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Solutions Partner with certified software designation benefits

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Appropriate roles: Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partner admin | Referrals admin | Co-sell Solutions admin

Overview of benefits

Attaining a certified software designation for your solution unlocks go-to-market, sales, and marketing benefits designed to help propel your growth and fuel greater demand for your solutions. The marketplace is the essential platform for co-sell opportunities. It maximizes the full benefits of becoming a Solutions Partner with certified software. It helps Microsoft sellers quickly and confidently identify your solution for co-sell opportunities.

Some of the go-to-market, sales, and marketing benefits are as follows:

  • Customer-facing badging: When you become a Solutions Partner with certified software, a digital badge for your solution appears on the Microsoft commercial marketplace. The badge includes Azure Marketplace and Microsoft AppSource, which includes Industry Cloud Gallery. You can also download the badge for use in your marketing collateral. This badge matters - 68% of customers searching for software solutions evaluate vendor certifications and badging when making purchasing decisions.
  • Microsoft solution play cards: Designed to facilitate relevant and easy discovery by Microsoft sellers, use these cards to highlight the scenarios your software solution addresses.
  • Nurture assets and emails: Use these assets to go to market more quickly and help drive demand for your certified solution.
  • Customer-facing solution briefs: Outline use cases and value propositions tailored to your target audience for use in various go-to-market strategies, which can be customized to reflect your unique brand.
  • Marketing concierge: Access subject matter experts who can provide assistance with available marketing benefits and guidance with the fulfillment process. This helps ensure partners experience the full benefits of becoming a Solutions Partner with certified software.
  • Qualify for Azure ISV partner-led incentives*: Azure Migrate and Modernize and Azure Innovate assist with migrating and modernizing customers to Azure. It also assists with creating new apps or modernizing an existing app to build in AI or analytics functionality.
  • Top Tier benefits*, such as:
    • Access to Partner Reported ACR (PRACR): An exclusive SaaS joint-sales offering so that Microsoft sellers are recognized for selling your eligible Azure solutions.
    • Enhanced Microsoft seller discovery: A solution shows as a certified software in Microsoft seller platforms so that they can more easily identify you and promote leads to your organization.

Note

*Starting July 1, 2024, partners can qualify for top tier benefits and Azure Migrate & Modernize and Innovate incentives by attaining one of seven Solutions Partner with certified software designations: Azure, Security, or any of the five Industry AI designations.

How to redeem benefits

  1. Upon successful audit completion and attainment of a Solutions Partner with certified software designations, you can see the list of benefits available for you to redeem under the Benefits workspace.

  2. In the Benefits workspace, see the Redeem benefits section to get instructions and actions on how to redeem or activate those benefits.

  3. Similarly, you can go to the Logo Builder workspace to activate and download a badge for use in your marketing collateral. Learn how to create a partner logo, award logo, or certified letter with Logo Builder.

  4. For several benefits (solution play cards, nurture assets, emails, and solution briefs), when you activate the benefit, you're introduced to your marketing concierge and a contracted agency to build the assets you selected. Here's what you'll need to prepare:

    1. Timeline: These benefits can be completed in 3-4 weeks with three virtual meetings. These meetings include a one-hour combined kick-off and discovery, and two half-hour review syncs.

    2. Requirements: You'll be asked to provide the following materials before or within two days of kick-off through an intake form that asks for the following info:

      • Brand guidelines (logos, fonts, colors, and icon sets)

      • Digital certification badge (downloaded from Logo Builder or your commercial marketplace listing)

      • Deal data information, for example:

        • Avg Sales Cycle
        • Avg Deal Size
        • Sell With (the products included in deals)
        • Professional Services (the professional services offered or required)

      • Contact Information for any Microsoft contacts, if applicable

      • Your company’s sales contact name and email

        • Optional materials:

          • Public-facing case study (can be anonymized)
          • Solution brief design template
          • Partner solution messaging and positioning framework
          • Third party referenceable assets (analyst reports, articles)

    3. Questionnaire: In the initial kick-off call, be prepared to answer questions to assist with the asset build. Provide details about the asset build's target audience, value proposition, opportunities, messaging and positioning, use cases, and calls-to-action.

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