Microsoft Announces Changes to Partner Action Pack

Microsoft (MSFT) is implementing several important changes to its Partner Network, which will focus on helping small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to take advantage of expanded support and benefits through the company’s redesigned Action Pack.

Among the most important changes is integrated access to cloud services software licenses for many Microsoft products, including Office 365. According to a blog post by Phil Sorgen, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Group, the revised Action Pack will “put cloud at the core of all program benefits, including Internal Use Rights (IURs) for Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, Windows Intune and Windows Azure.”

Microsoft also will be simplifying its approach to subscriptions with the new Action Pack, according to Julie Bennani, the general manager of the Microsoft Partner Network. The original two subscription choices have now been replaced with a single subscription, which is said to give partners more flexibility to leverage resources across different business models. The company has also created six Resource Centers, which will be offered to partners free of charge to teach partners more about essential services, such as hosting, reselling and device design and development.

While the impending changes have been detailed for some time, yesterday was the first day partners could officially switch to the new program. Microsoft originally released details about these changes back in July at the 2013 Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC). A list of all of the changes being put into effect include:

To commemorate the changes to the Action Pack, Microsoft also launched a new portal that showcases its many partner relationships throughout the years. The site features an interactive timeline that lets viewers scroll through a graphic of different partner achievements.

The company announced also that more changes are planned for later this year, including the launch of hosting tracks and the retiring of remaining Incubation cloud programs. However, a date has not been announced. More details are sure to surface during this year’s Worldwide Partner Conference, which is scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., July 13-17.