Welcome to the FY26 Q1 Partner Digest!
Stay up to date on the latest Microsoft Marketplace news, tools, and resources to help you grow your business. Subscribe to the Partner Digest label to never miss an update. 🚀 Noteworthy Highlights Introducing Microsoft Marketplace: Growth starts here. Turn your agents and other cloud-based innovations into sales, at scale, with Microsoft Marketplace. Learn more Updated Agreement: The Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Agreement has been updated, effective September 22, 2025. Review now Partner Center Security: Multifactor authentication (MFA) is now required for Partner Center access. API enforcement beings April 2026. Learn more App Advisor Enhancements: Six new features help software developers build, publish, and sell apps faster and smarter on the Microsoft Marketplace. Explore now Fabric Extensibility Toolkit: Software companies can help customers bring apps to Fabric, speed development, and integrate workloads. Get started today Azure AI Foundry Updates: Now featuring GPT-5, OpenAI gpt-oss, Foundry Local support, and a new Browser Automation tool to help you build intelligent agents using natural language. Learn more Partner Center AI assistant: Now localized and smarter than ever with support for additional languages, providing quick answers to your day-to-day questions. Learn more Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Concierge: Your go-to resource for all program related desk engagements, streamlined and more impactful than ever. Learn more 🌟 Microsoft partner resources: New for FY26 MCAPS Start recap Microsoft kicked off FY26 with a bold vision for partner growth in the AI era. Nicole Dezen outlines how partners can lead with innovation and scale impact. Explore strategic solution areas, expanded MAICPP investments, and GTM support.👉 Read the full post New benefits & resources New AI-powered benefits and tools are here to help partners thrive. Julie Sanford details how to get Azure credits, Copilot seats, and custom GTM materials to accelerate agentic AI adoption.👉 Read the full post Blog Series & Playbooks: Catch up on our Cloud and AI Platforms blog series. Part one: Capturing the market opportunity Part two: Migrations & Modernizations Explore the latest Cloud and AI platforms and Agentic AI partner playbooks which includes key skilling resources, investments, win formulas and more. Unlock your Microsoft AI Cloud potential with Partner Skilling Hub: Visit our skilling hub for the latest training resources to earn designations and specializations. Explore the most recent skilling blog for key skilling-related announcements. Incentives ISV Success Advanced Package: Top-performing partners with Certified Software Designations can qualify for financial incentives to build AI solutions or migrate customers to Azure. The package supports every stage of ISV Success. Learn more. Migration Incentives: New end-customer migration incentives are now available to help software companies and advanced specialized system integrators securely and efficiently move software companies’ end customers to modern applications running on Azure. See Azure Incentives > ISV Engagements tab in the incentive guide for details. 🗓️ Events & Office Hours June-September recaps June: The Microsoft Marketplace Ecosystem Opportunity Explore how AI is reshaping solution development and customer engagement in this conversation with Cyril Belikoff, Microsoft’s new leader for Marketplace. Learn how the marketplace is simplifying procurement and accelerating growth. A “lightbulb moment” for the industry and the critical role partners play in delivering innovation on Microsoft’s platform. 👉 Watch the recording July: Marketplace Rewards FY26 Learn how channel partners can benefit from multiparty private offers and new rewards tier thresholds to unlock $200K in sponsorship. 👉 Watch the recording August: Co-Sell Blueprint & Certified Designations Gain real-world co-sell strategies and learn about Microsoft’s Customer Engagement Methodology from industry experts. Plus, get the latest on Certified Software Designation benefits for FY26. 👉 Watch the recording from Ultimate Partner session on Co-sell 👉 Watch the recording on Certified Software Designations and download the slide deck 📖Explore Microsoft Customer Engagement Methodology (MCEM) September: Migrate and Modernize Summit Our Sep 23-24 event is now available online to help services partners learn how agentic AI can boost their agility by moving to the cloud quickly and effectively. Catch the replay. Upcoming Events Microsoft AI Tour for Partners is back- Join a free, one-day event to accelerate your AI journey with sales best practices, growth opportunities, hands-on labs, and technical deep dives. Discover upcoming events in cities around the globe. Join the Fabric Global Hack (Sept 15–Nov 3, 2025) to build data and AI solutions with Microsoft Fabric, collaborate globally, and compete for prizes up to $10,000. Participants get 50% off Fabric certifications. Join us at the Azure Dev Summit from October 13-15, a Microsoft-sponsored event designed for developers, architects, and technology leaders. Explore the latest in Azure, .NET, and Microsoft AI, gain insights from inspiring speakers, and connect with peers driving innovation. Participate in AgentCon 2025 by Global AI Community—a global series of one-day conferences designed exclusively for developers building the future with autonomous AI agents. 