The latest information in one place
Welcome to our first Microsoft Cloud and Modern Work partner newsletter for 2026!
This edition combines updates for January and February.
We will continue to update monthly from March.
Each edition will highlight items and actions that are important and/or time sensitive in the first ‘TL:DR’ section.
Bookmark this page for easy reference and check back each month for your one-stop Microsoft update shop.
January/February 2026
TL:DR PRIORITY UPDATES.
EXTENDED SERVICE TERMS (EST)
Microsoft is replacing the free post expiry grace period with a paid Extended Service Term (EST). The grace period is discontinued for expiring subscriptions from May 4, 2026.
EST bills monthly at the monthly rate +3% uplift.
Partners now have three explicit end-of-term actions: Renew, cancel at end of term, or move to EST.
M365 & O365 UPCOMING NEW FEATURE AND PRICING ADJUSTMENTS
Effective July 2026, Microsoft has announced new features and price changes for Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Updates include adding Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 to E3 licenses, introducing additional Intune capabilities to Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, and increasing mailbox storage by 50 GB for Microsoft 365 Business plans.
NEW COPILOT LAUNCH OFFERS
Copilot for Business and Copilot Bundles provide cost-effective AI solutions for SMB customers. Latest offers include:
- 15% off Microsoft Copilot Business add-on
- Up to 35% off Microsoft Business + Copilot Business bundles
- 50% off Microsoft Purview Suite for Business Premium
POWER PLATFORM LICENSING MODERNISATION
Several longstanding licensing models were retired or transformed. Power Apps Per App License is now EOS.
NEW PAYG BILLING MODE FOR POWER APPS
Per-App now available via Azure subscription. Learn more about the PAYG plan for Power Platform.
Modern Work & Business Applications
M365 & O365
New Features and Pricing Adjustments
Microsoft has announced new features and price changes for Office 365 and Microsoft 365, set to take effect in 2026.
Updates include adding Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 to E3 licenses, introducing additional Intune capabilities to Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, and increasing mailbox storage by 50 GB for Microsoft 365 Business plans.
New features will be added to the SKUs in 2026.
In the meantime, price adjustments ranging from 5% to 33% will take effect on July 1, 2026, for both new and renewing subscriptions across Commercial and Not for Profit customers.
Changes will apply globally, with local market adjustments.
Effective July 2026
New Extended Service Terms (EST).
Subscription Grace Period Discontinued
Effective May 4, 2026, the free grace period for accessing services on non-renewed subscriptions will be discontinued. Customers who do not renew must either cancel at end of term and lose access immediately, or enter a paid extended service term (EST) to continue service.
The extended service term bills monthly at current monthly terms rate plus a 3% uplift or 23% if no monthly plan exists.
EST includes three end of term options, replacing the historic 2 (renew on/off). These three options give partners more control over what happens at the end of term and allows them more options if more time is needed to resolve customer intent.
How EST Works
Today (Pre-May 2026)
If auto-renew is turned off, after a subscription expires a free 30-day grace period kicks in and service stays accessible without payment. This provides partners with additional time to finalise the renewal.
Future (May 2026 onward)
The free grace period is eliminated. At expiration, partners/customers must either:
- Renew the subscription on time and avoid disruption
- Cancel at expiration, which stops services at the end of term. Data retention is preserved but cannot be recovered or reactivated.
- Enter paid EST to continue service, at the EST rate (monthly term rate + 3% uplift).
PLEASE NOTE:
- License-based services purchased on or after April 1, 2025, and expiring on or after May 4, 2026, with auto-renew off, will automatically transition to EST upon expiration
- Microsoft has updated the subscriptions in scope for EST from Auto-renewal OFF to ON, and renewal policy to EST. This process has taken place between 6th and 15th of February
- Partners will soon be able to remove EST and cancel subscriptions upon expiration.
See the Extended Service Term article from Microsoft for details on this announcement and the impact to you and your customers.
Power Platform Licensing Modernisation.
Major restructuring has seen several longstanding licensing models retired or transformed.
- Power Apps Per App License – End of Sale (Jan 2026): A major shift removing low-cost per app entry point.
- AI Builder – End of Sale (Nov 2025): AI Builder is no longer purchasable; entitlements remain only for existing customers until Nov 2026.
- Dataverse Capacity Increases (Dec 2025): Default DB capacity increased dramatically (e.g., Power Apps from 10GB to 20GB; Copilot Studio Database from 5GB to 15GB).
Why these changes have taken place.
The platform is shifting to AI native, Copilot driven app delivery, requiring new economics and higher baseline storage for enterprise scale data workloads.
Dynamics 365 - AI and Licensing Evolution.
Contact Center undergoes full ‘Copilot First’ reinvention.
Dynamics 365 Contact Center is now a Copilot first solution:
- Deep Teams Phone extensibility
- Intelligent Voicebot minutes
- AI powered routing, knowledge management, and quality evaluation agents
Customer Service Premium with full Digital + Voice + Copilot Bundle.
