Cloud Marketplace In Partner Center

[brian_levenson]

Cloud marketplace management is moving to Partner Center

If you create offers for Azure Marketplace or AppSource, this information will be useful for you.

• Cloud Partner Portal functionality will transition to Partner Center in the coming weeks.
• Publisher accounts will be enabled in Partner Center in phases based on offer type.
• Offer publishing and management will transition in waves starting with SaaS.
• New functionality will light up within Partner Center along the way.
• Publisher guide documentation is being updated accordingly.

Microsoft’s cloud marketplace is designed to extend our go-to-market motions and sales channels to our partners so that you can better monetize products and services, reach more customers, and grow your business. Enterprises, governments, and organizations of all sizes find business solutions, innovative technology, and enablement services through the AppSource and Azure Marketplace web stores, Azure portal’s in product experience, Cloud Solution Providers, and Microsoft sales teams.

Partner Center is the central hub of a Microsoft partner’s experience. For organizations who go-to-market with Microsoft and leverage the marketplace, Partner Center will be the portal through which you create and manage offerings, gain insights to improve your offers’ performance, learn more about new programs and opportunities, discover tools that help market your offerings, or gain advanced specialization.

Today, Partner Center is the hub for hundreds of thousands of partners whose offerings enrich Windows, Xbox, Office and other Microsoft platforms. We are excited to have partners developing solutions and providing services for commercial customers join this vibrant community.

Check out the demo: 

https://youtu.be/Zu9ZgZzN3ng

What’s Upcoming

Marketplace offer and account management is consolidating in Partner Center starting with software-as-a-service (SaaS) offers in May. Other offer types will transition from Cloud Partner Portal in a phased approach through 2019 with co-existence during that time. Existing marketplace publishers will find a familiar but improved user experience with an intuitive interface within Partner Center. Notifications in the Cloud Partner Portal and via email will inform publishers of the migration, users will be seamlessly directed to the appropriate location, and customers will not be impacted by the partner experience upgrade.

With the transition to Partner Center, new functionality will become available to you in addition to the user experience. SaaS offerings, which can be billed monthly or annually, will support per-user licensing by June in addition to per-site which is live today. This new monetization model is ideal for business software, and the introduction of SaaS per-user licensing is aligned with new functionality allowing customers to complete purchases in AppSource, Microsoft’s commercial marketplace for business and industry solutions, also by June.

Account and user management in Partner Center makes it easy for individuals to access the portal and for administrators to apply appropriate permissions.

Partner Center will also bring an improved certification experience. Certification will leverage automation and machine learning for improved turnaround times and quicker processing while still maintaining accuracy to ensure the cloud marketplace is safe and contains valuable offers for our customers. The requirements will not change, but when you submit offers through Partner Center, you will receive more detailed and descriptive certification reports referencing public-facing policies found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/marketplace/certification-policies.

Analytics provide a view into offer performance, and the reporting is also improved in Partner Center. With data visualization and insightful graphs, you can monitor sales, act on performance to optimize listings, and maintain relationships with customers and resellers.

We are laying the foundation for a lot more goodness to come. Thank you for supporting the Microsoft cloud marketplace!

Resources and FAQs

Publisher Guide for Partners

Support for Publishers

Marketplace Roadmap Webinar

Marketplace Roadmap Website

What does the migration mean for me as a Microsoft partner?

If you create or manage cloud marketplace offerings available through Azure Marketplace or AppSource, you will receive a notification when your account is being moved to Partner Center. This is where you will manage your account settings and profile as offer types transition into the new portal for creation and management.

What happens to the offers that I’ve published?

There is no impact or changes to your existing offers, which will remain available to customers for continued usage or new purchase.

Will Cloud Partner Portal and Partner Center co-exist?

Yes, offer creation and management will transition from Cloud Partner Portal to Partner Center in phases by offer type between May and the end of 2019. If you have multiple offer types, you may use both portals, and the menus will be aligned for automatic and seamless transition between the two.

Do account changes flow between the two portals?

Yes, once the publisher profile account is migrated to Partner Center, this becomes the source of truth and configuration. Once transitioned, all account changes must be completed in Partner Center and will not be possible in Cloud Partner Portal. Any changes made within Partner Center will apply to Cloud Partner Portal as well.

Why do I need a work account?

Partner Center is designed to use work accounts based on Azure Active Directory (AAD), which is the commercial cloud identity infrastructure. A vast majority of cloud marketplace publishers already have this type of account, but if you don’t, we will provide you with the option to create a new one followed by a simple and intuitive sign up process. A Microsoft Account (MSA) is still necessary to add payout and tax details.

Why are my offers locked?

From the time that your account is migrated to Partner Center but before you’ve logged in to activate it, your offers will be locked within Cloud Partner Portal. This has no effect on availability in the stores or customer usage; however, you will need to activate your account in Partner Center before you can create, modify, or remove offers.

How do I get assistance publishing my offer or activating my account?

Please submit a support ticket and a specialist will contact you shortly: Support for Publishers