Microsoft Partner - Legacy competency - Some questions

[maloleve]

Hello,

We're a Microsoft Partner for years and we aren't very interested (at all) by the new way of Microsoft (Cloud) Partner (aka Solutions Partner designations). Indeed, we're more an integrator solution company rather than an cloud oriented company.

Given these information, and according to the guidelines given by Microsoft, we validate several competencies like every year, for the 30th September.

Now I can see that we're a member of the - what I call - "Legacy competency" program which is fine for us because we keep all the benefits that existed before (as far I saw in the last ISR Benefits).

My question is globally: what about the future for this program ?
1. When is the "Legacy competency" program will be end-of-life for Microsoft ?
2. What about the costs ? I read it's gonna be the same as years before (for both Silver & Gold). Do you confirm that ?
3. About competencies: do the competencies validated on the 30th September will remain for the future without nothing else necessary in the future (like a snapshot which will be always be valid for the future) ?

I found no information about this so far. Can you help me ?

Regards,

maloleve

[maloleve]

Hi @TafaraPulse and @v-jillarmour, do you have any news about the "Legacy" programs (Silver/Gold) and the possibility of renew these programs again in 2023/2024 ?

Once again, this is very important for us because our IT infrastructure relies on the benefits for now and we have to plan what's next.

[v-jillarmour]

@maloleve I understand this is important information for you to have, but we don't know anything and my guess is we won't have any new information until at least the second half of the year and possibly later. We just don't know.

Sorry I can't be of more help for you. 🦊

[maloleve]

Hello @v-jillarmour,

I can understand you can't help me from your side. However, I can't imagine that I need to wait the second part of year 2023 given that my benefits are expiring at the same period 😕

Do you realize that it means that, a day to another, we could loose all our licenses if we don't know if the legacy benefits (and so legacy partners) will still be available for renewal in 2023, 2024, etc ?

Our company needs information to plan the future for all the licenses we could eventually loose this year.

Are we the only company in that case ?

Regards

[v-jillarmour]

@maloleve I refer you to the post made earlier by Tafara.:

You have the option to renew your benefits for another year when you contract is up this year (2023). You should be good until late 2024 from what you are telling me above. At that point we all should know if legacy benefits will renew once again. 

[maloleve · Accepted solution]

Hello @v-jillarmour and @TafaraPulse,

Sorry to annoying you again. To explain: we renewed our Legacy Benefits (thanks to our competencies that were "frozen" on 30th September 2022) on 6th January. So we currently have our benefits until end of January 2024.

Main question is: can we renew our benefits one more time in 2024, and maybe 2025, etc ?

You said: At that point we all should know if legacy benefits will renew once again.

English is not my native language but I don't get this sentence: you mean you still don't know if benefits can be renewed again in 2024 ? If so, when will you get an answer ? This is very important for companies which are in our situation.

Not having an answer is really frustating (and I'm sorry to annoy you once again) but I just can't understand that there is no official statement or decision from Microsoft about this. We're already in March 2023 and only few months are remaining.

Maybe we could discuss of this by email or Teams ?

Regards

[v-jillarmour]

@alex7 This is not my area of expertise, but as far as I know there is no official announcement on what you are asking. I will defer to @TafaraPulse to confirm, but reading all the comments I see that partners are able to renew this year once the hit their expiration date for one more year. It is unknown if it that will be an option the following year. Again, I am not an expert here, just reading what I find. 

@TafaraPulse is out of office currently, but I will contact her when she is back and see if she have some links to provide you on your second ask above. 

@JanoschUlmer just in case you have any color to add. 😎

Thank you, - jill🌻

[maloleve]

@TafaraPulse @v-jillarmour any update about this request ?

Will it be possible to renew again our "Legacy Silver" membership in 2024, 2025 ? Or has Microsoft decided that it won't be possible for the next years ?

Is there any official statement about this ?

Regards

[TafaraPulse]

Hi @maloleve, we do not have an end date for legacy benefits. This has been the consistent message to date and there is no change to that message at this time. Thank you!

