To stay current with all things Microsoft in 2025, be sure to register for our monthly Microsoft partner update webinar. Below are the top takeaways from our May 2025 webinar.
Program Updates
CSP Data Quality Enhancements
Please note: Any changes made to Partner Center information will trigger a verification process for data validation, and Microsoft reserves the right to audit partners and request verification at any time without cause. Failure to complete the verification process in 30 days may result in a failed/rejected state and be subject to CSP suspension and offboarding. If suspended, no new orders will be allowed under your MPN ID.
To ensure your CSP enrollment is in good standing, your global admin should regularly check partner center notifications via the action center. If you have any questions, please contact Microsoft support directly. Pax8 will not be able to support due to compliance reasons set by Microsoft.
Microsoft Pricing Updates
This month, Microsoft implemented a 5% price adjustment across all new and renewing annual paid monthly subscriptions. Monthly subscriptions are not impacted, and the current 20% price adjustment remains.
Please note: Renewals at Pax8 lock 48 hours in advance. A change in billing terms to annual must be scheduled beforehand to take effect at the time of renewal. This can be done through the schedule order manager.
At the same time, Teams Phone Standard licenses are now priced at $10 per user, per month; with Power BI Pro licenses at $14 per user, per month; and Power BI Premium licenses at $24 per user, per month. Additionally, annual, paid monthly subscriptions will incur a 5% premium at the time of purchase or renewal on top of the price increase.
To make dealing with pricing increases easier, Pax8 is offering partners the ability to opt into automatic pricing changes based on vendor adjustments for those using retail pricing or markup pricing. Pricing updates for Microsoft will take effect when subscriptions renew. Just a note: Partners who use a PSA tool will need to re-sync with the Pax8 Marketplace, and those who don’t use a PSA tool won’t benefit from this feature.
Microsoft Product Updates
Microsoft is retiring Power BI Premium and replacing it with Microsoft Fabric. This means there will be no new sales of Power BI Premium. But Power BI Premium product capabilities won’t change, and if your clients are using it, no immediate action is required. You can continue using your existing Power BI Premium capacity until the time of your next renewal, at which time it won’t renew, and those subscriptions must be migrated to Microsoft Fabric.
Promotions and Offers
Current Microsoft promos and offers include the following (see links for details and FAQs):
- Microsoft 365 E3 – 15% off annual term
- Microsoft 365 E5 – 15% off one-year term
- Office 365 E1 – 60% off annual term (ASEAN)
- Office 365 E1 Plus – 30% off annual term
- Copilot for Microsoft 365 – 15% off annual term
- Dynamics 365 Business Central – 10% off annual term
Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program
Microsoft has made some updates to the partner benefits available for purchase to its Microsoft AI Cloud Partners. In addition to marketing benefits available to all tiers, the benefits are as follows:
Partner Launch Benefits
- M365 Business Premium: five seats
- Azure Credits: $700
- Visual Studio Professional: one subscription
- Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise: four seats
- Dynamics 365 Business Central: four seats
Partner Success Core Benefits
- M365 Business Premium: 15 seats
- Azure Credits: $2,400
- Visual Studio Professional: eight subscriptions
- Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise: 15 seats
- Dynamics 365 Business Central: 15 seats
- Technical Consultation Services: five hours
- Technical Presales: deduct hours from consultation services
- Signature Cloud Support: two incidents
Partner Success Expanded Benefits
- GTM Toolbox: included
- Concierge: included
- M365 Business Premium: 35 seats
- Azure Credits: $4,000
- Visual Studio Professional: 15 subscriptions
- Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise: 35 seats
- Dynamics 365 Business Central: 35 seats
- Technical Consultation Services: 10 hours
- Technical Presales: unlimited
- Signature Cloud Support: five incidents
Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (MAICPP) SMB Pathways
Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) need partners to map the right technology to their business strategy. Almost half choose technology partners, with 33% favoring managed service providers (MSPs) or cloud solution providers (CSPs) whom they expect to proactively recommend technology solutions to accelerate companies’ business goals.
Partners looking to attain MAICPP designation can go either the SMB path or the enterprise path. The SMB path has lower thresholds for customer adds at $500 Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) per month and less stringent skilling requirements. Learn more via Microsoft.
Introducing the SMB Path for Security Partner Designation
The SMB Security designation is a recognition designed to award partners who demonstrate exceptional performance, skilling and customer success in the Microsoft security domain.
Benefits of this designation include:
- Incentives and rebates
- Internal user rights (Azure bulk credits, cloud subscriptions and services)
- Go-to-market services and co-selling opportunities
To obtain the SMB Security designation, partners must attain 70 points across three categories: performance, skilling and customer success. Points must be attained in each category to be considered eligible.
Copilot Updates
There are a number of updates coming soon to Microsoft 365 Copilot. These include:
- M365 Copilot: Researcher – Researcher assists in tackling complex, multi-step research tasks at work to deliver insights with greater quality and accuracy than previously possible.
