend Cowork adoption and support Continual improvement: add new scenarios and build shared Cowork skills 1 day a month Time saved rises from 2 to 2.5 hours per user a week: about $65K more a year across 50 users Cowork adoption and support Service desk (first and second line): access issues, errors and how-to questions 8 hours a month Fixes by the next working day. Each stuck user loses about $100 a week of time savings AI FinOps and governance Copilot Credit optimisation: review credits by user, group and agent; tune the costliest tasks 1.5 hours a month 5 to 10% of waste removed: about $1.5K to $3K a year back on about $30K of Cowork spend AI FinOps and governance Spending policies: limits, alerts, credit requests, billing method and departmental chargeback 2 days to set up, then monthly tuning Monthly spend stays within 10% of the $2,500 plan, and invoices hold no surprises AI FinOps and governance Monthly business review with the sponsor: value against cost, next priorities 3 hours a month One scorecard: hours saved at $50 an hour against about $48K a year of Cowork and Copilot licences AI FinOps and governance Skill and automation lifecycle: test, update and retire shared skills and scheduled tasks 4 hours a month At $0.70 to $15 a run, each daily task nobody uses wastes about $250 to $5,500 a year until retired AI FinOps and governance Security and compliance monitoring: alerts on risky Cowork actions, oversharing and data loss events 24x7, as an add-on to an existing security operations service Risky actions triaged within an agreed time, for example one hour, at low extra cost Cowork scale-out Re-run the Investment Assessment for new teams or roles in the same tenant 1 week per group Spend goes only to Yes users: about $600 a year of Cowork each, returning about $5.2K of time saved Cowork scale-out Land and expand: discovery for new business units or tenants 2-week sprint Next three units sized. For example, 50 users save about $260K a year for about $48K of Cowork and Copilot Cowork scale-out Repeatable rollout: run the proven twelve weeks for each new unit or tenant About 3 months per rollout 50+ active users each time, reusing proven skills. New tenants can earn their own activation payment Total About 4.5 partner days a month / about 55 a year About $260K a year of time saved against about $103K of total cost: a return of about 2.5 times, rising towards 3 times at 100+ users The total row tells the story. Around $55K a year of service revenue from one tenant sits on top of the ~$4.5K earned in the activation window, and it repeats every year the customer keeps using Cowork. On the customer side, the $103K of total cost breaks down as $30K of Cowork, $18K of Copilot licences and $55K of services. As usage grows to 100 or more users in the year, Cowork spend rises to about $60K and the return climbs towards three times. Value figures are illustrative. They assume 2 hours saved per user a week at $50 an hour, Copilot at about $30 per user a month and a partner day rate of $1,000. Replace them with each customer's Investment Assessment results. Start Your First Tenant This Quarter Putting the playbook to work starts with one tenant. Six moves get you there: Check you qualify: confirm your Solutions Partner designation and revenue threshold, then enrol in the incentive and complete your Partner Center details. Find your tenants: in ASPX, filter for customers with Copilot, Cowork usage below 50 users and a CSP relationship. Confirm each one against the August 2026 baseline. Get the plumbing right first: attribution, the CSP Azure plan and the default spending policy all need to be in place before Month 1. A missed setup step cannot be fixed later in the window. Run the assessment in parallel: pilot users can take the Cowork Investment Assessment at any point. It never holds up the scenario rollout, and its results show where Cowork should grow next. Package it once: treat the twelve-week activation as an investment that pays back as users grow, then layer a monthly adoption, FinOps and scale-out service on top, sold through the routes your customers already buy from you. Put the Month 3 review in the diary on day one, together with the sponsor's first monthly business review. Cowork is where Copilot moves from answering questions to finishing work. Help every customer reach that point, one tenant at a time. Further Reading and Tools These resources cover the rules, the tools and the wider Copilot picture behind this playbook. Copilot Cowork CSP Activation Incentive Copilot Cowork Investment Assessment Copilot Credit Estimator Cowork Nifty-Sixty The new Copilot and the partner opportunityPartner Blog | From Copilot adoption to agent-powered growth
A successful Copilot trial opens the door to a much bigger customer conversation and a bigger role for partners. Once users experience the value of AI in their daily work, partners can guide customers to extend that value across teams, workflows, and business processes while maintaining the security, governance, and cost controls needed to scale. In my recent post, From AI curiosity to Copilot adoption in 30 Days, I introduced how Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners can use a guided, 25-user trial to bring Microsoft 365 Copilot Business to small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers. That initial experience creates momentum, but sustaining it requires a structured approach to adoption, governance, and expansion. The opportunity is growing with the new Copilot, which brings Home, Code, and Autopilot together in one connected experience. Combined with a commercial model that supports subscriptions and usage-based billing, these advances create new ways for customers to move from AI assistance to delegated work and agent-powered business processes. For partners, this expands opportunities across the customer lifecycle, from guiding adoption and securing environments to developing agents, managing AI consumption, and delivering ongoing services. The key is connecting these capabilities into a repeatable practice that evolves alongside customer needs. Build on the momentum of Copilot in 30 The first 30 days give customers a practical foundation for working with AI. Through