March 2026 announcements

This page provides the announcements for Microsoft Partner Center for March 2026.

The ​automated Support Services designation experience is now available in Partner Center

Partners can self-nominate, enroll in, and access relevant information related to the Support Services designation in Partner Center.

• Date: March 31,2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: The Support Services designation is open to Distributors & Direct Bill CSPs who hold any Solution Partner designation and have a support offer

At Microsoft Ignite 2025, we announced the availability of the Support Services designation for qualified distributor and direct bill Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners. Following that announcement, we're pleased to share that as of March 31, 2026, the automated solution for Support Services designation enrollment will be available for partners to access in Partner Center. With this more streamlined, efficient process for partners, you can now access a single dashboard to self-nominate, track progress, and access relevant information related to the designation attainment.

The manual process gives partners access to the Support Services designation walking deck and limited visibility into the audit process.

Partners submit capability information and receive their pass/fail report via email. The automated process, on the other hand, gives full visibility into the end-to-end process from onboarding and audit through renewal, reducing processing time.

What you'll find in Partner Center

Visit Partner Center to access a guided experience that includes a single dashboard that houses all the functions and resources you need to self-nominate and attain this designation. You'll find:

• Information on what the designation entails and who qualifies.
• Your organization's progress toward attaining the designation.
• The onboarding process.
• The audit process.
• The downloadable badge, once attained.

What does this mean for partners who already hold the Support Services designation?

Partners who already hold the Support Services designation will have their data migrated into the new automated process in Partner Center starting on March 31, 2026.

When you reach your renewal window, 90 days before your designation anniversary date, you'll now access the renewal process through Partner Center.

No further action is needed, though we highly encourage you to familiarize yourself with the dashboard once your data is migrated in.

What does this mean for partners who have already started the enrollment process?

Partners who began the manual attainment process but haven't yet completed enrollment continue to use the manual process outside of Partner Center. Once this process is completed and your designation is attained, your data is migrated into the Partner Center dashboard.

When you reach your renewal window, 90 days before your designation anniversary date, you'll now access the renewal process through Partner Center.

What does this mean for partners who are interested in attaining the designation but haven't started the process yet?

The Support Services designation is designed to differentiate organizations who demonstrate support excellence. If you're a distributor or direct bill CSP partner who already holds at least one Solutions Partner designation, has an active support offer through either Advanced Support for Partners (ASfP) or Premier Support for Partners (PSfP), and meets stringent criteria for excellence in support, we strongly encourage you to work towards attainment today, which unlocks Microsoft support benefits, elevated support, performance incentives, and more.

If you haven't yet started the attainment process for the Support Services designation but are interested in doing so, you can self-nominate in the newly released Partner Center experience. Once you're enrolled in the process, your data appears in the dashboard, where you are able to track your progress, the audit process, and more as you move through the guided attainment steps.

Next steps

Review the Microsoft Learn page to get more details on the benefits of attaining a Support Services designation, how to qualify, the attainment and enrollment process, and more.

We also recommend you visit Partner Center to view the dashboard.

Retirement of the Qualified Referral Program (QRP)

Microsoft retires the Qualified Referral Program (QRP) at the end of March 2026 and consolidates lead/referral sharing into our standard motions to simplify partner experience, improve lead quality, and provide a single system of record for co-sell and Marketplace conversions.

• Date: March 27, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: Partners with opportunities in Partner Center

We’re simplifying how partners accept, track, and close referrals with Microsoft. QRP is retired at the end of March 2026 and replaced by a unified co-sell experience centered on Partner Center referrals. This change reduces duplicate workflows, improves pipeline transparency for both partners and Microsoft sellers, and accelerates response times. Additionally, as part of the modernization effort, we're enhancing our partner-matching process with real-time data and AI logic to help ensure the right leads reach the right partners matching capabilities and competencies to maximize value.

