Partner Blog | January 2026 skilling kickoff: Turn readiness into growth
A new year is a natural planning moment. Partners are navigating various pressures and opportunities, including fast-moving AI, shifting cloud workloads, rising security expectations, and data becoming a bigger part of every solution motion. In that environment, skilling can’t be treated as an optional add-on. It’s a core business priority that supports what partners care about most: winning work and delivering it with confidence. That’s the lens I’d encourage you to bring into 2026 planning. Not what courses should we take, but what technical and sales capabilities do we need to build so we can execute more consistently across sales and delivery. How data makes the case for readiness and enablement In December 2025, Forrester Consulting published a Total Economic Impact study, commissioned by Microsoft, on the partner opportunity for the Microsoft skilling and enablement offerings. The study modeled a composite organization based on interviews with partners who experienced the offerings. Continue reading herePartner Blog | What's new for Microsoft partners: January 2026 edition
Your voice continues to shape how the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program evolves. In this update, we’re bringing together the announcements, investments, and resources that matter most to partners right now. From the innovations unveiled at Microsoft Ignite to updates across benefits, Azure, AI business solutions, Marketplace, security, and skilling, this edition is designed to build capability, accelerate execution, and drive meaningful customer impact as AI becomes central to every workload. What follows highlights our focus and areas of partner opportunity, grounded in feedback from across the ecosystem and aligned to how customers are evolving their cloud and AI strategies. Spotlight Microsoft Ignite Microsoft Ignite marked an important evolution for the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, introducing new investments for partners to lead as Frontier Firms, translating their own AI experience into customer impact. Read Nicole Dezen’s blog for a partner-focused recap of Microsoft Ignite 2025, bringing together the announcements that matter most across AI, cloud platforms, security, and developer tools. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Preparing for the next stage of partner skilling in 2026
As 2025 draws to a close, we are seeing the impact of focus and follow-through across the partner ecosystem. This year, partners made skilling a deliberate priority. Across solution areas, teams deepened technical capability, strengthened sales readiness, and brought innovation into real customer engagements. That intent is translating into more confident delivery, faster time to value, and practices built to operate in an AI-driven market. Our November skilling update outlined the latest resources, bootcamps, and learning paths available to partners. As we look ahead to 2026, this moment is about turning those investments into a scalable skilling foundation that supports consistent delivery, drives customer outcomes, and positions your organization to grow as demand for AI, cloud, security, and data solutions continues to accelerate. Continue reading hereDon't miss session two, Adopting Copilot Chat and Agent Builder. Sign up now!
Our dynamic four-part webinar series, Agentic AI + Copilot Partner Skilling Accelerator, empowers you to harness the Microsoft AI ecosystem to unlock new revenue streams and enhance customer success. Across each of the four sessions, experts will deliver practical guidance, best practices, and proven strategies for applying AI tools across no-code, low-code, and pro-code scenarios. Tune in to the second session, Adopting Copilot Chat and Agent Builder, to learn how Copilot and agents can help your business design, position, and sell AI solutions that drive customer success and revenue growth. This live virtual event is scheduled for December 1, 2025. Register today to reserve your spot.Partner Blog | Build what’s next: Accelerating partner success with Microsoft skilling
This week at Microsoft Ignite, one message came through clearly: capability fuels growth. Across every industry and every role, partners investing in skilling are accelerating innovation, deepening customer trust, and driving measurable impact. Skilling is the new currency of the AI era. As organizations transform, partners are turning knowledge into action, advancing technical and business expertise to lead with confidence and drive customer outcomes. In the past year, more than 2.4 million partner learners have engaged in training across solution areas, and 1.7 million have completed AI-specific courses, a 66% increase year over year. Through the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, we’re investing in resources that make learning simpler, more accessible, and more aligned to opportunity. From the centralized Partner Skilling Hub to Certification Weeks, in-person training events, LevelUp, and AI-focused bootcamps, partners can strengthen their technical depth, expand sales capability, and build the skills that turn potential into performance. Read the full list of partner announcements from Ignite in Nicole Dezen’s blog. Continue reading hereRedefine work in an AI-enhanced world: Attend the Frontier Firms webinar November 24, 2025
Our dynamic four-part webinar series, Agentic AI + Copilot Partner Skilling Accelerator, empowers you to use the Microsoft AI ecosystem to unlock new revenue streams and enhance customer success. Across four sessions, experts will deliver practical guidance, industry best practices, and proven strategies for applying AI tools in no-code, low-code, and pro-code scenarios. The first session in this learning series explores Frontier Firms and how to position yourself as one, provides an overview of the Microsoft AI ecosystem, and offers tips on when and how to apply specific Microsoft tools. Don't miss this chance to level up your business's ability to design, position, and sell AI solutions that accelerate customer success and increase revenue. This live virtual event is scheduled for November 24, 2025. Register today to reserve your spot!Azure Kubernetes Service Automatic: Fast and frictionless Kubernetes for all
AKS Automatic simplifies Kubernetes by offering a fully managed, opinionated experience that abstracts away from infrastructure complexity, while keeping the full power of Kubernetes at your fingertips. Learn how production-ready clusters and automated infrastructure operations can accelerate your time to delivery and simplify operations for you! Check out the announcement blog here!Join the Movement at Azure Dev Summit!
Azure Dev Summit is a chance for you to join a community of developers, architects, and tech leaders building with Azure, .NET, and Microsoft AI. This isn’t just another conference. It is a Microsoft-sponsored celebration of innovation, learning, and connection — and we’re bringing some of the most inspiring voices in tech to the stage. Find out more about the speakers at Azure Dev Summit and make sure to register! https://azuredevsummit.com/Build expertise, earn recognition, and drive transformation with Microsoft skilling
At Microsoft, we know that every innovation journey starts with the right skills. Our goal is to make your skilling experience streamlined and effective, so you spend less time searching for resources and more time innovating. We have designed the Partner Skilling Hub as a central portal where you can build new capabilities, accelerate organizational growth, and learn how to set your solutions apart and create meaningful customer outcomes. With advanced search and filters by category, solution area, and skill level, you can quickly find live events, self-paced courses, and training opportunities tailored to your needs. Below are just some of the skilling resources available to you through this new portal so you can spend less time searching and more time innovating. Continue reading hereVirtual Event | Becoming Frontier: Pitch and land the AI transformation story
Join us for a hands-on training designed to sharpen your AI transformation pitch. Over three days, you will dive into Microsoft’s latest executive, platform, business services, and security conversations, learn how to bring the Copilot and agentic story to life, and practice landing it with impact. With expert-led sessions, practical pitch decks, and live Q&A, you will leave with the confidence to guide customers through their AI journey and earn a shareable digital badge along the way. Americas | Tuesday, October 14, 9:00 AM - Thursday, October 16, 12:00 PM PDT Asia | Wednesday, October 15, 9:00 AM - Friday, October 17, 12:00 PM IST EMEA | Wednesday, October 15, 9:00 AM - Friday, October 17, 12:00 PM BST Register today!