Copilot in 30, users explore how Microsoft 365 Copilot Business can improve everyday productivity across Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint before progressing to agents and more advanced scenarios. The Copilot Success Planner gives partners a structured way to guide this experience. It creates personalized learning plans for the 25 trial users, along with a roadmap for the customer sponsor. The guided journey builds skills progressively. If the sponsor enables Copilot Cowork, Weeks 3 and 4 add Cowork prompts that introduce the possibilities of delegated work. At the end of the trial, partners can use the sponsor's Day 30 value readout to identify where Copilot delivered results, which users and teams are ready to expand, and where additional capabilities could create business value. That conversation now has a broader destination. With the new Copilot, customers can move through connected experiences: Home brings Chat, Copilot Cowork, and Office together, so users can ask questions, create content, and delegate more complex work. Code extends AI-powered solution development, so users can turn natural-language ideas into apps, dashboards, automations, and workflows. Autopilot introduces a persistent, proactive personal agent designed to keep work moving within organizational permissions. Home and Code are rolling out through the Frontier program, and Autopilot is in private preview. They expand what customers can explore as their AI maturity grows, building on the foundation of everyday Copilot adoption. For partners, the next step is to turn early success into a longer-term customer roadmap. The Microsoft 365 Copilot + Agents SMB Guided Experience (download kit) provides a ready-to-deliver, 90-minute engagement to reinforce value, explore new scenarios, and guide the transition toward broader adoption. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Make each Microsoft 365 Business Premium opportunity a security conversation
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) want to put cloud and AI to work while protecting their people, data, and operations. Cybersecurity Awareness Month brings those priorities into focus each October, but building a secure foundation for productive, AI-ready work is a year-round business need. For Microsoft partners, that makes each Microsoft 365 Business Premium opportunity a security conversation and a path to recurring managed services. Lead with the outcomes customers need: adopt AI with confidence, strengthen protection against advanced cyberattacks, and secure sensitive data while addressing compliance requirements. Microsoft 365 Business Premium brings productivity and foundational security together. Microsoft Defender Suite for Business Premium and Microsoft Purview Suite for Business Premium extend that foundation with advanced threat protection, data security, and compliance capabilities. Together, they give you a connected Microsoft platform to assess, deploy, manage, and expand as customer needs evolve. The opportunity continues well after the initial sale. By guiding adoption, maintaining security posture, and strengthening governance, you can build repeatable managed security services that deepen customer relationships and create opportunities for recurring revenue. Security is the foundation for productive, AI-ready work Security is now a priority across the partner ecosystem and a prerequisite for nearly every customer initiative. Secure identities, protected data, threat protection, and clear governance create the foundation for productive work today and for governed AI adoption over time. That’s the thinking behind the FY27 SMB sales plays, including the “Run your business securely” security sales play. Rather than leading with a product list, start with the business outcome the customer is trying to achieve and the risk that could get in the way. The FY27 SMB partner resources provide conversation guides, pitch materials, and discovery questions you can use to turn that framing into a business case. The FY27 SMB Channel Partner Playbook extends that guidance across customer conversations, readiness, and go-to-market execution. This secure foundation also matters as customers move from isolated AI use to repeatable, governed ways of working, a core part of Frontier Transformation. For SMBs with lean IT teams, or who rely on their Managed Service Provider (MSP), an integrated approach can simplify the environment while improving visibility across identity, endpoints, data, and compliance. Partners can guide that progression by keeping security, productivity, and AI readiness connected throughout the customer relationship. Continue reading herePartner Blog | From AI adoption to recurring revenue: The SMB partner opportunity at Microsoft Ignite 2026
For many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the AI conversation has moved beyond whether the investment can deliver value. Customers are increasingly focused on what comes next: how to embed AI into everyday work, extend it across business processes, and manage it securely as adoption grows. That shift creates an even bigger opportunity for partners. By building the services, managed offerings, and intellectual property (IP) that turn adoption into measurable outcomes and recurring revenue, partners can create a durable path for growth, particularly in the SMB segment, where customers often rely on them for both technology and ongoing expertise. In a recent Morning Brew interview, Allison West Hughes, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Global Small Medium Business, noted that SMBs adopt AI tools about 10 percentage points faster than enterprises. She also highlighted the role partners play across geographies, industries, customer sizes, and service models as SMB customers build agents and secure their data. Microsoft Ignite 2026, taking place November 17–20 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and online, is an opportunity to build on that momentum. For partners serving SMB customers, the focus is on turning growing AI demand into a repeatable growth motion that connects adoption, security, managed services, and ongoing customer value. Registration for the in-person and online experiences