Sales updates
Microsoft Promotions
Copilot promos
Business
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (annual commit): 14.29% off, all customers, 1-300 seats, through 31 Dec 2026
- Business Basic + Copilot Business bundle (annual commit): 25% off, all customers, 1-300 seats, through 31 Dec 2026
Enterprise
- Microsoft 365 Copilot (annual): 15% off for 300-9,999 seats, or 30% off for 1,000-9,999 seats, through 30 Sep 2026
- Microsoft 365 Copilot (3-year commit): 15% off, 300+ seats, through 30 Sep 2026
- Microsoft 365 Enterprise suites
- M365 E3 (annual commit) targeted offer: 20% off (250+ seats), through 31 Dec 2026
- M365 E3 (annual commit) targeted offer: 30% off (300+ seats), through 30 June 2027
- M365 E3 (3-year commit): 10% off (100+ seats), new-to-E3 customers, through 31 Dec 2026
Security
- Purview Suite for Business Premium: up to 50% off when paired with Copilot Business / Business Premium, through 31 Dec 2026
- Microsoft Sentinel 50 GB commitment tier: up to 32% off, through 31 Dec 2026 – locks promotional pricing to 31 Mar 2027
Dynamics
- Dynamics 365 Bridge to Cloud (3-year): 30% off for existing on-prem customers migrating to the cloud, through 31 Dec 2027.
AI Business Solutions Updates
Microsoft Copilot Business TRIAL – Copilot in 30
Microsoft launched a 30-day Copilot Business trial on 1 August 2026. This motion helps partners land first-time Copilot wins through a guided, 30-day SMB evaluation – a free 25-seat, 30-day Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trial, available through CSP for a limited time.
- 25-user, 30-day Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trial
- $0 trial SKU, live on the Pax8 Marketplace starting 1 August 2026
- Available for a limited time (31 December 2026)
- One trial (25 users) per customer – no extensions or quantity changes mid-trial
- It auto-renews to a paid subscription by default (25 seats, annual/monthly billing) with a 7-day cancellation window. Partners can cancel, adjust the renewal seat count, term, and billing frequency before conversion.
Best-fit customers: Existing M365 Business Standard/Premium accounts, new to Copilot (no paid Copilot licenses), with up to 300 users.
Call to action:
- Read Pax8 Copilot in 30 Blog
- Know the motion: review the Partner Playbook and Customer Kit
- Get first trials in the ground: aim to have each active M365 Business customer provision their trials in the first 30 days, then support adoption and conversion.
- Identify: use Pax8 Microsoft NCE Tracker/Renewals report under the Subscriptions tab on the Pax8 Marketplace to target your customers. You can also use ASPX data from Microsoft. Launch a campaign to new-to-Copilot customers (campaign email templates are in Partner Playbook and Customer Kit)
- Plan: Help customers maximise their Copilot trial with the Copilot Success Planner – guide adoption, track progress, and build a clear path to long-term success.
- Activate: provision trial via the Pax8 Marketplace, help customers configure settings, assign licenses, and ready users.
- Convert: review outcomes and move to paid. Lead with the Copilot/bundle promos.
Grow E7 with Copilot Credits
Microsoft has introduced a limited-time Buy 5, Get 5 Copilot Studio capacity pack offer for eligible Microsoft 365 E7 CSP customers through 31 December 2026. Customers purchasing at least 300 new annual E7 seats, enabling Azure-based pay-as-you-go billing, and purchasing 5+ annual Copilot Studio capacity packs can receive up to 5 matching packs for 12 months. This provides additional Copilot credit capacity to support usage-based AI scenarios while helping customers manage consumption through spending limits.
Usage-Based Billing for New Copilot Business Licenses
From 1 December 2026, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business purchased through CSP will include usage-based billing by default, whether purchased standalone or as part of a bundle. The required Azure billing setup will be included, with a preset monthly pay-as-you-go limit (4,000 Copilot credits/user).
This will support eligible usage-based experiences including Copilot Cowork, Work IQ APIs and GitHub Copilot Harness. Partners should prepare their sales, support and billing teams for the change and include usage-based scenarios in customer adoption discussions.
New Copilot Experience
Microsoft is reshaping the Copilot experience around Home, Code and Autopilot:
- Home: Chat and Cowork in one place, plus Office in Copilot for creating and editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
- Code: Describe an app, dashboard, automation or workflow in natural language and let Copilot build it.
- Autopilot: The evolution of Scout, a proactive cloud-hosted agent that can continue working across Teams and Outlook.
Other updates include Fabric IQ, Dynamics 365 data integration, an IT-managed Plugin Registry and new FinOps controls for AI spend.