[v-jillarmour]

@maloleve I'm inquiring within, tagging @TafaraPulse in case she has some info. 

[avenger]

@v-jillarmourI'd like to clarify the requirements for renewing a legacy competency: Is it correct that, if a company had a legacy competency on September 30, 2022, in the future the _only_ requirement for renewing this legacy competency (and getting the benefits) is paying the fee, while the certificate status or any other previous requirements that must be fulfilled earlier are not relevant any longer. Thanks in advance.

[TafaraPulse]

Hi @avenger, at your renewal, if you don't qualify for the Solutions Partner designation, you'll still have the option to renew your legacy benefits. This is not a renewal of your legacy competencies, only the benefits. Competencies are no longer available and are no longer in market. In order to renew the benefits you need only to pay the fee during your renewal window.

[v-jillarmour]

@avenger This is not my area of expertise, but @TafaraPulse may know or have a resource for us. She is out on holiday this week, but I hope to hear back from her when she returns. 🌟

[maloleve]

@TafaraPulseor @v-jillarmour 

I guess it's still too soon but did you have any feedback about my questions ?

[v-jillarmour]

@maloleve We appreciate the feedback and have added it to our feedback log. We are capturing all partner feedback and input for consideration as we look to make future updates to our partner programs. Thank you again for making sure we hear your input!

[v-jillarmour]

Here are some answers from the internal team:

For question 1:

We currently do not have a plan to sunset the legacy silver/gold benefits and we’ll keep working with partners to see how they’re getting value from those benefits as the new Microsoft Cloud Partner Program matures.

Question 2:

I think you may find the answer in our Solutions Partner Designations FAQ page.

Questions 3:

The competency goes away on September 30 but the benefits remain until next anniversary date. On that anniversary date you will have the option to pay the fee and purchase the legacy benefits again.

I hope you find this helpful! 

[maloleve]

Hello,

First of all, thank your for your answer:

Question 1: all I can say is that we would like Microsoft to continue the legacy programs since it fits our company needs and, overall, we can continue to be a partner through this way because the new MCPP doesn't fit at all our company activities.

I understand that there is actually no precise timeline but is it a question of months or years ? I mean: we would be able to purchase our renew at our next anniversary date but will it be the case in 2 years, 3 years, etc ?

Question 2: thank you !

Question 3: what about if the legacy programs stay again, let's say for 5 years (this is the question asked in question 1) ? Will the snapshot of the 30th September 2022 will be good for these 5 years ?

[TafaraPulse]

Hi @maloleve, re: Question 3: if you had one or more competencies on September 30, 2022, that will continue to be your competency "snapshot" into the future. Since partners cannot attain competencies any longer, the status on that date will be the data we use going forward about competencies. For more information about benefits and the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, visit Microsoft Cloud Partner Program resources. Thank you! 

[maloleve]

Hello @v-jillarmour and @TafaraPulse

Thank your for your investigation !

About the delay of the legacy programs, for me, it's mandatory that Microsoft keeps supporting these programs for at least 2/3 years because it changes lots of things for companies like ours and we need time (and plan the money necessary) due to the MCPP and the fact that it doesn't fit our needs.

Can you send the information to a higher level because it's a very important point.

About the delay of the legacy programs, for me, it's mandatory that Microsoft keeps supporting these programs for at least 2/3 years because it changes lots of things for companies like ours and we need time (and plan the money necessary) due to the MCPP and the fact that it doesn't fit our needs.

Can you send the information to a higher level because it's a very important point.

[v-jillarmour]

@maloleve  We appreciate your concern and understand your need for more detail, be have shared all the information we have at the moment as it's still a work in progress.

As soon as future decisions are made by the company they will be announced. I don't know when that will be and we don't currently have an end date.

We will share your feedback with the team and thank you for being part of the community. We value your opinion. 

@TafaraPulse 

[TafaraPulse]

Thanks for the feedback @maloleve, I'll pass this on.