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Listening to customers and partners
As we get to the middle of our fiscal year and the end of the calendar year, it’s a wonderful time for reflection. Have we met our goals? What adjustments can we make to drive improvement? How satisfied are our customers and partners?
When we reviewed the first set of customer surveys for this fiscal year, we were pleased to see our customers were
very satisfied with the FastTrack Benefit and with FastTrack Ready Partners. In the categories Overall Satisfaction, Net Promoter Score, and Customer Effort Score, FRP customers have rated their experience above our annual targets.
- 97% of FRP customers were satisfied or very satisfied.
- 90% of customers indicated that working with their FRP made deployment easier.
- 82% indicated that the engagement completed successfully and without roadblocks.
- Many customers specifically complimented partners in their comments.
Congratulations on this outstanding success! Those of you whose customers completed surveys received the anonymized results in October. Results will be shared quarterly. Continue encouraging your eligible customers to respond to the survey. We look forward to continuing this trend.
We are anticipating the results of our survey with you. Thanks to those of you who have already submitted responses. Final due date is Friday, December 17, 2021.
Questions about surveys and feedback? Contact us at
frpfeedback@service.microsoft.com.
Julie Martin, Feedback and Insights Lead
Program News
FRP statement delivery
FRP November statements for October achievements will be delivered to partners by December 15, 2021. Refer to the
FRP Incentive Statement Summary for details by workload.
Workload News
Microsoft Defender for Business – Preview Nominations now open
Microsoft is rolling out a preview of
Microsoft Defender for Business, a new enterprise-grade endpoint security solution, specially designed for small and medium businesses (SMBs) with up to 300 employees. Nominations for preview are open, and customers and partners will be onboarded in phases. We will continue to expand the preview as we lead up to general availability in the coming months.
For general availability is Microsoft Defender for Business, it will be available both as a standalone SKU and included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium. You can start driving Microsoft 365 Business Premium upsell conversations with your partners and customers using the updated resources, highlighting the new value that is coming soon.
For more information and resources, review the
announcement Microsoft Defender for Business – Preview nominations now open.
Introducing Microsoft Teams Essentials
On December 1, 2021, Microsoft announced a new product for small businesses that represents a tremendous opportunity for our partner ecosystem:
Microsoft Teams Essentials. Teams Essentials enables the full Microsoft Teams experience, including meetings, persistent chat, storage, and collaboration for up to 300 people at an amazing price of US$4 per user, per month– significantly lower than competitive paid offerings. Teams Essentials is part of the broader Microsoft 365 family, meaning small businesses can easily transition into more advanced Microsoft 365 for business suites as their needs grow.
For more information, including next steps, resources, and upcoming webinars, read the
announcement Introducing Microsoft Teams Essentials.
SIP Gateway now generally available
Microsoft announced that as of December 6, 2021, SIP Gateway is now generally available (GA). With SIP Gateway, organizations will be able to use compatible third-party SIP phones with Microsoft Teams and preserve their existing investments in third-party devices as they transition to native Teams phones.
For more information, including licensing requirements and next steps, read the
announcement SIP Gateway now generally available.
Documentation updates
Terms and Conditions
View the latest
Terms and Conditions.
No updates for this edition.
FastTrack Playbook
Visit the
Playbook Change Log for a complete list of updates.
Delivering Microsoft Defender for Endpoint across Platforms and Devices – Scope Expansion to include Windows 365
- MDE Overview (BVD – Task 4079) now includes an updated slide for Cross Platform Endpoint Security delivery to provide a centralized security operations experience to customers.
- Playbook task 4083 has been updated with details for deployments on Windows 365 devices (Cloud PCs) for Defender SMEs to drive the conversation.
Sales Play Guidance - Modernize Endpoints
There is a new customer-facing presentation deck that positions FastTrack to help customers adopt cloud management capabilities:
Modernizing Endpoints Customer Journey Deck.
Insider Risk Management - Content Updates
Review the changes to the
IRM Workshop deck (
Task 4129). The deck has been revised based on feedback from the SME community to remove the click-through slides in favor of a business-value discussion.
MCAS: Ignite Updates (Defender Rebrand)
As announced recently at Microsoft Ignite, MCAS (Microsoft Cloud App Security) rebranding is in progress. This post is a reminder to watch for all FTC artifacts (content, reporting, tooling, and training) changes around the naming/rebranding from Microsoft Cloud App Security (MCAS) to
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. Updates will continue to be rolled out across all of Microsoft's assets through FY22.
