Microsoft Adds Product Licenses to Benefits Packages From Jan25
Microsoft boosts benefits for partners by adding over 20 in-demand product licenses to packages from January 2025.
Not attending Microsoft Ignite in San Francisco this year? Don't worry - Noteworthy and Resultful are bringing you the must-know information from the relevant sessions. This article will be updated throughout the week, with the newest information at the top.
Day two
Marketplace for channel partners
The last session of the day revolved around Marketplace and REO (Resale Enabled Offers), with Darren Sharpe, Jason Rook and Jay McBain talking us through the marketplace opportunity.
Jay talked us through the findings of recent study of 2,000 partners, with some exciting stats about the revenue made via the marketplace - an average multiplier of $6.26 for every point spent. How? Building wraparound services.
The SMC&E opportunity for partners
As part of a session delivered with GTM leaders across the world, Microsoft walked us through the SMC&E opportunity, as well as some of the progress that had been made.
Microsoft are one of the world's most prominent investors in AI, with $80BN spent by the end of 2025.
The partners that win are the partners that invest in the "Recipe for success"
Like many other Accelerate offers that were announced, Azure Accelerate is here to provide partners with up to $175k earning opportunity - per project - for accelerating Azure adoption with customers.
Partner benefits for accelerating software development company success
Microsoft announced the arrival of App Accelerate, coming in 2026, which will streamline the MAICPP experience for SDCs. There will be more Azure credits available, a dedicated contact at Microsoft to drive better pipeline visibility. It's launching
Co-sell benefits are launching now as a pilot, aiming to eliminate barriers for startups that haven’t met traditional program eligibility criteria. $100k in MBS sales is the barrier. There’s a nomination path for SDCs who have co-sell excellence.
App Accelerate is now the signature offer for the SDC community and is being mainstreamed into the MAICPP.
To support SDCs with large volumes of large deals via Marketplace, you can use Marketplace Rewards. For full benefits, you have to be a Certified Software Designated partner (that’s $4mil annual entry criteria) 😳
There's customer propensity scoring available for partners to submit their customer list, and Microsoft will rate each customer as high, medium or low.
Partners can use their Azure credits to ‘sweeten the deal’ with customers and drive preference for Marketplace.
The Marketplace is great for companies who have a MACC but the mid market and SMB opportunity is opening up because distribution partners will be able to link their cloud marketplace with the Microsoft marketplace via APIs - currently in pilot.
Microsoft have announced that there will be more funding going into Azure Migrate and Modernise lever (up to $175k).
For SDCs with SaaS solutions, both sales teams at Microsoft are compensated equally. New for this FY: they get paid the same if a partner does the deal as they would if they do the deal with the customer directly.
ContentSquare are a great example where 81% of larger deals are through Marketplace
Growing your business with the AI Cloud Partner Program (MAICPP)
Microsoft did a pilot in enterprise which will roll out to SMEC this year, but will be able to see where there is a skills gap in the partner that is engaged in the opportunity, and can flag that internally to unblock the opportunity.
The Frontier Partner Designation is gaining momentum, with 12 partners having achieved it so far, with 92 needing just one more metric hit.
Microsoft have announced that the program process for SDCs is being simplified with more funding and opportunities for SDCs coming in 2026.
From February 2026, the partner benefit packages will be refreshed
An AI-powered marketing platform is launching in February 2026, and will include 24 campaigns in a box, which will drive intelligent demand generation backed up by analytics and performance insights. This will be available to any partners who have a solution PD or have purchased a benefits pack, or are part of App Accelerate (new ISV/ SDC program).
Support services and frontier distribution designations open today, device ones are coming soon. The Support Services designation recognises partners who are deflecting support tickets from Microsoft. Additionally, the Frontier Distribution designation is for the distis that are growing their resellers and MSPs fastest and adding real value (such as partnering with businesses like Noteworthy) by creating ecosystems of support.
”Unified for partner” is a transformational shift in how we provide support to our partners - Steve Thomas, Microsoft.