🔥 Microsoft Ignite 2025 Microsoft Ignite 2025 will empower you to get the edge you need to drive impact in the era of AI. Join us in San Francisco or attend virtually from November 18-21 to bolster your knowledge, build connections, and explore emerging technologies. Hear from Microsoft executives and other leaders on their vision for AI. Explore the latest in Cloud and AI platforms, AI business solutions, and Security. Celebrate the winners and finalists of Partner of the Year Awards 👉 ​Register now and stay up to date with event news at Microsoft Ignite Unplugged. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stay tuned to the ​https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/marketplace-blog/bg-p/MarketplaceBlog for upcoming recaps and new office hour announcements. 💬 Share Your Feedback! We truly appreciate your feedback and want to ensure these Partner Digests deliver the information you need to succeed in the marketplace. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can continue to improve the content to best support you, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below!The Marketplace Partner Digest | May 2025
Welcome to the monthly partner release notes for the Microsoft marketplace! The marketplace is central to how we help you reach more customers, simplify sales, and drive growth. Dive into this month’s roundup of announcements and updates to stay informed about the latest marketplace developments. Don’t miss an update! Subscribe to the “Partner Digest” label to get notified whenever a new Marketplace Partner Digest hits the community blog. Check out this community post for how-to guidance on configuring your settings. 🚀 Noteworthy Highlights Flexible billing improvements now available in the marketplace We're excited to announce improvements to flexible billing for private offers are now generally available. With supported scenarios for quarterly, semiannual, bimonthly billing, and much more, flexible billing for private offers makes it easier to align customer payments to unique budget cycles. The value for you and your customers: With flexible billing schedules, customers can buy with confidence knowing that private offers can be customized for virtually any contract value and billing timeline to align with their requirements. For partners, you can tailor customers’ private offers and multiparty private offers to meet unique business requirements, helping you to unlock larger deals by aligning with customer billing expectations, while streamlining sales and accelerating deal velocity. Resources: For more on how to build a flexible billing schedule, check out the documentation at aka.ms/flexbill-docs. Learn more by checking out these demo videos for examples of how partners and customers are using flexible billing. 🌟 ️Partner Resources Discover exclusive resources designed to help you maximize your success in the marketplace! Explore our latest resources, blogs, and much more below: Partner blog series: Capturing the marketplace opportunity by selling path Dive into our four-part blog series to explore how you can grow your business across different marketplace selling paths. Whether you're just getting started or refining your marketplace strategy, these blogs are a great place to find guidance. Part one: Explores how adopting the marketplace as a core go-to-market strategy can help you close deals faster and increase deal sizes. Part two: Delves into the power of always-on selling with the digital self-serve motion to help you grow your pipeline. Part three: Offers tips and insights to maximize success when selling with channel partners through multiparty private offers. Part four: Focuses on strategic co-selling with Microsoft field sellers to accelerate enterprise-grade deals through the Microsoft marketplace. Co-sell Coaching Series Hosted in the Marketplace Community, Co-sell Coaching features Microsoft partners walking you through their best practices on how to effectively co-sell through the Microsoft marketplace. These sessions also include live Q&A with Microsoft subject-matter experts. The next session is scheduled for June 18 th featuring Contentsquare. Stay tuned for this session and catch up on past sessions on-demand: Episode 1: Carve Partners Episode 2: Abnormal Security Episode 3: Silverfort Mastering the Marketplace webinars Whether you’re new to the marketplace or focused on growing sales, our Mastering the Marketplace webinars cover a broad range of business and technical session topics to help accelerate your marketplace success. Check out these upcoming webinars, register, and mark your calendars. All times are listed in Pacific Time. June 3 at 9 AM: Learn how to use the multiparty private offers campaign in a box June 9 at 9 AM: ISV to CSP private offers - experience walkthrough June 11 at 9 AM: Unlocking sales through the marketplace Access the full library of webinars, including live and on-demand options at aka.ms/MTMwebinars. 