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updates and company activities

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The PartnershipPost

September 2019

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New Azure Commerce ExperienceIn June 2019, Microsoft announced that it would be introducing a new commerce experience for Azure in its Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program that will streamline the customer experience and enable partners to expand opportunities with value-added managed services. Microsoft continues to evolve the commerce experience to enable partners to broaden their influence and help customers digitally transform. Partners are at the heart of customer innovation and transformation, and they play a critical role in all stages of the customer lifecycle with the new commerce experience, regardless of how a customer chooses to purchase.

Delivering great customer and partner experiences is one of the company’s top priorities. To ensure the best customer and partner experiences from the start, Microsoft has decided to move the launch of the program to November 1.

What is the new Azure Commerce Experience?

The new Azure Commerce Experience comprises a set of enhancements to Azure in CSP that provide a common pricing engine to expedite how customers buy Azure and and invest in new innovations. Based on customer and partner feedback, the new Azure Commerce Experience in CSP will rely on a single pricelist, in in US dollars, providing customers and partners with consistent pricing at a global scale. This feature will allow for a more transparent and simplified pricing reference, regardless of how the customer buys Azure from Microsoft.

To reward partners who own the billing relationship with the customer in CSP, Microsoft is introducing the partner earned credit for services managed. The partner earned credit is exclusive to partners who are billed by Microsoft and have 24x7 operational management and control of the customer’s CSP Azure estate. Eligible partners also continue to be able to earn incentives as defined by existing Microsoft Channel Incentives programs.

To streamline the transition for customers who are on the current version of Azure in CSP or other programs, Microsoft will provide tools that incorporate the appropriate governance, customer experience, and policies to transition from the existing Azure o�er in CSP to the new Azure Commerce Experience in CSP.

The current Azure CSP o�er and platform will continue to be available alongside the new Azure experience for several months, giving you time to incorporate the new Azure features into your services and transition your customers to new experience.

Next steps:

• Review the New Commerce experience post on Partner Center

• To check out the latest resources of the new commerce experience in CSP for Azure, visit Partner resources page.

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Important Licensing Changes ComingIn October, Microsoft is introducing the Microsoft Partner Agreement (MPA) and the

Microsoft Customer Agreement to the Cloud.

These new agreements will provide a simplified buying and selling experience and help

deliver a unified, digitally executed agreement framework to the CSP program. Please read

through the important information below about these agreements.

Microsoft Partner Agreement is Available to Review and Accept

The MPA is a new, simplified, digitally accepted partner agreement framework that replaces the existing Microsoft Cloud Reseller Agreement (MCRA) and Microsoft Cloud Distributor Agreement (MCDA) and enables authorized partners to transact business under the CSP program.

Beginning September 1, 2019, the MPA became available on Partner Center for partners participating in the CSP program to review and accept. All partners must accept the Microsoft Partner Agreement prior to January 31, 2020, to ensure no disruption of their ability to place new orders in the CSP program.

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Microsoft Partner Agreement overview

As part of the new Commerce Experience, Microsoft is introducing the MPA, which provides Microsoft partners with a simplified, digitally accepted partner agreement framework.

The MPA will:

• Provide a modular, perpetual agreement that partners execute and store digitally.

• Be simplified, making it faster and easier to accept and manage.

• O�er clear, concise terms that help partners, customers, and Microsoft comply with regulatory requirements. This capability supports our commitment to privacy, security, compliance, and transparency.

Starting on September 1, 2019, partners in the CSP program were the first to leverage the MPA, which replaces the following existing agreements:

• Microsoft Cloud Reseller Agreement (MCRA) for CSP direct bill partners

• Microsoft Cloud Distributor Agreement (MCDA) for CSP indirect providers

• Multi-tier terms

• Indirect reseller terms

• US Government Cloud terms

As part of the enhanced process, all CSP indirect resellers are required to accept the Microsoft Partner Agreement on Partner Center.

After January 31, 2020, all partners participating in the will be required to accept the MPA. From that date, partners who have not accepted the MPA will not be able to place new orders, and they will be limited to managing existing subscriptions only.

Next Steps

• For all partners in the CSP program:

- Inform key stakeholders in your organization and review the Microsoft Partner Agreement.

- Accept the Microsoft Partner Agreement on the Partner Center dashboard page.