is open. Secure your spot, then use the Partner Business view of the schedule builder to create an agenda around the capabilities and offers you want to build next. Turn AI adoption into a repeatable SMB growth motion Frontier Transformation describes the shift toward AI and agents becoming repeatable, governed capabilities embedded in how organizations work, serve customers, and run business processes. For SMB customers, making that shift practical matters. They need a path that brings intelligence and trust together without adding unnecessary complexity. That creates a natural role for partners to connect licensing, deployment, security, adoption, agents, measurement, and ongoing management across the customer journey. It also changes the economics of an AI practice. Instead of treating deployment as the end of an engagement, partners can use it as the beginning of a longer-term services relationship: identify high-value scenarios, establish the security and governance foundation, drive adoption, extend into agents and business processes, measure value, and continue optimizing over time. That is the opportunity we will explore at Microsoft Ignite in Frontier Transformation: The Next Trillion-Dollar Partner Opportunity, where I am joining David Lochridge, General Manager, Commercial Partner. The session is designed for channel leaders, AI-native partners evaluating platforms, and partners serving SMB and corporate customers. We will focus on four practical questions: Where are the strongest AI growth opportunities emerging for partners? How can industry solutions, AI-powered services, managed offerings, and IP create more repeatable revenue? What capabilities are needed to operationalize AI securely, including governance, adoption, change management, and Frontier Transformation engineering? How can an initial customer engagement develop into a longer-term services relationship? The goal is to leave with a clearer view of the business model behind Frontier Transformation and the capabilities required to turn customer AI adoption into recurring services revenue. Go deeper on monetization For partners ready to get specific about packaging, pricing, and scaling offers, the partner theater session From Experimentation to Monetizing AI goes deeper into the operating model behind an AI practice. Explore the Partner Business theater sessions in the Microsoft Ignite catalog. The session focuses on moving from customer curiosity to measurable outcomes through repeatable offerings, AI-powered IP, and agentic solutions. The important question is not simply what you can build. It is how you package that capability so your sales and delivery teams can take it to market consistently, and customers can understand the value they are buying. Partners serving SMB customers should also add two sessions to their agenda. The Frontier Transformation Partner keynote on Wednesday, November 18, from 9:00 to 10:00 AM Pacific Time will explore how organizations are redesigning work and scaling AI adoption, along with what those shifts mean for partner capability and customer opportunity. The SMB Partner Path: Turning AI Ambition into Customer Growth will focus more directly on making AI practical for SMB customers through a unified conversation and repeatable path from ambition to business value. Together, these sessions can inform a simple question to bring back to your business: What is the next AI offer we can package, sell, deliver, and manage repeatedly for our SMB customers? Continue reading herePartner Blog | Accelerating partner growth through Microsoft Marketplace
AI transformation succeeds when customers can move seamlessly from discovering the right solution to realizing business value. Trusted partners make that possible by bringing together software, implementation, and ongoing services to guide customers from ambition to impact. This is a significant growth opportunity for our partner ecosystem—and we are investing to help partners capture it. Our ambition is clear: make Microsoft Marketplace the destination where software development companies and channel partners build, sell, and scale together. This fiscal year, we increased our investment in the Microsoft Marketplace business by 200%, 1 while expanding the offerings, tools, and capabilities partners need to reach more customers and grow. Get to market faster with connected resources We are investing across the full Marketplace growth journey from Azure sponsorship and technical guidance to skilling and go-to-market resources. The goal is simple: help partners bring solutions to market faster, accelerate customer adoption, and scale their business. We recently announced Frontier Accelerate for Marketplace, a Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program offering that builds on existing investments to accelerate business growth through Marketplace. Technical guidance enables you to bring cloud and AI solutions to market, while Marketplace-focused skilling strengthens your team’s readiness to publish and sell. As you go to market, earn more marketing benefits and Azure sponsorship benefits to help you sell more. Eligible partners can choose a no-cost experience with self-service resources and milestone-based benefits, or a paid premium experience with deeper Microsoft engagement and additional investment. We are making it faster and easier for partners to bring solutions to market and creating more ways to monetize their innovation. With the new ingestion MCP server, software companies can use agents to create, confirm, publish, and manage Marketplace listings. We’re also expanding the solutions partners can sell through Marketplace, including apps and agents embedded directly into industry workflows. Microsoft Dragon Copilot listings are one example of how software companies are bringing AI apps and agents into clinical workflows at the point of care, tailored to the needs of physicians. Expand globally through channel-led selling For many customers, the path to AI adoption begins with a partner who understands their business. Expanding channel-led selling capabilities makes it easier for software companies and channel partners to sell together through Marketplace in more markets. Multiparty private