- M365 Copilot: Analyst – Analyst thinks like a skilled data scientist, enabling quick transformation from raw data to insights that provides high-quality answers that mirror analytical thinking.
- Copilot Studios: Deep Reasoning – This allows organizations to build deep reasoning into their agents to execute complex and multi-faceted business processes. New reasoning capabilities in Copilot Studios allow for the ability to build autonomous agents.
- Copilot Studios: Agent Flows – Agent Flows assist in easily creating, managing and deploying agents for unique business needs. Using Agent Flows, organizations can automate processes quickly and predictably.
Timelines for these updates are coming soon, so stay tuned!
Copilot Enablement Sessions
These one-hour sessions take a high-level approach toward Copilot solutions across user personas and how to start implementing them for SMBs today. Sign up here.
Upcoming sessions include:
- May 12: Using M365 Copilot in Excel
- May 19: Using M365 Copilot in PowerPoint
- May 26: Using M365 Copilot in Customer Service
- June 23: Using M365 Copilot in Teams
- June 25: Using M365 Copilot in Nonprofit
- June 30: Using M365 Copilot in Operations
Pax8 Tech for Social Impact
Pax8 Tech for Nonprofit Program
The mission of this program is to establish a thriving hub within the Pax8 Marketplace through strategic collaborations with vendors and resellers. We aim to curate a diverse selection of SaaS solutions, thoughtfully tailored to address the distinctive requirements of nonprofits worldwide.
This selection of solutions is designed to be easily accessible, affordable and seamlessly provisioned by Pax8 resellers, empowering nonprofits to thrive and make a positive impact in their communities. With a $32 billion cloud solution market size, this represents a massive opportunity for partners using Pax8, which transacts with more than 12,000 nonprofits.
Common nonprofit technology needs include:
- Moving infrastructure to the cloud
- Empowering data-driven decisions
- Improving business operations
- Protecting donor and client privacy
- Personalizing and streamlining fundraising
Microsoft has been a pioneer in making solutions more affordable for nonprofits. Through its Tech for Social Impact program, Microsoft has been delivering grants and discounts to nonprofit organizations for years. The Pax8 Marketplace includes Dropsuite and Mailguard nonprofit offers, plus new additions SureImpact and Foxit. We are working tirelessly to keep expanding this portfolio of products so our partners can pick and choose the best products that meet the needs of their nonprofit clients.
AI Opportunity with Nonprofits
To safeguard the cashflow under uncertain economic conditions, it’s crucial for nonprofits to focus on cultivating enduring donor relationships. However, a recent survey conducted by Microsoft with nonprofits shows 48% of employees said they’re burned out in their job.
AI tools can help alleviate this concern for your nonprofit clients. Use cases include:
- Communicating policies and drafting job descriptions
- Creating training materials
- Identifying relevant market trends and segments
- Creating donor presentations and proposals
- Simplifying financial reporting and planning
Email us at nonprofit@pax8.com for any questions about our nonprofit offerings.
Modern Work Security Optimization, Powered by Nerdio
In partnership with Nerdio, we’re helping partners optimize Microsoft solutions and transition your clients to more secure and efficient Microsoft platforms with Nerdio for Modern Work. Pax8 is the exclusive provider of this offer.
This offer helps you consolidate your management tools, with features such as:
- Console connect
- AD user management
- SharePoint and OneDrive settings baselines
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
- Partner Center integration
- Intune management
- Entra ID settings baselines
- Microsoft 365 management
- Defender XDR
This program is available now and runs through June 30, 2025. To qualify, a partner must currently not be transacting Nerdio for Microsoft and must target clients with at least 10 Microsoft 365 Business Standard licenses to upgrade to Microsoft 365 Business Premium. There’s no minimum number of client tenants. If you qualify, you may receive six months of free Nerdio for Modern Work access per tenant (the normal pricing is $50 per tenant).
Your next steps for this offer are to book a consultation call with your productivity solution consultant and CAM regarding this offer, upgrade the necessary number of clients to Microsoft 365 Business Premium and then submit your claim.
Enablement Updates
Upcoming sessions include:
Modern Work and Copilot Hands-On Labs:
- May 13: Deploying Applications with Microsoft Intune
- May 20: Securing Microsoft 365 Before Implementing Copilot
- May 27: Microsoft 365 Copilot for Admin
- June 24: Mitigating Threats using Microsoft Purview
Azure Hands-On Labs:
- May 22: Defender for Cloud
- May 29: Threat Detection with XDR
- June 26: Azure Virtual Desktop
Global Events:
- May 7: Mission Briefing – Sydney
- May 8: Cybersecurity Masterclass – Oslo
- May 15: Data and AI Masterclass – Zwolle
- June 4: Launch Briefing – UK
- June 26: Data and AI Masterclass – Zwolle
Join Us Throughout 2025
Stay up to date with all things Microsoft by registering for our monthly webinar series, so you can grow your Microsoft business in 2025 and beyond.
