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Welcome to the monthly partner release notes for the Microsoft marketplace! The marketplace is central to how we help you reach more customers, simplify sales, and unlock growth. Dive into this month’s roundup of announcements and updates to stay informed about the latest marketplace developments.

Don’t miss an update! Subscribe to the “Partner Digest” label to get notified whenever a new Marketplace Partner Digest hits the community blog. Check out this community post for how-to guidance on configuring your settings.  

🚀 Noteworthy Highlights

New private offer enhancements

As part of our ongoing commitment to improving your Microsoft marketplace experience, we recently rolled out new updates to streamline the private offer purchase process. Here’s what’s changed:

• Clearer terminology: We’ve changed “recurring billing” to “auto-renew” across private offers, private plans, and public offers to better reflect this functionality.


• New settings: Auto-renew is now set to “off” by default for SaaS private offers and private plans, preventing unwanted renewals and reducing refunds and cancellations.


• Simpler interface: The auto-renew option now uses a toggle button to improve its on/off functionality.


• Customer notifications: Customers will now receive email notifications about their upcoming renewals or expirations, helping them stay informed and take action when needed.

The value for you and your customers:

• These enhancements will further streamline the private offer purchase experience, reducing friction and giving customers more confidence when transacting through the marketplace. For you, this means more seamless marketplace sales and higher customer satisfaction.

Resources:

• For more details, explore the technical documentation to learn about these private offer improvements.

🌟 ️Partner Resources

Discover exclusive resources designed to help you maximize your success in the marketplace! Explore our latest resources, blogs, and much more below:

Partner blog series: Capturing the marketplace opportunity by selling path

Check out our ongoing four-part blog series on how you can make the most of the Microsoft marketplace across different selling motions.

• Part one: Learn how adopting the marketplace as a core go-to-market strategy can help you close deals faster and increase deal sizes.


• Part two: Discover the power of always-on selling with digital self-service to help you grow your pipeline. 


• Part three: Published this month, get tips and insights to maximize success when selling with channel partners through multiparty private offers.

If you’re looking to optimize your marketplace strategy, these blogs are a great place to start. Catch up on parts one to three now and stay tuned for the final blog in May, which will cover how to drive successful joint sales opportunities when co-selling with Microsoft.

Co-sell Coaching Series

Hosted in the Marketplace Community, Co-sell Coaching is where your peer Microsoft partners will walk you through their best practices on how to effectively co-sell through the Microsoft marketplace. These sessions also include live Q&A with Microsoft subject-matter experts.

Episode 2: Abnormal AI, On Wednesday, April 23 Brett Ferancy, Global Alliance Leader at Abnormal AI will share:

• The value of co-selling with Microsoft


• Proven best practices for effective co-sell execution


• Scaling through the marketplace and multiparty private offers (MPOs)

Episode 3: Silverfort, On Wednesday, May 14 Jonathan Nativ, Senior Director of Strategic Alliances at Silverfort will talk about how Silverfort:

• Went from $0 to over $10M in marketplace billed sales (MBS) in two years


• Used the Microsoft marketplace to help close deals faster and with minimal friction


• Closed a recent marketplace deal with a large UK oil and gas company

Take action: Register for Episode 2 | Register for Episode 3. You can also view all past and future sessions here.

Check out the updated marketplace playbook on Microsoft Learn

Access a new comprehensive guide with best practices and step-by-step instructions to streamline your marketplace onboarding and enhance your selling experience. Check out the playbook here. 

Mastering the Marketplace webinars

Whether you’re new to the marketplace or focused on growing sales, our Mastering the Marketplace webinars cover a broad range of business and technical session topics to help accelerate your marketplace success. Visit aka.ms/MTMwebinars to find upcoming webinars, register, and mark your calendars.

🔮 Marketplace Events

Marketplace Office Hours

April 24, 2025, 8:30 am PST: Channel partner office hours Q&A

During this channel partner office hours session, the team will provide updates on the marketplace roadmap, including upcoming features like flexible billing to support enterprise deals. We will also discuss strategies for closing end of year deals. Join to learn:

• Insights on the roadmap with a deep dive on enhancements to flexible billing


• How to close the year by getting your deals to land in May


• What you can expect in FY26 with Marketplace Rewards and new marketplace features

Please note, this office hours will prioritize channel partner questions, please submit questions in advance when registering. Pre-submitted questions will be discussed during the Q&A portion at the end of the event. Register here!

April 30, 2025, 8:30 am PST: Customer office hours Q&A with a preview into new marketplace functionality

In our next customer office hours, the team will walk through new marketplace functionality that helps further streamline financial operations to help your organization be more efficient. Customers will get a deep dive into our private offer with new enhancements in flexible billing and more that will help safeguard the customer’s organization from shadow IT while fuelling innovation.

Invite your customers to register and join us for a preview into new marketplace functionality and view previous sessions office hours session on-demand here.

Marketplace at Catalyst 2025

The Microsoft marketplace team will be at the Catalyst conference, hosted by Partnership Leaders in Seattle from May 13–15, 2025. Microsoft Chief Partner Office Nicole Dezen will deliver the keynote, and Jason Rook, Sr. Director of Marketplace Product Marketing, will host a mainstage session on “Activating the channel and co-sell opportunity through the Microsoft marketplace,” which will dive deep into partner-to-partner selling opportunities and how to co-sell with the Microsoft field. Plus, receive guidance on how to boost marketplace success with benefits and incentives.

Take action: Register for Catalyst!

Microsoft Build 2025

Mark your calendars! Microsoft Build returns to Seattle and online from May 19 – 22, 2025. Register now to receive the most up-to-date information about the event.

Opportunity for 1:1 meetings the week of Microsoft Build 2025

During the week of Microsoft Build (May 19-22), executives from software development companies can request meetings with Microsoft leaders from Azure Marketing, Engineering, and Marketplace. This is a unique chance to engage directly with key decision-makers at Microsoft, as we work together to build the future. Whether you’re driving innovation, scaling your business, or exploring strategic partnerships, these conversations can help unlock new possibilities.

• Complete this form by Apr. 30 to submit your request. The Microsoft team will reach out to confirm availability and the next steps.

Please note: These meetings will take place offsite and are not part of the official Microsoft Build agenda, so event passes are not required or provided. Also, due to high interest and limited availability, submitting a request does not guarantee a meeting slot.

Take action: Register to attend for Build and complete the form by April 30^th to submit a request for a 1:1 executive meeting (if you plan on attending in person).

💬 Share Your Feedback!

We truly appreciate your feedback and want to ensure these Partner Release Notes deliver the information you need to succeed in the marketplace. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how we can continue to improve the content to best support you, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Thank you!