- For more information, visit this resources gallery page and check out the resources.

• For indirect providers and indirect resellers:

- All CSP indirect resellers are required to onboard to Partner Center and accept the Microsoft Partner Agreement.

- Indirect providers need to help their CSP indirect resellers to onboard to Partner Center and accept the new agreement using the reseller onboarding resources.

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Microsoft Customer Agreement

Digital transformation is real, and it is everywhere, creating an impact on our customers and partner businesses. To help customers and partners accelerate digital transformation and the experience of buying and selling Microsoft cloud services, we are introducing the Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) in the CSP program. We will begin implementing the MCA for all product o�ers in the CSP program starting October 1, 2019. The terms of the HYPERLINK "https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/docs/customeragreement" MCA are now available to review.

The MCA is a simplified purchase agreement that provides consistent purchase terms for customers, regardless of the way they choose to buy. We will make the new MCA available in the CSP program, gradually replacing the existing Microsoft Cloud Agreement.

Partners should start using the new MCA to purchase existing o�ers and for renewal of existing purchases in the CSP program. The adoption of the new agreement will be mandatory after January 31, 2020, when the existing Microsoft Cloud Agreement is removed from the CSP program.

Partners can present the new MCA to customers in much the same way that they currently do for the existing Microsoft Cloud Agreement. After a customer has reviewed and accepted the agreement, partners must confirm the customer’s acceptance with Microsoft. The Partner Center Dashboard and Partner Center API will be updated to confirm the customer’s acceptance of the agreement. Partners can preview the changes on the Partner Center Dashboard. Partners can also preview the API changes starting in Sandbox. A preview of changes in .NET SDK will not be available until later in September.

Note: MCA and the new Azure plan in CSP: The MCA will be introduced in conjunction with the new Microsoft Azure plan o�er, which includes a series of platform and program enhancements that expand partner opportunities to build and deliver managed services, reduce customer acquisition obstacles, and drive customer digital transformation. Customer acceptance of the MCA will be required in CSP for purchasing the new Azure plan o�er starting October 2019.

In Q1 CY20 partners will have the additional option to invite customers to an authenticated Microsoft portal to view and sign the MCA. Microsoft will own the responsibility to confirm customer acceptance of the agreement. Partners will have the ability to validate customer acceptance of the new agreement using the Partner Center Dashboard and Partner Center API. Further details regarding this option will be made available soon.

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Next steps:

Please share this information with the appropriate contacts in your organization. Keep the key transition dates in mind and prepare your resellers for the change.

• Start operationalizing the customer acceptance of the new MCA and complete it before January 31st, 2020.

• Train your agents and resellers on the new agreement terms, and on how to present the new agreement and validate customer acceptance

• Partners who are using APIs to confirm customer acceptance of the agreement will need to update existing implementations to accommodate the new MCA. An updated API is available for preview now.

Additional resources:

For more detailed information, please see the following resources located on the CSP Program Updates Resource Gallery:

• View the Microsoft Customer Agreement

• What is changing and how to confirm customer acceptance

• Overview presentation

• Frequently asked questions document

• API information

Note: MCA and the new Azure plan in CSP: are being introduced in conjunction with the new Microsoft Azure plan o�er, which includes a series of platform and program enhancements that expand partner opportunities to build and deliver managed services, reduce customer acquisition obstacles, and drive customer digital transformation. Customer acceptance of the MCA will be required in CSP for purchasing the new Azure plan o�er which will be available starting October 2019.

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Implement Partner Security RequirementsImmediately To Safeguard Your Business

To help protect partners and customers Microsoft has introduced a set of mandatory security requirements for partners participating in the CSP program, Control Panel Vendors, and Advisor partners. The requirements were introduced in August.

These partners are required to take the following actions:

1. Enforce multi-factor authentication for all users in partner tenants

2. Adopt the Secure Application Model framework

Microsoft has emphasized that these requirements must to be completed by and all partners participating in the CSP program to comply with the security requirements in the Cloud Solution Provider Program Guide to safeguard their businesses.

Although Microsoft is not acting immediately enforce these requirements technically, it is working on technical enforcement, so that partners who do not meet the security requirements will not be able to transact in the CSP program or manage customer tenants leveraging delegated admin rights.