This is now Microsoft’s flagship AI customer engagement SKU, bundling:
- Customer Service Enterprise
- Contact Center (Digital + Voice)
- 1K Copilot Credits/user
Finance Premium adds Copilot Credits and more AI capacity.
- 1K Copilot Credits/user included
- More e-invoicing capacity
- Expanded AI enhanced FP\&A and analytics
Dynamics Agents (across apps).
Business Central, Customer Service, Contact Center all introduce prebuilt AI agents, including Sales Order Agent, Payables Agent, Customer Intent Agent, etc.
Why are these changes happening in Dynamics 365?
Dynamics is shifting from application centric to AI centric, packaging copilots, agents, routing, and voice intelligence into turnkey business solutions.
Dataverse Becomes the Enterprise AI Data Layer.
Massive capacity increases plus new AI oriented connectivity:
- Dataverse MCP Server introduced (Dec 2025) to enable AI agents to interact with enterprise data using natural language securely.
- Default storage increases across Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Copilot Studio products.
Why it matters
Dataverse is evolving into the foundation for enterprise AI retrieval, grounding, and orchestration across Microsoft clouds.
Expanded eligible workloads for the Solutions Partner for Modern Work designation.
The Solutions Partner for Modern Work designation continues to be a striking way for partners to stand out in the competitive market.
To better support partners, Microsoft are expanding eligible workloads to create more pathways to qualify for the designation. The newly expanded list includes several new workloads:
- AI (Microsoft 365 Copilot)
- Identity (Entra ID P1)
- Teams premium, frontline, calling, rooms, and associated metrics
- Windows 365
Retirement of SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business.
Plan 1 and Plan 2 affected.
Microsoft is evolving its cloud storage and collaboration offerings and is retiring the standalone SharePoint Online (SPO) plan 1 and plan 2 and OneDrive for Business (ODB) plan 1 and plan 2 SKUs.
This change reflects:
- low customer demand for standalone offerings
- increased instances of unintended or nonstandard usage
- higher operational costs associated with maintaining these plans.
Entra ID P2 and Defender for Endpoint P2 now available in CSP.
As a Microsoft Partner, you can now upsell Entra ID P2 and Defender for Endpoint P2 to existing Microsoft 365 E3 customers through CSP using incremental, programmatic step up pricing; the same pricing model previously available through EA and MCA E motions.
This motion is intentionally guided and targeted. It’s designed for Microsoft 365 E3 customers who aren’t yet ready for Security Suites or Microsoft 365 E5 but have a clear need to strengthen identity protection and endpoint security today. It also preserves a natural growth path to broader security suites as customer needs evolve.
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot for Business & Bundles.
We are excited to announce that the new Copilot for Business and Copilot Business Bundles are now available for ordering.
These new SKUs make advanced AI productivity tools accessible and affordable for small and medium businesses.
The SKUs are available at an introductory price with discounts of up to 35% for eligible customers, for a limited time.
- Microsoft Copilot for Business: introductory 15%* discount with prices starting from AUD $26.91
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard Copilot Bundle: introductory 35%* discount with prices starting from AUD $ 32.90
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium Copilot Bundle: introductory 25%* discount with prices starting from AUD $ 47.93
Get all the details on these fantastic offers here or speak to your Account Manager.
Microsoft 365 Copilot for Education now from AUD $27/user/month.
The Microsoft 365 Copilot for Education offering is now available at a new, reduced rate, starting from just AUD $27 per user per month.
This special pricing aims to make advanced AI-powered productivity tools more accessible to educational institutions, enabling students, teachers, and staff to leverage the latest in artificial intelligence for collaboration, learning, and administrative tasks.
What’s included:
- Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote all grounded in your institution’s Microsoft 365 data
- EDU specific AI experiences like Teach (lesson plans, quizzes, rubrics) and Study & Learn (student practice activities), with LMS integration previews coming
- Enterprise grade security, privacy, and compliance that inherit your Microsoft 365 controls.
GPT-5.2 in Microsoft 365 Copilot Now Available.
GPT‑5.2 brings GPT-5.2 Thinking as the best model yet for complex problems and strategic insights together with GPT-5.2 Instant as an efficient model for everyday writing, translation, and skill-building.
This model becomes even more powerful when applied to work. In Microsoft 365 Copilot, it connects to Work IQ to unlock insights, market research, and strategic planning, with rapid reasoning across your meetings, emails, docs, and more.
GPT-5.2 is accessible in the model selector in both Copilot Chat and Copilot Studio, so you have the latest innovation to solve your unique business challenges and create more compelling agent experiences.
Azure Infrastructure: Cloud and AI
Microsoft DMC and PMC Changes.
Key updates to partner marketing ecosystem.
DMC (Digital Marketing Content OnDemand) was retired on December 31, 2025. All previously stored campaigns or automation are now unavailable.
The Partner Marketing Center (PMC) is being upgraded to a new AI‑powered Marketing Center launching in early 2026.
This platform brings campaign assets, intelligent search, co‑branding, and automated campaign delivery together in one space.
Additionally, the GTM Toolbox has also been retired, and its content will now be integrated into the new PMC platform.
