Partner Blog | Expanded partner benefits are now available: What’s new in February 2026
Expanded partner benefits are now available across the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. These updates reflect continued investment in the tools, resources, and support partners rely on to build, differentiate, and grow, and they incorporate feedback we hear consistently across the ecosystem. If you read our January post about planning ahead for the February refresh, this is the follow-up: the new benefits are now rolling out, and partners with eligible offers will find them in Partner Center as they become available. What’s new You’ll find a range of meaningful additions designed to empower you to move faster with AI, support security needs, and improve go-to-market execution. Highlights include: Copilot additions in select offers: The FY26 refresh introduces new Copilot-related benefits across parts of the program, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Microsoft Dragon Copilot (per user) in select partner offers where available. Security benefits expansion: Security-focused benefits have been broadened, including additions such as Microsoft Defender Suite, Microsoft Entra Suite, and Microsoft Intune Suite in select offerings. Azure credit updates: Azure benefits are being updated across multiple offers, including new additions and increases in value for certain cloud benefits. These credits are designed to support solution development, testing, and expansion of your practice. Go-to-market resources: As partners continue to access marketing benefits and resources through the program, Microsoft is simplifying discovery and execution—so you can bring campaigns to market with less friction. Continue reading hereSign up for Microsoft Partner Incentives performance measurement reports
As part of a larger push to empower you to deliver exceptional business outcomes, we've introduced incentives performance measurement reports, available through email. Delivered during the first week of every month, these reports include presales and post-sales partner performance measurements and earning cap status so you can get essential insights into your engagements across hero investments. These hero investments include Azure Accelerate, AI Workforce: Microsoft 365 Copilot + Power Accelerate, Al Business Process, and Security Activities. Here’s what to expect: Performance requirements pausing policy: Starting on November 15, 2025,* partners who are not meeting performance requirements will be paused from nominating new claims. This applies only to new nominations; in-progress projects will not be affected. Further, partners who have reached their earning cap and have nominations paused will be notified when they are eligible to nominate projects again. Reactivation of nominations: Paused partners will be reviewed each Tuesday by Microsoft to determine if they meet performance thresholds. Those who meet thresholds will be notified by email within two business days after their review and reactivated within seven business days after their review. Earning cap reviews: Partners who are approaching their earning cap and are meeting performance benchmarks will be considered for an earning cap increase based on budget availability and quality of claims. Claim quality can be affected by factors such as accuracy of your activity reporting, number of duplicate claims, and how your investments are leveraged. Increased cap value: If you’re approved for an earning cap increase, you can expect up to 50% above the engagement’s initial cap. Earning cap extension approval is not guaranteed. Earning cap pausing: Partners who have reached their earning cap and did not receive a notification of an increased cap based on review will be paused from submitting new claims and will be notified. This pause applies only to new nominations; in-progress projects will remain unaffected. No partner action is required, and Microsoft will proactively review and communicate decisions about earning caps. Review the updated policy for partner performance measurements and earning caps (available November 1, 2025). Sign up now for monthly reports so you can fuel transformation with expertise and funding and drive faster time to value for your projects. Sign up for monthly reports today! *Starting December 1, 2025, Security Activities will issue monthly partner performance reports, and beginning January 1, 2026, partners not meeting requirements will be paused from nominating new claims.Drive demand for your offers with solution area campaigns in a box.
