To stay current with the latest updates happening with Microsoft, one of the leading vendors for our managed service provider (MSP) partners, check out our monthly Microsoft webcast and blog on how these updates will impact your MSP business.
If you missed this month’s webcast, be sure to register for next month’s. See a summary of this month’s updates on all things Microsoft below.
Program updates
GDAP changes for MSPs and Pax8
Microsoft has transitioned from delegated administration privileges (DAP) to granular delegated admin privileges (GDAP), a security feature that provides partners with least-privileged access following the Zero Trust cybersecurity protocol.
If a partner has a GDAP relationship with a customer, Microsoft will not transition DAP to GDAP. Microsoft will disable DAP by the end of July. For new customers, Pax8 will prompt partners in the checkout flow to establish GDAP between Pax8 and the customer. A partner can bypass this but should then establish DAP.
Update to Azure Reserved Instances (RIs)
As of May 1, Pax8 has shifted to a self-service model for Azure Reserved Instances and Azure savings plans.
This allows partners to purchase RIs and savings plans on behalf of their customers within the Azure Management Portal. These SKUs are no longer available for purchase in the Pax8 Marketplace.
Partners are now able to provision, upgrade, downgrade, and cancel RIs and savings plans immediately within the Azure Portal. Partners with existing Azure RIs and savings plan subscriptions are not impacted. Billing for Azure RIs has shifted to arrears from bill ahead.
Audio conferencing
Partners who had NCE annual commitments prior to March 24, 2023, are now subject to the current MSRP at renewal. Partners with NCE annual commitments for Microsoft 365 audio conferencing needed to cancel services at their renewal and purchase Teams audio conferencing to continue to utilize audio conferencing at $0.
Pax8 provides the following enablement and offers around Azure Virtual Desktop:
- Partner enablement sessions
- Hands-on labs
- Pax8 Bootcamps
- Migration and deployment offers
Microsoft Cloud Partner Program
There are seven Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program (MCPP) designations: Infrastructure (Azure), Data and A.I. (Azure), Digital and App Innovation (Azure), Modern Work, Security, Business Applications, and Microsoft Cloud. Designation is judged on these three criteria:
- Performance: net customer adds
- Skilling: demonstrating your skilling and training by intermediate and advanced certifications
- Customer success: usage growth and the number of solution deployments
To reach designation, a minimum of 70 points must be earned, with points in each category, out of 100 points possible.
MCPP offerings: what do you get?
One you hit MCPP designation, here’s what you get:
- Product benefits
- Incentives and rebates
- Go-to-market service
- Technical support and advisory hours
- Training and enablement resources
Some restrictions to the program eligibility apply. For incentives, see Incentive Opportunities in the Partner Center or the Microsoft Commerce Incentive Overview for more information. And be sure to watch our next webcast to keep up with Microsoft’s Cloud Partner Program and everything it offers MSPs.
Pax8 and Microsoft One Cloud
Pax8 One Cloud is a program to enable all Pax8 partners to transact the entire Microsoft stack across Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform to maximize earning potential with each customer add, attract more net new customer adds, and grow faster. This approach helps provide unmatched ROI and can help with churn reduction, increased customer adds, increased deal size, faster growth, and more.
It’s a huge opportunity for partners, as fewer than 8% of partners transact all Microsoft solutions, but that small percentage of partners is responsible for more than 60% of annual revenue through the channel.
Pax8 and Microsoft for nonprofits
At Pax8, we believe it’s critical to support nonprofits as well as businesses by skilling up and enabling our MSP community to best guide and implement solutions that drive revenue, reduce risk, and streamline process. To make that possible, we are committed to providing education and enablement opportunities for our MSP community to engage and serve nonprofit customers.
Pax8 can help you secure your nonprofits’ environments in the cloud with our Professional Services team. Contact your CAM for support and be sure to take advantage of Pax8 events such as hands-on labs, Bootcamps, tool demonstrations, and self-paced learning in Pax8 Academy. We also offer Azure credits, free security assessments, best practice guidance, migration planning and support, and multi-tiered engineering escalation and support.
Microsoft offers
To make their technology more affordable and accessible for nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, Microsoft offers many donated and discounted products as well as special programs for nonprofits, which you can learn more about by heading to our Pax8 Tech for Social Impact page.
Introducing Pax8 Momentum
Join Pax8 for the next evolution of events with Pax8 Momentum, the in-person event of the year designed to optimize your MSP’s operational efficiency and reduce your risk. Taking place October 10–12, 2023, in Denver, the event will help you identify and assess key business and technical solutions, learn how to operationalize a complete tech stack from start to finish, and build the business momentum you need for your MSP to thrive. Learn more and register now at pax8.com/momentum.
Hands-on labs
To learn more about Microsoft solutions and how to incorporate them into your MSP business, sign up for these upcoming hands-on labs:
- July 13 – Defender for Cloud
- July 27 – Azure Migrate
- August 10 – Azure Virtual Desktop
- August 24 – Azure Fundamentals
- September 27 – Azure Fundamentals
