Program news
Changes to Microsoft Partner Network programs announced
On March 16, 2022 the Microsoft Partner Network team announced key program changes that help deliver on Microsoft’s investment in the cloud as a strategic lever for growth and innovation and that reflect Microsoft’s continued commitment to partners.
Starting October 2022, the name of the program will be changed from “Microsoft Partner Network” to “Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.” In addition, partner programs will be simplified with solutions partner designations, focusing on six solutions areas that are aligned to how Microsoft goes to market. Attaining these designations enables you to demonstrate your organization’s capabilities in delivering customer success in the solution areas.
By sharing more opportunities and enhancing the commercial marketplace and Partner Center, we’re making it easier for you, our partners, to engage with us and drive profitability.
Check out the following resources to learn more about these changes and what they might mean for your organization.
FRP Incentive delivery notification - February Statement
FRP February statements for January achievements are now being processed with delivery to partners on March 14, 2022.
Please download the FRP Incentive Statement Summary for clarity by workloads as to what to expect in the statement.
If you notice a discrepancy between your records and statement, please submit a dispute via the FastTrack Ready Support Site.
Ukrainian Trial Licenses Incentive
Microsoft is enabling Ukrainian customers to use trial licenses for up to 6 months to allow them to conduct business and move to the cloud. You are encouraged to deliver the FastTrack Benefit to any Ukrainian customer that needs help.
If you have a Ukrainian customer using trial licenses, we will pay the standard FastTrack Ready Partner (FRP) CPOR incentives for you to help them reach the 15% and 40% milestones. The standard program rules remain in effect for customer, tenant and workload eligibility. Milestone achievement will be measured against trial license entitlements even if there are existing paid licenses in the tenant as well.
To participate please refer to the Terms and Conditions.
M365 Deployment Voucher Offer for Public Sector customers
The redemption process for FRPs receiving a Public Sector customer voucher is the same as the process for commercial customers, however, incentives for Public Sector customers can only be paid once POE has been approved.
FRPs working with Public Sector customers are required to submit both initial and final voucher redemption requests, as well as signed SOW and POE templates. Instead of receiving an initial payment of 50% and then a final payment of 50% as milestones are achieved, FRPs working with Public Sector customers will receive a single payment of 100% upon achieving the final milestone. When an FRP submits an initial payment request for a voucher issued to a Public Sector customer, Microsoft will send a reminder notification of how the voucher will be paid.
Access the knowledge article for the most complete details.
Two new FRP Dashboard reports: Frontline Worker and Wizards
Two new reports have been added to the FTOP-FRP Dashboard:
- The F-SKU Data report can be used to identify additional opportunities to earn Teams Platform incentives for driving Frontline Worker usage. To learn more about F-SKUs, please refer to the Yammer post.
- The Wizard report can be used to analyze the impact on the active usage of advanced deployment guides for customer tenants associated to FRP. For more information about Wizards, please refer to the Yammer post.
If you have questions, please reach out either directly or to your assigned FPM.
Are you ready for FY23?
Do you have an Advanced Specialization?
Are you Co-sell Ready?
As a reminder, there are two key FastTrack Ready Program Requirements in FY23. First, to have an Advanced Specialization in either Modern Work or Security. Second, partners need to be Co-sell Ready in either Modern Work or Security. Take time now to ensure that your company meets the full requirements of each:
Advanced Specialization Requirements
- Gold competency
- Performance
- Knowledge
- Customer references
- Annual renewal
Co-sell Ready Requirements
- Have an MPN ID and an active commercial marketplace account in Partner Center.
- Have a complete business profile in Partner Center.
- Complete the Co-sell with Microsoft tab and publish the offer to the commercial marketplace.
- Provide a sales contact for each co-sell eligible geography and required bill of materials.
If you have questions, please reach out either directly or to your assigned PDM or FPM.
Canceled: March and April FRP Calls
The FastTrack Ready Partner calls scheduled for March and April. If you registered, you should have received a cancelation message.