What you can expect

• One referral front door: Accept, submit, and manage all referrals in Partner Center with end-to-end visibility into co-sell engagement and status.
• Faster routing: Standardized qualification and routing to the right Microsoft teams and connected systems.
• Cleaner reporting: Single source of truth for attribution and performance measurement, reducing double counting.
• Continuity for in-flight items: All QRP referrals shared before the cutoff continue to be valid until either 'Accepted' or when they expire due to non-acceptance.
• Shared referrals land as SMB opportunities in Partner Center: Shared referrals will no longer land as 'qualified leads' in Partner Center. The shared referrals are in the Partner Center Referrals Leads tab as SMB opportunities.

What is changing

Any partner who used QRP should now use the Leads section of the Partner Center referrals workspace for the same motion:

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

• Why is Microsoft retiring QRP? To simplify the partner experience, reduce duplication, and standardize Partner Center/co-sell so referrals flow through one system with shared definitions, faster routing, and clearer attribution.
• What replaces QRP? Partner Center referrals (with co-sell) will be the standard intake and tracking experience for all new opportunities after the cutoff.
• What happens to my open QRP referrals at the cutoff? They'll continue to be worked to closure under the previously mentioned transition rules. You do not need to resubmit accepted/active items.
• Can I bulk migrate my backlog into Partner Center? Items not yet accepted at cutoff may be converted or returned with guidance to resubmit. We’ll share bulk options (if offered) in the detailed transition guide.
• How will incentives or credit be handled? Credit ties to standard Partner Center/co-sell attribution once QRP is retired. Refer to the current incentive guide for eligibility and payout timing.
• Will I lose access to historical QRP data? No. After retirement, QRP will enter a read-only state for a limited period (target 90 days) to allow exports. We’ll provide instructions and supported formats.
• How do I track status or engage Microsoft sellers after the change? Use Partner Center referrals for end-to-end status, notes, and collaboration. This is the system of record for co-sell motion tracking.
• What if my CRM integrates to QRP today? You need to update integrations to Partner Center Referrals APIs (guidance to follow). We’ll publish mapping of key fields and statuses.
• Does the change affect co-sell eligibility? No change to eligibility. The submission and tracking surface moves to Partner Center; co-sell criteria remain governed by the program guide.

Next steps

• Use Partner Center → Referrals for all new opportunities.
• Review your in-flight QRP items and ensure:
  • Primary contact and next steps are up to date
  • Opportunity stage and close plan are documented
  • Any attached collateral is copied to your Partner Center referral where relevant
• Export your historical QRP data during the read-only window for your internal records.
• Update playbooks and training guides; replace QRP references with Partner Center referral steps.
• Check incentives guidance for how credit will be recognized post transition.

Accelerated file download for Unbilled usage and reconciliation files from Partner Center

Effective May 15th 2026, all unbilled usage and reconciliation files will be delivered in .CSV.GZIP format to enable faster and more efficient downloads.

• Workspace: Billing
• Impacted audience: All partners downloading Unbilled usage and reconciliation files through Partner Center

Why this change

• Performance improvement: For high volume partners (5M+ records), download times have dropped from over 6 hours to 6 minutes – a 98.33% improvement. For all partners, download times have improved from over 3 hours to 2 minutes – a 98.89% improvement.
• Aligned experience: Download attributes in the UX now match those available via the API, ensuring consistency across both interfaces.
• File splitting for large Invoices: Invoices containing over 1.5 million records will be divided into multiple .CSV.GZIP files.
• Enhanced visibility: A new Number of files column has been added to the table on the Reports (NCE) page to indicate the total count of files associated with each invoice.
• Data integrity: Invoice data isn't ordered; therefore, the sequence in which files are downloaded doesn't affect the accuracy or completeness of the data.

What's changing

The following attributes will be updated to support higher precision:

Unbilled reconciliation updates:

Unbilled usage updates:

User experience

What’s not changing

• No changes to Unbilled usage and recon APIs.
• Billing logic and charge calculations remain unchanged.
• Invoice totals and financial outcomes aren't impacted.
• Pricing rules, discount eligibility, credits, billing cadence, and invoice generation are unchanged.
• Access methods, and download workflows remain the same.