offers are now available in more than 35 markets, including the recent release to Hong Kong, with more markets coming soon. Our expansion into Hong Kong marks a major step in bringing these channel-led opportunities to more markets across Asia. Software companies can now reach customers through their preferred channel partner—often managed service providers, resellers, and systems integrators that have established relationships and local expertise. Channel-led sales capabilities across resale enabled offers and multiparty private offers open gateways into new markets for software companies without rebuilding their sales teams country by country. Channel partners take a larger role in each opportunity, bringing software together with implementation, managed services, and local market expertise. The result: software companies gain reach, channel partners gain opportunity, and customers maintain their trusted partners to support their Frontier Transformation. Simplify the path from discovery to purchase Reaching more customers also means making it easier for them to find, evaluate, and buy the right solutions. Intelligent discovery in Microsoft Marketplace connects customers with relevant listings, creating more opportunities for partners to engage buyers pursuing their Frontier Transformation. Once customers find the right solution, enhanced trial capabilities make the next step more accessible. New trial badges and dedicated filters make it easier for customers to identify solutions they can evaluate. For partners, trial insights provide a clearer view of customer engagement to help convert interest into sales. As that relationship grows, Marketplace now offers more ways to start negotiations for larger deals sooner. With the ability to request a private offer, customers who need custom pricing or terms can start that conversation directly from an eligible public listing. Each request is captured as a Marketplace lead, so partners can respond quickly to the customer's requirements. The request private offer option is enabled by default for eligible new public offers; for existing eligible offers, partners can turn it on and republish. Once terms are agreed, the focus shifts to completing the purchase. Coming soon for select offer types, private offer enhancements will give partners greater flexibility over customer subscriptions with auto-activation and future-dated agreements, while also providing customers a simpler experience that combines acceptance and purchase into one step. Finally, Marketplace is extending the ways customers can manage and govern their cloud investments. With purchase order mapping now generally available, customers can allocate Azure and Marketplace spend against existing purchase orders across departments, budgets, software companies, and products. This gives buying offices and emerging FinOps teams the visibility and control they need to optimize cloud costs. Continue reading herePartner Blog | FabCon + SQLCon Barcelona: Turning the latest data and AI innovation into partner growth
The European Microsoft Fabric + SQL Community Conference took place in Barcelona September 28 to October 1, 2026, and brought together nearly 5,000 data and AI professionals to connect, learn, and explore what it takes to move from AI experimentation to enterprise-scale impact across Microsoft Fabric, Azure SQL, and the broader Microsoft data and AI platform. For nearly 1800 Microsoft partners in attendance, the message was clear: customers need more than isolated data and AI projects. They need a unified, governed foundation that connects data, databases, analytics, AI development, enterprise context, security, and governance. That creates a powerful opportunity for partners across strategy, migration, modernization, AI innovation, governance, adoption, and ongoing optimization. The partners who can connect Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Foundry, Azure SQL, Microsoft IQ, and Power BI around a customer’s priorities can accelerate the transformation journey while expanding the scope and durability of their own practices. “As an ISV based in Australia, FabCon Europe has been a valuable opportunity to meet customers, connect with other partners, and build relationships in the European market. Spending time with Microsoft’s experts and the Fabric team has helped us understand the latest announcements and explore how we can help customers modernize their data estates with Microsoft Fabric. We’ve also had the chance to demo our solutions and exchange ideas—and we’re looking forward to continuing those conversations closer to home at the next FabCon in Sydney.” - Julien Redmond, CEO, Ignition Data Solutions What launched in Barcelona and why it matters for partners FabCon and SQLCon 2026 in Barcelona reinforced a broader Microsoft platform direction. As customers move AI into production, their data, business context, agents, security, and governance increasingly need to operate as a connected system. Microsoft announced new capabilities across Fabric and its database portfolio designed to connect those pieces, from unifying the data estate to grounding Microsoft Copilot and agents in trusted business context and operating those workloads reliably at scale. For partners, that creates an opportunity to expand customer conversations beyond a single workload. Bring trusted business context into Copilot with Fabric IQ Microsoft is bringing business context from Fabric IQ into Microsoft Copilot. Fabric IQ in Copilot Chat and Cowork is generally available, with integration into the new Code experience coming through the Frontier program. Fabric IQ connects unified data in Microsoft OneLake, trusted metrics from Power BI semantic models, and operational context so people and agents can work from a shared understanding of the business. For partners, this opens a more outcome-led conversation about AI readiness. Customers are asking for more than access to models. They need governed data, common business definitions, and operational context that enable Copilot and agents to deliver relevant, reliable results. Partners can bring together data estate modernization, semantic modeling, governance, and agent implementation as part of one transformation