Business profile product-related FAQs

Using Partner IDs for business profiles

What is a Partner ID and how do I get one?

A Microsoft Partner ID is a unique identifier that gives you access to all the resources and benefits of your partnership with Microsoft. It's free to obtain and crucial for managing Microsoft tenants, licenses, incentives, and more. (Partner ID was formerly known as Microsoft Partner Network ID or MPN ID.)

Here's how you can get your Partner ID:

1. If you're not a Microsoft partner already, join the Microsoft Cloud AI Partner Program.
2. Once you're signed up, you can find your Partner ID by signing in to Microsoft Partner Center.
3. Navigate to the Legal info page and locate the Partner ID field.
4. Alternatively, you can find your Partner ID by navigating to Settings > Account settings > Identifiers.

Why do we need to use Partner IDs for business profiles?

Partner IDs streamline the management and publication of business profiles, ensuring alignment with our partner programs for enhanced visibility and credibility.

What is the difference between CSP and non-CSP profiles?

CSP program profiles can only be published within CSP regions, while non-CSP profiles can be published globally, extending your reach to a wider audience.

How do I obtain a Partner ID if I don't have one?

You can obtain a Partner ID through our partner program registration process. For more information, see the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program documentation.

Are there any specific requirements for creating a business profile using Partner IDs?

Business profiles using Partner IDs must adhere to our content guidelines and policies. Review our documentation for these guidelines.

Can I use multiple Partner IDs for different aspects of my business?

Yes, you can select different Partner IDs for different aspects of your business, and each Partner ID can have its own set of business profiles.

How do I choose the right Partner ID for my business profiles?

Our choice of Partner ID should align with your business goals and target audience. Consider factors such as geographical reach and expertise.

Can I customize the content of my business profiles for different publishing locations?

Yes, you can customize the content of your profiles for different locations to better cater to the specific needs of each audience.

Can I delete a business profile or Partner ID if I no longer need it?

Yes, you can delete business profiles and Partner IDs that are no longer relevant to your business. This action is irreversible.

Transitioning to Partner IDs

When do we need to start using Partner IDs for new profiles?

As of February 29, 2024, all newly created business profiles must use Partner IDs.

How can I migrate my existing profiles to Partner IDs?

We offer a migration process to convert existing profiles to Partner IDs. This migration option is available for 120 days from GA.

What happens if I don't migrate my profiles within the 120-day window?

After migration window, business profiles not migrated to Partner IDs will be linked to Partner Global ID (PGA).

Can I continue using my old business profiles after the migration deadline?

Yes, but after migration window, nonmigrated profiles will be linked to Partner Global ID (PGA) and can be accessed from Modern profile. It's important to migrate your profiles within the specified time frame.

What happens to leads if I don't migrate the profile?

Leads generated from non-migrated profiles are routed to Partner Global ID location.

Managing business profiles at Partner IDs

Can I choose where my business profile is published?

Yes, you're allowed to select locations at the Publishing Location step and regions at the Selling markets step.

Note

Profiles aren't published at the location of your default Partner ID because it's for managing the content. Select same Partner ID location at Publishing Location step.

When you create or manage a business profile, Instead, you have the opportunity to select specific publishing locations in subsequent steps.

What information about the management Partner ID is displayed in the published profile?

Published profiles don't display details about the management Partner ID, ensuring privacy and confidentiality. However, when a customer contacts your business using this profile, the lead is associated with your management Partner ID.

Can I change the publishing locations for my business profile after it publishes?

Yes, you can modify the publishing locations for your business profile at any time. Select edit to make changes.

Why do I see grey out location in migrate business profile | selling markets page?

Either partner has MPN ID or partner has existing business profile in that country. We don’t allow partners to create business profile at same location. Publishing location step has countries where Partner has MPN IDs. If a partner has selected country in publishing location step, we don’t allow to select the same country (location) in selling market step because the user has already selected it.

What happens if I receive leads through a published profile?

Leads generated through your published profiles are associated with your management Partner ID. You can manage these leads using the Referral admin role for the respective Partner ID.

General

What is a Partner ID, and how do I get one?

A Microsoft Partner ID is a unique identifier that gives you access to all the resources and benefits of your partnership with Microsoft. It's free to obtain and crucial for managing Microsoft tenants, licenses, incentives, and more.

Here's how you can get your Partner ID:

1. If you're not a Microsoft partner already, you have to sign up in Partner Center.
2. Once you're signed up, you can find your Partner ID by logging into the Microsoft Partner Center.
3. Navigate to the Legal info page and locate the Partner ID field.
4. Alternatively, you can find your Partner ID by navigating to Settings > Account settings > Identifiers.

What are the programs Microsoft offers for its partners?

To enroll in Microsoft Partner Center, you might need to join or be a part of Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.

Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program: You need to join the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. This program helps you build quickly, scale growth, and sell worldwide, all while powering customers' transformation with Microsoft AI technology. Under the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, the Solutions Partner designations align to Microsoft solution areas and include incremental benefits so you can stand out from the competition and increase your customer reach.

Further, partners can participate in program offerings like Cloud Solution Provider (CSP). The CSP program helps you to be more involved in your customers' businesses, beyond reselling licenses, and can include the following benefits:

• Deeper customer engagements
• Increased profits and add value
• Provide managed services

What is the CSP program?

Microsoft's CSP program is a reseller program that allows partners to sell and support cloud-based licenses for Office 365, Microsoft 365, and Azure, all on behalf of Microsoft. The program is designed to deepen customer engagements and open up new revenue streams by offering increased support and billing services.

There are two models in the CSP program: the indirect model and the direct bill model:

• Indirect model: In this model, you can purchase from an indirect provider who can collaborate with you for customer support and billing. Microsoft built a global network of qualified indirect providers who help partners grow their cloud business successfully in the CSP program.
• Direct bill model: In this model, partners purchase Microsoft products and subscriptions directly from Microsoft and sell them directly to their customers through their in-house sales staff. The direct-bill model requires partners to sell to, bill, manage, and support their customers autonomously.

How do I enroll as a CSP using Partner ID?

To enroll as a CSP using your Partner ID, you can follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Partner Center using your work email (your Microsoft Entra tenant credentials).
2. Associate your Partner ID with your profile. If you're already enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, select the location Partner ID, which is linked to your incentives enrollments. The Partner Location ID must be active and located in the same country/region as your CSP account.
3. Enter the information to create your partner profile. If your company is registered with Dun & Bradstreet, you can use your DUNS ID to look up your company information. If you want to provide the company details yourself, select Enter manually.
4. For business addresses in some countries/regions, if you enter the address manually, Microsoft validates the address for you. If the address you entered differs from the validated one, we suggest that you use the validated address.
5. During verification, Microsoft might ask you for another document, or request that you complete a questionnaire. It can take several days to review and verify the information you provide. You'll receive an email after the review is complete.
6. After verification of your information, accept the Microsoft indirect reseller terms agreement. To accept the Microsoft Partner Agreement, sign in at the Partner Center and select CSP from the Pending actions view on the right-hand side.

Why is the option to publish a business profile for a CSP greyed out?

To create a CSP business profile, sign in to Partner Center from that CSP tenant, and then the button to create a profile is enabled.

Why can CSPs only sell in CSP regions?

As a CSP, your company's location determines your market, which includes the regions/countries where you can sell CSP program offers.

• If your company is located in the United States, you can sell CSP offers to customers in the U.S. and in United States Minor Outlying Islands.
• If your company is located in the Africa region, you can sell CSP offers to customers in all 18 countries/regions in Africa.

However, it's important to note that the customers' locations described aren't necessarily the physical locations of the company. Instead, it depends on the country/region set in the tenant.

• If a customer located in Brazil has a tenant set in the United States, the customer is out of sales territory for CSPs in Brazil. Instead, the customer is eligible to transact with CSPs in the U.S.
• To buy a CSP offer, it must be available in both your tenant country/region and in your customer's tenant country/region.
• By contract, partners in the CSP program aren't allowed to sell Microsoft or non-Microsoft offers to themselves (as end-customers) or to their affiliate organizations (as end-customers).

How do I enroll in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program?

To enroll in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Membership sign-in page.
2. Select Become a partner.
3. After becoming a partner, you can manage your Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program memberships and programs to help you go to market through the Membership page.

How do I become a service partner?

Becoming a services partner at Microsoft involves several steps:

1. Join the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program: This program is open for both new and old Silver or Gold Partners.
2. Choose your solution area: There are six Solutions partner designations available for partners. Each of these designations aligns to a specific solution area offered by Microsoft.
3. Qualify for Solutions Partner designations: Eligibility for Solutions partner designations is based on the partner capability score achieved by your organization.
4. Purchase of Solutions Partner designations: Once you're qualified in one or more Solution Area designations, your status changes to Qualified. You can then proceed with payment to get enrolled into Solutions Partner designation program.
5. Renewal of Solutions Partner designations: Once you purchase (new partners) or get upgraded from older Silver or Gold to new Solutions Partner designations, you are allowed to do renewal.

How do I become an ISV?

