Monday 3rd February 2025
I’ve been working with partners on Microsoft partnerships since 2016, back in the days of the Microsoft Partner Network with its Silver and Gold accreditations. Supporting partners in understanding the then simpler mechanisms of becoming a 'Silver Partner'—such as adding four new customers or delivering $10,000 in Azure consumption—was a straightforward process. However, in October 2022, the introduction of the Solution Partner Designation and the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program replaced the Microsoft Partner Network and changed the game.
A change was necessary. The old program was no longer fit for purpose given the rise of Azure and PowerApps, which didn't exist at its inception, and didn't align with Microsoft's or partners' strategic goals. The new designations were much more desirable and, therefore, more challenging to achieve. This new system required a level of understanding that most partners didn't have the time or resources to focus on, potentially missing out on much-deserved benefits.
At Bytes, we've worked with a wide audience of partners, helping them understand and attain these new designations since their announcement. We continue to see partners strive for them today, especially now that Microsoft has removed the ability to renew legacy competencies, making this even more pressing for our partner community. Most of the time, the Modern Work designation is the fastest way to achieve this status, as it comes naturally to Indirect Partners who sell modern work and security licensing. Until now, the Modern Work designation was the only one to offer the SMB path.
Microsoft set up the SMB path for Modern Work from the start, recognising that partners cater to different levels of customers. A one-size-fits-all approach wouldn't work; it would either be extremely easy for those catering to enterprise customers if the targets were set for SMB partners, or extremely difficult for SMB partners if set at an enterprise target. Until now, this offer was not available for Azure designations. But now, that has changed.
Azure comes in three flavours for Solution Partner Designation: Infrastructure, Data & AI, and Digital & App Innovation. The ‘Infrastructure’ designation focuses on key workloads of cloud computing. There’s ‘Data and AI’, showcasing a partner's ability to help customers manage their data across multiple systems and build analytics and AI into their operations. Finally the ‘Digital & App Innovation’ designation demonstrates a partner's broad capability to help customers build, run, and manage applications across multiple clouds and on-premises environments.
These are astounding accreditations to obtain, not just for boasting your organisation's expertise in these areas, but also for the benefits they offer. Partners can receive bulk credits of $6000 in Azure ACR, Visual Studio Enterprise Subscriptions, Power Apps Licenses, Power Automate Licenses, Teams Enterprise, Microsoft 365, and Defender for Endpoint. Additionally, these three designations provide partners with additional kickbacks on Azure through the Modern Commerce Incentive Rebates. While all designations offer benefits for Modern Work and Security Licensing, only these three unlock an additional 4% minimum on Azure Consumed Revenue (at the time of writing). This is in addition to the marketing and listing benefits provided.
It's easy to see why partners are striving for these designations, especially if they are already eligible for their kickbacks through the old Silver and Gold Competencies. However, it hasn't always been simple for partners catering to SMBs. The three designations share similar mechanisms for qualifying, with the main differentiators being the exams required within the organisation. These mechanisms include Net Customer Adds, where partners need to onboard a customer into Azure with a minimum monthly spend of $1,000, Deployments, where partners deploy new workloads, and Usage, where partners grow 20% in Azure Revenue year on year.
With the introduction of the SMB path, the net customer ACR requirements have dropped to $500, making it more realistic for partners still migrating their customers' on-prem workloads such as SQL servers or file servers to the Microsoft cloud. Additionally, the minimum requirement for the Infrastructure and Digital & App Innovation designations has been reduced to four unique individuals, which, although small, will make a difference. That's without mentioning that the pre-requisite exams will now earn points. For Deployments, Virtual Machines have now been included as an eligible deployment, which is a great boost as this constitutes the majority of SMB spend in Azure. What's more, regardless of whether the enterprise or SMB path is taken, partners can expect to enjoy the exact same benefits.
With this welcome boost to Azure partners and their potential profitability and enablement, we at Bytes are excited to continue and accelerate our work with partners in achieving these designations. We've delivered some outstanding work, as evidenced by our case studies (See case studies). Our investments in internal enablement, telemarketing, and events planning have helped our partners reach new customers and expand their businesses.
We continue to see great tenacity from our partners in their efforts to pass individual accreditations and exams, thanks to the plans we've built alongside them for their enablement. We've helped partners understand their data to identify opportunities and whitespace in their existing base, enabling them to determine the next logical workloads and increase Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) while providing valuable services.
This is a welcome change to the partner ecosystem, and if we can help you on this journey, reach out and let us get involved at [email protected].
Microsoft's Announcement: CLICK HERE
Microsoft Resource: CLICK HERE
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