We wanted to give you an update ahead of our upcoming webinar on some Microsoft changes that you can expect to see either already in place, or anticipated in the coming weeks. Also, a reminder to register for the Frontier Transformation with E7 webinar, on 29th April 11:00-13:00. You can register using this link.
Updates to Partner Accreditations – Designations and Specializations
Small and Midsize Business Management specialization – Business Applications
As of March 27, 2026, the performance criteria is updated to better support partners as their Business Central practices grow. Based on partner feedback, the required MAU growth threshold is reduced from 35% to 15%, while the deployment requirement has increased from 10 to 15 deployments. This is something that our partners have been keen to see change, so this is a welcome update for more mature Business Central partners.
Skilling Updates
More skilling options are coming to the below specializations and designations in April 2026:
- The Calling for Microsoft Teams specialization is adding the Microsoft 365 Certified: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate certification as a skilling option to address the retiring of the Teams Calling Technical Assessment
- The Meetings and Meeting Rooms for Microsoft Teams specialization is adding the Microsoft 365 Certified: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate certification as a skilling option to address the retiring of the Teams Meetings and Meeting Rooms Technical Assessment
- The Modern Work Solutions Partner designation is adding the Microsoft 365 Certified: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate certification as an Advanced skilling option to address the retiring of the Teams Meetings and Meeting Rooms Technical Assessment. This change applies to both the Enterprise and SMB tracks
- The Modern Work Solutions Partner designation is adding the Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals certification as an Intermediate skilling option to address the retirement of the Microsoft 365 Fundamentals certification. This change applies to both the Enterprise and SMB tracks
- The Digital & App Innovation Solutions Partner designation is adding the GitHub Actions, GitHub Administration, GitHub Advanced Security, and GitHub Copilot certifications as Advanced skilling options. This change applies to both the Enterprise and SMB tracks.
If you believe that you will be impacted by the above, consider the following:
- Skilling achieved before its retirement remains valid for one year
- New skilling will be added, if the replacement skilling is applicable to those specializations and designations
Specialization Updates
The Teamwork Deployment specialization is being updated to the Secure AI Productivity specialization in April 2026.
- With the shift towards AI, the Teamwork Deployment spec is updating to help partners prepare their customers for AI by centering on foundational workloads from Microsoft 365 E3.
- The name of the specialization is being updated to the Secure AI Productivity specialization
- Partners must hit their 2,500 monthly active usage (MAU) growth on at least 3 of 8 separate Microsoft 365 workload services:
- Exchange Online
- SharePoint Online
- Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft 365 Apps
- Microsoft Entra ID P1
- Intune
- Defender for Endpoint
- Microsoft Information Protection
Additionally:
- At least one of the workloads meeting required growth must come from the productivity workloads: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 App
- At least one of the workloads meeting required growth must come from the identity, security and management workloads: Entra ID P1, Intune, Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Information Protection
- The 20% growth requirement is being removed, which for mature partners will be welcome.
- The number of new customer tenants required is being lowered from 12 to 5, again, supporting more mature partners.
Retiring and Merging Specialisations
This section is important for partners to take note of – particularly when considering IUR benefits
The Adoption and Change Management specialization will be retired in the coming months. Rather than have a standalone specialization, adoption & change management capabilities will be embedded within product-aligned specializations.
Three new specializations will be also created by merging existing specializations in the coming months. This is the section to be mindful of when considering IURs, as we do not yet have context of how these will be impacted. At this stage, we can assume that the benefits would be reduced, and will update you as and when we have more information.
- The Analytics on Microsoft Azure, Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure, and Business Intelligence specializations are merging into a new Analytics on Microsoft Azure specialization
- Low Code Application Development and Intelligent Automation specializations are merging into a new specialization
- Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure and Migrate Enterprise Applications to Microsoft Azure specializations are merging into a new App Modernization on Microsoft Azure specialization
New AI Tooling to Support Partners
There is now a new AI assistant capability in Partner Center that helps CSP partners discover and download targeted offers applicable to their customers.
Targeted offers are customer‑specific promotions assigned by Microsoft and aren't available through public promotion listings. With this update, partners can use the AI assistant to automatically evaluate customer eligibility and generate a downloadable report of applicable targeted offers. This is useful for revenue generating teams. To give this a try, head to the customer workspace, click on the AI Assistant and use the prompt ‘Generate me a list of targeted offers applicable to my customers’.
Tax Profile Modernisation
Country/region-specific Tax ID types now dynamically adjust to local requirements.
Why does this matter?
- Helps meet country/region-specific tax regulations and documentation requirements.
- Reduces billing errors and tax-related support escalations.
- Provides a scalable foundation for future Tax ID requirements and country/region expansions for future countries/regions like France.
Next steps
- Review your Tax ID details and ensure one or more Tax IDs for your legal address are complete and accurate. Missing or incorrect Tax IDs may result in billing disruptions, delayed transactions, or noncompliance with local requirements.
- If your organization operates in Brazil, India, Italy, Egypt, or Serbia, you may be required to provide multiple Tax IDs due to local regulations. Partner Center shows any other mandatory Tax ID fields required for those jurisdictions.