Coming soon: the 2026 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards
It's almost that time of year again: the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards are quickly approaching. These awards recognize the exceptional work partners deliver across solution areas, industries, and regions. And they celebrate the many ways our partners are driving Frontier Transformation––turning AI ambition into high-impact business outcomes for customers. Winning an award is a meaningful achievement that highlights the transformative influence partners like you have on customers around the world. Nominations open on June 1 and close on July 7. The winners will be announced on November 11, just in time to celebrate Microsoft Ignite 2026. Learn more about the awards at the link, start preparing your organization’s submissions, and be on the lookout for more details coming in mid-May. Learn more about the Partner of the Year AwardsWelcome to the new Partner Skilling Discussion board!
The Microsoft Skilling Community is your hub to stay informed on skilling opportunities, ask questions, and connect with peers across the Microsoft partner ecosystem. Follow the board for updates, get clarity on certifications and role‑based skilling paths, and use shared guidance to accelerate your readiness. We’d love to meet you — say hello and let us know in the comments where you’re joining from!
Foundry IQ and the partner opportunity: Turning domain knowledge into AI advantage
Turning domain knowledge into AI advantage with Foundry IQ The enterprise software landscape is undergoing a fundamental shift. AI agents are moving quickly from experimental pilots into production workloads. As organizations deploy agents at scale, a hard truth is emerging: an agent is only as valuable as the knowledge behind it. General-purpose models can reason, summarize, and generate. What they cannot replicate is the deep domain expertise software development companies have spent years building into products, data models, and best practices. That expertise is what turns an agent from “capable” into “useful” in real business workflows. This is the moment to ask a strategic question: where does your knowledge live in the AI agent economy, and how easily can customers find it when they are building agents? Microsoft Foundry IQ is designed to answer that question. What Foundry IQ means for the partner ecosystem Foundry IQ is a knowledge layer within Microsoft AI Foundry that connects curated, structured knowledge sources to the agents customers build and deploy. Organizations constructing agents in Foundry can browse, evaluate, and attach knowledge sources in the same place they select models and tools. Microsoft is leading with its own investment. Foundry IQ already surfaces product knowledge for first-party services, including: Microsoft Fabric (data pipelines, lakehouses, analytics) Azure Storage (blob, file, queue, and table architectures) SharePoint (collaboration, content management, and search) A growing set of additional Microsoft services For partners, this matters because it establishes a distribution surface inside the workflows where customers design and operationalize agents. Customers already use Microsoft knowledge sources when building. That same integration path is now open to partners, creating a clear opportunity to bring domain expertise into the agent-building experience. Microsoft knowledge covers Microsoft products. Customers also need industry and function-specific expertise that only partners provide. Foundry IQ enables you to meet that need by connecting your knowledge to the moment of highest intent, when customers are assembling the knowledge and tools their agents will rely on. In return, partners can gain: Increased visibility inside the platform where enterprise AI decisions are made A route to customer acquisition at the point of agent creation, not only through a separate sales cycle Stronger integration into the Microsoft ecosystem that can reinforce alignment with Microsoft sellers The ability to consume Microsoft first-party knowledge via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), making partner-built agents more capable without duplicating knowledge pipelines Three partner value paths The opportunity is not one-size-fits-all. Depending on your product architecture and go-to-market strategy, Foundry IQ opens three practical paths. Path 1: Integrate your knowledge where customers are already building Microsoft has populated Foundry IQ with knowledge for Fabric, SharePoint, Azure Storage, and other first-party services. Partners can integrate alongside these sources, becoming discoverable at the moment customers are assembling their agents. This is about showing up where design choices happen, not after the architecture is locked. A financial services organization builds a compliance agent and pulls in Microsoft platform knowledge alongside your regulatory expertise. A healthcare organization constructs a clinical workflow agent and discovers your domain knowledge at the point of need. In this model, your expertise becomes part of the agent’s foundation. Instead of being evaluated later through a separate procurement cycle, it becomes a selectable component in the agent-building workflow. That creates a new distribution channel at the point of highest customer intent. Path 2: Consume Foundry IQ to power your own agents The value flows both ways. Partners building agents, or agent-building platforms, can consume Foundry IQ as a knowledge source through MCP. Consider a partner offering a vertical supply chain platform. By connecting to Foundry IQ via MCP, that platform can: Ground its agents in Microsoft knowledge for Azure infrastructure, data services, and collaboration tools Layer the partner’s proprietary supply chain logic on top Deliver more capable agents without building and maintaining knowledge pipelines for every Microsoft service This is leverage. Partners benefit from Microsoft’s knowledge investment. Customers get agents that understand more of the full stack, from infrastructure through industry workflows. Path 3: Extend your existing knowledge platform with Foundry IQ Some partners already operate knowledge management or intelligence platforms. For these partners, Foundry IQ can expand relevance without forcing a platform rewrite. Foundry IQ and Microsoft Search capabilities can be integrated into your existing solution so you can: Combine your proprietary knowledge graph with Microsoft’s enterprise knowledge surface Deliver a more unified experience without requiring users to leave the platform they already use Evolve a standalone knowledge product into one that is connected to broader enterprise intelligence workflows This path strengthens your role as the knowledge hub while extending the reach of the content you surface. The business case for software development companies Across these paths, the business case tends to show up in three ways: Growth through integration When your knowledge becomes a selectable part of a customer’s agent architecture, each deployment