Take your marketing campaigns further with campaigns in a box (CiaBs), collections of partner-ready, high-quality marketing assets designed to deepen customer engagement, simplify your marketing efforts, and grow revenue. Microsoft offers both new and refreshed campaigns for the following solution areas: Data & AI (Azure), Modern Work, Business Applications, Digital & App Innovation (Azure), Infrastructure (Azure), and Security. Check out the latest CiaBs below and get started today by visiting the Partner Marketing Center, where you’ll find resources such as step-by-step execution guides, customizable nurture tactics, and assets including presentations, e-books, infographics, and more. AI transformation Generate interest in AI adoption among your customers. As AI technology grabs headlines and captures imaginations, use this campaign to illustrate your audience’s unique opportunity to harness the power of AI to deliver value faster. Learn more about the campaign: AI Transformation (formerly Era of AI): Show audiences how to take advantage of the potential of AI to drive business value and showcase the usefulness of Microsoft AI solutions delivered and tailored by your organization. Data & AI (Azure) Our Data & AI campaigns demonstrate how your customers can win customers with AI-enabled differentiation. Show how they can transform their businesses with generative AI, a unified data estate, and solutions like Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Power BI, and Azure Databricks. Campaigns include: Unify your intelligent data - Banking: Help your banking customers understand how you can help them break down data silos, meet compliance demands, and deliver on rising customer expectations. Innovate with the Azure AI platform: Help your customers understand the potential of generative AI solutions to differentiate themselves in the market—and inspire them to build GenAI solutions with the Azure AI platform. Unify your intelligent data and analytics platform - ENT: Show enterprise audiences how unifying data and analytics on an open foundation can help streamline data transformation and business intelligence. Unify your intelligent data and analytics platform - SMB: Create awareness and urgency for SMBs to adopt Microsoft Fabric as the AI-powered, unified data platform that will suit their analytics needs. Modern Work Our Modern Work campaigns help current and potential customers understand how they can effectively transform their businesses with AI capabilities. Campaigns include: Connect and empower your frontline workers: Empower your customers' frontline workers with smart, AI-enhanced workflows with solutions based on Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Use this campaign to show your customers how they can make their frontline workers feel more connected, leading to improved productivity and efficiency. Microsoft 365 Copilot SMB: Increase your audience's understanding of the larger potential of Microsoft 365 Copilot and how AI capabilities can accelerate growth and transform operations. Smart workplace with Teams: Use this campaign to show your customers how to use AI to unlock smarter communication and collaboration with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot. This campaign demonstrates to customers how you can help them seamlessly integrate meetings, calls, chat, and collaboration to break down silos, gain deeper insights, and focus on the work that matters. Cloud endpoints: Help customers bring virtualized applications to the cloud by providing secure AI-powered productivity and development on any device with Microsoft Intune Suite and Windows in the cloud solutions. Business Applications Nurture interest with audiences ready to modernize and transform their business operations with these BizApps go-to-market resources. Campaigns include: AI-powered customer service: Highlight how AI-powered solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 are transforming customer service with more personalized experiences, smarter teamwork, and improved efficiency. Migrate and modernize your ERP with Microsoft Dynamics 365: Position yourself as the right partner to modernize or replace your customers' legacy on-premises ERP systems with a Copilot-powered ERP. Business Central for SMB: Offer customers Microsoft Dynamics 365, a comprehensive business management solution that connects finance, sales, service, and operations teams with a single application to boost productivity and improve decision-making. AI-powered CRM: Help your customers enhance their customer experiences and close more deals with Microsoft 365 Dynamics Sales by making data AI-ready, which empowers them to create effective marketing content with Microsoft 365 Copilot and pass qualified leads on to sales teams. Use this campaign to show audiences how Copilot and AI can supercharge their CRM to increase productivity and efficiency, ultimately leading to better customer outcomes. Modernize at scale with AI and Microsoft Power Platform: This campaign is designed to introduce the business values unlocked with Microsoft Power Platform, show how low-code solutions can accelerate development and drive productivity, and position your company as a valuable asset in the deployment of these solutions. Digital & App Innovation (Azure) Position yourself as the strategic AI partner of choice and empower your customers to grow their businesses by helping them gain agility and build new AI applications faster with intelligent experiences. Campaigns include: Build and modernize AI apps: Help customers building new AI-infused applications and modernizing their application estate take advantage of the Azure AI application platform. Accelerate developer productivity: Help customers reimagine the developer experience with the world’s most-adopted AI-powered platform. Use this campaign to show customers how you can use Microsoft and GitHub tools to help streamline workflows, collaborate better, and deliver intelligent apps faster. Infrastructure (Azure) Help customers tap into the cloud to expand capabilities and boost their return on investment by transforming their digital operations. Campaigns include: Modernize VDI to Azure Virtual Desktop - SMB: Show SMB customers how they can meet the challenges