Microsoft CSP Partner Program Updates September and Early October 2025

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Critical Deadlines and Actions

October 15, 2025 - ACTION REQUIRED: Partners must update their profile information by October 15, 2025, to avoid account restrictions, including the inability to receive payments. Partners must ensure all required fields in their tax and bank profiles are complete and accurate in Partner Center (including Core Details, Business Profile, Tax Residence Country/Region, Other Documentation, and Tax Form)

• October 1, 2025 - Two new promotions launch: the Microsoft 365 Copilot – Getting Started CSP Promotion (15% off) for new-to-Copilot organizations starting with a small team, and the Microsoft 365 Copilot – ScaleUp CSP Offer (20% off) for selected SME&C customers ready for broad deployment. Both promotions run through December 31, 2025
• October 1, 2025 - Microsoft 365 E5 mini-suites renaming takes effect: Microsoft 365 E5 Security becomes the Microsoft Defender Suite, and Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance becomes the Microsoft Purview Suite. Four New Deployment Accelerator Workshops also become available for Security Partners
• October 1, 2025 - Pricing workspace undergoes UX enhancements: NCE Software price list file names will follow a new, descriptive format (e.g., oct_nce_softwarepl_ga_us.csv). The Price lists (Beta) page reaches General Availability (GA), and the current Price lists page will be deprecated
• October 1, 2025 - The preview for the November 1, 2025, Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) price list becomes available, including changes related to the European Commission Settlement
• October 13, 2025 - The New Targeted Microsoft 365 E3 Annual CSP Promotion (20% off) launches. This limited-time promotion is available through December 31, 2025, for eligible customers meeting specific base license and minimum purchase requirements. Partners should review the Promo Kit and Partner FAQ, which become live on October 10
• October 25, 2025 - Partners will be able to download customer eligibility lists through Cloud Ascent for the Targeted Microsoft 365 E3 promotion
• September 3, 2025 - Partners should re-download the updated September license-based price list to ensure accurate billing and offer setup, as discrepancies were identified and resolved in the initial September 1 release. Partners using APIs for pricing data must also ensure their systems reflect the corrected values.
• September 30, 2025 - All APIs will be MFA-enabled and ready for partner testing. Partners need to integrate Multifactor Authentication (MFA) into their API calls to handle the additional authentication step, preparing for full enforcement starting April 1, 2026
• September 30, 2025 - The current Copilot Q1 promo ends. Partners should engage customers before this date if they wish to utilize this offer, which was available to both new and existing Copilot customers.
• Significant Launches/Updates - Throughout September, Microsoft introduced the One-Click Opportunity experience in Partner Center to simplify co-sell engagement. The Partner Center AI assistant (preview) Anywhere feature was integrated into the Billing and Pricing workspaces. Three new SMB-security SKUs were launched (Defender Suite for Business Premium, Purview Suite for Business Premium, etc.)

What are the key updates for Microsoft partners?

1. The enforcement date for Partner of Record (POR) validation was extended to December 1, 2025. This validation will be required for new subscription orders and changes to existing subscriptions, including license count adjustments, billing plan changes, P2P transfers, and legacy-to-new commerce migrations.
2. Mandatory MFA for all pages in the Partner Center portal began rolling out as of August 30, 2025. All APIs were to be MFA-enabled for partner testing by September 30, 2025, with full enforcement for all API calls beginning on April 1, 2026.
3. Effective November 1, 2025, Microsoft will reintroduce Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Enterprise suites with Teams. To create the required price deltas, the price of Enterprise and Business suites without Teams will decrease, while the price of Teams Enterprise standalone will increase.
4. To be eligible, a customer must be a select organization with at least 500 base licenses of O365/M365 and use CSP as their primary purchase channel. Additionally, they must have fewer than 50 preexisting ME3/ME5 user subscriptions or licenses in any channel.
5. By October 15, 2025, partners were required to review and ensure their tax and bank profile information in Partner Center was accurate and complete. Failure to do so could result in account restrictions, including the inability to receive payments.
6. Effective November 1, 2025, the price for Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium will increase from $100/month to $110/month. The included storage allocation for this product will also increase from 3GB to 5GB.
7. The AI assistant has been integrated into the Billing, Pricing, and Security workspaces. For example, in the Billing workspace, it can retrieve the payment history for a specific invoice, and in the Pricing workspace, it can provide details on pricing updates for specific SKUs.
8. Effective October 1, 2025, Microsoft 365 E5 Security was renamed to the Microsoft Defender Suite. At the same time, Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance was renamed to the Microsoft Purview Suite.
9. CSP partners must migrate to the new asynchronous API for Unbilled Invoice Reconciliation by March 15, 2026. The primary benefit is a significant performance optimization, reducing the time to retrieve millions of line items from over 15 hours to just 15 minutes.
10. The "Getting Started" promotion offers a 15% discount for new-to-Copilot customers purchasing 10–2,400 licenses. The "ScaleUp" offer provides a 20% discount for a targeted set of existing customers ready to deploy AI broadly, requiring a minimum purchase of 100 licenses.