The introduction of the Digital Sovereignty specialisation proves your ability to assess, architect and implement a Microsoft sovereign cloud strategy -linked to Data and AI workstreams.
A new Clinical Applications specialisation is about transforming the healthcare industry. Reduce the time and effort a clinician spends on admin, and accelerate the care of the patient. This is in private preview and not launched yet.
Accelerating Growth with Partner Investments
We heard about the investment direction this FY:
"It’s never been a better time to be a Microsoft partner as we drive AI adoption for our customers". Microsoft partner investment this year is going to be focused on driving Frontier Firms, and "all growth is good growth”, whether it's new or existing customer revenue.
Microsoft are committed to rewarding growth per customer, giving the predictability that you need to ensure sellers deliver more. That means partners can focus on growth to build long-term, high-value customer relationships.
When it comes to Business Applications, Microsoft is winning against competitors every single month with Microsoft Dynamics 365 - sales, service, finance, contact centre, supply chain - all because of the broader integration with Microsoft solutions, something we're seeing ourselves. For customers, we're at a key turning point as people look for the unification of systems.
We also heard about Copilot + Power Accelerate driving growth globally, but early success linked to UK partners with the Oxford Uni Hospital NHS Trust and Virgin Money, two key end customers that have been enabled as a result of these benefits.
Day one
When it comes to SMC customers, they want an end-to-end platform; they don't want multiple vendors. They want their lives to be easier.
Judson's take on the partner ecosystem
"Partners play a critical role in everything we've heard about today" - Judson Althoff
"We're very excited for how partners can build services on top of Agent 365". Customers are going to need support with all of these solutions across the IQ stack, which will no doubt create an opportunity for partners to commercialise the value they can add.
"The partners that are adopting our technologies are the ones that are doing the best" - JA
A big focus on Customer Zero
We're hearing about the importance of "Customer Zero", when it comes to licensing and solution introduction - partners who adopt first, win first. Frontier Firm partners don't just sell AI, they embrace it, internalise it and use it to drive what they do.
Resale Enabled Offers via the Microsoft Marketplace
We're due to hear about REO (resale enabled offers) over the course of this week, with a session delivered by the Marketplace Man himself, our good friend, Darren Sharpe.
The Frontier Firm - and what it means for partner specialisations and designations
Microsoft are introducing the following:
A "Frontier Partner" badge, recognising partners at the forefront of AI transformation, blending AI-first strategies with human expertise to drive innovation and impact. Awarded for excellence across Microsoft Cloud and AI, this badge marks partners who are defining the next wave of industry leadership.
For indirect partners, the "Frontier Distributor designation" recognises distributors that meet the highest standards of performance and enablement.
An additional designation for "Support Services" celebrates partners that deliver exceptional customer experiences across the Microsoft Cloud, who meet rigorous standards for satisfaction, resolution, and service excellence.
Lastly, the Digital Sovereignty specialisation identifies partners uniquely qualified to assess, architect, and implement sovereign-cloud strategies across Azure, Microsoft 365, and Security.
Copilot pricing for SMB
Effective December 1st, Microsoft have announced Copilot licensing for $21 per month, available to SMBs up to 300 employees.
Keynote
Throughout the keynote, delivered by Judson, we heard many times about the Frontier Firm - a phrase we're going to hear a lot about over the coming months.
There's set to be over 70 new announcements this week, with the first batch including:
- Agent 365
- Work IQ
- Agents for Copilot Chat in Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Outlook Inbox and Calendar for Copilot Chat
- Security Copilot coming to Microsoft 365 E5 licensing
- Agent HQ
- Model Router
- Fabriq IQ
- Foundry IQ
- Agent Factory
- Foundry Control Plan
- Azure Cobalt 200
- Azure HorizonDB
- Azure Copilot agents in Migration, Deployment, Optimisation, Observability, Resiliency & Troubleshooting
Expect to hear more about each of these over the course of the week!