Partner action required

Partners should:

• Update downstream systems to support higher‑precision decimal values.
• Update references from ResellerMpnId to Tier2MpnId in Unbilled Recon files.
• Consume the new ProductCategory attribute if applicable.
• Validate parsing logic to prevent truncation or rounding.

File consolidation and troubleshooting

• File consolidation: For guidance on merging multiple .CSV files, refer to Recommended method for consolidating multiple CSV reconciliation files.
• Troubleshoot excel issues: If you see data encoding issues when you open the file in excel, go to Fixing CSV encoding issues in excel.
• Troubleshooting downloads: If you encounter issues while downloading files, see Address download issues.

Next steps

Get answers to your questions at:

• Where do I download the file asynchronously?
• Invoice reconciliation file attributes
• Daily rated usage file attributes

Power Apps per App SKU returning to CSP price list in early April

Power Apps per app SKU will be restored to the CSP price list in early April following a temporary operational issue.

• Date: March 26, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: CSP partners

As previously communicated, the Power Apps per app SKU was removed from the public price list effective January 2, 2026. This change wasn't intended to apply to the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) channel; however, a temporary operational issue resulted in the SKU not appearing on CSP price lists in March 2026.

Microsoft is working to remedy this issue for CSP partners, and the Power Apps per app SKU will be available in the CSP channel price list beginning in the first week of April. CSP partners and customers can continue to:

• Purchase, use, and renew Power Apps per app subscriptions.
• Add licenses for new customers and manage renewals, true up, and true down through standard CSP processes.

Next steps

For more information, see the Partner FAQ.

Business Applications UI update

Partners can now easily find baseline monthly consumed value (MCV) status for Solutions Partner designation (SPD) for Business Applications in Partner Center.

• Date: March 25, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: All partners with a current Business Applications SPD or partners working towards attaining a Business Applications SPD.

In the SPD for Business Applications, the usage growth metric plays a key role in a partner’s eligibility. However, partners previously didn't have clear visibility into whether they had met the required baseline MCV, which serves as the gateway to earning usage growth points in the Business Applications designation. Partner Center now shows whether your organization meets the baseline MCV requirement for the Business Applications designation. This update is designed to improve visibility, and makes it easier to monitor progress toward attaining or renewing the designation.

Baseline MCV ensures that your customer usage growth counts

MCV represents the value of Microsoft cloud services being actively used by customers that are associated with a partner. In the context of the Business Applications designation, MCV is part of the usage growth metric that measures whether a partner is driving meaningful, ongoing customer adoption of Business Applications solutions.

To be eligible to earn points for usage growth, partners must first meet the baseline MCV requirement. This baseline acts as a minimum threshold to ensure the partner has sufficient active customer usage tied to their organization. Missing the baseline MCV can prevent a partner from attaining or maintaining their designation.

We're excited for you to check out this new feature. You'll find that the usage growth panel now includes the baseline MCV value and a clear indicator showing whether the requirement is met, based on your track. This is a UI update only—there are no changes to calculations or requirements.

Next steps

View the updated UI in Partner Center.

Update to specialization criteria

Performance metrics now use standard rounding—partners within 0.5% of the requirement may now qualify to enroll in or renew a specialization.

• Date: March 23, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: Partners with an existing specialization. Partners who may now qualify to enroll in or renew a specialization based on updated rounding rules.

Microsoft is updating how specialization performance criteria are calculated to make qualification clearer and more consistent.

When a specialization performance metric includes a percentage calculation, results will now be rounded to the nearest whole number using standard rounding rules instead of being calculated to two decimal places. This means partners who were previously within 0.5% of meeting a requirement may now meet the threshold.