roadmap. This gives customers a clearer path from foundational data work to AI adoption. Operate AI-ready data estates with greater visibility Microsoft also introduced new observability capabilities for Fabric, now in preview. Workspace monitoring, an enhanced monitor hub, and operations agents provide a unified view across workspaces, jobs, capacities, and workloads—along with alerts, AI-assisted investigation, root-cause analysis, and recommended actions. That visibility becomes more important as customers move from pilots to production. Their growing data and AI estates require ongoing monitoring, optimization, and governance. This creates a repeatable way to support customers after deployment—into operational readiness, performance optimization, and managed services—while improving the resilience of their data and AI environments. These announcements sit alongside broader innovations across OneLake, Fabric Apps, Fabric agents, Database Hub, Azure SQL, and other database capabilities. Together, they reinforce a practical partner opportunity: connect the customer’s data foundation, business context, AI applications, and operations rather than treating them as separate technology decisions. Customers want to put AI into production, but fragmented data, limited business context, and operational complexity can slow progress. Partners can differentiate by connecting Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft IQ, Azure databases, and SQL modernization around an outcome-led customer strategy. By doing so, partners can enable customers to unify their data estate, add trusted enterprise context, and establish the governance and operational foundation required to scale AI with confidence. "Partner Day at FabCon+SQLCon Europe brought us up to speed on Microsoft Fabric and its data and AI strategy. It also allowed us to learn and connect with peers solving the same customer challenges and gave our team a close look at the latest Fabric innovations. I'm leaving ready to help our customers move faster toward data modernization and AI transformation." - Liam McNeilly, Manager, Data and AI Platforms Lead, Campana & Schott What we heard at Partner Day The opportunity around data and AI continues to grow, and partners are central to turning that innovation into real customer impact. Partner Day brought partners together with Microsoft leaders, product experts, and the broader community to explore how to translate the latest innovation into customer outcomes. A few themes stood out: Continue reading here.Partner Blog | Attain the skills to scale AI innovation and customer impact
Customers are extending Copilot, agents, and intelligent applications across more teams, workflows, and business processes. As adoption grows, customers need partners who can connect these capabilities with the data, cloud infrastructure, and governance required to deliver value at scale. For Microsoft partners, this creates opportunities across the customer lifecycle. Sales teams need the expertise to identify and position AI solutions, technical teams must design secure, integrated architectures, and delivery teams need the skills to implement, manage, and optimize solutions as customer requirements evolve. Building on August's foundational AI skilling and September's focus on customer execution, October brings new opportunities to deepen expertise across Copilot, agents, data, and cloud modernization. This month's learning journeys, live events, and resources give partners practical ways to build team capabilities, and partner benefits packages help put those skills to work. With discounted Microsoft product licenses, Azure credits, and technical consultations, teams can practice on the same technologies they deliver to customers. Expand Copilot and agent capabilities Role-based learning journeys provide sales, technical, and delivery teams with the knowledge to position solutions, guide adoption, and deliver implementations across enterprise and small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers. Build Copilot expertise across customer segments Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption creates opportunities for partners to guide customers from initial deployment to broader use across their organizations. For enterprise customers, the Copilot Learning Journey (Sales Ready) prepares sales teams to identify opportunities and position Microsoft 365 Copilot, while the Copilot Learning Journey (Project Ready) develops the technical skills to implement and extend solutions. Partners serving SMB customers can follow tailored paths through the Copilot SMB Learning Journey (Sales Ready) and Copilot SMB Learning Journey (Project Ready), building the commercial and technical expertise to address the needs of smaller organizations. Starting at just $350/year, partner benefits packages make it easier to apply these journeys inside the business first. Partner Success Expanded Benefits includes Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses and a monthly Copilot Credit capacity pack for Microsoft Copilot Studio, so teams can build hands-on experience with deployment, adoption, and cost governance before leading customer projects. Continue reading hereLand Your Offer - Anatomy of Revenue Generating Partner Offer - Part 3 - Copilot Deployment
