April 4, 2023

US Partner Insider Newsletter: March 2023 Issue

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March is Women’s History Month, dedicated to reflecting on and carrying forward the contributions of women in the US and across the world. At Microsoft, we celebrate global diversity and inclusion by elevating each other so that we can go further. We’re committed to empowering the Women at Microsoft community and creating an environment where people of all genders thrive, both within Microsoft and beyond.

What does the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program mean for you? Watch the April US Partner Insider call for a preview of the new US Microsoft Cloud Partner Playbook. You’ll learn more about what the Program means for your business, how the Playbook will help you navigate the Program, and how you can grow within it.

Quick links

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Modern Work and Security

JOIN THE SMB MASTERS PLUS PROGRAM
Grow your customer base and generate more revenue by attending this in-person enablement event taking place across five select US cities in March 2023. SMB Masters Plus is a new two-day sales and technical training program covering the value of Microsoft 365, SMB business challenges, Microsoft 365 deployment, and more.

Learn more and register here.

UNLOCK FLEXIBLE WORK FOR CUSTOMERS WITH DISCOUNTS ON ELIGIBLE SURFACE DEVICES AND ACCESSORIES
Now through March 31, 2023, partners can offer customers up to 20 percent off eligible laptops and accessories designed by Microsoft. Check out available discounts and full details on our offers page.

Plus, qualifying customers could also be eligible for additional Microsoft savings and investment funds. Work with your Surface Champ or Microsoft Surface Partner Development Manager on deal accelerators today!

ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH MICROSOFT SECURITY SOLUTIONS
Grow your pipeline as you help your customers leverage Microsoft Security solutions to address the increasingly complex state of cybersecurity across multicloud environments. Start a Secure Multicloud Environments campaign to engage your customers and help them do more with less.

Q3 MICROSOFT 365 BUSINESS PREMIUM LOCAL ACCELERATOR OFFER
Take advantage of this exciting offer for Microsoft 365 Business Premium and grow your sales! The Q3 incentive offers eligible partners NCE-CSP rates at 5 percent with an additional 2.5 percent special offer in Q3, making it a total of 7.5 percent for every seat in NCE-CSP.

Additionally, the Microsoft 365 Business Premium offer is an exciting partner incentive to support the Do More with Less campaign and the SMB New Customer and Upsell Promo. Microsoft launched the campaign to enable you to grow revenue by acquiring new customers and upgrading existing customers to more premium products.

Learn more about this offer and get started today!

GET MORE WITH MICROSOFT 365 E3 THROUGH CSP
Microsoft 365 E3 continues to be critically important in helping customers do more with less, and Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner participation is essential. To assist our partners, on February 1, 2023, Microsoft launched a new promo offer through CSP for customers purchasing M365 E3 for the first time.

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Azure

START A DO MORE WITH LESS ON AZURE CAMPAIGN
Microsoft partners can leverage our Do More with Less on Azure campaign assets, which include rich pitch decks, marketing materials, social posts, and more. Use these go-to-market resources to build strong connections with your customers while deepening your role as a high-value advisor and partner.

Get started today by exploring the campaign assets available on Digital Marketing Content OnDemand.

Read the blog to learn more.

DO MORE WITH LESS WITH AZURE TRAINING SERIES
Are you prepared to help your customers navigate uncertainty? Now more than ever, customers need guidance on how to do more with less. Tune in to our training series, starting with the on-demand Do More with Less Launch and Windows and SQL Migration Sales events. You’ll discover how Azure can help your customers save money and optimize their current Azure workloads so they can invest back into their businesses.

Read this blog to learn more about the Do More with Less on Azure campaign.

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Business Applications

STEPS TO IMPLEMENTING A BETTER ERP SYSTEM
Four reasons customers are moving their enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to the cloud:

SMBs are increasingly concerned about security attacks.
Finance leaders are expected to make quick, well-informed decisions.
Employees are spending too much time consolidating data versus focusing on future planning and innovation.
SMBs have been hit hard by COVID, making it increasingly difficult to attract prospective customers.

Visit the Dynamics 365 Partner Portal to learn about the Business Applications offer and how Business Central can help customers save money.

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Black Partner Growth Initiative

INNOVATION TOUR FORUMS
In partnership with the Black Channel Partner Alliance (BCPA), the Microsoft Black Partner Growth Initiative (BPGI) is continuing its FY23 Innovation Tour Forums. Forum workshops will be hosted in various cities for partners enrolled in BPGI, focusing on several partner development topics. Tells others about this opportunity or register for a Forum today!

Learn more and register here for an Innovation Forum.

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Demand Gen

SPEAK YOUR CUSTOMER’S LANGUAGE
By speaking in the language of industry, top marketers are expanding brand awareness and gaining fans from the influencers of their target customers. To build and scale your industry relevance, Microsoft has curated ISV campaigns. This highly prescriptive format includes customizable marketing templates so you can put the focus on your solution.

Leverage the ISV industry campaigns through Microsoft Digital Marketing Content OnDemand.

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Enabling an Inclusive Economy

CONGRATS TO THE MICROSOFT #BUILDFOR2030 HACKATHON 2022 WINNERS!
At the Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Hackathon 2022 (September – November 2022), partners from over 50 countries or regions joined in to skill up and unlock solutions around six challenge areas: gender equality, climate action and sustainability, accessibility and disability inclusion, enabling the nonprofit sector, empowering communities, and an open category.

Join Nicole Dezen, Chief Partner Officer, in congratulating the winners. Check out their changemaking solutions that help enable more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient communities around the world.