If you currently hold a specialization, or are close to qualifying, review your status in Partner Center. You may now be eligible to renew or enroll in a specialization (subject to your updated Partner Center qualification status) that reflects your organization’s capabilities and makes you stand out to customers.

Next steps

Check your eligibility and renew or enroll in the specializations now that meet the criteria.

Build & Publish FY26: What’s new and how partners can get started

Build & Publish FY26: what’s new and how partners can get started.

• Date: March 23, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: ISVs

Microsoft’s Build & Publish offer continues in FY26 with updated criteria and increased flexibility to help partners build, validate, and publish AI-enabled solutions on Azure. This investment offer supports Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) as they infuse AI into solutions, advance analytics capabilities, and accelerate readiness for Marketplace publication.

What’s new in FY26

• Updated and more flexible eligibility criteria
• Continued focus on AI-enabled, analytics-driven, and cloud native solution scenarios
• Alignment with Microsoft’s broader build solution investments to support partners at different stages of solution maturity

Next steps

Get an overview of supported scenarios, program updates, and available resources by viewing the following:

• Partner-facing deck hosted on the MCI resources page
• Terms and conditions document
• Build & Publish PoE template
• Support alias

New process to redeem cloud benefits

Your partner benefits package has powerful cloud benefits. Activate them today with a streamlined process.

• Date: March 20, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: All partners with a current partner benefits package or who are planning to purchase a new benefits package.

Microsoft is streamlining how partners access and redeem the license-based cloud benefits that come with their partner benefits packages. Cloud benefits will now be redeemed through a guided experience that starts in Partner Center and is completed via a zero USD purchase flow, ensuring benefits are securely deposited and easy to manage.

Additionally, we aligned the expiration date for each benefit to the date your partner benefits package was activated—not the date a benefit was first redeemed. With benefit expiration dates now aligned to your package membership end date, the 30-day grace period for benefits expiration is discontinued.

Partners should notice the following changes to their experience in Partner Center:​

• Cloud benefits redemption involves a zero (0.00) USD purchase step in the Microsoft commerce/partner center admin experience.
• Benefits are tied to the Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) billing account used for Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program purchases. The benefits can only be redeemed on tenants under that billing account (not third-party tenants).
• Benefits information will be more clearly displayed in Partner Center, with redemption status, quantity, and expiration alignment being added over time.
• ​Individual benefits show an expiration date that matches the package membership end date.

It's important to note that this update doesn't change your benefits. Instead, it modernizes the redemption experience by replacing key‑based activation with a secure, streamlined redemption model tied to your billing account.

The new redemption experience for benefits associated with the Partner Success Expanded package went into effect in the Australian region on March 12, 2026, and applies to partners who purchased or renewed this package starting that day. The updated redemption process for the two remaining packages, Partner Launch Benefits and Partner Success Core Benefits, will go live in the coming weeks.

Other regions are expected to complete this same modernization transition by the end of July 2026. Microsoft will notify Partner Center admins as their regions complete the updates.

Next steps

• Learn more by reading the Learn documentation.

​New Microsoft Azure assets for SMB audiences

Engage customers in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market with this purpose-built go-to-market content covering all things Microsoft Azure.

• Date: March 16, 2026 - updated March 18, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: Distributors, Indirect Reseller Partners, Direct Bill Partners, SSP/LSPs

Microsoft estimates, based on IDC data, that the total addressable market for the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment will reach 777 billion USD by FY26 and is on track to exceed 1 trillion USD by 2030—signaling a massive shift in how organizations are adopting Cloud and AI solutions. 

Partners are the catalyst for turning adoption and cloud investments into tangible impact for SMBs, and with a robust collection of go-to-market assets that help you capture the SMB market opportunity for Microsoft Azure, you can quickly build pipeline, grow your SMB customer base, and expand existing workloads; all while leading secure cloud transformations at scale.

Framed in step-by-step guidance, these assets equip your sales force to drive demand and lead stronger customer conversations with messaging, assets, and solution plays tailored to SMBs.