In Part 1 we looked at Copilot in 30, a $0 trial for SMB customers. In Part 2 we looked at Envisioning & POC, a funded pre-sales engagement. Part 3 moves to post-sales. The customer has bought Copilot seats. The job now is to get people using them. That job has a new reward. From 1 October 2026, the Frontier Accelerate for Copilot: M365 Copilot Deployment Accelerator pays in two milestones: one when you deliver the deployment, and one when the customer's active users grow. It also lands just after Microsoft introduced the new Copilot with Home, Code and Autopilot, usage-based billing and FinOps for AI. Deployment now covers more ground, and customers need a partner to cover it. Package this engagement as a Microsoft Marketplace offer and you have a repeatable way to turn paid seats into active users across your whole customer base. Start Here: Why Publishing on Microsoft Marketplace Matters Microsoft Marketplace is Microsoft's partner-focused business platform. It helps you reach more customers and makes buying from you simpler. A published offer gives your practice a permanent storefront where customers and Microsoft sellers already look for Copilot help. An offer also makes your work repeatable. You define the phases, activities, deliverables and sizes once. Then you run the same engagement for every qualified customer instead of scoping each one from scratch. Partner Center supports both professional service and managed service offers, so one listing can carry the deployment and the ongoing services that follow. The Opportunity: Seats Bought, Value Waiting Many organisations have bought Copilot ahead of their people adopting it. The gap between paid seats and monthly active users is value still waiting to be realised. Take a customer with 3,000 paid Copilot seats and 1,000 monthly active users. That leaves 2,000 seats, about $720K a year of Copilot investment at $30 per user per month, not yet part of anyone's working day. Closing that gap is what this engagement is designed to do. Customer eligibility for each size is set by two numbers: purchased Copilot seats, and unused seats (purchased seats minus active users). Both are in Partner Center's growth insights reporting in the AI Business Solutions & Security Insights (ASPX) dashboard. Use the dashboard's filters to find customers to land this offer with, and you will know which size each one qualifies for before the first conversation. Why Deployment Is Where Copilot Value Is Won Copilot delivers its value through daily use. The more people build it into how they work, the more value the business sees, and the stronger the case to extend it to more teams. The new Copilot widens what a good deployment covers. Home is the new starting point, with the full power of Word, Excel and PowerPoint built in through Office in Copilot. Code lets people build apps, dashboards and automations in plain language. Autopilot is a persistent agent that keeps work moving without a prompt. Advanced capabilities run on usage-based billing, governed through FinOps for AI. So deployment now goes beyond assigning licences. It means securing data, governing Code apps and Autopilot agents, training people on Chat, Office in Copilot and Code, and putting spend controls in place before usage scales. Each of these takes skills many customers do not yet have in-house. Each one is a service you can deliver. Meet the Offer: M365 Copilot Deployment Accelerator, Paid in Two Milestones The M365 Copilot Deployment Accelerator is a post-sales, partner-led engagement. It covers technical deployment of Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, security and governance controls, user training, and adoption and change management. The essentials: Who qualifies: Customers with a minimum number of purchased Copilot seats and unused seats for each size: XXS 50+ and 25+, XS 300+ and 250+, S 500+ and 500+, M 1,500+ and 1,500+, L 3,000+ and 3,000+. Strategic 500 customers are not eligible. EDU and non-profit customers are not eligible for XXS and XS. How it is sized: Five sizes: XXS (10 hours), XS (20 hours), S (40 hours), M (100 hours) and L (200 hours). How it pays: Milestone 1 (Solution Deployment) is paid once your proof of execution (POE) is approved. It is guaranteed and does not depend on any outcome. Milestone 2 (Consumption Growth) is paid if the customer's incremental paid Copilot monthly active users reach the nominated band within a six-month window. Going above the band does not increase the payment. Falling below it means no Milestone 2 payment. How it runs: Nominate the customer into a size band (the band is locked once submitted). Get customer consent within 30 days. Deliver the work and submit POE (partner survey, customer attestation and invoice) within 90 days of consent. Each customer tenant can have up to two approved claims, one at a time. Who can deliver: Partners at Copilot JumpStart Ready or higher until 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027, the Microsoft 365 Copilot specialization is required. Term: 1 October 2026 to 30 June 2027, or until the program cap is reached. Microsoft funds the deployment and rewards the growth. You own the delivery, the relationship and everything that follows. Your Role: From Deployer to Adoption Partner A deployment is not finished when licences are assigned. It is finished when people use Copilot every week and the sponsor can see the value. Your job is to get the customer there, phase by phase. Plan: Confirm the first business functions to adopt. Validate priority scenarios across Chat, Office in Copilot and the Microsoft 365 apps. Set KPIs and Responsible AI guardrails. Build a measurable business case that includes usage-based billing. Assess the environment and sequence remediation before deployment. Implement: Prepare the environment and assign licences. Configure data controls, fix oversharing, and govern Code apps and Autopilot agents. Enable admin tools. Set up the Copilot Dashboard, reporting and FinOps for AI spend controls. Launch a champions programme and community. Train users on Chat, Office in Copilot and Code. Adopt: Run prompt-a-thons on real scenarios. Survey users on their experience. Track incremental paid active users every month against the Milestone 2 band. Review audit logs and Copilot reports. Monitor service health, demand, cost and AI spend. Manage and Improve: Extend analytics with custom impact reports. Refine the business case with real data. Align policies to Home, Code and Autopilot on a set schedule. Optimise operations and AI spend. Mine help desk tickets for new agentic use cases. Keep training going as adoption spreads. Close out: Deliver an executive summary with recommendations, risks, owners and dates. Submit POE. Agree the plan to reach the nominated active user band within the six-month Milestone 2 window. Every phase moves one number: active users. It is the number the customer's sponsor watches most closely, and the one both milestones are built around. Inside the Offer: Activities and Hours by Engagement Size Below is the full activity plan behind the offer, with hours for each of the five sizes. Use it to size your own offer plans and statements