These changes mark Microsoft’s move toward an AI-first GTM experience, giving partners more powerful tools for campaign creation, customization, and execution.
If you’d like assistance transitioning to the new tools or aligning your FY26 marketing strategy, Crayon is here to support you.
AI and Medicine: Bridging the gap with Claude in Microsoft Foundry
Claude in Microsoft Foundry advances capabilities for healthcare and life sciences customers.
Healthcare and life sciences organisations face rising complexity, fragmented workflows, and strict regulatory demands.
Claude in Microsoft Foundry now includes new tools, connectors, and skills from Anthropic that enable advanced reasoning, multi‑step agentic workflows, and domain‑specific intelligence for medical and scientific tasks.
Built on Azure’s secure foundation, these enhancements support use cases like clinical research, documentation, prior authorisation review, and workflow automation, helping teams scale AI responsibly in regulated environments.
AI Cloud Partner Program Updates
Powering growth through benefits that drive real impact.
Partner benefits packages are a core part of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program. These benefits are exclusively designed for partners with bundled offers of discounted product licenses, product credits, and 1:1 program and technical consulting.
The three benefit packages scale with you, whether you’re building new practices, expanding services, or investing in AI opportunities.
As customer expectations continue to evolve and AI becomes central to growth, we’re expanding these offerings in February 2026. You will gain access to additional Microsoft Copilot licenses, expanded security benefits, and a new on-demand AI partner marketing resource to drive demand and reach customers more effectively. Now is the time to get ready.
Explore the three partner benefits packages, then have your partner admin complete the purchase in Partner Center.
FY26 Q2 Update: What’s new in certified software designations?
An important change to how partners access Azure IP co-sell benefits.
Effective January 1, 2026, partners will need to hold a Solutions Partner* with certified software designation to continue accessing benefits such as partner-reported Azure consumed revenue (PRACR), partner-led incentives, go-to-market benefits, and prioritized sales engagement. This shift simplifies the partner experience by unifying high-value benefits under a single designation while creating a more consistent path to co-sell opportunities. If you are not yet designated, you can begin the certification process now to maintain or gain access.
Read the full article to understand what’s changing and how to prepare for 2026.
Skilling.
Skilling continues to be one of the strongest drivers of partner success as AI reshapes customer demand. Now is a great time to check out the latest Partner Ready Workshops, or to revisit the most recent skilling blogs from Microsoft from October, November, and December.
Marketplace - the $300B Partner Services opportunity.
A commissioned study by Omdia (October 2025) found Marketplace is projected to be a nearly $300B partner services opportunity by 2030.
For partners who sell through Marketplace, the study found:
- 88% attribute their revenue growth to Marketplace.
- 75% close sales faster.
- 69% saw larger deals.
According to Omdia’s analysis, partners can unlock up to $6.26 in services revenue for every $1 spent on software solutions via Marketplace.
The report also identifies common characteristics of partners who are best equipped to capture and parlay this multiplier effect into sustained profitability.
The Marketplace opportunity for channel ecosystem.
Far from being displaced by marketplace growth, Omdia projects that by the end of this decade, partners will be the central force behind 6 out of every ten marketplace transactions. Partners will increasingly be relied upon to orchestrate and coordinate customer commitments across multiple marketplaces, advising and guiding strategic procurement guidance and providing ongoing support from onboarding through renewal.
There can be little doubt that Marketplace continues to evolve as a powerful engine for partner-led growth.
With the new resale enabled offers, software companies can grant channel partners the right to sell their solutions, while partners maintain customer relationships and drive sales through Marketplace.
For you, this means faster sales cycles, more predictable deals (including multiyear contracts and flexible billing), and the ability to tap into customers’ existing cloud-commitment budgets when eligible.
Microsoft’s Director of Partner Experiences, Mason McCoy recently published an article that may help provide context to Omdia’s findings – well worth a read.
Ignite 2025 Sessions On-Demand
Ready to revisit the presentations that delivered all the must-know moments at Microsoft Ignite?
They’re just a click away!
Simply select from the list below to find links to Partner session recordings.
Cloud and AI Platform Updates
Microsoft Agent 365: The control plane for AI agents
AI agents are transforming work, and now there’s a control plane to manage them. Microsoft Agent 365 allows IT and security teams to track every agent, set access controls, visualize connections across people and data, and secure agent activity with integrated protections. Manage agents the way you manage users and scale with confidence.
Cloud and AI Platforms Blog Series.
Cloud & AI Platforms series brings together the priorities partners are hearing most from customers, including modernising applications, unifying data, and preparing for AI innovation on a trusted cloud foundation. Across these posts, Microsoft experts share how partners can enable customers to build AI-ready architectures, reduce complexity, and create long-term value with Azure.
Explore the series:
Part 1: Capturing the market opportunity
Part 2: Building the foundation
Part 3: Unifying your data platform
Part 4: Building an AI app and agent factory
Part 5: Innovating with AI and agents (coming soon)
Migrate and Modernise Summit Recap.
The recent Migrate & Modernise Summit laid out a powerful vision for how partners can lead customers through smarter, faster cloud journeys.