Edge BVD Q2 FY22 refresh
The Microsoft Edge Business Value Discussion deck is being updated to include recent product changes and support Q2 FY22 updates. The updated deck continues to provide a security or productivity delivery scenarios. Leverage the updated
Microsoft Edge business value discussion deck in the delivery of the Task 4094 Microsoft Edge - Deliver Pitch.
FLW Deck for Deployment Planning
Review and use the new
Enabling Frontline Deployment Planning deck for the Enable Frontline sales play and FLW deployment planning discussions.
Refreshed Microsoft Edge Customer Adoption Kit
A new version of the
Microsoft Edge Customer Adoption Kit has been published including new content: From Google Chrome to Edge: “why and how” one-pager.
Service Description
Access the
FastTrack Service Description.
Exact Data Match (EDM) Added to scope of support for Compliance under MIP
Effective December 1, 2021 - Review updates to the
Service Description under MIP to familiarize yourself with the scope of EDM assistance SMEs provide customers.
Events and Recordings
Update on FRP events and registration
FastTrack Ready Partner events will no longer be hosted by EventBuilder, and instead, will be hosted by Microsoft Teams Webinar. If you have EventBuilder registration or recording links saved, please note that these will be deactivated on
December 31, 2021.
Call to action:
Save the date: FRP Virtual Connections Event
We are excited to kick off the new calendar year with another FRP Virtual Connections Event.
- February 8-9, 2022: Americas/EMEA
- February 15-16, 2022: Asia
Learn how to reach your full potential as a FastTrack Ready Partner, collaborate and learn from other FastTrack Ready Partners, receive dedicated technical training, and more. A detailed agenda and registration links will be announced in the coming weeks.
Read the
Save the date: FRP Virtual Connections Event | February 2022 announcement for more information.
Upcoming events calendar
Click on the links below to register for upcoming events.
FRP-specific events
- January 11, 2022, 8:00 AM PT: FRP Academy "Ask Me Anything" Series: Foundations 101 and 102
- January 12, 2022, 8:00 AM PT: FRP Academy "Ask Me Anything" Series: Foundations 103
- January 13, 2022, 8:00 AM PT: FRP Academy "Ask Me Anything" Series: Foundations 104
- January 18, 2022, 11:00 AM PT: FY22 January FastTrack Ready Partner Community Call [Americas]
- January 18, 2022, 7:00 PM PT: FY22 January FastTrack Ready Partner Community Call [Asia]
- January 19, 2022, 6:00 AM PT: FY22 January FastTrack Ready Partner Community Call [EMEA]
- January 20, 2022, 8:00 AM PT: FY22 Q3 OSU-M365 and FRP Office Hours [Option 1]
- January 20, 2022, 7:00 PM PT: FY22 Q3 OSU-M365 and FRP Office Hours [Option 2]
- February 2, 2022, 8:00 AM PT: FY22 Q3 Migrations Office Hours [Option 1]
- February 2, 2022, 7:00 PM PT: FY22 Q3 Migrations Office Hours [Option 2]
- February 8-9, 2022: FRP Virtual Connections Event [Americas, EMEA] – Save the date
- February 15-16, 2022: FRP Virtual Connections Event [Asia] – Save the date
Other recommended events
- December 14, 2021, 7:00 AM PT: Microsoft 365 ISV Showcase: Collaborative apps in Microsoft Teams
- December 14, 2021, 8:00 AM PT: Teams Essentials Sales and Technical Readiness Series – Configure and Set Up Microsoft Teams Essentials
- December 15, 2021, 5:00 PM PT: Teams Essentials Sales and Technical Readiness Series – Configure and Set Up Microsoft Teams Essentials-APAC
- January 11, 2022, 8:00 AM PT: Teams Essentials Sales and Technical Readiness Series – How to Build a Profitable Microsoft Teams Practice
- January 12, 2022, 5:00 PM PT: Teams Essentials Sales and Technical Readiness Series – How to Build a Profitable Microsoft Teams Practice-APAC
- January 27, 2022, 8:00 AM PT: January Conversation Series with Customer Engineering: Viva Topics
Now available on-demand
Click on the links below to view content on-demand.
FRP-specific events
Other recommended events