of work. ID Phase Activity XXS XS S M L Pre-req Eligibility Minimum Copilot seats / unused seats (unused = seats minus active users) 50+ / 25+ 300+ / 250+ 500+ / 500+ 1,500+ / 1,500+ 3,000+ / 3,000+ P1 Plan Identify priority business functions 0.25 0.5 1 2.25 4.5 P2 Plan Determine high-value scenarios 0.5 1.25 2.25 5.75 11.5 P3 Plan Define success metrics and guardrails 0.5 0.75 1.5 3.75 7.5 P4 Plan Develop the business case, incl. usage-based billing (UBB) 0.5 1.25 2.25 5.75 11.5 P5 Plan Plan readiness and remediation 0.5 1 1.75 4.5 9 I1 Implement Prepare environment and assign licenses 0.75 1.5 3 7.75 15.25 I2 Implement Configure security and data controls 0.75 1.5 3 7.75 15.25 I3 Implement Enable administrative tools 0.5 0.75 1.5 3.75 7.5 I4 Implement Deploy analytics and reporting, incl. FinOps for AI 0.5 0.75 1.5 3.75 7.5 I5 Implement Activate champions and communities 0.25 0.75 1.25 3 6 I6 Implement Conduct training and communications 0.75 1.5 2.75 6.75 13.75 A1 Adopt Drive cross-organizational adoption 0.5 1.25 2.5 6 12.25 A2 Adopt Gather user feedback and sentiment 0.25 0.5 1.25 3 6 A3 Adopt Measure business impact and usage 0.5 1 2 5.25 10.75 A4 Adopt Monitor security and audit reports 0.25 0.5 1 2.75 5.25 A5 Adopt Monitor and evaluate operations, cost and AI spend 0.25 0.5 1.25 3 6 M1 Manage and Improve Extend analytics 0.25 0.5 1.25 3 6 M2 Manage and Improve Evolve the business case, incl. UBB 0.25 0.5 1.25 3 6 M3 Manage and Improve Policy review and refinement 0.25 0.5 1.25 3 6 M4 Manage and Improve Optimize operations and AI spend 0.5 0.75 1.5 3.75 7.5 M5 Manage and Improve Continuous process improvement 0.25 0.5 1.25 3 6 M6 Manage and Improve Continuous training and adoption 0.5 0.75 1.5 3.75 7.5 C1 Close-out Executive summary, POE and Milestone 2 growth plan 0.5 1.25 2.25 5.75 11.5 TOTAL Hours 10 20 40 100 200 Land Your Offer: What One Customer Is Worth The table below is the revenue anatomy of one Deployment Accelerator engagement at each of the five sizes. Four revenue streams stack on top of each other: Milestone 1, Solution Deployment: Microsoft funds the deployment work, from $1,625 for an XXS engagement to $32,500 for an L engagement. It is paid once POE is approved and is guaranteed. Milestone 2, Consumption Growth: a further $875 to $17,500, paid when the customer's incremental paid active users reach the nominated band within six months. This is where adoption work earns its own reward. CSP incentive on Copilot revenue: earned on the Copilot seats you transact. Customers who see their people using Copilot every day tend to renew and extend, so adoption work supports this stream too. Managed services: the recurring engagement described in After Close-out, which is where the largest and most durable share of revenue lives. Item XXS XS S M L Minimum Copilot seats / unused seats 50+ / 25+ 300+ / 250+ 500+ / 500+ 1,500+ / 1,500+ 3,000+ / 3,000+ Engagement hours 10 20 40 100 200 Milestone 2 target: incremental paid Copilot active users in six months 25+ 250+ 500+ 1,500+ 3,000+ Milestone 1, Solution Deployment (K) $1.63K $3.25K $6.5K $16.25K $32.5K Milestone 2, Consumption Growth (K) $0.88K $1.75K $3.5K $8.75K $17.5K Frontier Accelerate total (K) $2.5K $5K $10K $25K $50K CSP incentive on Copilot revenue (K)† $3.51K $21.06K $35.1K $105.3K $210.6K † Milestone payments shown at Market A rates for claims nominated from 1 October 2026. CSP incentive shown at a blended 19.5% (direct bill 2.5 + 7 + 10; indirect reseller 7 + 12.5) on the minimum Copilot seats for each size at $30 per user per month for 12 months. Illustrative estimates from the offer plan. Confirm current rates, market rates, eligibility and geographic restrictions (which apply to the L size) in the latest Microsoft Commercial Partner Incentives Guide. Now multiply. Everything above is the anatomy of a single customer. Landing the offer means running it across every qualifying customer in your base. The same ASPX view you use to check eligibility is your target list: sort the customers you manage by the gap between paid Copilot seats and active users, and check MCI eligibility and potential earnings for each. Do not forget your Part 2 customers: every Envisioning & POC engagement that converted to paid seats is a natural next candidate. How the Offer Fits Together: From Sizing to Proof of Execution The offer runs left to right in three layers: Sizing and value: five sizes from XXS (10 hours) to L (200 hours). Milestone 1 is paid on POE approval. Milestone 2 is paid when the active user band is met. Bands are locked at nomination. Five phases: Plan (P1 to P5), Implement (I1 to I6), Adopt (A1 to A5), Manage and Improve (M1 to M6) and Close-out (C1, T1, T2, X1). Each phase produces something the sponsor can see. Proof of execution: prioritised scenarios and a business case that includes usage-based billing; a secure, licensed Copilot environment; analytics, reporting and admin controls; active champions and trained users; incremental paid active users, impact and ROI measured; an executive summary, roadmap and POE. Plus a named wave 2 expansion beyond the first teams. The highlighted activities are champions and communities (I5), training and communications (I6), cross-organizational adoption (A1), business impact and usage (A3), extended analytics (M1), policy review (M3), operations and AI spend (M4), continuous training (M6), trial to paid licence conversion (T1), commercial proposal and signature (T2) and the wave 2 expansion plan (X1). These are where the engagement stops being a project and becomes an ongoing relationship: managed services, ongoing optimisation and follow-on professional services after the engagement closes. The managed services below are built from exactly these activities. After Close-out: Managed Services That Keep Delivering Close-out is the start of the real engagement. Package these six recurring services in your offer. Each one carries forward a highlighted activity from the deployment, is sized in partner days so you can price it, and drives a business outcome the sponsor can put a number on. Managed service Partner activity: what you deliver and measure Customer business outcome: what it drives (illustrative targets, M-size customer) Champions and