October 4, 2022

The new Microsoft Cloud Partner Program is live!

On October 3, 2022, the Microsoft Partner Network evolved into the new Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, as we can continue to grow our partnership and help you grow your business. We’ve simplified our partner programs and aligned to how we go to market and meet customer demand—validating partner capabilities to deliver successful customer outcomes and investing more in your profitability.

The new program transforms the existing 18 competencies into six Solutions Partner designations that are aligned with the Microsoft Cloud.

This new, single-tier designation model combines today’s silver and gold tiers. As of September 30, 2022, legacy competencies and associated badging are no longer valid. Partners that have competencies by this date will retain their benefits and have time to learn and assess how the Solutions Partner designations fit in to the strategic plan for your business. Partners have until their anniversary date to make decisions.

Learn, assess, and activate

We’re here to help guide you through your transformation journey. Start by knowing what to learn, what to assess, and how to prepare to activate the changes ahead:

Learn more about the requirements and benefits of the Solutions Partner designations.

- Read the blog Evolving Microsoft Partner Network programs for partner growth and customer success.
- Read the blog Evolving the Microsoft Partner Network programs.

Assess your current score and track progress towards new designations via the Partner Center dashboard.

Activate your business plan in the new program with the following calls to action:

- Hold a discussion as a part of your business rhythms to ensure awareness of the change.
- Confirm your status in the new Partner Center dashboard.
- Outline steps for how you can be ready for the transition to the new Solutions Partner designations.

Secure your infrastructure and control access

Transition to GDAP

As part of the Zero Trust security model, Microsoft urges partners to take a step-by-step approach to securing their infrastructure and access to their customers’ tenants in order to minimize fraudulent and abusive activities.

To help secure the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) ecosystem, partners are being advised to transition from delegated admin privileges (DAP) to granular delegated admin privileges (GDAP). GDAP is a security feature that allows partners to control more granular and time-bound access to their customers’ workloads.

Cybersecurity continues to be one of the top challenges of our digital age. Partners in the CSP program are responsible for their customers’ consumption of Microsoft Cloud Services. It’s important to be aware of, and take steps to mitigate and remediate, security issues that affect you and your customers. Microsoft has extended the time partners have to make the transition from DAP to GDAP. However, partners in the CSP program are advised to take the necessary steps now:

Review DAP report and remove DAP relationships that are not required.
Leverage the bulk migration tool to transition to GDAP.
Find relevant links and guides in the Operations Readiness gallery.
For technical documentation, review the introduction to GDAP and API overview.
Sign up for CSP Security Q&A sessions and check out these GDAP resources to learn more.

Help promote security best practices

√	Understand potential risks	Read the article Managing nonpayment, fraud, or misuse in Partner Center
√	Take security training	Watch the video series Securing the channel: Journey to zero trust
√	Add a security contact to Partner Center accounts	Read the article Cloud Solution Provider security contact
√	Secure partner and customer identities	Read the article Mandating multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your partner tenant Read the blog Journey to Zero Trust: a proactive approach to securing your customers Read the article Monitoring administrative relationships and self-service DAP removal Adopt GDAP
√	Enable monitoring and alerts for frauds and suspicious users’ activities	Read the article Azure fraud detection and notification Read the article Azure Active Directory Identity Protection notifications Read the article Gain insights with customer activity logs Read the article Set an Azure spending budget for customers
√	Learn more and subscribe to Azure fraud notifications	Read the article Azure fraud detection and notification Read the article CSP Security best practices Read the article Azure fraud notification – Get fraud events Read the article Partner security requirements

Incentives in legacy and new commerce

Incentives in the new commerce experience (NCE) in CSP went into effect in October 2021 and will be earned and paid through the Microsoft Commerce Incentive (MCI) program. Incentives for legacy CSP subscriptions will be paid through December 31, 2022. After that date, any legacy subscription still in effect won’t generate monthly incentive earnings or payments to the partner. Initially, new commerce incentives earnings in CSP will be 100 percent rebates rather than a rebate and co-op fund split, as was the case in the legacy CSP incentives program. Partners should consider the end of monthly rebate payments for legacy subscriptions starting January 1, 2023, when making decisions about when to migrate legacy subscriptions to new commerce.

Learn more and stay up to date on what you need to know about NCE.

Partner resources

Join the Conversation

Want to hear about what Microsoft and other US partners think about the new Microsoft Cloud Partner Program? Head over to the US Partner Zone within the Microsoft Partner Community!

Tags: Azure, Cloud Solution Provider