The resources below will help you implementing these security requirements immediately. More resources are available on the CSP Program Updates Resource Gallery.

• Partner security requirements implementation step-by-step guide

• Partner security requirements frequently asked questions

• Recordings with Microsoft technical experts

Applicable to: All partner organizations participating in the CSP program that transact using Microsoft commercial cloud services:

• Direct Bill Partners • Indirect Providers • Indirect Resellers

Category: Security and Compliance

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Applicable to: All partners in the CSP program

Category: Security and Compliance

Streamlining The Customer ExperienceFor Partner Invitation Acceptance

The customer experience for accepting a reseller relationship invitation from a Cloud Solution Provider partner using the “Request a reseller relationship” feature has changed. Since September 3, 2019.

Instead of directing customers to the Microsoft Store for Business to accept the relationship, it has been directing customers to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This change applies to the Partner Center “Request a reseller relationship” feature as well as the Partner Center API link returned when calling “Retrieve a relationship request URL”.

Transition schedule

• Early adopter period (July 19 – September 3): Partners can transition to the new experience and, if they wish, also start directing customers to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

• Transition period (September 3 – September 30): Microsoft will be transitioning partner accounts throughout the month to the updated Partner Center logic using the new URL. Partners transitioned will see that the Partner Center user interface as well as the Partner Center API will return the new URL.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

• Partners will not receive a notification when their account is transitioned to using the new URL.

• During this period, the old URL will continue to work and send customers to the Microsoft Store for Business portal. Partners who’ve transitioned but require more time to move to the new URL can still use the old URL; however, they’ll need to have it cached to do so.

• October 1 – October 31: The old URL will automatically redirect to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center • November 1: The old URL will no longer redirect and will become a dead link

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What is the new URL, and is the Partner Center API changing?

The Partner Center API that Microsoft provides to return the URL (“Retrieve a relationship request URL”) is not changing. However, the URL it returns is. The structure of the URL returned is the same with the changes being only to the base URL:

• Current URL: https://businessstore.microsoft.com/manage/partner-invitation?invType= ... [this sectionremains the same]

• New URL:https://admin.microsoft.com/Adminportal/Home#/BillingAccounts/partnerinvitation?invType= ... [thissection remains the same]

Next Steps and action required

• By September 30, all partners should have transitioned their systems and processes to the new Microsoft 365 Admin Center experience and be able to convey the new experience as necessary with new customers going through the partner invitation acceptance process.

Additional Resources

• Go here to find related API, customer experience overview, Partner Center Learn More articles, and more on the CSP Program Updates Resource Gallery.

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Introducing Azure Lighthouse

During the Inspire conference, we introduced all partners to Azure Lighthouse, a foundational management capability for cross customer management at scale and to di�erentiate their managed services and benefit from greater automation and e�iciency. Partners can manage across customers' Azure resources and subscriptions from within a single control pane while enabling greater visibility and governance for their customers. Azure Lighthouse works consistently across Azure services and licensing models to help streamline managed service operations and protect management IP. This marks the first time Microsoft has architected a solution at this scale, with and for partners.

Key features of Azure Lighthouse are:

• Cross-tenant management experiences on virtually any Azure service

• Managed Services o�ers in Azure Marketplace providing customers with a complete end to-end experience of managed services discovery, engagement, fulfillment, and delivery

• Azure delegated resource management feature which allows customers to delegate Azure management to their partners at granular and precise scopes

Azure Lighthouse does not impact your billing processes or relationships as a partner in the CSP program. It is an additional mechanism, along with Admin on Behalf of (AOBO) access, for you to gain access to the customer's Azure environment in a precise and granular way. You can associate your Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) ID with your onboarded subscriptions to track your impact across customer engagements and receive recognition on your management and operations activities with customers.

Next steps:

• As a CSP partner looking to scale your cloud operations with multiple customers, you can use Azure Lighthouse to enable robust managed services in a secure and e�icient way.

For more information, visit Azure.com/lighthouse

Applicable to: All partners in the CSP program

Category: Drive e�iciency and scale

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Azure Databricks Reservations

Microsoft is excited to introduce Azure Databricks Unit reservations for the CSP program. Partners can save on Azure DBU costs when they prepurchase Azure Databricks Commit Units (DBCU) for one or three years. The pre-purchased DBCUs can be used at any time during the purchase term. Unlike VMs, the pre-purchased units don't expire on an hourly basis and can be used at any time during the term of the purchase. Any Azure Databricks use is deducted from the pre-purchased DBUs automatically. There is no need to redeploy or assign a pre-purchased plan to an Azure Databricks workspaces for the DBU usage to get the pre-purchase discounts.