Copilot Business + Zensai Offer
Zensai is an AI-powered Human Success Platform that integrates directly into Microsoft365 (including Teams, SharePoint, Outlook, and Copilot). Its mission is to help organizations unlock human potential by combining learning, engagement, and performance management in one seamless experience.
M365 Copilot Business & Zensai customer enablement promotional program is designed to provide partners with the incentive to sell a net new subscription of over 10+ licenses of Copilot Business, Copilot for Nonprofit or Copilot Business Premium Bundle licenses. They are then eligible to get the same amount of licenses Zensai free for a year.
- Note that Zensai is an annual commitment, billed monthly
- Within 30 days of net new purchase of Copilot, partner must enroll through the form https://pages.pax8.com/Pax8-Copilot-Zensai.html
- Within the same 30 days of purchase and enrollment, partner must check out Zensai licenses to access the promotion
Cloud & AI Platforms Update
Thinking about Azure for your customer? Start with an assessment.
Assess, Deploy, and Earn $2,000
Many Azure conversations stall because customers aren’t sure where to begin, what’s involved, or what the costs might look like. To help with that, Pax8 offers an Azure Assessment and Rebate Programme designed to identify migration opportunities and build a clear path to Azure.
The Pax8 team will assess your customer’s current environment, provide recommendations, and help develop an Azure migration roadmap. If the assessment results in a qualifying Azure deployment within 30 days, you may also be eligible for a USD $2,000 incentive.
This offer is available to all global Pax8 partners with Ignite Voyager Alliance status or above.
To get started, complete the interest form and your Pax8 Account Manager will be in touch to discuss the next steps.
Azure Promotions
Microsoft has enabled Azure promotion capabilities from 1 October 2026, opening the door to new promotional offers for eligible Azure customers. Promotions will primarily support net-new Azure customers and existing customers introducing new workloads, with some offers potentially covering on-premises-to-cloud migrations.
Eligibility will vary by promotion and customer tenant. Microsoft is planning additional readiness guidance, while Pax8 continues working with Microsoft to clarify eligible scenarios, prepare partners, and explore bringing these promotions into the Pax8 Marketplace.
Azure Flex Spend Plans
Microsoft is testing a new CSP offer called Flex Spend Plans, designed to give customers more flexibility when committing to Azure consumption. Instead of paying the full commitment upfront, customers commit to a defined spend over a term and are billed monthly, with the flexibility to consume that commitment at their own pace.
Flex Spend Plans can cover multiple eligible Azure products and services under a single commitment, rather than being tied to a specific workload in the same way as traditional Azure Reservations or Savings Plans.
Flex Spend Plans are currently available for testing in the CSP sandbox only and are not yet available in production. Pax8 is validating the purchase, billing and reconciliation experience as part of its preparations.
Program Updates
Growth Margin
On 1 October 2026, Microsoft introduced a new Growth Margin program as a permanent part of CSP partner economics. Unlike a temporary promotion or discount, Growth Margin rewards partners for driving eligible customer growth, including:
- New-to-offer customers
- Seat growth
- Strategic product upsell and cross-sell motions
The standard base margin will continue to apply to renewals and ongoing subscriptions. Partners who meet the qualifying growth criteria will instead earn the higher Growth Margin rate. This is not an additional margin on top of the base margin, as the Growth Margin already includes the base margin.
The programme applies to select CSP licence-based offers, including:
- Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Microsoft 365 E5
- Microsoft 365 E7
- Microsoft Defender Suite
- Microsoft Purview Suite
- Windows 365 Enterprise
Please note that Nonprofit and Education SKUs are not eligible for Growth Margin.
Microsoft Skilling and Certification
Partners who invest in upskilling are better positioned to deliver greater value to clients, differentiate themselves in a competitive market, and unlock new revenue opportunities. Earning Microsoft certifications also helps you secure the 25 points required for incentives and rebates in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (MAICPP), directly supporting both growth and profitability.
To help you get there, Pax8 provides free certification vouchers – reach out to your Channel Account Manager to get started.
Microsoft has replaced MS‑900 (Microsoft 365 Fundamentals) with a new intermediate option: AB‑900: Microsoft Copilot Fundamentals across both Enterprise and SMB tracks.
On top of that, Microsoft is rolling out new AI-focused cert paths (AI Business Professional, AI Transformation Leader, Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect) and has introduced AB‑620: AI Agent Builder Associate in beta to support partners building real AI capability.
APAC Pax8 Microsoft enablement sessions
Pax8 and Microsoft continue their strong collaboration with The Power of Microsoft Webinar series, exploring how Microsoft’s solutions are helping organisations innovate faster, work smarter and lead confidently in an AI-driven world.
