IMPORTANT announcement!
Microsoft Partner Network Program is evolving
Key facts:
Starting October 2022, MPN competencies are evolving under a new name: Solution Partnership.
Partner growth is now aligned to the six areas of Microsoft Cloud Solutions and Microsoft Cloud Partner Program designations. The Microsoft Cloud solution areas are the following:
- Data & AI (Azure)
- Infrastructure (Azure)
- Digital + App innovation (Azure)
- Business application
- Modern Work
- Security
Additionally:
Silver and Gold competencies are becoming Microsoft Solutions Partner designations to map the technology to the customers’ needs.
The current “Advanced Specialisations” program is becoming the “Specialization & Expert” program in which our channel partners can further differentiate their organisations and demonstrate their deep technical expertise and experience in specific technical scenarios.
To attain the new Solutions Partner designation, partners need to prove their organisation’s capabilities:
- 1) Performance
- 2) Skilling
- 3) Customer Success
Partner capabilities are measured by scores. Partners will need to earn a minimum of 70 points out of a possible 100 to be eligible. Partners need to earn at least 1 point in all three categories. The scoring system is demonstrated by the table below:
#
70+ points With >0 points for each metric meets requirements for Solutions partner
Performance Skilling Customer Success
Net customer adds 15pts
Net customer adds 20pts
Net customer adds 20pts
Net customer adds 30pts
Intermediate Certs 20pts
Intermediate Certs 10pts
Intermediate Certs 40pts
Intermediate Certs 20pts
Advanced Certs 15pts
Advanced Certs 15pts
Advanced Certs 20pts
Usage Growth 30pts
Usage Growth 30pts
Usage Growth 20pts
Usage Growth 20pts
Deployments 20pts
Deployments 25pts
Deployments 20pts
Deployments 10pts
Partners will have access to a dashboard in the Partner Center where they can track their progress in attaining the new Solutions Partner designations and gain insights into what they can do to improve their performance.
From October 2022, when partners attain a Solutions Partner designation, they will be eligible to receive the new benefits package associated with that designation or choose to keep the benefits associated with their legacy competencies.
Partners with the previous Silver-Gold competencies will be eligible to receive the incentives until 2023.
Solution Partner benefits will include on-Premise Cloud licences and Azure credits, similar to Silver-Gold partnerships.
The Microsoft home page FAQ contains important information about changes and new features.
A video demonstrating the topic can be viewed here. The video demonstrating the partner capabilities scoring system can be found here.
A detailed description of the Solution Partner Program can be viewed here.
The news on the topic mentioned above has been shared with the current information received by the manufacturer. We will keep our channel partners informed as soon as we receive further information.