🔮 Marketplace Events Marketplace Office Hours June 12, 2025, 8:30 am PST: Customer office hours Q&A: what we learned at FinOpsX Get a recap of insights from the FinOpsX 2025 event on what we learned from practitioners on best practices to manage cloud, SaaS, and AI investments. Discover strategies we shared on how to unlock faster time-to-value by using the marketplace to source thousands of pre-vetted solutions that accelerate AI transformation while better managing technology spend. Invite your customers to register and view previous sessions office hours session on-demand here. Prepare for the 2025 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards (POTYA) are driven by a self-nominating process and acknowledge outstanding successes and innovations by partners across our global ecosystem. We especially encourage nominations for the Marketplace Partner of the Year Award, which recognizes partners that have embraced the Microsoft marketplace as core to their GTM strategy. The nomination window for this year’s program is June 18 – July 18, 2025, but you can prepare now by reviewing the guidelines for all awards. Partners can contact potyasup@microsoft.com with any questions. 💬 Share Your Feedback! We truly appreciate your feedback and want to ensure these Partner Release Notes deliver the information you need to succeed in the marketplace. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can continue to improve the content to best support you, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below! Thank you!The Marketplace Partner Digest | April 2025
Welcome to the monthly partner release notes for the Microsoft marketplace! The marketplace is central to how we help you reach more customers, simplify sales, and unlock growth. Dive into this month’s roundup of announcements and updates to stay informed about the latest marketplace developments. Don’t miss an update! Subscribe to the “Partner Digest” label to get notified whenever a new Marketplace Partner Digest hits the community blog. Check out this community post for how-to guidance on configuring your settings. 🚀 Noteworthy Highlights New private offer enhancements As part of our ongoing commitment to improving your Microsoft marketplace experience, we recently rolled out new updates to streamline the private offer purchase process. Here’s what’s changed: Clearer terminology: We’ve changed "recurring billing" to "auto-renew" across private offers, private plans, and public offers to better reflect this functionality. New settings: Auto-renew is now set to “off” by default for SaaS private offers and private plans, preventing unwanted renewals and reducing refunds and cancellations. Simpler interface: The auto-renew option now uses a toggle button to improve its on/off functionality. Customer notifications: Customers will now receive email notifications about their upcoming renewals or expirations, helping them stay informed and take action when needed. The value for you and your customers: These enhancements will further streamline the private offer purchase experience, reducing friction and giving customers more confidence when transacting through the marketplace. For you, this means more seamless marketplace sales and higher customer satisfaction. Resources: For more details, explore the technical documentation to learn about these private offer improvements. 🌟 ️Partner Resources Discover exclusive resources designed to help you maximize your success in the marketplace! Explore our latest resources, blogs, and much more below: Partner blog series: Capturing the marketplace opportunity by selling path Check out our ongoing four-part blog series on how you can make the most of the Microsoft marketplace across different selling motions. Part one: Learn how adopting the marketplace as a core go-to-market strategy can help you close deals faster and increase deal sizes. Part two: Discover the power of always-on selling with digital self-service to help you grow your pipeline. Part three: Published this month, get tips and insights to maximize success when selling with channel partners through multiparty private offers. If you're looking to optimize your marketplace strategy, these