Catch up on the main highlights in this blog from Microsoft, which includes:
- new AI-powered tools and resources such as autonomous agents in GitHub Copilot for app moderisation
- enhanced capabilities in Azure Migrate for planning and executing migrations,
- newly announced Azure Accelerate program, bringing expert guidance, funding support, and streamlined deployment across Azure.
Microsoft Fabric ‘Ask Me Anything’ series.
Engage directly with Fabric leadership, discover product insights, and explore roadmap discussions through Ask Me Anything sessions on the Fabric Partner Community.
SQL Partner Community.
Join SQL Server and Azure SQL experts for engineering updates, curated resources, and a dedicated space to collaborate with peers.
Azure: Platform updates and modernisation.
Recent Azure updates and modernisation guidance focuses on supporting customers as they migrate, secure, and modernize workloads. Together, the latest updates strengthen the Azure foundation for application modernisation, data, and AI, while reducing risk and accelerating time to value.
Catch up on updates from the past quarter:
Azure updates for partners: December 2025
Azure updates for partners: November 2025
Azure updates for partners: October 2025
Accelerating secure Azure migrations.
Secure cloud migration remains a top priority for customers, and partners are the ones who bring clarity, confidence, and speed to that journey.
Catch Microsoft’s blog, Secure migration starts with trusted cloud and AI expertise, to learn how you can lead customers through assessments, modernisation, and full Azure adoption with security, speed, and real business value.
Microsoft and Oracle: The future of enterprise cloud data for partners.
Microsoft and Oracle have built a practical “best of both” option for customers who want to keep Oracle databases but standardise the rest of the stack on Azure.
With Oracle Database@Azure, Oracle runs and manages Oracle Database services on Oracle Exadata infrastructure placed inside Azure datacentres, so Azure apps can access Oracle data with very low latency.
Partners and their customers can provision and operate the service through familiar Azure experiences.
For partners, this presents a clear delivery play:
- Modernise without rewriting: move or extend Oracle workloads into an Azure-aligned architecture while retaining Oracle performance and features for mission-critical systems.
- Build AI and analytics on top: keep the database where it makes sense, then use Azure AI, app services, security, and governance to build new experiences, copilots, and reporting around that Oracle data.
- Run it as a managed service: offer ongoing operations such as connectivity, security controls, monitoring, patching coordination, resilience, and cost management across the combined Azure + Oracle environment.
Microsoft Promotions and Offers
Introductory Copilot for Business and Copilot Business Bundle Offers.
These launch offers for Copilot for Business and Copilot Business Bundles aims to help accelerate Copilot deployments within Microsoft 365 Business SKU customers.
- Up to 15% Off Copilot for Business
- Up to 35% Off Business Standard and Copilot Business Bundle
- Up to 25% Off Business Premium and Copilot Business Bundle
Dynamics 365 Contact Center – 40% off.
This limited-time promotional offer aims to accelerate the adoption of Dynamics 365 Contact Center, including among organizations with existing telephony investments in Microsoft Teams Phone. The offer provides a significant discount to encourage commercial customers to adopt Dynamics 365 Contact Center solutions.
Bridge to Cloud 3 Promotion – 30% off.
On January 1, 2026, Microsoft launched the “Bridge to Cloud 3” (BTC3) NCE promotion, offering eligible “Dynamics on-premises” commercial customers a 30% discount during a 3-year non-cancellable term when migrating to most Dynamics 365 online products.
Through Bridge to Cloud 3, customers gain access to exclusive offers like Dual-Use Rights that facilitate a seamless move from legacy systems to modern cloud solutions.
Whether upgrading infrastructure, enhancing security, or adopting new productivity tools, the promotion helps organisations future-proof their operations and maximise the value of their technology investments.
Crayon Promotions
Earn Additional Rebates with Business Premium Attach.
Partners can now earn a per-seat rebate when they attach an approved Microsoft add-on SKU to existing Business Premium customers, or when they purchase a Business Premium Copilot bundle.
Crayon’s Business Premium Attach Incentive is designed to help you unlock more value from your existing customer base, without chasing new logos or rebuilding your sales motion.
Cert4Experts: Get Microsoft Certified for Free.
By popular demand, the Crayon Certs4Xperts program is back!
Starting January 1, 2026, Certs4Xperts is a proven way to take your in-house Microsoft skills certifications from Fundamentals to Intermediate, Advanced and Technical, for free.
Choose your certification path to complement technical roles and requirements. Take the courses, sit the exams, and earn globally recognised industry certifications, all courtesy of Crayon. Build knowledge, build in-house skill sets and build your competitive advantage.
The participating Partners who successfully pass eligible Microsoft certification exams within the program period will have their full exam fee reimbursed.
Training. Events. Bootcamps
Crayon Webinar: Unlocking the Copilot Partner Opportunity.
Copilot presents a significant opportunity to drive new customer acquisition, expand existing accounts, and build long-term, recurring services across AI, automation, and business process optimisation.
This webinar is designed to help partners understand where to start, how to position Copilot, and how to build a repeatable Copilot and Agents practice that scales.