The pre-purchase discount applies only to the DBU usage. Other charges such as compute, storage, and networking are charged separately.

Next Steps

• Learn how to optimize Azure Databricks costs with a pre-purchase out here

• Learn how to position all Azure reservations and server subscriptions with your customers and get up and running operationally as quickly as possible here

Additional Resources

• Microsoft Azure Reserved Instances price list located in the Pricing & O�ers page.

Applicable to: All partners in the CSP program

Category: Drive E�iciency and Scale

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Skype For Business Retirement Notice

Skype for Business Online will retire as of July 31, 2021, when the service will no longer be accessible. Between now and then, current Skype for Business Online customers will experience no change in service, and they’ll be able to continue to add new users as needed. However, starting September 1, 2019, we will onboard all new O�ice 365 customers directly to Teams for chat, meetings, and calling.

We have worked closely with our customers to fine-tune Teams into what it is today, and we’re confident the transition from Skype for Business Online to Teams will deliver huge benefits to our customers. However, we know that the migration will take time and e�ort – and we are here to help.

Next Steps

• For more information on best practices, tools, and resources for transitioning from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams, click here.

Server Subscription Download And License KeysNow Available Through Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Since August 1, 2019, customers have been able to download their CSP server subscription license keys from the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This change introduces a huge e�iciency gain for both partners and customers, and gives those partners selling server subscriptions through the CSP program the ability to scale this operational component of the implementation process. Important: Customers must be in Preview Mode in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center to view and use this functionality.

Next Step• Update the license key delivery portion of your implementation process and realize the benefits of the

new e�icient and secure process. Additional Resources

• Review the Microsoft 365 Admin Center customer license key download experience.

Applicable to: All partners in the CSP program

Category: Drive E�iciency and Scale

Applicable to: All partners in the CSP program

Category: Modern Workplace

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Initiate Microsoft Teams Six-month Trials

Since August 1, 2019, CSP partners can initiate six-month trials for their customers. Please note that this o�er is primarily targeted at SMBs customers.

Microsoft Teams is the hub for teamwork, bringing together the best of O�ice 365 to empower customers to chat, meet, share files, and work together with business apps.

The new trial o�erings enable partners to provide the full power of modern collaboration and integrated cloud workloads to their customers. With trial o�ers, partners will have access to Partner Center reports to confidently engage with customers throughout the sales and deployment lifecycle.

Partner opportunity:

• Drive customer acquisition: Retention and upsell with powerful teamwork use cases.

• Increase upsell: With these offerings, you can accelerate moving existing on-prem and Exchange Online customers to higher-value licenses.

• Build and enhance your pipeline: Acquire net-new customers and displace competition using theenhanced trial experience.

To find out more about Microsoft Teams features and how partners can capitalize on this opportunity, please use the resources below.

Additional Resources

• Microsoft Teams – Product page

• Microsoft Teams – Technical documentation

• Team Trial - Overview

• Microsoft Partner Guidance for Partner-initiated Microsoft Teams Trial

Applicable to: All partners in the CSP program

Category: Modern Workplace

Microsoft 365 Education Will BeNow Available to New Markets

Redmond began making Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 available in new geographies on September 1, 2019. Partners in the new geographies are able to transact Faculty, Student, and $0 StudentUse Benefit o�ers. These o�ers have been published on the preview price lists since August 1, 2019.For a comprehensive list of all the new geographies and the offer lists affected, visit the Partner Center announcements.

Additional Resources Visit the https://partner.microsoft.com/explore/education for a broader overview, and aka.ms/thepartnerkit for key sales, marketing, and overall readiness resources.

CSP Resources

Microsoft Confidential | © 2019 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

• Partner Center Announcements Page

• CSP Program Updates Resource Gallery

• Partner Launch Calendar View

• Learn more about the Cloud Solutions Provider Program

• Learn about CSP offers

• Review the partner agreement

• Get support

Applicable to: All CSP partners transacting Education o�ers

Category: Modern Workplace

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