These resources are built to deepen your engagement with customers—whether you're scaling outreach across a reseller ecosystem, equipping your sellers with actionable insights, delivering ongoing managed services, or developing repeatable, high-volume Cloud solutions.

Activate these assets for your next campaign to drive more engaging conversations with SMB customers, so you can better tailor your services or solutions to meet their needs, build recurring revenue, and scale your cloud practice.

Next steps

Explore the Azure SMB content collection to download assets and win customers.

Explore ASPX: Actionable Growth Insights in Partner Center

Explore ASPX: actionable growth insights in partner center.

• Date: March 13, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: All partners that have access to partner center (SSP, distributors, Telcos, GSI, regional SIs). Excludes ISVs.

ASPX (AI Business Solutions & Security Partner eXperience) is a new partner center experience that brings Microsoft-aligned insights directly into partners’ workflows. It provides a unified view of customer usage, licensing, renewals, security readiness, and incentive eligibility—aligned with the same models used by Microsoft’s global sales force.

As customers move from AI experimentation to execution, ASPX helps partners act earlier and engage more proactively across Copilot adoption, secure productivity, renewals, and expansion, including Business Premium with Defender & Purview attach motions, E3, and E5.

ASPX also enables partners to grow their security business by surfacing next-best licensing steps based on a customer’s current usage health, identifying renewal and upsell moments using usage signals, and mapping pre- and post-sales funded program eligibility to each customer, to accelerate intent, win rates, and deal velocity.

Insights are available in partner center and can also be accessed through exports and APIs, making it easy to integrate ASPX data into CRM, BI, and reporting tools.

Upcoming ASPX readiness events:

• Join the Advanced Security Growth Engine community call on March 25, 2026: Discover the latest momentum in Microsoft Security and learn how partners can accelerate growth using ASPX. Get practical insights to sharpen your Go-To-Market strategy and strengthen your security business.

  Register now: 8:00 AM–9:00 AM Pacific Time (Americas/EMEA) 7:00 PM–8:00 PM Pacific Time (Asia)

• Join us for the Making ASPX real: Partner showcase community call on April 28, 2026: Through real world examples, hear how partners are accelerating insights, improving execution, and realizing tangible business benefits using ASPX. This session is designed to inspire practical adoption and highlight proven best practices from the field.

  Register now: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PT (Americas/EMEA) 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM PT (Asia)

Next steps

• Explore ASPX in Partner Center and identify priority customers and opportunities.
• Operationalize insights using in-product views, exports, or APIs.
• Consider API Integration: Bring ASPX data directly to your sellers via API to reduce manual work.
• Review the AI Business Solutions and Security Partner Experience partner page, which equips partners with ASPX guidance, including a walking deck and playbook, to drive ABS solution plays across Copilot, Agents at Work, and Secure AI Productivity.
• For Security solution plays, review the ASPX walking deck and video.
• Join the upcoming ASPX readiness events

Promotions are now available to download in the Pricing workspace

• Date: March 11, 2026
• Workspace: Pricing
• Impacted audience: Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) direct bill partners and distributors.

Promotions are now available directly through the Pricing workspace to download in Partner Center.

What's new

Partners can now download active promotions alongside pricing information from the Pricing workspace, making it easier to discover and evaluate available offers during the pricing and planning process.

Partners can download list of active commercial promotions for a given market (country/region) and segment. For example, if a partner wants to get promotions for products sold to a German (DE) Commercial customer, then select the German (DE) market and Commercial segment to download the promotion list.

Where to find promotions

• Go to Partner Center.
• Navigate to the Pricing workspace.
• Select Benefits (Beta) from the left navigation to access available promotions.

Why this matters

• Centralized access to pricing and promotions in one place.
• Improved visibility into eligible offers during deal planning.
• Reduced dependency on separate promotion reference sources.