of virtual work with Azure Virtual Desktop and gain flexibility, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. Migrate VMware workloads to Azure: Help customers capitalize on the partnership between VMware and Microsoft so they can migrate VMware workloads to Azure in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Migrate and secure Windows Server and SQL Server and Linux - ENT: Showcase the high return on investment (ROI) of using an adaptive cloud purpose-built for AI workloads, and help customers understand the value of migrating to Azure at their own pace. Modernize SAP on the Microsoft Cloud: Reach SAP customers before the 2027 end-of-support deadline for SAP S/4HANA to show them the importance of having a plan to migrate to the cloud. This campaign also underscores the value of moving to Microsoft Azure in the era of AI. Migrate and secure Windows Server and SQL Server and Linux estate - SMB: Use this campaign to increase understanding of the value gained by migrating from an on-premises environment to a hybrid or cloud environment. Show small and medium-sized businesses that they can grow their business, save money, improve security, and more when they move their workload from Windows Server, SQL Server, and Linux to Microsoft Azure. Security Demonstrate the power of modern security solutions and help customers understand the importance of robust cybersecurity in today’s landscape. Campaigns include: Defend against cybersecurity threats: Increase your audience's understanding of the powerful, AI-driven Microsoft unified security platform, which integrates Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender XDR, Security Exposure Management, Security Copilot, and Microsoft Threat Intelligence. Data security: Show customers how Microsoft Purview can help fortify data security in a world facing increasing cybersecurity threats. Modernize security operations: Use this campaign to sell Microsoft Sentinel, an industry-leading cloud-native SIEM that can help your customers stay protected and scale their security operations. **Stay up to date on all Skilling announcements by subscribing to the skilling tag!**Drive demand for your offers with solution area campaigns in a box
Take your marketing campaigns further with campaigns in a box (CiaBs), collections of partner-ready, high-quality marketing assets designed to deepen customer engagement, simplify your marketing efforts, and grow revenue. Microsoft offers both new and refreshed campaigns for the following solution areas: Data & AI (Azure), Modern Work, Business Applications, Digital & App Innovation (Azure), Infrastructure (Azure), and Security. Check out the latest CiaBs below and get started today by visiting the Partner Marketing Center, where you’ll find resources such as step-by-step execution guides, customizable nurture tactics, and assets including presentations, e-books, infographics, and more. AI transformation Generate interest in AI adoption among your customers. As AI technology grabs headlines and captures imaginations, use this campaign to illustrate your audience’s unique opportunity to harness the power of AI to deliver value faster. Learn more about the campaign: AI Transformation (formerly Era of AI): Show audiences how to take advantage of the potential of AI to drive business value and showcase the usefulness of Microsoft AI solutions delivered and tailored by your organization. Data & AI (Azure) Our Data & AI campaigns demonstrate how your customers can win customers with AI-enabled differentiation. Show how they can transform their businesses with generative AI, a unified data estate, and solutions like Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Power BI, and Azure Databricks. Campaigns include: Unify your intelligent data - Banking: Help your banking customers understand how you can help them break down data silos, meet compliance demands, and deliver on rising customer expectations. Innovate with the Azure AI platform: Help your customers understand the potential of generative AI solutions to differentiate themselves in the market—and inspire them to build GenAI solutions with the Azure AI platform. Unify your intelligent data and analytics platform - ENT: Show enterprise audiences how unifying data and analytics on an open foundation can help streamline data transformation and business intelligence. Unify your intelligent data and analytics platform - SMB: Create awareness and urgency for SMBs to adopt Microsoft Fabric as the AI-powered, unified data platform that will suit their analytics needs. Modern Work Our Modern Work campaigns help current and potential customers understand how they can effectively transform their businesses with AI capabilities. Campaigns include: Connect and empower your frontline workers: Empower your customers' frontline workers with smart, AI-enhanced workflows with solutions based on Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Use this campaign to show your customers how they can make their frontline workers feel more connected, leading to improved productivity and efficiency. Microsoft 365 Copilot SMB: Increase your audience's understanding of the larger potential of Microsoft 365 Copilot and how AI capabilities can accelerate growth and transform operations. Smart workplace with Teams: Use this campaign to show your customers how to use AI to unlock smarter communication and collaboration with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot. This campaign demonstrates to customers how you can help them seamlessly integrate meetings, calls, chat, and collaboration to break down silos, gain deeper insights, and focus on the work that matters. Cloud endpoints: Help customers bring virtualized applications to the cloud by providing secure AI-powered productivity and development on any device with Microsoft Intune Suite and Windows in the cloud solutions. Business Applications Nurture interest with audiences ready to modernize and transform their business operations with these BizApps go-to-market resources. Campaigns include: AI-powered customer service: Highlight how AI-powered solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 are transforming customer service with more personalized experiences, smarter teamwork, and improved