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The Microsoft Cloud Partner Program Part 6

Thursday, September 22, 2022
Reading time: 4 minutes
Updated: Monday, September 26, 2022

„I found a great ending for my book: And so he lived happily ever after.“
J. R. R. Tolkien

This will be the end of this blog series. I hope you are all still happy, or maybe happier than before, because you were able to take something away? I already thank everyone for following me, reading and learning. I enjoyed processing this topic and summarizing it for you.

Nevertheless, we are not quite finished yet. I would like to use today’s blog to mention a few more important topics, clarify a few outstanding issues and briefly touch on the last area, which has not yet been commented on, namely specializations and expert programs.

Specializations and expert programs are the second level of qualification after Solutions Partner status. These specializations are already possible today with the gold competencies and will not change with the Solutions Partner status. Details are available here. Partners with an active Advanced Specialization and an Anniversary Date between July 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 may extend their Anniversary Date by 6 months so that the Specialization remains active and can be used for longer.
It remains to be seen how things will develop and how conditions will change in the future.

For example, in the area of Business Applications, there are currently two specializations that allow you to highlight your technical expertise – “Microsoft Low Code Application Development” and “Small and Midsize Business Management”.

Listing the respective requirements of the specializations for the individual Solutions Partner areas would require a new series of blogs, as there are also extensive requirements here. We may address the issue starting in October, if new requirements arise. Stay tuned. Today I would like to focus on the “Microsoft Low Code Application Development” specialization and explain the current conditions as an example. Please note that these may still change between now and October, but the explanation will certainly give you a good idea of what is required.

  • Starting in October, the first requirement will probably be to have reached the Solutions Partner level for Business Applications.
  • In the next step, there are three areas in which requirements must be met: Performance, Knowledge and AppSource Offerings.
  • Im Bereich AppSource Offerings geht es darum, dass Ihr Unternehmen mindestens ein Power Apps Consulting Angebot in Appsource platziert hat.
  • In the Knowledge area, it is necessary that five employees obtain the Microsoft Certified : Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate and that two employees have obtained the Microsoft Certified : Power Platform Developer Associate certification and one person has achieved the Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Solution Architect Expert or MB-600 Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect certification.
  • The Performance area is divided into two requirements.
    • The first requirement states that 5 individual clients must be proven to have a new deployment in a production customer tenant. What is crucial is that it must be a production Power App with at least 5 active users and at least 50 sessions per month. The application must also actively use SKUs / licenses such as Power Apps per user. The application must be assigned to them as owner or co-owner.
    • The second requirement in the Performance section states that you must achieve at least 35% growth in your customer base in terms of active users,based on 50 monthly active users. Details on the requirements are available here.

The new Solutions Partner status also has an impact on availability in the Commercial Marketplace. Starting October 3, 2022, new Solutions Partner will be a prerequisite for publishing new services in the Commercial Marketplace. However, partners who renewed their old competency before September 30 can continue to create offers in the Marketplace until the next renewal.

Similarly, Solutions Partner status affect your co-selling status with Microsoft. Co-purchasing is a collaboration between Microsoft and them as partner companies. In the co-selling process, it is about demand generation, lead exchange, etc. Details are available here. Partners who are not yet co-sell-ready will need a Solutions Partner status starting October 3 to participate in the Co-Sell program. Partners who are already co-sell-ready retain their status for the time being. They must not achieve a new Solutions Partner status until October 3, 2023 to remain co-sell-ready. There are exceptions for ISV partners: For them, nothing changes. The current requirements remain valid after October 3, 2022.

A topic that concerns many of our partners at Companial is what happens if, after achieving Solutions Partner status, you fall below the 70 points you just earned. The 70 points are in fact evaluated on a sliding scale based on data from the last 12 months. I can reassure you here – once acquired, a status is valid for one year. It is only at the time of renewal that the points become relevant again and it is then checked again whether the 70 points are reached at that time.

So it is with this positive statement that I would like to begin the conclusion of this blog series. I hope you enjoyed reading it and got some information from it. At this point, all I have to say is advise you to remain relaxed and take one step at a time. We still have some time and who knows; maybe Microsoft will make some adjustments to the program!

For our Companial Partners, I refer you to the additional information we have shared in our Yammer group. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Companial Account Manager.

Update

Please note: As of September 22, 2022, Microsoft has announced the introduction of an SMB path for the “Business Applications” solution area in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program. This will result in changes to the thresholds for achieving “Solution Partner” status. The original announcement from Microsoft can be found here.

For all those who are not yet Companial Partners. Do not worry, we will not let you down and will gladly welcome you as a new member at any time: Contact us – Companial

Companial walks you through the details, tactics and preparation required to earn the title of Microsoft Solution Partner with our Fast Track to Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.

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Martina Rankenburg
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