blogs are a great place to start. Catch up on parts one to three now and stay tuned for the final blog in May, which will cover how to drive successful joint sales opportunities when co-selling with Microsoft. Co-sell Coaching Series Hosted in the Marketplace Community, Co-sell Coaching is where your peer Microsoft partners will walk you through their best practices on how to effectively co-sell through the Microsoft marketplace. These sessions also include live Q&A with Microsoft subject-matter experts. Episode 2: Abnormal AI, On Wednesday, April 23 Brett Ferancy, Global Alliance Leader at Abnormal AI will share: The value of co-selling with Microsoft Proven best practices for effective co-sell execution Scaling through the marketplace and multiparty private offers (MPOs) Episode 3: Silverfort, On Wednesday, May 14 Jonathan Nativ, Senior Director of Strategic Alliances at Silverfort will talk about how Silverfort: Went from $0 to over $10M in marketplace billed sales (MBS) in two years Used the Microsoft marketplace to help close deals faster and with minimal friction Closed a recent marketplace deal with a large UK oil and gas company Take action: Register for Episode 2 | Register for Episode 3. You can also view all past and future sessions here. Check out the updated marketplace playbook on Microsoft Learn Access a new comprehensive guide with best practices and step-by-step instructions to streamline your marketplace onboarding and enhance your selling experience. Check out the playbook here. Mastering the Marketplace webinars Whether you’re new to the marketplace or focused on growing sales, our Mastering the Marketplace webinars cover a broad range of business and technical session topics to help accelerate your marketplace success. Visit aka.ms/MTMwebinars to find upcoming webinars, register, and mark your calendars. 🔮 Marketplace Events Marketplace Office Hours April 24, 2025, 8:30 am PST: Channel partner office hours Q&A During this channel partner office hours session, the team will provide updates on the marketplace roadmap, including upcoming features like flexible billing to support enterprise deals. We will also discuss strategies for closing end of year deals. Join to learn: Insights on the roadmap with a deep dive on enhancements to flexible billing How to close the year by getting your deals to land in May What you can expect in FY26 with Marketplace Rewards and new marketplace features Please note, this office hours will prioritize channel partner questions, please submit questions in advance when registering. Pre-submitted questions will be discussed during the Q&A portion at the end of the event. Register here! April 30, 2025, 8:30 am PST: Customer office hours Q&A with a preview into new marketplace functionality In our next customer office hours, the team will walk through new marketplace functionality that helps further streamline financial operations to help your organization be more efficient. Customers will get a deep dive into our private offer with new enhancements in flexible billing and more that will help safeguard the customer’s organization from shadow IT while fuelling innovation. Invite your customers to register and join us for a preview into new marketplace functionality and view previous sessions office hours session on-demand here. Marketplace at Catalyst 2025 The Microsoft marketplace team will be at the Catalyst conference, hosted by Partnership Leaders in Seattle from May 13–15, 2025. Microsoft Chief Partner Office Nicole Dezen will deliver the keynote, and Jason Rook, Sr. Director of Marketplace Product Marketing, will host a mainstage session on "Activating the channel and co-sell opportunity through the Microsoft marketplace," which will dive deep into partner-to-partner selling opportunities and how to co-sell with the Microsoft field. Plus, receive guidance on how to boost marketplace success with benefits and incentives. Take action: Register for Catalyst! Microsoft Build 2025 Mark your calendars! Microsoft Build returns to Seattle and online from May 19 – 22, 2025. Register now to receive the most up-to-date information about the event. Opportunity for 1:1 meetings the week of Microsoft Build 2025 During the week of Microsoft Build (May 19-22), executives from software development companies can request meetings with Microsoft leaders from Azure Marketing, Engineering, and Marketplace. This is a unique chance to engage directly with key decision-makers at Microsoft, as we work together to build the future. Whether you’re driving innovation, scaling your business, or exploring strategic partnerships, these conversations can help unlock new possibilities. Complete this form by Apr. 30 to submit your request. The Microsoft team will reach out to confirm availability and the next steps. Please note: These meetings will take place offsite and are not part of the official Microsoft Build agenda, so event passes are not required or provided. Also, due to high interest and limited availability, submitting a request does not guarantee a meeting slot. Take action: Register to attend for Build and complete the form by April 30 th to submit a request for a 1:1 executive meeting (if you plan on attending in person). 