efficiency. Migrate and modernize your ERP with Microsoft Dynamics 365: Position yourself as the right partner to modernize or replace your customers' legacy on-premises ERP systems with a Copilot-powered ERP. Business Central for SMB: Offer customers Microsoft Dynamics 365, a comprehensive business management solution that connects finance, sales, service, and operations teams with a single application to boost productivity and improve decision-making. AI-powered CRM: Help your customers enhance their customer experiences and close more deals with Microsoft 365 Dynamics Sales by making data AI-ready, which empowers them to create effective marketing content with Microsoft 365 Copilot and pass qualified leads on to sales teams. Use this campaign to show audiences how Copilot and AI can supercharge their CRM to increase productivity and efficiency, ultimately leading to better customer outcomes. Modernize at scale with AI and Microsoft Power Platform: This campaign is designed to introduce the business values unlocked with Microsoft Power Platform, show how low-code solutions can accelerate development and drive productivity, and position your company as a valuable asset in the deployment of these solutions. Digital & App Innovation (Azure) Position yourself as the strategic AI partner of choice and empower your customers to grow their businesses by helping them gain agility and build new AI applications faster with intelligent experiences. Campaigns include: Build and modernize AI apps: Help customers building new AI-infused applications and modernizing their application estate take advantage of the Azure AI application platform. Accelerate developer productivity: Help customers reimagine the developer experience with the world’s most-adopted AI-powered platform. Use this campaign to show customers how you can use Microsoft and GitHub tools to help streamline workflows, collaborate better, and deliver intelligent apps faster. Infrastructure (Azure) Help customers tap into the cloud to expand capabilities and boost their return on investment by transforming their digital operations. Campaigns include: Modernize VDI to Azure Virtual Desktop - SMB: Show SMB customers how they can meet the challenges of virtual work with Azure Virtual Desktop and gain flexibility, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. Migrate VMware workloads to Azure: Help customers capitalize on the partnership between VMware and Microsoft so they can migrate VMware workloads to Azure in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Migrate and secure Windows Server and SQL Server and Linux - ENT: Showcase the high return on investment (ROI) of using an adaptive cloud purpose-built for AI workloads, and help customers understand the value of migrating to Azure at their own pace. Modernize SAP on the Microsoft Cloud: Reach SAP customers before the 2027 end-of-support deadline for SAP S/4HANA to show them the importance of having a plan to migrate to the cloud. This campaign also underscores the value of moving to Microsoft Azure in the era of AI. Migrate and secure Windows Server and SQL Server and Linux estate - SMB: Use this campaign to increase understanding of the value gained by migrating from an on-premises environment to a hybrid or cloud environment. Show small and medium-sized businesses that they can grow their business, save money, improve security, and more when they move their workload from Windows Server, SQL Server, and Linux to Microsoft Azure. Security Demonstrate the power of modern security solutions and help customers understand the importance of robust cybersecurity in today’s landscape. Campaigns include: Defend against cybersecurity threats: Increase your audience's understanding of the powerful, AI-driven Microsoft unified security platform, which integrates Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender XDR, Security Exposure Management, Security Copilot, and Microsoft Threat Intelligence. Data security: Show customers how Microsoft Purview can help fortify data security in a world facing increasing cybersecurity threats. Modernize security operations: Use this campaign to sell Microsoft Sentinel, an industry-leading cloud-native SIEM that can help your customers stay protected and scale their security operations.
Introducing Windows Ready Print and Modernized Driver Selection
Windows Ready Print: A clearer path to modern printing on Windows Printing on Windows is evolving. As printing environments modernize, customers and partners are asking for solutions that are reliable, secure, and easy to manage across today’s devices. To reflect this shift and make the value of our platform clearer, we are evolving the Modern Print Platform under a new name: Windows Ready Print. Windows Ready Print highlights what matters most: a streamlined, dependable printing experience built for modern Windows environments. It represents our commitment to simplifying printing, aligning modern standards, and delivering consistent, forward-looking experiences for users, IT admins, and partners. Driving the transition to Windows Ready Print with driver selection controls At the core of Windows Ready Print is a transition away from legacy, third party drive-based workflows toward modern, standards-based printing with IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) using the Windows inbox IPP printer driver. Starting in July 2026, new printer installations will default to Windows Ready Print where supported, enabling a simpler and more reliable setup experience. This change reduces the need for traditional driver management and lays the foundation for a more scalable and predictable print experience. However, we recognize that not all environments can move to Windows Ready Print immediately. To ensure a smooth and flexible transition, we are introducing the ability for users to configure Windows to install their printers using Windows Ready Print (if supported) or the OEM printer driver during installation. You can find this setting under Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners > Default install printer using Windows Ready Print. This feature enables users and IT admins to control how Windows selects drivers when installing printers: When “Default install printers