Partner impact

• No changes to existing purchasing or transaction flows
• Promotions visibility is enhanced; eligibility and application rules remain unchanged

Next steps

• Clear the cache (Ctrl+F5) to ensure Benefits (Beta) is showing up on the left navigation.
• Partners are encouraged to review available promotions in the Pricing workspace and incorporate them into their pricing and sales planning activities.
• For more information on this feature including the details of each field, go to Download promotions.

Extended promotion on Microsoft Sentinel 50-GB commitment tier in public preview

Extended Microsoft Sentinel 50-GB commitment tier and promotion.

• Date: March 12, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: Security Partners: EA, CSP, and Direct Resellers

On October 1, 2025, Microsoft launched a new 50-GB commitment tier for Microsoft Sentinel, available in public preview with promotional pricing from October 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026. We're pleased to share that this promotional offer has now been extended to June 30, 2026. Customers who purchase during this window will lock in pricing until March 31, 2027.

This offer provides a cost-effective and more predictable pricing model for the small and medium enterprise customers—ideal for indirect resellers who serve this segment. Get up to 32%* off pay-as-you-go price with Microsoft Sentinel 50-GB commitment tier promotion.

The 50-GB promotional tier is available in all regions where Microsoft Sentinel is sold. The promotion can be used with existing or new purchases of Microsoft Sentinel. The promotion can't be combined with other Microsoft Sentinel discounts.

*Maximum discount available is region dependent.

Next steps

Review these resources:

• Promotion slide deck to support their sales conversations.
• FAQ for eligibility and usage guidance.
• Updated pricing page for region-specific details.

Final reminder: MFA enforcement for Partner Center APIs begins April 1

Enable multifactor authentication before April 1, 2026, to avoid blocked API calls and service disruptions.

• Date: March 12, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: All partners

To strengthen security across our platform, we’re enforcing multifactor authentication (MFA) across all Partner Center app+user APIs. Any app+user API calls made without MFA after full enforcement on April 1, 2026, will be blocked. We're currently enforcing requests from sandbox tenants.

Requests without a valid MFA claim will receive a 401 response code and 900421 error code.

All APIs are already MFA-enabled and available for testing. If you haven’t already, update your systems as soon as possible to:

• Avoid service disruptions when enforcement takes effect.
• Strengthen your security posture and protect against 99% of identity-based attacks.
• Align your systems with Partner Center security standards.

This enforcement follows the MFA requirements implemented in September 2025 for the Partner Center portal and extends those protections to API access.

Next steps

• Review MFA requirements and supported options.
• Update your systems before April 1, 2026.
• Confirm that all app+user API calls are sending a valid MFA token.

Upcoming change to ReferenceId attribute in Reconciliation files

• Date: March 11, 2026
• Workspace: Billing
• Impacted audience: Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) direct bill partners and distributors.

Effective April 15, 2026, the ReferenceId attribute in Billed Reconciliation and Unbilled Reconciliation files will be updated to use a structured JSON format.

What's changing

• The ReferenceId value will be updated to the following structured JSON format:

{
  "osId": "ab12Cdef-GiJ3-ab12-Cdef-ab12CdefGiJ3",
  "id": "ab12CdefGiJ3",
  "v": 2
}

This change applies to:

• Billed Reconciliation files
• Unbilled Reconciliation files

Why this change is happening

This update standardizes the ReferenceId to include both an identifier and version information, improving consistency and reliability when correlating reconciliation records across billing systems.

Partner impact

• Partners who parse or process ReferenceId as a string must update their logic to handle the JSON structure.
• No other reconciliation file schemas or attributes are impacted.
• Download locations and access methods remain unchanged.

Required partner action

• Review and update any reconciliation processing or reporting solutions to support the new ReferenceId JSON format before April 15, 2026.

Reminders and updates to extended service terms (EST)

New EST download capability and update to specialized offer EST availability dates.

• Date: March 9, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: All cloud solution providers (CSPs), distributors, indirect resellers, direct bill.

