Partner Blog | Securing the future: How Microsoft partners are powering AI-ready organizations
The world of agentic AI is evolving quickly. According to the Microsoft 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report, 82% of leaders say they’re confident they’ll use AI agents as digital team members to expand workforce capacity in the next 12 to 18 months. That pace of innovation introduces new challenges. As the AI landscape grows, so does the threat surface. This shift creates a critical opportunity for Microsoft partners: to lead with security as the foundation of every AI transformation. By doing so, you enable customers to innovate responsibly and position your organization at the center of lasting trust and growth. In recognition of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, this blog post explores how you can build a stronger security practice and empower your customers to innovate safely, backed by Microsoft partner resources, incentives, and solutions. Security is the foundation of innovation Innovation without strong security isn’t sustainable. The average cost of a data breach now exceeds $4.4 million globally, and beyond the financial cost, weak security erodes trust. As Amy Webb, CEO of Future Today Strategy Group, noted in this year’s Work Trend Index, “As multi-agent systems redefine the workplace, the challenge will be to integrate and manage them securely and effectively.” When partners lead with security, they unlock real business outcomes. Organizations using Microsoft Security Copilot are already seeing tangible results, including a 17% reduction17% reduction in breaches and up to 60% in cost savings. Our own Customer Zero journey at Microsoft reinforces that security and innovation go hand in hand. When security is embedded into every layer of AI transformation, it strengthens the relationship between IT and engineering. It enables teams to co-develop solutions and deliver innovation faster while reducing risk. As a Microsoft partner, you play an essential role in helping customers build secure foundations for AI transformation. We’re committed to supporting you with playbooks, tools, and incentives you need to turn security expertise into customer outcomes. Accelerate secure AI transformation at every stage Partners who lead with security become trusted guides for their customers. Through the Microsoft Security Customer Win Formula, you can access practical resources mapped to each stage of the customer journey—from early discovery to long-term management—and position yourself as a strategic resource your customers can turn to as their business needs and challenges evolve. 1. Build trust as Customer Zero Differentiate your practice by attaining a Solutions Partner designation for Security, and further validate your expertise through certifications and specializations. Plus, achieving an MXDR verification signals to customers that you have the skills to safeguard their AI and cloud environments. Continue expanding your capabilities through the Partner Skilling Hub, where you’ll find self-paced learning paths and instructor-led training to stay current in a constantly evolving threat landscape. 2. Develop an informed pipeline with customer insights Effective security transformation starts with listening. Leverage Microsoft intelligent propensity tools to identify customers ready for secure AI adoption: SPARK: Intelligent data models that predict customer propensity for Microsoft solutions CloudAscent: AI-powered targeting for small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers Microsoft 365 Lighthouse: ML-driven recommendations for customer acquisition, retention, and growth You can also accelerate demand generation with ready-to-launch, customizable campaigns in a box tailored for Security solution plays. Partners using these campaigns are already generating high-quality leads and engaging decision-makers faster. Explore the Partner Marketing Tool Guidance for more information. Continue reading herePartner 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 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.Partner Blog | Strengthening security and customer trust with technical and API changes
Staying ahead of evolving security standards and compliance requirements is about more than just protecting your organization. It also positions you to deepen customer trust, generate new business opportunities, and accelerate your ability to deliver high-value solutions, including AI transformation. To support that, we are introducing updates to Partner Center and across APIs your teams use every day. These changes are designed to keep you ahead of regulatory and technical requirements, reduce risk, and avoid disruption to your operations and customer transactions. We are also extending some effective dates for these updates to ensure you have the time to prepare. With these enhanced security standards in place, you can lead with confidence on the AI frontier and give your teams the tools they need to be prepared, protected, and positioned to stand out. Recent improvements to keep your business secure, compliant—and growing Over the last few months, we’ve released updates to strengthen security and streamline processes: Continue reading herePartner Blog | Security, growth, and trust: Introducing the FY26 Security solution plays
With cybersecurity threats becoming more frequent and complex, one question underpins every conversation we have with our Microsoft partners and customers: how do we keep our data and systems safe while driving innovation? That’s the challenge we’ve committed to tackling with the Secure Future Initiative (SFI), and it’s why we recently introduced SFI patterns and practices to support partners and customers as they turn their security learnings into action. As part of our commitment, we’ve been consistently reinforcing our AI-first security platform—which spans identity, threat protection, data security, and compliance—so our customers can safely and confidently innovate with AI. And our partners play a critical role in customer success. With over a million customers already using Microsoft Security solutions, there’s a significant opportunity for Microsoft partners like you to further differentiate your business and grow. Our extensive threat intelligence gives us visibility into more than 84 trillion security signals daily, as well as a deeper understanding of the evolving threat landscape and how our solutions can better protect customers. Add in your proven capabilities, plus those of our 15,000 partners with specialized security expertise, 3 and we’re more prepared than ever to secure our future together. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Critical API changes for Microsoft partners: Take action now to avoid business disruption