We’ll walk through the full Copilot partner journey from entry-level adoption with Copilot Chat, through upsell motions, agent-led automation, managed services, and advanced scenarios, all with a clear focus on practical execution, not theory.
Microsoft Skilling
Microsoft Skilling Hub.
All in one place from Titan & LevelUp to SureStep, AI Tour for Partners, and regional events. Easier navigation and simplified sign-in.
Microsoft Titan Skilling Academy for Partners.
Register for Microsoft Titan Skilling Academy today! Deepen your expertise across sales, pre-sales, and technical solution areas and become a Microsoft Titan!
December 2025
TL:DR PRIORITY UPDATES.
PARTNER CENTRE REGULATIONS AND COMPLIANCE
Indirect Resellers must meet Microsoft CSP Authorization requirements as of October 2025; check your status in Partner Center.
Microsoft POR validations start December 2025. Use the PRISM Dashboard to view account issues and follow resolution instructions.
NEW LAUNCH OFFERS: COPILOT BUSINESS AND COPILOT BUNDLES
Announced at Ignite 2025, Copilot for Business and Copilot Bundles provide cost-effective AI solutions for SMB customers.
15% OFF MICROSOFT 365 COPILOT BUSINESS ADD-ON
This promotion makes it easier for customers who want to start with Copilot as an add-on to experience AI-powered productivity.
UP TO 35% OFF MICROSOFT 365 BUSINESS + COPILOT BUSINESS BUNDLES
Promotional bundles combine Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Premium with Copilot Business in one SKU, making AI a natural extension of productivity and offering up to 35% savings for customers.
50% OFF MICROSOFT PURVIEW SUITE FOR BUSINESS PREMIUM
Purview Suite promotion creates an opportunity to pair AI innovation with enterprise-grade security, addressing one of the biggest SMB concerns.
IGNITE 2025 COPILOT ENHANCEMENTS
Microsoft introduced several enhancements to Copilot including, Work IQ for personalised AI, Agent Mode for collaboration in Office apps, Agent 365 for centralised AI management, and support for GPT-5 and Anthropic.
AZURE EXTENDED ZONE IS NOW LIVE IN PERTH, WA (GENERALLY AVAILABLE)
This brings:
- Lower Latency: Faster app performance by running workloads locally.
- Local Data Residency: Keep data within WA for compliance.
- Cost Efficiency: Reduce on-prem needs with Azure scalability.
CSP Program Updates
Partner of Record (POR) Changes Effective December 1, 2025
Microsoft’s CSP (Reseller) Partner on Record (POR) compliance rules is now in effect and will enforce new validation rules for assigning (Reseller) Partner of Record (POR) on CSP subscriptions. Only authorised indirect resellers can be assigned as POR. To avoid disruption to your business—including the inability to create or update subscriptions after 1 December— please ensure that:
- Your CSP enrolment is active in Microsoft Partner Center
- You provided Crayon with correct Partner Location Account ID and Microsoft CSP Agreement ID.
We have now made it easier to identify these setup and configuration issues with alerts in PRISM. Login to your PRISM Dashboard to verify your status and review recommended remediations.
Download the Indirect Reseller Checklist
Introducing the Launch Enablement Guide
Get the latest launch updates across the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) offering and Volume Licensing (VL) in one place.
With the AI-enhanced, always-current Launch Enablement guide, you can easily access consolidated launch updates and official Microsoft Learn content to self-serve and stay informed.
Stay ahead of what’s coming, and ahead of changes to how you do business with Microsoft.
View the Launch Enablement Guide
Microsoft Ignite 2025 Highlights
Copilot Enhancements
- Work IQ: New intelligence layer that personalizes Copilot by understanding organisational data, workflows, and preferences.
- Agent Mode in Office Apps: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint now support iterative collaboration with Copilot.
- Agent 365: A centralised control plane for managing and securing AI agents.
- Expanded Model Choice: Includes GPT-5 and Anthropic models for optimised performance.
Learn more about Copilot Enhancements
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business & Bundles
We are excited to announce that the new Copilot Business and Copilot Business Bundles are now available for ordering. These new SKUs make advanced AI productivity tools accessible and affordable for small and medium businesses.
The SKUs are available at an introductory price with discounts of up to 35% for eligible customers, for a limited time.
- Microsoft Copilot Business: Offer price from USD $18
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard Copilot Bundle: Offer price from USD $22
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium Copilot Bundle: Offer price from USD $32
Contact your Crayon account manager or review here for more information.
AI and Data Innovations
- Fabric IQ: Real-time insights by combining analytical, time-series, and location-based data.
- Foundry IQ: Advanced agent reasoning with multi-source data integration.
- Microsoft Agent Factory: Build and deploy AI agents easily across your organisation.
Azure AI and Cloud Updates
- New Azure OpenAI models and fine-tuning capabilities.
- AI safety and governance tools in Azure AI Studio.
- Enhanced AKS for AI workloads and multi-cloud deployments.