Extended service terms help partners avoid immediate service disruption for their customer's expired license-based subscriptions by providing a flexible, month-to-month, paid continuation option. Partner Center made available the new EST options on February 16, 2026. In preparation for enforcement, commencing on May 4, 2006, partners can now update their subscriptions to renew to term, go to EST, or cancel.

Partner Center made available a download EST feature on February 27, 2026, to help partners manage the transition to EST. The feature enables partners to download subscriptions set to EST across all their customers. This capability helps partners identify EST subscriptions they may want to reevaluate to other end of term options. Partners can make updates if they want to decide to change their subscription's end of terms to renew or cancel instead of EST. Partners can find details about the EST download in the EST download learn topic.

The new EST options availability for specialized offers changed from March 9, 2029, to March 13, 2026. This change doesn't impact the May 4, 2026, enforcement date for all EST eligible subscriptions. More information about EST and how it works can be found in the extended service term learn topic.

Questions

• Learn more about extended service terms.
• To find out more about these changes, register for upcoming CSP partner enablement calls.
• For more details, view the partner FAQ or the EST scenarios deck.

Next steps

• Be aware of the revised timelines and share within your organization as required.
• Review the coming change with your customers and discuss the best option for their business needs before the end of their service terms to avoid unexpected billing.
• Prepare for technical implementation. Coordinate with your technical teams to schedule and test the necessary updates.

Introducing Microsoft 365 E7—a new productivity suite designed to drive Frontier transformation

Unlock new, repeatable revenue and monetization streams for your business.

• Date: March 9, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: GSI/SI, SDC, Distributors, SSP/LSPs, Direct Bill, and Indirect Resellers

Customers are focused on deploying AI securely, governing it consistently, and delivering measurable outcomes. As many stall between pilots and scale, partners play a critical role in turning AI experimentation into secure, governed deployments that drive frontier transformation.

Introducing Microsoft 365 E7, the Frontier Suite

Built to help customers seize the agentic moment and drive frontier transformation, Microsoft 365 E7 and Microsoft Agent 365 will be generally available as of May 1, 2026.

Microsoft 365 E7 is the productivity suite for a human-led, agent-operated enterprise, turning human intent into AI action that functions securely and at scale. To accomplish this, Microsoft 365 E7 brings together Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Entra Suite, and Agent 365, grounded in shared intelligence from Work IQ and built with trust to protect the organization. You can help your customers make the most of the agentic AI opportunity and unlock new monetization streams with the premium Microsoft 365 E7 plan.

Beginning on April 1, 2026, to accelerate Microsoft 365 E5 to E7 upsell and Agent 365 adoption, Copilot + Power Accelerate will include Agent 365 across Immersion Briefings, Envisioning and proof of concept (PoC) engagements, and Deployment Accelerators. Microsoft 365 E7 and Agent 365 will also be included as eligible workloads for the core strategic product accelerator and growth levers in Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) incentives.

The AI future is here. Encourage your customers to upgrade to Microsoft 365 E7 to take advantage now so they can move faster and deploy AI with confidence.

Next steps

• Read more in our blog post.
• Register for the Digital Partner Airlift for CSP authorized partners and SI partners on March 31, 2026, to find out more about the Agentic System of Work.
• Learn how the Microsoft vision for Frontier transformation brings intelligence and trust directly into the flow of work by viewing our on-demand webinar. Tune in on LinkedIn, X, or YouTube to hear from product and engineering leaders Jared Spataro, Charles Lamanna, and Sumit Chauhan as they share how Microsoft is delivering AI built for work with the latest Microsoft 365 Copilot innovations.
• Learn more in the incentives guide.

Security Dashboard for AI: Now in Public Preview

Security Dashboard for AI is now in public preview.