Becoming an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) partner at Microsoft involves a series of steps:

1. Make the most of your Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program membership:
   • Joining the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program opens the gateway to exclusive membership benefits.
   • Choose how you want to do business with Microsoft.
   • Get on-demand training to help you build your solution on Azure.
   • Start an engagement for personalized guidance.
   • Design your solution using the Microsoft Well-Architected review.
2. Join ISV Success:
   • Members of ISV Success gain access to benefits that can help you build your intelligent app and go to market faster.​
   • Get 1:1 technical consultations.
   • Use Azure AI Studio and OpenAI.
   • Get 24/7 access to the Azure Support Plan.
   • Access cloud credits and developer tools - free for 12 months with no commitment to renew.
3. Take your solution to the market:
   • Publish your solution in the Microsoft commercial marketplace.
   • Extend your reach by selling with CSP partners.
   • Tap into the benefits of Marketplace Rewards.
4. Differentiate your business:
   • Access marketing power through Go-To-Market resources.
   • Create your business profile to help customers find you.
   • Attain a cloud competency and unlock valuable incentives.
   • Get a customized marketing plan and cobranded assets.

A Microsoft Partner ID is a unique identifier that gives you access to all the resources and benefits of your partnership with Microsoft. It's free to obtain and crucial for managing Microsoft tenants, licenses, incentives, and more. (Partner ID was formerly known as Microsoft Partner Network ID or MPN ID.)

Here's how you can get your Partner ID:

1. If you're not a Microsoft partner already, join the Microsoft Cloud AI Partner Program.
2. Once you're signed up, you can find your Partner ID by signing in to Microsoft Partner Center.
3. Navigate to the Legal info page and locate the Partner ID field.
4. Alternatively, you can find your Partner ID by navigating to Settings > Account settings > Identifiers.

Partner IDs streamline the management and publication of business profiles, ensuring alignment with our partner programs for enhanced visibility and credibility.

CSP program profiles can only be published within CSP regions, while non-CSP profiles can be published globally, extending your reach to a wider audience.

You can obtain a Partner ID through our partner program registration process. For more information, see the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program documentation.

Business profiles using Partner IDs must adhere to our content guidelines and policies. Review our documentation for these guidelines.

Yes, you can select different Partner IDs for different aspects of your business, and each Partner ID can have its own set of business profiles.

Our choice of Partner ID should align with your business goals and target audience. Consider factors such as geographical reach and expertise.

Yes, you can customize the content of your profiles for different locations to better cater to the specific needs of each audience.

Yes, you can delete business profiles and Partner IDs that are no longer relevant to your business. This action is irreversible.

As of February 29, 2024, all newly created business profiles must use Partner IDs.

We offer a migration process to convert existing profiles to Partner IDs. This migration option is available for 120 days from GA.

After migration window, business profiles not migrated to Partner IDs will be linked to Partner Global ID (PGA).

Yes, but after migration window, nonmigrated profiles will be linked to Partner Global ID (PGA) and can be accessed from Modern profile. It's important to migrate your profiles within the specified time frame.

Leads generated from non-migrated profiles are routed to Partner Global ID location.

Yes, you're allowed to select locations at the Publishing Location step and regions at the Selling markets step.

Note

Profiles aren't published at the location of your default Partner ID because it's for managing the content. Select same Partner ID location at Publishing Location step.

When you create or manage a business profile, Instead, you have the opportunity to select specific publishing locations in subsequent steps.

Published profiles don't display details about the management Partner ID, ensuring privacy and confidentiality. However, when a customer contacts your business using this profile, the lead is associated with your management Partner ID.

Yes, you can modify the publishing locations for your business profile at any time. Select edit to make changes.

Either partner has MPN ID or partner has existing business profile in that country. We don’t allow partners to create business profile at same location. Publishing location step has countries where Partner has MPN IDs. If a partner has selected country in publishing location step, we don’t allow to select the same country (location) in selling market step because the user has already selected it.

Leads generated through your published profiles are associated with your management Partner ID. You can manage these leads using the Referral admin role for the respective Partner ID.

A Microsoft Partner ID is a unique identifier that gives you access to all the resources and benefits of your partnership with Microsoft. It's free to obtain and crucial for managing Microsoft tenants, licenses, incentives, and more.

Here's how you can get your Partner ID:

1. If you're not a Microsoft partner already, you have to sign up in Partner Center.
2. Once you're signed up, you can find your Partner ID by logging into the Microsoft Partner Center.
3. Navigate to the Legal info page and locate the Partner ID field.
4. Alternatively, you can find your Partner ID by navigating to Settings > Account settings > Identifiers.

To enroll in Microsoft Partner Center, you might need to join or be a part of Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.

Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program: You need to join the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. This program helps you build quickly, scale growth, and sell worldwide, all while powering customers' transformation with Microsoft AI technology. Under the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, the Solutions Partner designations align to Microsoft solution areas and include incremental benefits so you can stand out from the competition and increase your customer reach.

