Our latest webinar unpacks the essentials of Modern Work Solution Partner Designations.
Crayons in-house experts, Jye Wong and Ksenia Turner provide a practical refresher on Modern Work SPDs and the associated partner benefits, including product entitlements, go‑to‑market and co‑sell.
You’ll also get an overview of the Partner Capability Score across performance, skilling and customer success, aligned to Microsoft’s current partner program.
This webinar will give you a simple starting checklist, an understanding of where to find and track your score, and practical tips to prioritise effort.
You can also download the presentation slides, below the webinar video.
Grab your lunchbox, pop on your headphones and settle in!
Our webinar session confirms an important message for partners and that is the Microsoft Solutions Partner Designation (SPD) is no longer just a nice-to-have badge. Rather, it’s a practical marker of proven capability and an increasingly important way to future-proof your partnership.
At its core, SPD is Microsoft’s way of recognising partners who can demonstrate real capability and customer success across key solution areas. It helps customers quickly identify which partners have validated skills and a track record in areas like Modern Work, Azure, Security, and Business Applications.
Importantly, you can pursue more than one designation depending on your business focus.
Why does this matter? Because SPD gives you visibility and credibility with both customers and Microsoft. It signals that you’re not just reselling technology, you’re delivering outcomes. It can also open pathways to specialisations that further sharpen your differentiation.
The session also unpacks what you actually get with SPD. Benefits span three major areas:
Related Blog: How to maximise SPD Partner Benefits
The most significant “how-to” component of the webinar is the scoring model.
To earn a designation, you must achieve at least 70 points out of 100, across three categories:
1. Performance: measuring your ability to grow the Microsoft footprint with customers.
2. Skilling: based on relevant intermediate and advanced certifications held by your team.
3. Customer success: reflecting real-world usage growth and deployments.
A key detail that often trips partners up is that you must score in every subcategory. Even if you hit 70 overall, zero points in skilling (or another subcategory) will block eligibility.
Jye and Ksenia provide partners with some great tips and practical accelerators.
Use the insights and score simulator to shape your plan, align skilling to your target designation, and actively manage customer association. With a structured approach, SPD becomes less of a mystery and more of a growth engine.
Vendor Announcements
Copilot for Business has landed at Microsoft Ignite 2025, levelling the GenAI playing field for SMB customers. Learn all about it from our man on the ground, Andreas Bergman.
Press Release
Press Release
Insights
All the latest insights, articles and resources on M365 Copilot, curated into one place.
Blogs
Catch our comprehensive summary of the highlights from Microsoft Ignite 2025, combined with the resources and links you need to dig into the detail!
Training
In our latest webinar, our in-house Modern Work experts Jye Wong and Ksenia Turner will run you through a practical refresher on Solution Partner Designations; what they are, why they matter and how to get started.
Sales and Marketing
Business leaders don't live in the tools. They live in the outcomes. The metrics they care about most are not always limited to compliance and risk. So how do you connect data protection to the big-ticket objectives, when they're less obvious? Our in-house pre-sales expert, Michael Brooke explains.
Guides and eBooks
As SMBs mature in the Data Protection lifecycle, they need help to optimise spend, reduce the compliance burden and ensure results align to business objectives. The third installment of our Data Protection Playbook series provides practical guidance for partners on how to address emerging pressure and connect ongoing investment to measurable business value.
Training
Copilot Agents: what are they and how do they differ from AI assistants and chatbots? Our in-house Copilot expert Ksenia Turner explains the use cases and service opportunities for partners.
Blogs
Fragmented data protection systems and processes create compliance proof-gaps for SMB customers. Scott Hagenus, Director, Cybersecurity here at Crayon explains.
Guides and eBooks
How can partners help their SMB customers to move from silos of security and continuity to a more cohesive, measurable and insurable data protection framework? The second edition in our Data Protection Playbook series maps out their journey, and yours.
Sales and Marketing
Ever wonder why a pitch has some IT Managers leaning forward, while others glaze over? Michael Brooke, Cybersecurity Pre-Sales Lead offers some insight on how to tune your approach to chime with different technical mindsets.
Blogs
As cybersecurity and continuity converge in platforms and in practice, partners need new playbooks to address modern Data Protection standards. Our in-house cybersecurity pre-sales lead, Michael Brooke explains why.
Guides and eBooks
What triggers an SMB customer to begin exploring their need for better Data Protection? The first of our four Data Protection Playbooks for partners breaks down how to position and win in the Pre-Adoption and Exploration stage.
Insights
Data Protection priorities are shifting for SMBs. Ramp up your ability to respond with curated insights, articles and resources to help you guide every customer conversation with confidence.
Partner Spotlight
In this Partner Spotlight, Acceltech Managing Director Ivy Tarrobago shares how Crayon’s responsive support enhances client outcomes and business growth.
Whitepapers
Data Protection is a must for all SMBs but how can partners align solution investment with critical business objectives? Our latest paper shows you how.
Press Release
Crayon has been recognised with a huge double win at the CRN Channel Asia awards ceremony.
Insights
SMB customers are storing greater volumes of sensitive data in more places than ever. Secure backup and recovery practices are essential to how they protect it.
Partner Spotlight
Bigfish Technology saved AU$20,000 on its annual Microsoft licensing after one call with Crayon and has since built a strong partnership that enabled Bigfish to get access to Crayon’s expertise and vendor ecosystem.
Insights
Insider risk is a subtle and continuous challenge for SMB customers. Turn it into a manageable and quantifiable aspect of their Data Protection strategy.
Blogs
From rethinking backup to governance frameworks and behavioural analytics, what's involved in building a complete Data Protection strategy for SMB customers?
Insights
We explore the evolution of Microsoft's channel strategy over the past ten years, and what can be learned by viewing it through a Value Cycle lens.
Guides and eBooks
The Microsoft Fabric Partner Guide curates our recent articles, videos and resources to accelerate Crayon partner learning.
Press Release
On Demand Webinars
Our latest Copilot webinar features Jahan Sheikh from Microsoft who unpacks the latest AI innovations and explains Microsoft Copilot and Agents can be leveraged to drive productivity, streamline operations, and future-proof your business.
Insights
Explore a modern stack solution that meets SMB customer demand for secure, simple, AI-enabled workplace productivity.
Insights
Explore data trends from the Future of Operations and learn how to turn insights into action in the Productivity domain.
Training
What are Microsoft Solutions Partner designations, how do partners attain them and where’s the value in having one? We break it down.