We will be transitioning the content to on-demand resources. Watch Yammer and the Heads Up newsletter for more information coming soon.
We will resume the call in May, invitations will be sent out in April.
Events and training
Submit your nomination for the 2022 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards
The Partner of the Year Awards are driven by a self-nomination process and provide you an opportunity to showcase your solutions built on Microsoft technologies that are leading to our customers’ digital transformations. Winners and finalists are celebrated in July at the Microsoft Inspire digital event, July 12-13, 2022.
This year, we’ll be accepting submissions in the following Modern Work & Security categories:
- Apps & Solutions for Microsoft Teams
- Meetings, Calling, & Devices for Microsoft Teams
- Employee Experience
- Modern Endpoint Management
- Modern Workplace for Frontline Workers
- Modern Workplace for SMB
- Device
- Device Partner Distributor/Reseller
- Project & Portfolio Management
- Surface Hub Reseller
- Surface PC Reseller
- Security
- Compliance (NEW!)
- Operational Excellence (NEW!)
Why nominate?
Receiving a Partner of the Year Award positions your company for new business opportunities, generates positive press coverage, and can lead to even greater market recognition. Winners are highlighted and recognized by Microsoft and their peers during the Microsoft Inspire 2022 digital event. More details to come on virtual event engagement opportunities.
How to submit nominations
Familiarize yourself with the complete 2022 Microsoft Partner Network Partner of the Year Award guidelines. Preparing all of your answers and supporting documents now definitely makes it easier to upload your final entry.
The Partner of the Year Awards nomination tool is open now until March 31, 2022, at 6:00 PM, Pacific time. Nominate today for the 2022 Partner of the Year Awards!
Next steps
Upcoming events calendar
Click on the links below to register for upcoming events.
FRP-specific events
Other recommended events
Available on-demand
Click on the links below to view content on-demand.
FRP-specific events
FY22 Q3 Migrations Office Hours
Windows 11 Deployment Incentive Webinar
Other recommended events
Selling Microsoft Viva: How to Engage Decision Makers
Feedback focus
Highlight: Offering a downloadable, PDF version of the FastTrack Playbook
Description: The previously available system-generated FastTrack Playbook PDF has been unreliable and support for the feature has been discontinued. A brief Yammer survey showed that there was definite interest in continued access to a PDF version.
Result: PDF playbook published in February: https://aka.ms/PlaybookPDF
Impact: Partners can leverage the Playbook with internal teams who may not have access to internal tools. It is also more easily searchable in PDF form.
Workload news
The latest Modern Work & Security readiness events
Microsoft Teams Monetization Series
Microsoft Teams is the fastest-growing business application in Microsoft history with 270 million monthly active users. This represents a significant opportunity for ISVs to create apps on the Teams platform. The Microsoft Teams Monetization webinar series helps you make the most of this opportunity.
March 24 – Attend our Q&A session to ask questions to deepen your understanding
Watch on-demand
Microsoft Teams Rooms Partner Bootcamp
The rapid adoption of Microsoft Teams and the shift to hybrid work is increasing demand for richer meeting rooms experiences that accommodate remote and in-person participants. This next phase represents a significant opportunity for you to grow your business with value-added services.
To assist you in helping your customers enable hybrid workplaces, we are offering the Microsoft Teams Rooms Partner Bootcamp. The events will take place on the following dates:
- Americas/EMEA: April 5, 6, 26, and 27 for Americas/EMEA
- APAC: April 19 and 20, and May 3 and 4
Day 1 is focused on presales content, and Days 2, 3, and 4 cover technical content. Find out what you can expect for each day – and how attending can help you earn badges.
Learn more about the bootcamp and register
Windows 365 Business Webinars
Enable Hybrid Work with Windows 365 Business
Learn how Windows 365 Business combines the power and security of the cloud with the versatility and simplicity of the PC. Easily set up and scale Cloud PCs to fit your customers’ needs and securely support their hybrid workforce. In this session, we will identify common use cases and compare small and medium business (SMB) and enterprise plans to serve different customers’ business needs.