using Windows Ready Print” is enabled, Windows Ready Print installation is preferred When “Default install printers using Windows Ready Print” is disabled, default driver selection is used The configuration applies to new printer installations only, without affecting existing devices. To enable/disable this feature via group policy, go to: Launch Group Policy Editor Navigate to Local Computer Policy -> Administrative Templates -> Printers Find and select 'Configure Windows Ready Print driver ranking' -> double click to open it Select 'Enabled' (if you wish to enable Windows Ready Print driver selection) or 'Disabled' (if you wish to explicitly disable Windows Ready Print driver selection). Select Apply Select OK How driver selection configuration works with Windows protected print mode When you enable "Default install printers using Windows Ready Print”, new printer installations will default to Windows inbox IPP printer driver when supported. When you enable Windows protected print mode, printers are exclusively installed with Windows Ready Print. Devices that do not support Windows Ready Print cannot be installed. Note: When you’ve enabled Windows protected print mode, you cannot disable "Default install printers using Windows Ready Print".Don’t miss these key opportunities to strengthen your security practice
Security is the baseline expectation in migration and modernization—and the partners who lead in security can drive faster adoption, smoother deployments, and stronger customer outcomes from day one. Here’s how you can start today: Complete the Cloud Security Envisioning Workshop before June 30: Sharpen your security‑first approach and engage customers earlier in their cloud journey. After June 30, access requirements may change, so complete the workshop while current guidance is still in effect. Earn the Cloud Security specialization: Unlock continued workshop access and reinforce your role as a trusted partner for secure cloud transformations. Review the specialization requirements, check your status in Partner Center, and work with your Partner Development Manager or the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Concierge to accelerate readiness. Strengthen your security framing today Want more guidance? Explore these additional resources: Partner Concierge Azure Migrate and Modernize Partner ForumUpcoming IT Management and Security in the AI Era events on Tech community!
We’re excited to invite you to IT Management and Security in the AI Era, on Thursday, February 26th, from 8:00AM to 10:30 AM Pacific. This digital event is designed to help IT and security professionals answer questions with clarity and confidence, grounded in the latest Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities and controls. What to expect IT Management and Security in the AI Era brings together insights, demos, and deep dives from Microsoft experts, giving you a practical understanding of how to prepare your environments for Copilot and agents while managing risks responsibly. Topics covered include: Built-in protections in the Copilot platform that help proactively safeguard your organization Practical ways to reduce exposure to common attack vectors in an increasingly AI-driven digital workplace Technical guidance for protecting sensitive data while maintaining productivity Best practices for managing AI agents and controlling costs Measurement, analytics, and usage insights to understand adoption and business impact Guidance on enabling users and assessing the value of Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents across your organization Continue reading and register here!Drive Microsoft 365 renewals and upgrades ahead of pricing and packaging updates
We recently announced that in 2026, we’re expanding the availability of security and management capabilities to the commercial Microsoft 365 suites. Along with these added features, there will also be a global price update to these suites across all purchasing channels effective July 1, 2026. As a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner, this is a key moment for you to drive renewals and upgrades before July 1, 2026. Learn more about the pricing updates, as well as the promotions, offers, and go-to-market resources you can use to support your customer conversations. Learn more here Join the conversation by following the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners discussion board where both direct bill and indirect resellers collaborate, troubleshoot, and stay informed on the latest developments in the CSP ecosystem.Partner Blog | Unifying the data platform for real-time insights
Every organization is looking for quicker insights, stronger security, and new ways to drive innovation with AI. The real challenge lies in connecting and preparing the data that makes those outcomes possible. Across industries, customers are realizing that data sprawl and disconnected systems limit what AI can do. To unlock the potential of their data and deliver real-time impact, they need a modern data foundation that’s integrated, governed, secure, and ready for AI. This post is part three of our Cloud and AI Platforms blog series, detailing how partners can accelerate customer transformation across the Microsoft Cloud. In part one, we looked at the market opportunity created by AI and cloud innovation. Part two focused on migration and modernization as the foundation for AI-powered growth. Now we turn to the next phase of that journey: building a unified data platform that connects every source, fuels intelligent applications, and drives measurable outcomes. Microsoft partners are at the center of this opportunity. By enabling customers to unify their data estate with solutions like Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks, and Microsoft Purview, partners are critical in helping organizations turn information into action and insight into innovation. Unify the data estate Bringing all data together across on-premises, cloud, and industry-specific sources is the first step toward intelligence at scale. With Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks, partners can create an open, lake-centric foundation that simplifies analytics and operational data for AI. Continue reading here