- New Agent Factory– Microsoft Agent Factory helps organisations scale AI fast with the Agent Pre-Purchase Plan (P3), one flexible pool for 32 Microsoft services, simplifying procurement and reducing complexity. Deploy agents anywhere (including Microsoft 365 Copilot), leverage CSP options, and access expert support plus role-based training to accelerate AI adoption.
Security and Compliance
- Microsoft Security Copilot now integrates deeper with Defender and Sentinel.
- Advanced compliance features for regulated industries.
Ignite 2025
The Wrap-Up
Catch our comprehensive summary of the need-to-know announcements, combined with the resource links you’ll need to dive into the detail!
CSP Product Updates
Dynamics 365 and Power Platform.
New Power Platform agentic capabilities to simplify app building with AI-driven workflows.
The recent announcement at Ignite introduced new agentic capabilities for Power Platform, designed to make app development more accessible and efficient.
These capabilities leverage artificial intelligence to automate complex workflows and streamline the process of building business applications.
By incorporating AI-driven features, users can now easily create apps that respond intelligently to dynamic business needs, reducing manual intervention and coding requirements.
This advancement empowers both professional developers and citizen developers to accelerate solution delivery by utilising pre-built AI models, natural language interface for workflow creation, and enhanced integration with Microsoft’s broader AI ecosystem. As a result, organisations can quickly adapt to changing environments, automate routine tasks, and unlock new levels of productivity within their digital operations.
CSP Product Updates
Cloud & AI (Azure Infrastructure).
Azure Extended Zone now live in Perth WA
In great news for partners and customers in WA, the Azure Extended Zone is now live in Perth, bringing Microsoft Azure closer to you.
What It Means
- Lower Latency: Faster app performance by running workloads locally.
- Local Data Residency: Keep data within WA for compliance.
- Cost Efficiency: Reduce on-prem needs with Azure scalability.
Key Services
- Compute: VMs, AKS, Azure Virtual Desktop
- Storage: Premium SSD, Blob, Data Lake Gen2
- Networking: ExpressRoute, Private Link, Load Balancer
Why It Matters
Ideal for SMBs seeking better performance, compliance, and cloud adoption, all without leaving WA.
Note: Extended Zones offer a subset of services, depend on Australia East for control, and require registration before deployment.
Azure File Sync now available in New Zealand North
(Generally Available).
Azure File Sync enables seamless tiering of data from on-premises Windows Servers to Azure Files for hybrid use cases and simplified migration. It also enables you to leverage the performance, flexibility and compatibility of your on-premises File Server while leveraging the scale and cost effectiveness of Azure Files.
The expansion into New Zealand North brings the service closer to organisations in these regions, offering lower latency, better performance, and support for local data residency requirements.
NB: If Azure File Sync is not yet available in your preferred region, please fill out this survey to express interest.
Microsoft Databases and Microsoft Fabric
Your unified and AI-powered data estate
(Generally Available)
Microsoft announced the general availability of SQL Server 2025, Azure DocumentDB, and SQL database and Cosmos DB in Fabric, along with the preview of its newest addition, Azure HorizonDB.
With these new offerings, you have a world-class database option to build once and deploy at the edge, as platform as a service (PaaS), or even as software as a service (SaaS). And because the entire portfolio is either Fabric-connected or Fabric native, Fabric serves as a unified hub for your entire data estate.
Learn how these new databases are purpose-built to support your AI projects.
Azure Copilot Agents
(Public Preview)
Azure Copilot Deployment Agent helps you discover, plan, and deploy cloud workloads faster using natural language. It leverages the Azure Well-Architected Framework to recommend best-practice architectures, pre-built templates, or custom IaC—integrated with GitHub and VS Code for seamless deployment
Key Benefits:
- Intelligent workload recommendations
- Step-by-step deployment guidance
- Fast, intuitive, and robust deployments
Please use this form to express interest.
Announcing new Azure Ebsv6 VM series
(Public Preview)
Azure Ebsv6 VM Series (Public Preview) is here, powered by 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® for industry-leading performance:
Up to 800K IOPS and 14 GB/s remote storage throughput
- 2x higher storage performance vs previous gen
- Up to 192 vCPUs, 1832 GiB memory, and 200 Gbps network bandwidth
- Enhanced security with Total Memory Encryption (TME)
- Optimised for large databases, data warehousing, and AI/ML workloads.
Sign up for the public preview through this form and learn more here.
SQL database in Fabric is now generally available
Built on the trusted SQL Server and Azure SQL Database engine, this fully SaaS-native solution empowers developers and data professionals to unify operational and analytical workloads with speed, security, and AI-powered capabilities.
Key highlights include fast provisioning, Copilot-powered management, autonomous scaling, enterprise-grade security (with Customer Managed Keys and SQL Auditing), and native support for AI scenarios like semantic search and RAG.
Azure Databricks Genie is now available in Microsoft Copilot Studio
(Public Preview)
Azure Databricks Genie is now in Microsoft Copilot Studio, enabling conversational, AI-powered analytics across your Databricks data, no code required.
Publish Genie-powered agents to Teams and Microsoft 365 for faster decisions and smarter collaboration.