• Date: March 4, 2026
• Workspace: General
• Impacted audience: All Security partners

The Security Dashboard for AI is now available in public preview. Current Microsoft Security customers can access it without any extra licensing fees, offering partners a robust tool to help clients manage, evaluate, and mitigate AI risks at scale. The dashboard gives CISOs and AI risk leaders a unified, real-time view of AI threats across agents, apps, and platforms by connecting signals from Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Entra, and Microsoft Purview, all within a single interface. This creates an immediate opportunity for partners involved in AI security and governance conversations.

Security Dashboard for AI enables partners to:

• Lead AI governance conversations with customers as AI adoption accelerates
• Help customers discover and assess AI risk across their environment using unified visibility
• Prioritize and drive remediation by connecting identity, threat, and data risk signals into actionable insights
• Differentiate trusted security advisory services—without requiring customers to buy new security products

Next steps

Partner resources to get started:

• Read the announcement.
• Go deeper: explore capabilities online.
• Walk through the customer pitch deck and demo to encourage adoption (partner pitch deck coming in Q4).

Monthly Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program update

This month’s updates continue to enhance partner differentiation and readiness across high-demand solution areas. Key changes include specialization updates that integrate AI capabilities, revised skilling and performance requirements, and streamlined qualification frameworks to support partner growth and agility.

• Date: March 4, 2026
• Workspace: Membership
• Impacted audience: Partners enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program

Changes to Specializations and Solutions Partner Designations

As of February 13, 2026, Specialization percentage growth calculations round to the nearest percent. This means that a partner with a growth rate of 34.52% rounds to 35%. This will positively impart partners in meeting the performance criteria for the following specializations:

• Microsoft Low Code Application Development
• Intelligent Automation
• Business Intelligence
• Small and Midsize Business Management
• Adoption and Change Management
• Teamwork Deployment

As of February 27, 2026, the customer success - usage growth metric user interface for the Business Applications Solutions Partner designation is updated. When you select View Details in Partner Center, you'll be able to see the score calculation and if the baseline threshold is met. This enables you to gain a better understanding of where their performance is in line with the criteria. This isn't a change to the metric, just the visualization.

Specializations: Frequently Asked Questions

To help partners more easily find answers to common questions related to Azure Specializations, we’ve published the FAQ in the Specializations overview site on MS Learn.

This FAQ brings together guidance on common procedural topics such as scheduling, eligibility scenarios, and what to expect at different stages of the specialization process. It's intended to complement existing documentation and help partners quickly self-serve answers without needing to open a support request.

Partners are encouraged to review the FAQ before submitting questions, as it addresses many of the scenarios that commonly come up during specialization planning and execution.

Sri Lanka VAT ID Submission for Microsoft Invoicing

A new regulation is in effect for nonresident companies that provide services and digital products to customers in Sri Lanka. Beginning April 1, 2026, all digital service invoiced from nonresident companies will include 18% VAT.

• Date: March 4, 2026
• Workspace: Taxes
• Impacted audience: Customers and Partners in Sri Lanka that purchase services from nonresident Microsoft entities.

As per the Sri Lankan government’s VAT regulations (Value Added Tax Act (Amendment) No.4 of 2025 Act), effective April 1, 2026, all invoices for digital services provided to Sri Lankan customers by any nonresident must include 18% VAT.

Actions and timeline

Submit your Sri Lankan valid VAT ID number to Microsoft on or before February 20, 2026 or update on Microsoft partner central in the Section:

CSP

Why this matters:

• Sri Lankan law mandates VAT compliance for remote sellers.
• Invoices without VAT ID will still include VAT, but customers won't be able to claim credits.

Note Microsoft relies solely on the information and documents submitted and won't independently validate the VATID.

Next Steps and Actions Required

Submit your Sri Lankan valid VAT ID number along with the softcopy of the VAT ID to Microsoft on or before March 20, 2026.

Questions?

Should you have any questions related to operations, contact your Microsoft representative.

Contact your tax advisor or local tax office if you have any questions related to the tax and business impact of this change. Microsoft can't provide guidance on your tax matters.