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Comprehensive Guide to Microsoft Partner Incentives, Eligibility, POE, and Incentive Amounts

This response offers a detailed explanation of Microsoft's commercial partner incentive programs, focusing on eligibility requirements, Proof of Execution (POE) procedures, and a breakdown of potential incentive amounts for various programs.


Understanding Eligibility

Before engaging in any activities to earn incentives, partners must confirm their eligibility for each specific program.

Key eligibility factors include

Solutions Partner Designations

Replacing the legacy competency system, these designations recognize partners' demonstrated skills and experience in Microsoft Cloud solution areas. Partners can attain designations in areas like Digital & App Innovation (Azure), Infrastructure (Azure), Modern Work, Data & AI (Azure), and more.


Specializations

Partners can achieve specializations to showcase advanced expertise within specific solution areas, potentially opening doors to additional engagement opportunities.


Revenue Performance

Certain programs might require partners to meet minimum revenue thresholds, reflecting their commitment to the Microsoft ecosystem and proven ability to generate business results.


Program Enrollment

For each company location seeking to participate, partners must complete the enrollment procedures within the Partner Center. This typically involves meeting specific criteria and providing necessary information.


Proof of Execution (POE)

POE documentation provides evidence of partners' efforts to drive customer adoption and usage of Microsoft solutions. The specific requirements vary based on the incentive program.

Claims Requiring Partner of Record Association: Usage-based incentives or those tied to role-based access control require POE to validate the partner's association with the customer.

Examples include:

MCI Modern Work & Security Usage: Requires proof of influence on customer usage of Microsoft 365.

MCI Biz Apps Presales Advisor: Requires evidence of pre-sales activities that led to customer adoption of Business Applications.

Claims for Cooperative Marketing Funds (Co-op): Partners must document their marketing and demand generation activities to claim co-op funds.

Other Incentive Types: Microsoft might request POE at its discretion for incentives based on activities performed, access to customer environments, or engagements with public sector entities.


Constructing Strong POE

To maximize the likelihood of successful claims, partners should focus on creating strong POE documentation that includes:

Active Engagement: Clear demonstration of the partner's proactive involvement throughout the customer engagement.

Detailed Activity Descriptions: Comprehensive accounts of all tasks performed, timelines, and resources utilized.

Engagement Timelines: Well-defined start and end dates for engagements, including key milestones achieved.

User Counts: Specific details on the number of users engaged or impacted by the partner's activities, especially for user adoption-focused engagements.

Customer-Specific Solutions: Emphasis on how solutions were tailored to meet the customer's unique needs and overcome challenges.


Acceptable activities for POE documentation include

Deployment/Migration of customer workloads to Microsoft cloud solutions.

Remote guidance and support are provided to customers when utilizing Microsoft technologies.

Adoption and change management initiatives.

Pilot programs, planning and advisory services, and customer support.


Detailed Breakdown of Incentive Amounts

Modern Work Incentives

Copilot Adoption Accelerator: For driving customer adoption of Microsoft Copilot, partners can earn:

XLarge (Market A): $75,000

XLarge (Market B): $55,000

XLarge (Market C): $37,500

Large (Market A): $50,000

Large (Market B): $37,500

Large (Market C): $25,000


Copilot Evaluation Accelerator: For facilitating customer evaluation of Microsoft Copilot:

Medium (Market A): $25,000

Medium (Market B): $20,000

Medium (Market C): $15,000

Small (Market A): $15,000

Small (Market B): $11,500

Small (Market C): $7,500


CSP Microsoft 365 E5 Adoption Accelerator:

$12,750 (Market A), $9,750 (Market B), and $8,750 (Market C) for driving the adoption of Microsoft 365 E5.


Teams Phone Pilot:

$20,000 (Market A), $15,000 (Market B), and $10,000 (Market C) for assisting with Teams Phone pilot implementations.


Security Incentives

Threat Protection

$6,500 (Market A), $4,000 (Market B), and $1,500 (Market C) for encouraging customer adoption of security workloads.


Microsoft Sentinel Migrate and Modernize

For supporting customer migration to Microsoft Sentinel:

Medium: $35,000 (Market A), $28,000 (Market B), $21,000 (Market C)

Large: $50,000 (Market A), $40,000 (Market B), $30,000 (Market C)


Azure Incentives

Azure Migrate & Modernize Partner-led Engagements

Fixed payments based on project size, with varying amounts for Solution Assessment for Rapid Migration, Migrating to Azure VMware Solution, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, SAP Migration, and Migration to SAP RISE in Azure. Refer to the AMM Engagement Payout page for country-specific details.


Azure Innovate Partner-led Engagements

Fixed payments, again based on project size, for engagements like Accelerate Developer Productivity Deployment, ISV Build & Modernize AI Apps Proof of Value, Azure AI Platform Proof of Value, and Azure AI Platform Deployment. Specific amounts are detailed on the Azure Innovate Engagement Payout page.


Business Applications Incentives

Biz Apps Presales Advisor Incentives

Fixed dollar amounts per incremental seat for various workloads, with differentiated rates for enterprise (ENT) and small and medium-sized customers (SMC). Examples include:

Sales & Service: $20 (ENT), $80 (SMC)

Finance & Supply Chain: $175 (ENT), $350 (SMC)

Low Code: $5 (ENT and SMC)

Activity & Devices: $75 (ENT), $175 (SMC)


CSP Incentives

Microsoft 365 new commerce CSP

Incentives are based on billed revenue, with percentage rates varying for core, strategic accelerators, and customer adds. Specific details and maximum earning opportunities are outlined in the sources.


Dynamics 365 new commerce CSP

Similar to Microsoft 365, incentives are tied to billed revenue, with differentiated percentages for core, strategic accelerators, and customer adds. Refer to the sources for detailed information.


Important Considerations

Market Segmentation

Incentive amounts often differ based on geographical regions, typically categorized as Market A, Market B, and Market C. The sources provide detailed lists of countries within each market segment.

Maximum Earning Opportunities: Many incentive programs have maximum earning limits (caps) that partners can reach within a given period. Once a cap is reached, further earnings might be halted until the next incentive year.


Conclusion

Navigating the intricacies of Microsoft's partner incentive programs requires a thorough understanding of eligibility criteria, POE procedures, and the specific incentive structures for each program. By diligently adhering to the guidelines, maintaining accurate documentation, and strategically aligning activities with program objectives, partners can optimize their earning potential while driving customer success and solidifying their partnership with Microsoft.

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