💬 Share Your Feedback! We truly appreciate your feedback and want to ensure these Partner Release Notes deliver the information you need to succeed in the marketplace. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can continue to improve the content to best support you, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below! Thank you!The Marketplace Partner Digest | March 2025
Welcome to the monthly partner release notes for the Microsoft commercial marketplace! The marketplace is central to how we help you reach more customers, simplify sales, and unlock growth. Dive into this month’s roundup of announcements and updates to stay informed about the latest marketplace developments. Don’t miss an update! Subscribe to the “Partner Digest” label to get notified whenever a new Marketplace Partner Digest hits the community blog. Check out this community post for how-to guidance on configuring your settings. 🚀 Noteworthy Highlights ICYMI: Marketplace fiscal year closes May 31, 2025! Reminder that Microsoft offers a 50% reduced agency fee for all renewals done through private offers. This fee reduction automatically applies when you claim either an existing marketplace agreement or an off-marketplace sale as a renewal in Partner Center. This helps you maximize your margins—no extra steps required—while maintaining strong customer relationships. Resources: For steps on how to receive the discount, check out the documentation. Improvements to App Advisor App advisor is a self-serve, always-on tool that provides curated guidance, resources, and benefit information right when you need it, after answering a few questions. We’ve launched an improved version of App advisor—now available in the US, with a global rollout coming soon. This update provides a more intuitive and streamlined experience, ensuring you can easily get guidance within a user-friendly interface. Explore the updated App Advisor tool and take the guesswork out of getting your app to market. 🌟 ️Partner Resources Discover exclusive resources aimed at helping you get the most out of the marketplace! Explore these helpful resources, blogs, and much more below: Partner blog series: Capturing the marketplace opportunity by selling path Check out the first two blogs of a four-part series, where we break down how to maximize your marketplace opportunity across different selling paths: Part one: Discover how making the marketplace a core part of your go-to-market strategy can help you close deals faster and increase deal sizes. Read it now Part two: Learn how always-on selling with the digital self-serve motion can help you grow your sales pipeline. Read the blog. There’s still more to come! Stay tuned for the final two blogs coming in April and May, in which we’ll share tips and strategies to maximize success when selling with partners (through multiparty private offers and CSP private offers) and with Microsoft field sellers. New Co-sell Coaching series launching on April 2 Join us for the new marketplace Co-sell Coaching, where Microsoft partners will walk you through their best practices on how to co-sell effectively through the marketplace, and host a live Q&A along with Microsoft co-sell subject-matter experts. In the first event in this series featuring Carve Partners, you will learn how to get started the right way, unlock faster growth, maximize your impact, engage Microsoft sellers, and more. Register here. Mastering the Marketplace webinars Whether you’re new to the marketplace or focused on growing sales, our Mastering the Marketplace webinars cover a broad range of business and technical session topics to help accelerate your marketplace success. Check out these upcoming webinars, register, and mark your calendars. All times are listed in Pacific Time. March 25, 9:00 am: Developing your virtual machine offer March 26, 9:00 am: Developing your container offer March 27, 9:30 am: Get your SaaS transactable offer on Azure Marketplace in two weeks April 1, 9:00 am: ISVs - Learn how to use the multiparty private offers campaign in a box April 2, 9:00 am: Creating your first offer in Partner Center April 7, 9:00 am: ISV to CSP private offers - experience walkthrough For the complete MTM schedule, visit aka.ms/MTMwebinars. April customer office hours Invite your customer to our next office hours on April 30 at 8:30 am PT, the marketplace team will walk through new marketplace functionality that helps further streamline financial operations to help organizations be more efficient. We’ll also dive into