About the Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Initiative
The Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Initiative is a call to action for Microsoft partners to accelerate innovation, changemaking, and collective impact, helping to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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THE VALUE OF THOUGHT LEADERSHIP IN ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY
We spoke with nearly 3,500 business decision makers, and the results are encouraging: Brands that provide high-quality thought-leadership content provide value for customers.

Watch our latest webinar hosted by Valerie Beauchamp, VP of Agency Development at LinkedIn, which explores the latest B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report and uncovers:

Three reasons why thought leadership works, even in touch times.
How to develop high-quality thought leadership in 2023.
Recommendations for becoming a top-tier though leader.

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Transformation

CHECK OUT THE MICROSOFT CLOUD PARTNER PROGRAM BENEFITS GUIDE
Are you aware of all the benefits of the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program? The Microsoft Cloud Partner Program Benefits Guide will help you understand the many benefits for Solutions Partner designations across the program. You’ll find the Benefits Guide and other Microsoft Cloud Partner Program resource in this training gallery.

Stay up to date on the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program
Read the blog for more about what you need to learn, what to assess, and how to prepare to activate the changes ahead.

For any questions or support needed with MCPP, create a request in Partner Center.

DISCOVER THE BENEFITS OF THE ISV SUCCESS PROGRAM AND JOIN THE PUBLIC PREVIEW TODAY
Get the support you need to build your solution, go to market faster, and reach more customers on the Microsoft Cloud. If you’re building, integrating, migrating, or modernizing an app on Microsoft Cloud (Microsoft Azure; Microsoft 365; Teams; Dynamics 365; Power Platform; Security, Compliance, and Identify) you should check out this program. Grow your business as an ISV with access to training resources, technical enablement, one-to-one consultations, and many other free benefits.

Learn more and join the program.

STAY UPDATED ON THE NEW COMMERCE EXPERIENCE FOR CLOUD SOLUTION PROVIDERS (CSP)

Visit the readiness gallery to view the latest CSP launch updates.
Register here for the March 22 CSP Partner Community Call. The monthly Q&A session provides you with an opportunity to learn more and ask questions about changes affecting the program. You can submit your questions up to 48 hours before the call.

For any questions or support needed with NCE, create a request in Partner Center.

REMINDER: NEW COMMERCE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RENEWALS IN PARTNER CENTER
Many partners took advantage of the new commerce license-based promotions made available starting March 2022. The annual subscriptions purchased last March are approaching anniversary for renewal. Partners who purchased annual subscriptions should review their renewal dates and options.

For details and next steps on renewing annual term subscriptions, see this Partner Center announcement.

THE TIME IS NOW: TRANSITION TO GDAP!
As part of a proactive, integrated Zero Trust approach to cybersecurity, Microsoft will update the way administrative privileges are managed between customer and partners in the CSP program.

As of February 15, you can leverage the Bulk Migration Tool to remove DAP relationships in bulk.

What you need to do:

Stop new DAPs: DAP is currently granted when a new customer tenant is created. Microsoft will no longer grant DAP for new customer creation.
Transition inactive DAPs: Microsoft will start transitioning DAP relationships that haven’t been used in 90 or more days to GDAP with limited Azure AD roles. To review which relationships are inactive, use the DAP monitoring report.
Transition active DAPs: Microsoft will begin transitioning active DAP relationships to GDAP with limited Azure AD roles.

Learn more about the steps you need to take today, as well as upcoming milestones and updates in this Partner Center announcement.

Have questions? Join these weekly Q&A sessions on security-related changes to the CSP program.

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Voices for Innovation

ADVANCING THE FUTURE THROUGH RESPONSIBLE AI
Since 2017, Microsoft has been working to build a responsible AI infrastructure. The company has adopted AI Principles and published the Responsible AI Standard, a framework to guide how Microsoft builds AI systems. Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith recently wrote of artificial intelligence, “We need to have wide-ranging and deep conversations and commit to joint action to define the guardrails for the future.”

Voices for Innovation—the tech advocacy community for Microsoft partners—invites you to learn more and be part of the conversation about key tech policies. Sign up for VFI today, which is a no-cost Microsoft-supported program.

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Partner Resources

SMB Plays-in-a-Box (PiBs) have been updated for FY23! PiBs bring together capacity and enablement, go-to-market, and co-selling resources by solution area. Each PiB provides the tools you need to help your customers with their digital transformation. Learn more about SMB PiBs and get started today!
Microsoft is a national member of the Small Business Digital Alliance (SBDA). The SBDA provides small businesses with free tools, training, networking, and other resources—the keys to helping you innovate, grow, and succeed. Learn more and get started today!
Microsoft Cloud Partner Program provides the resources to help you stay engaged with your customers and take your business to the next level. Get the latest partner resources and news tailored to our US SMB partners.

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Join Us (Events and Activities)

Join our final Security event of the series and learn about Security Through the Lens of Zero Trust on March 21–22.

Register to watch Windows and SQL Migration Tech Intensity on demand. Originally presented on March 7.
Register to watch the SQL Server Migration for SMB tech talk on demand. Originally presented on February 23.
Register to watch the global Do More with Less Sales Bootcamp on demand. Originally presented on February 7–10.
Register to watch the Cloud and Security Evaluations Program exec talk on demand. Originally presented on February 6.
Register for upcoming and on demand Partner Academy webinars, designed to help you have richer conversations with your customers.
Check out the revamped Partner Training Calendar and register for upcoming trainings. Filter by solution area or solution play, among other options, to choose the readiness activities that will accelerate your Microsoft skills.
Partner Investments office hours. Join these weekly calls to learn about our investment offers and incentive programs. Register here for an upcoming call or watch on demand.