Details and Key Actions

I. Security Enhancements and Compliance Mandates

A series of updates underscores a heightened focus on securing the partner channel, with several mandatory actions and deadlines.

Mandatory Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Implementation

To protect against unauthorized access, MFA is being enforced across all Partner Center portal pages and APIs according to a clear timeline:

• August 30, 2025: MFA became required for all pages in the Partner Center portal.
• September 30, 2025: All APIs were made MFA-enabled and available for partner testing.
• April 1, 2026: Full enforcement of MFA for all APIs will begin. Any API calls made without MFA after this date will be blocked.

Partner of Record (POR) API Enforcement

The enforcement date for POR validation has been extended to December 1, 2025. On this date, POR validation will be required for new subscription orders and significant changes to existing subscriptions, including license count adjustments, billing plan changes, and partner-to-partner transfers. Autorenewals are not impacted.

Action Items for Partners:

• Distributors: Must use the new POR validation API for real-time compliance checks, familiarize themselves with error codes, and remind resellers to maintain up-to-date Partner Center profiles.
• Indirect Resellers: Must verify their Partner Location Account (PLA) ID, ensure it's linked to an active CSP tenant, and confirm their tenant's business address matches their distributor's CSP region.

Partner Data Accuracy Requirement

Microsoft requires all partners to ensure their tax and bank information is accurate, complete, and up-to-date by October 15, 2025. Failure to comply may result in account restrictions, including the inability to receive payments. Partners must review and update their payout and tax profiles in Partner Center, ensuring all five sections (Core Details, Business Profile, Tax Residence, Other Documentation, and Tax Form) are accurate.

New Security Products and Naming Conventions: Microsoft is expanding its security portfolio and clarifying its branding:

• M365 E5 Mini-Suite Renaming: Effective October 1, 2025, Microsoft 365 E5 Security is renamed the Microsoft Defender Suite, and Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance is renamed the Microsoft Purview Suite.
• New SMB-Security SKUs: Three new SKUs are available to provide extended detection and response (XDR) and data protection for Business Premium customers:
  • Microsoft Defender Suite for Business Premium    
  • Purview Suite for Business Premium 
  • Defender and Purview Suite for Business Premium

Security-Focused Partner Resources

To support partner adoption of advanced security solutions, several resources have been introduced:

• Deployment Accelerator Workshops: Four new post-sales workshops are available for Security Partners as of October 1, 2025, offering partner funding for driving customer deployment and usage milestones. The workshops are: 
  • CSP Deployment Accelerator for Defender and Purview Suites    
  • CSP Deployment Accelerator for ME3/ME5    
  • Microsoft Sentinel Accelerator    
  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud Accelerator
• Security Workspace Enhancements: The Security requirements UI in Partner Center has been redesigned for clarity. The Security Workspace will also begin a gradual rollout to indirect resellers in October 2025.

II. Key Promotions and Pricing Adjustments

Several new promotions are available to accelerate sales, alongside significant pricing and packaging changes for core products.

Microsoft 365 & Copilot Promotions

A series of promotions are active through December 31, 2025, targeting different customer segments and adoption stages.

Microsoft Sentinel Promotional Tier

A new 50GB commitment tier for Microsoft Sentinel is available in public preview, offering a cost-effective model for small and medium enterprise customers.

• Promotion: Up to 32% off the pay-as-you-go price.
• Availability: October 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026.
• Terms: Customers who purchase during the promotional window will lock in the pricing until March 31, 2027.

European Commission Settlement Pricing Changes (M365 & Teams)

Effective November 1, 2025, Microsoft will implement pricing and packaging changes resulting from a settlement with the European Commission.