new private offer enhancements in flexible billing and more that help safeguard organizations from shadow IT while fueling innovation. Register here. Channel partner office hours: New marketplace assets and ask the experts Q&A Join us on March 27 at 8:30 am PT to explore new marketing and product assets designed to help influencers and decision-makers better understand the Microsoft commercial marketplace. We’ll also discuss how to use the Modern Procurement Playbook to navigate the procurement process when closing your marketplace deals. Register here, and submit your questions in advance when registering. Pre-submitted questions will be addressed in the Q&A portion at the end of the event. ⏰ Recent & Upcoming Events Catalyst 2025 The Microsoft commercial marketplace team will be at the Catalyst conference, hosted by Partnership Leaders in Seattle on May 13 – 15, 2025. Join Jason Rook, Sr. Director of Product Marketing, for a conversation about the value of the marketplace and learn how to activate the channel opportunity. Register here. Microsoft Build 2025 Mark your calendars! Microsoft Build returns to Seattle on May 19 – 22, 2025. Visit the event page to sign up for registration notifications and to receive the most up-to-date information about the event. 💬 Share Your Feedback! We truly appreciate your feedback and want to ensure these Partner Release Notes deliver the information you need to succeed in the marketplace. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can continue to improve the content to best support you, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below! Thank you!The Marketplace Partner Digest | February 2025
Welcome to the monthly partner release notes for the Microsoft commercial marketplace! The marketplace is central to how we help you reach more customers, simplify sales, and unlock growth. Dive into this month’s roundup of announcements and updates to stay informed about the latest marketplace developments. Don’t miss an update! Subscribe to the “Partner Digest” label to get notified whenever a new Marketplace Partner Digest hits the community blog. Check out this community post for how-to guidance on configuring your settings. 🌟Partner Resources We’ve curated best-in-class resources to help you get the most out of the Microsoft commercial marketplace. Explore helpful resources, blogs, and much more below: The latest marketplace announcements, blogs, on-demand webinars, and more Capturing the marketplace opportunity: part one of a series by selling path – This is the first in a four-part monthly blog series offering tips and strategies to maximize your marketplace go-to-market success. ISVs: Maximize your momentum with the new, improved App Advisor – We recently launched an improved experience of App Advisor to the US market. Check out what’s new and use App Advisor today. Designing secure and resilient ISV applications – Explore key security strategies to help you build trusted, resilient applications that protect customers and drive long-term success. Replicate your apps to Azure: A multicloud advantage for ISVs – This blog, the first in a series, outlines the advantages of replicating your existing AWS apps to Azure, helping you reach more customers and expand your business through the marketplace. Embracing the multicloud advantage: a guide to replicating your app from AWS to Azure – Once you understand the advantages, use this technical guide to understand how to move your app to Azure and ensure a smooth transition. New GitHub Copilot benefit for ISV Success Expanded Package – Announcing a new ISV Success Expanded Package benefit that can take your development projects to the next level. Not part of ISV Success yet? Join now! Mastering the Marketplace (MTM) webinars Whether you’re new to the marketplace or focused on growing sales, our Mastering the Marketplace webinars cover a broad range of business and technical session topics to help accelerate your marketplace success. Check out these upcoming webinars, register, and mark your calendars. All times are listed in Pacific Time. March 4 at 9 am: ISVs – Learn how to use the multiparty private offers campaign in a box March 5 at 9 am: Creating your first offer in Partner Center March 10 at 9 am: ISV to CSP private offers – experience walkthrough March 12 at 9 am: Unlocking sales through the marketplace For the complete MTM schedule, visit aka.ms/MTMwebinars. Customer office hours Strategic cloud planning with the marketplace: Invite your customers to office hours on March 13 at 8:30 AM PST. This session will focus on maximizing tech investments with the marketplace, offering strategies on how to holistically plan your Microsoft Cloud investments, and your software vendors need to get a consumption-based view of your portfolio for smarter decision-making. We'll also provide an overview of Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments (MACCs) and the opportunities for the marketplace to help you make the most out of your contract. Register here. Channel partner office hours Multiparty private offer adoption framework: During our channel partner office hours on February 27 at 8:30 am PST, Marketplace Services Partner Lead Darren Sharpe will walk through the four steps to build a successful practice, remove friction, and grow your sales. Register here. New marketplace assets and ask the experts Q&A: Join us on March 27 at 8:30 am PST as we explore new marketing and product assets designed to help influencers and decision-makers better understand the Microsoft commercial marketplace. We’ll also discuss how to use the Modern Procurement Playbook to navigate the procurement process when closing your marketplace deals. Register here and submit your questions in advance when registering. Pre-submitted questions will be addressed in the Q&A portion at the end of the event. Co-Sell with confidence: A two-part webinar series Guest speakers from Rubrik and Tackle have teamed up for a two-part webinar series to help you build, operationalize, and scale a strong co-sell strategy with Microsoft. During these sessions, you’ll learn strategies, best practices, and practical steps to operationalize and scale your co-sell efforts. Click here to register to watch the session recordings. ⏰Recent & Upcoming Events Azure Marketplace Primer – What is it, why should I use it, and is it secure? Invite your customers to discover how Azure Marketplace can transform your business by providing access to a vast array of cloud solutions and services. This event will offer valuable insights into leveraging Azure Marketplace to accelerate your digital transformation, drive innovation, and save costs. We will deep dive into the benefits from a procurement, Azure commitment and cloud engineering team standpoint while having complete access and management control. Share with your customers and register here for the next session on Thursday, February 27 from 10:00 to 11:00 am PST. Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day Register for the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day on March 5 from 10:00 to 11:00 am PST to learn how to identify and prioritize use cases for AI solutions. Gain insights from industry-related use cases on envisioning frameworks and learn how to incorporate them into your application development planning process. Microsoft Build 2025 Mark your calendars! Microsoft Build returns to Seattle on May 19 – 22, 2025. Visit the event page to sign up for registration notifications and to receive the most up-to-date information about the event. 💠Share Your Feedback! We truly appreciate your feedback and want to ensure these Partner Release Notes deliver the information you need to succeed in the marketplace. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can continue to improve the content to best support you, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below! Thank you!The Marketplace Partner Digest | January 2025
Welcome to the January Partner Release Notes for the Microsoft commercial marketplace! The marketplace is central to how we help you reach more customers, simplify sales, and unlock growth. Dive into this month’s roundup of announcements and updates to stay informed about the latest marketplace developments. NEW IN THIS ISSUE: ISV transactability now available in China Don’t miss an update! Subscribe to the “Partner Digest” label to get notified whenever a new Marketplace Partner Digest hits the community blog. Check out this community post for how-to guidance on configuring your settings. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 🚀Noteworthy Highlights China ISV Transactability Now Available What’s happening: Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) based in China can now publish and sell their solutions through the Microsoft commercial marketplace. This allows Chinese ISVs to reach customers and scale through the Microsoft partner ecosystem. ISVs in China should review our documentation on how to create offers and transact on marketplace – check it out here. What this means for you: This expansion is part of our ongoing effort to expand and grow the marketplace. As we continue to expand our marketplace ecosystem, this will increase opportunities to sell your solutions in new markets. 