Azure Databricks Genie is now integrated with Microsoft Foundry
(Public Preview)
You can now connect Genie spaces directly to Microsoft Foundry agents using Model Context Protocol (MCP), giving you seamless access to trusted data for building intelligent workflows.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud and GitHub Advanced Security
(Public Preview)
With Microsoft Defender for Cloud and GitHub Advanced Security, protect cloud-native applications across the full app lifecycle from code to cloud.
This natively integrated solution helps unify developers and security teams in one workflow while staying in the tools they use every day.
Identify vulnerabilities early and connect live threat insights from production environments directly to the vulnerabilities that matter to help prioritise risks.
And with Copilot Autofix and the Coding agent, developer teams can apply AI-suggested fixes in minutes, reducing remediation time.
A new SQL Server migration in Azure Arc
(Generally Available)
New SQL Server Migration in Azure Arc simplifies moving to Azure SQL Managed Instance with an automated, end-to-end process powered by Azure Database Migration Service and Copilot.
Key Features:
- Continuous readiness and cost assessments
- One-click provisioning in the portal
- Real-time replication via DAGs
- Read-only replica validation before cutover
- Client connection summaries
- Copilot-guided troubleshooting
Announcing Azure DocumentDB
(Generally Available)
Azure DocumentDB is now generally available. It is a fully managed, MongoDB-compatible document database built on open source and backed by Azure’s performance, security, and scale.
Why it matters:
- Open & Flexible: Deploy across hybrid and multi-cloud environments
- AI-Ready: Built-in vector and hybrid search for RAG and copilots
- Elastic Performance: Autoscale compute and storage, pay only for what you use
- Enterprise-Grade: Entra ID, customer-managed keys, 35-day backups, 99.999% uptime
Modernise MongoDB workloads and build AI-driven apps faster on a secure, global foundation.
LLM Speech in Microsoft Foundry
(Public Preview)
LLM Speech in Microsoft Foundry brings advanced large language model capabilities to speech, delivering transcription and translation with unmatched fluency and contextual awareness. With enhanced multilingual support and advanced prompt tuning, this API adapts to diverse business needs and outperforms competitors in key benchmarks, providing enterprise-grade speech intelligence and customisation.
Fabric IQ and Foundry IQ Launched
Fabric IQ and Foundry IQ have been launched to deliver advanced real-time analytics and seamless integration of data from multiple sources.
These new solutions are designed to empower organisations to collect, process, and analyse data from a diverse range of platforms both on-premises and in the cloud, enabling them to insights to support informed decision-making, faster than ever before.
With Fabric IQ, businesses can tap into powerful analytics capabilities that provide instant data visualisation and reporting.
Foundry IQ streamlines the process of consolidating data from various systems, ensuring data consistency and reliability.
Together, they support a unified data strategy, breaking down silos and providing a holistic view of business operations.
This is particularly valuable for companies operating in complex, multi-cloud environments, where agility and real-time intelligence are critical for maintaining a competitive edge.
Ask about our funded Fabric Workshops
Get on the data-futures fast track with Crayon!
Our funded Fabric Workshop is available as part of Azure Accelerate and designed to help partners accelerate their Data & AI opportunities.
Spaces are limited and booking fast for Q1, 2026 so be sure to inquire soon!
Resale-enabled listings on Azure Marketplace
Microsoft Azure Marketplace now offers resale-enabled listings, letting software vendors empower channel partners to sell through a scalable, repeatable model.
Why it matters:
- Expand reach without added overhead
- Partners keep customer relationships and gain Marketplace benefits
- Sales count toward Azure consumption commitments, unlocking bigger, strategic deals
Microsoft Promotions and Offers
Introductory Copilot Business and Bundle Offers
These launch offers for Copilot for Business and Copilot Business Bundles aims to help accelerate Copilot deployments within Microsoft 365 Business SKU customers.
Up to 15% off Microsoft 365 Copilot Business
Partners will receive 15 percent off the net partner price of Microsoft 365 Copilot Business. Organisations that are new to or looking to expand Microsoft 365 Copilot Business are a perfect fit for this introductory offer.
- Duration: December 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026
- Commit Term: Annual commit with annual or monthly bill
- Customer Eligibility: All Commercial customers with a maximum of 300 seats of Microsoft 365 Business SKUs
Up to 35% off Business Standard and Copilot Business Bundle
Partners will receive 35 percent off the net partner price of the Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Copilot Business bundle. Organisations that are new to or looking to expand Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Copilot Business are a perfect fit for this introductory offer.
- Duration: December 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026
- Commit Term: Annual commit with annual or monthly bill
- Customer Eligibility: All Commercial customers with a maximum of 300 seats of Microsoft 365 Business SKUs
- Minimum Seats: For subscriptions with 10 to 300 seats
Up to 25% off Business Premium and Copilot Business Bundle
Partners will receive 25 percent off the net partner price of the Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Microsoft 365 Copilot Business bundle. Organisations that are new to or looking to expand Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Microsoft 365 Copilot Business are a perfect fit for this introductory offer.