becomes a durable touchpoint. Agents built with your integration can create ongoing product usage and expanded commercial opportunity. Differentiation through domain expertise Microsoft covers the platform layer. Partners cover the domain layer. As reasoning capabilities become more common, curated domain expertise becomes a key differentiator in agent outcomes. Ecosystem leverage through co-innovation Partners who integrate early can shape emerging patterns, build stronger visibility into customer demand, and become a natural choice when customers need domain-specific knowledge connected to their agents. Next steps Microsoft has already committed its product knowledge to Foundry IQ, and customers are using it to build agents. The domain layer is where partners complete the picture. Start with these actions: Identify your value path: Which of the three models aligns with your product and go-to-market strategy? Inventory your knowledge assets: What expertise, data sets, or frameworks would materially improve customer-built agents? Define an integration plan: Prioritize one scenario where your knowledge creates clear customer value and can be packaged repeatably. Engage your Microsoft partner development team: Align on scope and the right technical path to integrate or consume knowledge. The partners who move early can help set quality benchmarks and establish durable placement in the agent-building workflows customers adopt first. Additional resources Microsoft AI Foundry – Build, evaluate, and deploy AI agents Foundry IQ Overview – Learn how Foundry IQ connects knowledge to agents Model Context Protocol (MCP) – Open standard for connecting AI agents to knowledge and tools Azure AI Foundry Documentation – Technical documentation for the Foundry platform Microsoft Partner Network – Explore partnership opportunities and engagement pathExtended service terms enforcement is now in effect
As of May 4, 2026, we've aligned renewal and end-of-term options to create a more consistent and predictable experience. Customers and partners now have clear choices at expiration: renew to a new term, cancel at end of term, or temporarily extend service through a paid extended service term (EST). As a reminder: Subscriptions that meet all three of the following criteria will automatically transition to EST at expiration: Purchased or renewed on or after April 1, 2025 Expires on or after May 4, 2026 Auto-renew is set to off If EST is not a desired end-of-term option, partners can select “cancel” or “renew” before the subscription’s end date. Selecting “cancel” as an end-of-term option means the subscription ends on its expiration date, and the customer will lose access to the service. Partners should prioritize renewal discussions with customers in advance of a subscription's end date and discuss the best option for their business needs before the end of their service to avoid unexpected billing. Learn more about EST, available resources, and how to export a list of EST subscriptions.Discover new ways to innovate—read the State of the Partner Ecosystem blog
The AI industry has rapidly moved from experimentation to production, and Microsoft partners play a critical role in helping organizations deploy AI responsibly and at scale. Today’s customers expect secure, governed, outcome-driven solutions from their providers. To support the partner ecosystem, Microsoft invests in offerings like incentives, skilling, and go-to-market resources, so partners can continue to innovate and grow. Microsoft also tracks emerging AI trends and insights—synthesizing them to keep you informed and pointing you toward program offerings you can use to capture market opportunity. Explore the State of the Partner Ecosystem blog to learn about the latest AI developments and the investments Microsoft makes to empower partners to lead the way in Frontier Transformation. Visit the blogAct now: Unlock cloud security growth to drive stronger customer outcomes
When it comes to accelerating migration and modernization, security is no longer an add‑on for customers—it’s a baseline expectation. By embedding security earlier, you can deliver a built-in security approach, making it possible to drive more seamless adoption and stronger customer outcomes from day one. Microsoft is offering two initiatives to empower you to lead with security. Complete the Cloud Security Envisioning Workshop before June 30 to sharpen your approach and engage customers earlier in their cloud journey. After June 30, access requirements for the workshop may change, so review the latest specialization guidance before planning your next actions. Attain the Cloud Security specialization to unlock continued access to the workshop and strengthen your ability to lead secure cloud transformations. Get started by reviewing the Cloud Security specialization requirements, then assess your progress in Partner Center and collaborate with your Partner Development Manager to accelerate readiness and streamline the process. For additional guidance, go to Partner Concierge or join the Azure Migrate and Modernize Partner Forum. Drive stronger outcomes, starting at the foundation of every cloud engagement: security. Get started by acting now: Learn about the Cloud Security Envisioning Workshop. Explore and attain the Cloud Security specialization.Turn upcoming virtualization licensing changes into a growth opportunity
Seize the market shift driven by recent virtualization licensing changes by accelerating the move from Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA)-based licensing to a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) model. Although these changes won't take full effect until 2027, planning now gives you more time to evaluate the right transition path, protect customer relationships, and build stronger long-term business relationships. By removing legacy cost constraints, you can drive growth across Azure-native, hybrid, and AI-ready solutions. The Microsoft Datacenter Optimization (DCO) initiative empowers you to move beyond legacy SPLA-based operations and build a stronger business so you can protect margins, modernize customer environments, and grow new revenue. Learn more by checking out the Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Partners Podcast (or watching below) and visiting the DCO page.Incentive guidance and activation at your fingertips: Explore the new digital incentives guide
Now delivered through an online experience on the Microsoft partner website, the Microsoft Commercial Partner Incentives Guide gives you clear navigation, direct paths to engagement, and faster access to the most up-to-date guidance—all in one place. Now, you can: Search incentives by category to find opportunities that align with your go-to-market priorities. Quickly confirm eligibility to make informed decisions about where to invest time and effort. Act swiftly on opportunities with live links that connect you to the next action. Explore the new digital incentives guide experience and share your feedback as we continue to evolve it. Explore the incentives guide