community management • Effort: 1 to 2 days a month • Activity: Run the champions network and a Viva Engage or Teams community, host monthly prompt-a-thons on real work, and carry adoption into every business function (I5, A1) • Reported as: Active champions per function; community questions answered; functions above the utilisation target • One active champion for every 50 users (60 champions across 3,000 seats) • Adoption spreads from the first 2 business functions to 6+ within six months • Copilot how-to tickets to the help desk down 30 to 50% as peers answer questions first Continuous learning and enablement • Effort: 2 days a month • Activity: Deliver role-based training and launch communications for each new group, onboard new joiners within their first 30 days, and refresh training as new Copilot capabilities arrive (I6, M6) • Reported as: People trained by role; new joiners onboarded within 30 days; trained users active within 30 days • 2 to 4 hours saved per active user a week (≈5,000 to 10,000 hours across 2,500 active users) • 90%+ of trained users active within 30 days of training • New joiners productive with Copilot in their first month, not their first quarter Usage and impact analytics • Effort: 1 to 2 days a month • Activity: Track incremental paid active users against the Milestone 2 band every month, extend the Copilot Dashboard with third-party data, and build custom impact reports by function (A3, M1) • Reported as: Incremental active users against the band; utilisation (active users ÷ paid seats); impact by function • Utilisation lifted from 33% to 83% (1,000 to 2,500 active users) within six months, meeting the M band floor • ≈$540K a year of Copilot investment moved from unused to in use • Return shown in the customer's own numbers: ≈$1.08M a year of seats against $9.6M+ of staff time released at $40 per hour Policy lifecycle management • Effort: 1 day a month • Activity: Review and refine security and governance policies on a set schedule, and align them to Home, Code and Autopilot before each capability reaches users (M3) • Reported as: Policy reviews completed on schedule; new capabilities assessed before rollout; open policy exceptions • New Copilot capabilities switched on in weeks, not quarters, because policies are ready • Zero Copilot-related oversharing incidents as usage grows • Audit evidence for every policy decision available on request Service and AI spend optimisation • Effort: 1 to 2 days a month • Activity: Review KPIs, user feedback and AI spend each month, update the service management plan, and focus usage-based capabilities on the users and scenarios that justify them (M4) • Reported as: KPI trend; AI spend against budget; feedback themes closed • AI spend held within ±10% of budget, with no unplanned overage • Cost per active user down 10 to 20% a year as usage matures • Top user feedback themes acted on within 30 days Licence growth and wave planning • Effort: 1 day a month, plus 2 to 3 days per expansion wave • Activity: Convert trial licences to paid, prepare commercial proposals for named teams, and plan and date the next expansion wave (T1, T2, X1) • Reported as: Trials converted; proposals signed; next wave dated with named teams • New seats added only where a named team and use case are ready • Each new wave at 80%+ utilisation within 60 days • Wave 2 adds 250 to 500 seats, each backed by usage data from wave 1 Outcomes are illustrative targets for an M-size customer with 3,000 paid Copilot seats and 1,000 active users at nomination, at $30 per user per month, a blended $40 per hour staff cost and 48 working weeks a year. Validate them with each customer when you define success metrics (P3) and build the business case (P4), then report against them from A3 onwards. Effort scales with seats in scope, as the engagement hours do. Add the recurring rows together and one M-size customer sustains roughly 8 to 9 partner days a month after close-out, before expansion waves are counted. Every row pairs a number you can invoice against with a number the sponsor can take to the board. That is what turns a recurring service into a renewable one. Ready to Build Your Copilot Deployment Accelerator Offer? Read the engagement terms and mechanics in the Microsoft Commercial Partner Incentives Guide, and download the delivery guide and pre-engagement planning resources. Check your eligibility: Copilot JumpStart Ready or higher until 31 December 2026, then the Microsoft 365 Copilot specialization from 1 January 2027. Publish your offer in Partner Center as a professional service (the deployment accelerator) with a managed service follow-on (community, learning, analytics, policy, spend optimisation and licence growth). Build your first cohort: in ASPX, filter the customers you manage for paid Copilot seats with low Copilot utilisation and an adoption status of starting or struggling, then check MCI eligibility and potential earnings for each. Start with customers from your Envisioning & POC engagements that converted to paid. Nominate the right band: the band is locked at nomination and Milestone 2 pays only if incremental paid active users reach its floor. Use ASPX to set it: take today's Copilot MAU as your baseline, look at the recent trend and adoption status, and pick the band whose floor you can realistically add in six months. A customer with 3,000 paid seats and 1,000 active users qualifies for M, and reaching the M floor means adding 1,500 active users. If your plan adds 600, S is the safer choice. Book the close-out before Plan begins, so the Milestone 2 plan and the wave 2 conversation are already on the calendar. Your customers have already chosen Copilot. Help every one of their people make it part of how they work. Resources Engagement mechanics for Copilot Deployment Accelerators | Microsoft Commercial Partner Incentives Guide Microsoft Commercial Partner Incentives Guide M365 Copilot Deployment Accelerator: Delivery Guide M365 Copilot Deployment Accelerator: Pre-Engagement Planning Partner investments: October 2026 updates Archived incentive terms for claims nominated before 1 October 2026 The new Copilot is here: the opportunity for Microsoft partners Introducing the new Copilot with Home, Code and Autopilot
