Microsoft Partners Get New Incentives in Pursuit of AWS, Google Cloud Market Share

Microsoft partners are in for some new, significant incentives as the company strives to take more market share from the likes of Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. 

As such, Redmond has embarked on its new fiscal year with a big channel push.

On July 10, Microsoft held its first-ever virtual Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions (MCAPS) Start for Partners event, an extension of its annual Start gathering. The vendor is combining Inspire with Ignite, its customer-centric show, for the first time ever as of this November. MCAPS Start for Partners served as a kickoff with Ignite in mind.

“By involving our partners in our go-to-market strategy from the beginning of the fiscal year, we can create synergy and drive collective success,” Nicole Dezen, chief partner officer and corporate vice president of global partner solutions at Microsoft, wrote in a May 7 blog announcing MCAPS Start for Partners.

Microsoft's Nicole Dezen

Microsoft’s new fiscal year started on July 1, a date marred by another round of layoffs. The second-largest cloud computing provider, and a hefty AI player, is doing its best to motivate its channel experts to sell its platforms.

New Microsoft Partner Incentives

MCAPS Start for Partners featured extensive focus on Microsoft’s new partner incentives. Some of the biggest surround Copilot, security, 365 and Azure. Microsoft also appears to be taking a page from its rivals’ playbooks and emphasizing greater attention to smaller customers. 

“As a partner making intentional bets in this segment, you will see meaningful earning potential across our business priorities,” Dezen wrote in a July 11 blog.

First up, though, in terms of specifics, Microsoft partners will want to keep an eye on new activity around Copilot. Dezen said Microsoft is increasing its investment in Copilot by 10 times over its fiscal year 2024.

“Partners are essential to the Copilot customer journey,” Dezen said. “That is why we’ve developed a comprehensive set of pre- and post-sale engagements to guide partner execution in alignment with our existing go-to-market motions.”

Up next, Microsoft partners can anticipate huge incentives around security. 

“[W]e’re investing $90 million in incremental investments in FY25,” Dezen said.

On top of that, Microsoft will bring back the Data Security assessment. And, there’s more. 

“We are continuing Azure Migrate and Modernize with Defender for Cloud Attach that rewards you 15% for delivering secure migration projects and Microsoft Sentinel Migrate and Modernize,” Dezen said. “Finally, we’ve increased investments within CSP for ME5 and are boosting our strategic cybersecurity investments.”

Then, turning to Microsoft 365 incentives, cloud service providers can expect more perks.  

“[W]e are increasing CSP incentives across strategic solutions including Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Business Premium, and with our incentives, you can earn up to $120,000 for Microsoft 365 E3 workloads per customer,” Dezen wrote.

Finally, as Microsoft aims to bulk up Azure adoption, it’s targeting that division’s growth with additional partner incentives. 

Throughout the 2025 fiscal year, Dezen explained, “we are adding new scenarios and increasing our investments for Azure Migrate and Modernize by 50%. For Azure Innovate we are increasing our pre-sales and post-sales investments to more than $150 million.”

Beyond Incentives for Microsoft Partners

MCAPS Start for Partners wasn’t only about partner incentives — the event showcased other advancements in store, too.

For example, the new benefit packages − Partner Launch, Success Core and Success Expanded − that were announced earlier this year now are available. Also, Microsoft soon will update more than 20 new product licenses for many of those packages, Dezen said. Those licenses will include products such as Copilot, Defender for Endpoint and GitHub.

“We are committed to providing the resources and support our partners need to deliver incredible solutions to organizations and communities globally,” Dezen wrote. 

Next, Microsoft plans to deliver 12 more in-person AI Partner Training Days in 2025. Dezen said the company already has trained more than 818,000 people on its AI platforms. “[H]igh partner demand” is fueling the decision to offer more such workshops, Dezen said.

After that, look for Azure Essentials, a new portal for helping end users deploy and optimize their cloud and AI services. It supports Azure Migrate and Modernize, and Azure Innovate. Finally, Microsoft talked up its Provisioned Throughput Unit (PTU) offering. This applies to Azure OpenAI and will be available through customer self-service and CSP partner-supported models, per Microsoft. 

“PTUs provide throughput with consistent latency for uniform workloads, making them ideal for scaling AI solutions,” Dezen said. “We have also added a shorter 30-day reservation commitment option for added flexibility.”

Microsoft partners also found out late last month where they landed in the latest round of channel awards.