• Packaging: Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Enterprise suites with Teams will be reintroduced into the GA lifecycle state.
• Pricing: To create the required price deltas, Microsoft will:
  • Decrease the price of Enterprise and Business suites without Teams.
  • Decrease the price of Microsoft 365 F3 (MF3) without Teams.
  • Increase the price of Teams Enterprise standalone.

Note: The October 1, 2025, price list preview did not fully align with the commitments; this will be corrected in the final November 1 price list.

Dynamics 365 Business Central Price Update

The previously announced price adjustment for Dynamics 365 Business Central has been moved from October 1 to November 1, 2025, to allow partners more time for communication.

These changes apply to new subscriptions and existing subscriptions upon renewal on or after the effective date.

III. Partner Center Platform and API Evolution

The Partner Center platform continues to receive significant technical upgrades focused on automation, efficiency, and improved user experience.

Introduction of Partner Center AI Assistant: The Partner Center AI Assistant (in preview) is being integrated across multiple workspaces to provide instant, contextual support.

• Availability: Now enabled in the Pricing, Billing, and Security workspaces and available in seven languages.
• Functionality: The AI assistant can answer common partner inquiries, clarify pricing updates, retrieve payment history for specific invoices, and provide guidance on security tasks, summarizing answers and linking to relevant resources.

API Migrations and Updates: Partners using APIs must take action to migrate to newer, more efficient versions.

• Unbilled Invoice Reconciliation API Migration: The legacy synchronous API (v1) is being replaced with a new asynchronous API (v2) using Microsoft Graph. This upgrade reduces data retrieval time from over 15 hours to just 15 minutes. Partners must migrate to API v2 by March 15, 2026, to avoid service disruption.
• September Price List Correction: The license-based price lists published on September 1, 2025, contained discrepancies and were republished on September 3. Partners were advised to re-download the corrected list to ensure accurate billing.

User Experience (UX) Enhancements: Several updates aim to streamline partner workflows within the platform.

• One-Click Opportunity for Co-sell: A new experience in the Referrals workspace allows partners to convert leads into co-sell opportunities instantly, auto-populating key fields to reduce manual entry.
• Pricing Workspace Updates: Effective October 2025, the Pricing workspace is undergoing two key changes:    
  • New File Name Convention: NCE software price list CSV files will follow a more descriptive format: {Month}{PriceList}{Market}.csv.
  • AI-Enhanced Page GA: The "Price lists (Beta)" page with integrated AI assistance will reach General Availability, and the legacy Price lists page will be deprecated.

IV. Program Evolution and Partner Enablement

Microsoft is introducing new go-to-market channels and updating partner programs to align with strategic priorities like AI.

The Reimagined Microsoft Marketplace: A newly reimagined Microsoft Marketplace has been launched as a trusted source for cloud solutions and AI applications.

• New AI Category: Features an "AI apps and agents" category to extend Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure AI Foundry.
• Expanded Reach: Offers expanded discoverability and co-sell opportunities across a unified storefront.
• New Channel Opportunities: Includes resale-enabled offers (in private preview) and distributor integration to accelerate solution delivery.

Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Updates: The program continues to evolve with updated requirements and specializations.

• Data Security Specialization: The "Information Protection and Governance Specialization" has been renamed to better reflect its focus. Key changes include an increased MAU Growth requirement (from 1,000 to 2,500) and new skilling requirements focused on Microsoft Purview and M365 Copilot.
• Custom Solutions for Microsoft Teams Specialization: The Teams Application Developer Associate certification has been replaced by the Teams Administrator Associate certification as a skilling requirement, effective July 31, 2025.

Partner Readiness and Communication Resources: A comprehensive set of resources is consistently provided to help partners stay informed.

• Regular Updates: These include the partner launch calendars collection, the downloadable CSP Bimonthly Update newsletter, and Partner Journey Maps.
• Community Engagement: Monthly CSP community Q&A calls provide a forum for partners to ask questions about operational changes.
• Targeted Resources: For specific initiatives, Microsoft provides readiness materials such as the Distributor and Indirect Reseller checklists for POR, the Global Promo Readiness Guide for new offers, and the Partner Center Technical Corner blog series.

Partner Readiness and Communication Resources: A comprehensive set of resources is consistently provided to help partners stay informed.

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