🌟Partner Resources We’ve curated best-in-class resources to help you get the most out of the Microsoft commercial marketplace. Explore helpful resources, blogs, and much more below. The latest marketplace blogs, on-demand sessions, and announcements Sharing the value of marketplace with your customers – Learn how to communicate the benefits of purchasing your solution through the marketplace. Check out this guidance to help you craft compelling material for your customers. Activating channel opportunities through the Microsoft commercial marketplace - Explore how to activate new partner-to-partner selling opportunities through the marketplace. What's new in ISV Success - AI benefits and more – We recently announced new benefits in ISV Success. Read this blog to see how we’re helping software companies succeed when building and publishing AI-powered apps. Expand your business with ISV to CSP private offers in the marketplace – Missed the webinar? Get step-by-step guidance from marketplace product managers on creating ISV-to-CSP private offers. Strengthening ISVs in the Era of AI: Introducing the ISV Security Series – Discover how we’re equipping ISVs with tools, insights, and strategies to enhance their security posture. Marketplace and procurement, strategies to balance business while unlocking innovation - During this customer office hours Q&A session held on January 16, we covered how the marketplace supports a stronger procurement strategy that helps companies balance business requirements while unlocking innovation. Access this session on-demand here. Marketplace partner spotlight Growing on the marketplace through Azure sponsorship and multiparty private offers – Hear from Microsoft partner Silverfort about how they’re driving marketplace growth with Azure Sponsorship credits. Wiz conjures 1,500% ROI with Microsoft Marketplace Rewards – Get inspired by this partner case study to learn how Azure Sponsorship credits can further fuel your marketplace success. Mastering the Marketplace (MTM) webinars Whether you are brand new to the marketplace or focused on growing sales, our Mastering the Marketplace webinars cover a broad range of business and technical session topics to help accelerate your marketplace success. Check out these upcoming webinars, register, and mark your calendars. All times are listed in Pacific Time. January 30th at 8:30 am: Channel partner office hours: Multiparty private offers adoption February 4th at 9:00 am: Learn how to use the Multiparty Private Offers Campaign in a Box February 5th at 9:00 am: Creating your first offer in Partner Center February 10th at 9:00 am: ISV to CSP private offers – experience walkthrough February 11th at 9:00 am: Creating plans and pricing for your offer February 12th at 9:00 am: Unlocking sales through the marketplace February 13th at 8:30 am: Basics on procurement contracting through the marketplace For the complete MTM schedule, visit aka.ms/MTMwebinars. ⏰Recent & Upcoming Events ISV Security Series The ISV Security Series is designed to empower ISVs to defend against current threats, while anticipating and preparing for future challenges. Whether you are just starting your security journey or looking to enhance your existing strategies, this series provides the insights and resources you need to ensure a security-first approach. January 29: Design Your Next Product with Security in Mind Register now for this upcoming virtual session to discover how to make security a seamless part of your product’s lifecycle. This session will help you: Address security considerations from the earliest stages of product design Explore common challenges faced when security is left until last Understand practical strategies for integrating security measures throughout the development process Channel partner office hours Q&A: Multiparty private offers (MPO) Looking to accelerate your marketplace sales? If so, building a marketplace resell practice is key, and MPO is the perfect place to start. Join Marketplace Services Partner Lead Darren Sharpe on January 30 at 8:30 AM Pacific Time as he walks through the four steps to build a successful practice, remove friction, and grow your marketplace sales. Register now for this office hours session. Please submit your questions in advance when you register. Pre-submitted questions will be discussed during Q&A toward the end of the event. Azure Feature Friday: Azure Marketplace Primer Invite your customers to join this Azure Feature Friday session on January 31 to discover how Azure Marketplace can transform their business by providing access to a vast array of cloud solutions and services. This session will offer valuable insights into leveraging Azure Marketplace to accelerate digital transformation and drive innovation. We’ll deep dive into the benefits for procurement, Azure commitment, and cloud engineering, all while providing complete access and management control. There are two session options available: January 31 at 10 AM EST and 1 PM EST. Click here to register. 💬 Share Your Feedback! We truly appreciate your feedback and want to ensure these Partner Release Notes deliver the information you need to succeed in the marketplace. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can continue to improve the content to best support you, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