- Duration: December 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026
- Commit Term: Annual commit with annual or monthly bill
- Customer Eligibility: All Commercial customers with a maximum of 300 seats of Microsoft 365 Business SKUs
- Minimum Seats: For subscriptions with 10 to 300 seats
Reminder: Copilot Start and Scale Promo’s end December 31st!
Microsoft announced two CSP promotions to help you start and scale Microsoft 365 Copilot with customers, running from Oct 1 to Dec 31, 2025.
- Getting Started (15% off): For new to Copilot orgs (10–2,400 seats); annual term; monthly billing +5%. New to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers transacting via CSP. Ineligible if the tenant has any existing paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license, regardless of purchase channel
- Scaleup (20% off): A targeted, named set of SME&C CSP customers ready to scale AI adoption across the business.
Azure Accelerate Program
- What: Azure Credit Offering gives 10% of estimated annual Azure spend as credit (applied in month 1).
- Eligibility: Approved by Crayon/Microsoft, net-new Azure opportunity, CSP transaction.
- Process: Apply by 15JuneFY26 → Approval → Customer signs → Credit applied → Billing offset until used.
Reminder: New targeted M365 E3 CSP Promotion 20% Off
The new Targeted Microsoft 365 E3 Annual CSP Promotion offers a 20% discount for eligible customers purchasing Microsoft 365 E3 licences through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program.
This promotion is specifically designed to support organisations looking to modernise their workplace solutions and accelerate AI adoption with Microsoft 365 E3.
The offer is available for annual term agreements and is open to both new and existing CSP customers who meet the targeted criteria set by Microsoft.
- Promotion Period: 01/10/2025 – 31/12/2025
- Eligibility: Targeted at specific small and medium enterprise and corporate (SME&C) CSP customers as identified by Microsoft.
- Discount: 20% off the standard price of Microsoft 365 E3 annual term licences purchased via CSP.
This promotion is a strategic opportunity for partners and customers to benefit from advanced productivity, security, and AI features within Microsoft 365 E3, while taking advantage of significant cost savings during the designated period
Key Crayon Promotions
Upgrade Your Way to Cashback with Added NEW Business Premium Security Add-on
Only days left in this great promotion!
Unlock better value and earn a per-seat rebate when you upgrade customers to a higher Microsoft 365 SKU or add Microsoft 365 Copilot on annual commitment subscriptions.
Available for Crayon partners in Australia and New Zealand from Jan 1 to Dec 19, 2025.
Azure Accelerate.
Nominate your customers for the Azure Accelerate program, and we’ll help you assess eligibility for a funded migration to Azure cloud.
Azure Accelerate is Microsoft’s refreshed & unified program that combines Azure Migrate & Modernise & Azure Innovate into one streamlined experience.
Crayon, as an Azure Expert MSP is helping MSPs take full advantage with hands-on delivery support and serious cash incentives across every project size.
Earn more with every Azure engagement – up to $8000 per project!
PAYG/EA to CSP
Are your customers still billing directly to Microsoft for Azure subscriptions? That can increase management risk and leave partner value (and margins) on the table.
Direct billing forces customers to handle provisioning, billing and compliance without your expertise or automation.
With Microsoft’s pricing updates, now is the perfect time to switch to CSP and build recurring revenue.
Why Switch to Crayon?
- Only distie in ANZ that does EA/PAYG to CSP as billing change.
- Zero downtime: transition in 24–48 hours.
- Better margins & incentives with CSP.
- Local ANZ expertise to support your growth.
Crayon Offer:
Move Azure billing from PAYG or EA to CSP with Crayon and receive 50% cashback on the first month’s Azure consumption
Registration here: For PAYG to CSP | For EA to CSP
Recommended Reading
Easy EA to CSP Transition with Crayon
Transitioning from Microsoft Enterprise Agreements to CSP
Azure Credit Offer (ACO).
ACO is an initiative to allow the use of Azure credits to win and accelerate Azure consumption. ACO provides customers with a fixed amount of free Azure usage, which can be used within a defined timeframe. Approved customers can receive 10% in credit to offset their Azure expenses.
Who can get ACO?
- The customer must be an approved and by Crayon/ Microsoft.
- The customer/ Azure Subscription must be a net new Azure Opportunity
- Customer must transact on CSP.
How much credit does the customer receive?
- They will receive 1/10th of the annual estimated ACR.
- Ex: Estimated 12-month Net new only ACR $12k, ACO = $1200 (applied in the 1st month of ACO approval)
- Credit will apply directly to customer’s subscription in the first month of ACO approval.
How we can help?
If the partner request meets the eligibility criteria, Azure team will initiate the approval process, and will guide you with detailed instructions on how to get started.
- Once the customer accepts the amendment, system will apply ACO directly and the offset the monthly invoice.
- Determine Project Scope: Define the Azure solution and timeline with Microsoft or the deployment partner.
- MSFT Sales Application: Apply for the offering by June 10th 2026.
- Internal Approval and E-Signature: After getting MSFT internal approval, e-mail will be sent to customer for e-signature to apply ACO (Azure Credit) to customer tenant (*basically 10% of expected 1yr consumption.
- Consumption Billing: Billing will be offset until the credit is used up.