Note: The April 5, 2022 session will be a replay of the March 31, 2022 webinar with facilitated live chat Q&A where moderators will respond live to questions from attendees during the replay.
Set up and Manage Windows 365 Business Cloud PC
This session will provide step-by-step instructions about how to plan, buy subscriptions, size Cloud PCs, and add users and apps, along with multiple ways of managing Cloud PCs. We will also review Windows 365 Business Cloud PC common troubleshooting scenarios and how to fix them.
Note: The April 12, 2022 session will be a replay of April 7, 2022 webinar with facilitated live chat Q&A where moderators will respond live to questions from attendees during the replay.
Upcoming Microsoft Defender for Business Webinars
April 7 – Sales Training: Understanding the Business Opportunity for Partners with Microsoft Defender for Business
Learn about the business opportunity for IT partners in selling Microsoft Defender for Business. We will review the key sales plays and targeting guidance for driving upsell and helping recruit new customers. We’ll also briefly discuss the economic benefits for partners and share resources for accelerating sales and driving customer conversations.
May 5 – Technical Training: Unboxing Defender for Business – a Deeper Look at Capabilities, with Demo and Q&A
In this session, we’ll take a deeper look at the capabilities of Microsoft Defender for Business with demos. We’ll also share best practices from partners about how they’ve been using Defender for Business to protect their customers.
Viva Partner Pitch Perfect Series
April 12 – Weaving Learning Throughout the Employee Experience with Viva Learning
Today's rapid job reshuffle and growing skills gap has put employee learning and development top of mind for leaders everywhere. Individuals need a modernized way to learn – and Microsoft has listened. Join our panel of learning experts to hear how Microsoft Viva Learning builds on an organization's existing investments to bring learning throughout the employee experience and how partners play a critical role in driving a culture of learning and growth for our customers.
MICROSOFT 365 IT PRO SERIES
Explore this series of informative, IT professional-focused sessions to learn how you can help your customers identify required licensing, understand how to deploy and manage solutions, and ensure compliance requirements are met.
Celebrate! Teams anniversary, new Work Trend Index report, and new product innovations
This week marks the five-year anniversary of Microsoft Teams – and today we’re excited to release the 2022 Work Trend Index report and announce new product innovations in Teams, Surface, and more.
We surveyed 31,000 people across 31 countries to understand how expectations and attitudes about work have transformed over the past two years.
New trends in the report reveal urgent challenges and opportunities for leaders to meet “great” new employee expectations as they learn to make hybrid work, work.
From when to go to the office to why work in the first place, employees have a new “worth it” equation. And there’s no going back.
Technology will have a pivotal role to play in every organization’s back-to-work plans, and Microsoft has the tools to help customers around the world adapt to hybrid work.
Next step
Leverage the following resources to have conversations with your customers about the latest hybrid work trends.
Resources
Decks
Blogs
Announcing Operator Connect Mobile
We’re pleased to announce the next phase in Teams Phone innovation, Operator Connect Mobile, a seamless way to integrate users’ mobile identities with Microsoft Teams collaboration and productivity. Operator Connect Mobile is a first-of-its-kind, fixed-mobile convergence that’s intuitive, device-agnostic, and enterprise compliant. Check out our Microsoft Teams Blog post to learn more about this exciting new service.
Documentation updates
Localized Go to Market Content
The following Go to Market content has been localized into Chinese, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish:
- Accelerate Your Microsoft 365 Rollout email template
- Envision Checklist
- FastTrack Services to Customer deck
- Onboarding Checklist
- FastTrack Messaging Framework
- FastTrack Services to Customer infographic
Terms and Conditions
Ukrainian Trial License Incentive
Microsoft 365 Customer Deployment Offer
Download the Terms and Conditions for current program details.
FastTrack Playbook
Visit the Playbook Change Log for a complete list of updates.
Service Description
Access the FastTrack Service Description.