Further, partners can participate in program offerings like Cloud Solution Provider (CSP). The CSP program helps you to be more involved in your customers' businesses, beyond reselling licenses, and can include the following benefits:

• Deeper customer engagements
• Increased profits and add value
• Provide managed services

Microsoft's CSP program is a reseller program that allows partners to sell and support cloud-based licenses for Office 365, Microsoft 365, and Azure, all on behalf of Microsoft. The program is designed to deepen customer engagements and open up new revenue streams by offering increased support and billing services.

There are two models in the CSP program: the indirect model and the direct bill model:

• Indirect model: In this model, you can purchase from an indirect provider who can collaborate with you for customer support and billing. Microsoft built a global network of qualified indirect providers who help partners grow their cloud business successfully in the CSP program.
• Direct bill model: In this model, partners purchase Microsoft products and subscriptions directly from Microsoft and sell them directly to their customers through their in-house sales staff. The direct-bill model requires partners to sell to, bill, manage, and support their customers autonomously.

To enroll as a CSP using your Partner ID, you can follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Partner Center using your work email (your Microsoft Entra tenant credentials).
2. Associate your Partner ID with your profile. If you're already enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, select the location Partner ID, which is linked to your incentives enrollments. The Partner Location ID must be active and located in the same country/region as your CSP account.
3. Enter the information to create your partner profile. If your company is registered with Dun & Bradstreet, you can use your DUNS ID to look up your company information. If you want to provide the company details yourself, select Enter manually.
4. For business addresses in some countries/regions, if you enter the address manually, Microsoft validates the address for you. If the address you entered differs from the validated one, we suggest that you use the validated address.
5. During verification, Microsoft might ask you for another document, or request that you complete a questionnaire. It can take several days to review and verify the information you provide. You'll receive an email after the review is complete.
6. After verification of your information, accept the Microsoft indirect reseller terms agreement. To accept the Microsoft Partner Agreement, sign in at the Partner Center and select CSP from the Pending actions view on the right-hand side.

To create a CSP business profile, sign in to Partner Center from that CSP tenant, and then the button to create a profile is enabled.

As a CSP, your company's location determines your market, which includes the regions/countries where you can sell CSP program offers.

• If your company is located in the United States, you can sell CSP offers to customers in the U.S. and in United States Minor Outlying Islands.
• If your company is located in the Africa region, you can sell CSP offers to customers in all 18 countries/regions in Africa.

However, it's important to note that the customers' locations described aren't necessarily the physical locations of the company. Instead, it depends on the country/region set in the tenant.

• If a customer located in Brazil has a tenant set in the United States, the customer is out of sales territory for CSPs in Brazil. Instead, the customer is eligible to transact with CSPs in the U.S.
• To buy a CSP offer, it must be available in both your tenant country/region and in your customer's tenant country/region.
• By contract, partners in the CSP program aren't allowed to sell Microsoft or non-Microsoft offers to themselves (as end-customers) or to their affiliate organizations (as end-customers).

To enroll in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Membership sign-in page.
2. Select Become a partner.
3. After becoming a partner, you can manage your Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program memberships and programs to help you go to market through the Membership page.

Becoming a services partner at Microsoft involves several steps:

1. Join the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program: This program is open for both new and old Silver or Gold Partners.
2. Choose your solution area: There are six Solutions partner designations available for partners. Each of these designations aligns to a specific solution area offered by Microsoft.
3. Qualify for Solutions Partner designations: Eligibility for Solutions partner designations is based on the partner capability score achieved by your organization.
4. Purchase of Solutions Partner designations: Once you're qualified in one or more Solution Area designations, your status changes to Qualified. You can then proceed with payment to get enrolled into Solutions Partner designation program.
5. Renewal of Solutions Partner designations: Once you purchase (new partners) or get upgraded from older Silver or Gold to new Solutions Partner designations, you are allowed to do renewal.

Becoming an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) partner at Microsoft involves a series of steps:

1. Make the most of your Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program membership:
   • Joining the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program opens the gateway to exclusive membership benefits.
   • Choose how you want to do business with Microsoft.
   • Get on-demand training to help you build your solution on Azure.
   • Start an engagement for personalized guidance.
   • Design your solution using the Microsoft Well-Architected review.
2. Join ISV Success:
   • Members of ISV Success gain access to benefits that can help you build your intelligent app and go to market faster.​
   • Get 1:1 technical consultations.
   • Use Azure AI Studio and OpenAI.
   • Get 24/7 access to the Azure Support Plan.
   • Access cloud credits and developer tools - free for 12 months with no commitment to renew.
3. Take your solution to the market:
   • Publish your solution in the Microsoft commercial marketplace.
   • Extend your reach by selling with CSP partners.
   • Tap into the benefits of Marketplace Rewards.
4. Differentiate your business:
   • Access marketing power through Go-To-Market resources.
   • Create your business profile to help customers find you.
   • Attain a cloud competency and unlock valuable incentives.
   • Get a customized marketing plan and cobranded assets.