With trust as the foundation of our business at Microsoft, security and compliance are at the heart of everything we do. Our partners play a key role in strengthening customer trust and enhancing the security posture of our entire ecosystem. Comprehensive security also presents a significant opportunity for every partner to drive efficiency, grow their business, and reach more customers. To make this opportunity a reality, we’re committed to enhancing the partner experience by providing you with ongoing updates and resources to help keep your organization (and customers) safe. By ensuring our partners are capable and compliant, we can continue to improve the way our customers do business with us and drive meaningful outcomes—together. Continue reading herePartner Blog | What's new for Microsoft partners: April 2025 edition
We value partner feedback and celebrate the range of perspectives within our community as we continue to enhance the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. Our second blog of 2025 provides expert insights, updated learning resources, and recent benefits from the last four months to support your development. Announcements Microsoft at 50: the journey and future of the partner ecosystem As we celebrate Microsoft’s 50th anniversary in April, our annual State of the Partner Ecosystem blog was a great opportunity to reflect on the incredible journey we’ve shared with our partners, employees, and customers. Celebrate with us! Watch this video from Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Microsoft. Join the Microsoft AI Skills Fest for 50 days of learning and discovery starting April 8! Gain skills that will empower you and your team to build innovative AI solutions with Microsoft’s apps and services. Download the Microsoft 50th Anniversary Social Toolkit. See the full list of partner quotes on the Microsoft 50th Anniversary celebration site. Upcoming API changes for Microsoft partners: what you need to know Security and compliance are vital to maintaining trust and enhancing business efficiency. Our recent blog outlines several significant updates to application programming interfaces (APIs) that Microsoft partners will need to implement over the coming months to ensure compliance and avoid disruptions in business operations. These changes include updates to billing frequency scheduling, Partner of Record (POR) assignment, CSP billing reconciliation APIs, Partner Center pricelist upgrades, and the deprecation of Azure AD graph tokens. Additionally, the blog emphasizes the importance of multi-factor authentication (MFA) and upcoming changes to Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) attestation methods. Continue reading hereMeet market demand with Microsoft skilling opportunities
As AI continues to transform industries, businesses that prioritize skilling are positioning themselves to seize market opportunities and become leaders. That’s why Microsoft is committed to empowering our partners with the knowledge and resources they need to lead. We’re excited to announce the upcoming launches of Microsoft Sales Titan, a powerful new offering built for sales professionals—currently in private preview for Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners—and Microsoft AI Agents Day, a virtual event built to help you sharpen your agentic AI skills. Learn how these new offerings can grow your business—and explore other purpose-built skilling opportunities below. Close deals, sharpen AI skills, and earn badges Sales Titan—available to all partners in summer 2025—is a centralized skilling portal designed to enhance proficiency in Microsoft Threat Protection SKUs, help sales professionals position themselves as industry leaders, and build knowledge to drive meaningful customer conversations. Learn more about Sales Titan today. Microsoft AI Agents Day is a virtual training event focused on how to use Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Foundry to build agents and drive customer success. This offering is designed for all roles—from executives to architects to those who are new to Microsoft AI solutions—and participants who attend the live session will earn a digital badge. Register today to get started. Explore more skilling opportunities No matter where you are in your AI journey, Microsoft provides the tools and opportunities you need to thrive in 2025 and beyond. We offer bootcamps, workshops, and self-guided learning opportunities, such as: Certification Weeks: Designed to accelerate AI and cloud certification paths, we offer Certification Weeks for the following solution areas: Azure Business Applications Modern Work Security. Sales and Pre-sales Skilling Bootcamps: These sales bootcamps help you plan, build, and assess strategies for closing sales. Register today to get started. Partner Project Ready Workshops: Deepen your ability to assess customer needs and seamlessly implement Azure solutions in these multi-day events, available for the following solution areas: Azure Business Applications Modern Work Security. Technical workshops and AI Training Days: Sharpen your skills with hands-on sessions focusing on modern AI, security, and data analytics. Register today to get started. AI Envisioning Series: Kickstart your generative AI development plan, accelerate your time to market, and explore how AI is reshaping industries in these workshops. Register today to get started. To learn more about skilling opportunities, explore our Skilling Hub.Update how you interact with Partner Center APIs before August 31
Security is our top priority at Microsoft, and we recognize the crucial role you play in protecting customers and raising the security baseline of our ecosystem. Your continued support and cooperation are essential to ensuring that our products, solutions, and processes remain secure. An important update will affect all Partner Center services using Azure Active Directory Graph (Azure AD Graph) application programming interfaces (APIs). These services will move to api.partnercenter.microsoft.com. To improve our security posture, we are deprecating graph.windows.net audience tokens. To align with this change, we are updating how you call Partner Center APIs. It is essential that you are aware of this upcoming change and have the necessary resources to update your systems. Key actions required before August 31, 2025: A new version of the GenerateToken API is available that only accepts api.partnercenter.microsoft.com audience tokens for both usertoken and app-only scenarios. Partners must make this change before August 31, 2025. For more details on the necessary steps to prepare for this transition, please refer to the graph token Microsoft Learn article. Ensure your technical teams are aware of these changes and make the necessary updates before August 31, 2025. Thank you for your attention to this important update. We appreciate your cooperation in making this transition as smooth as possible. Review all coming API changes and work with your engineering teams to build a plan to make the necessary updates.
