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MPN Cloud Competency Fees Going Up Oct. 1

Microsoft's subsidy program to attract partners to the five strategic cloud competencies in the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) will end later this month.

The move will raise annual U.S. partner fees for gold cloud competencies by $790 and silver cloud competencies by $140.

"Starting October 1, 2017 the cloud competency fees will be the same as all other competencies (US$1,670 for Silver and US$4,730 for Gold)," said Chinmayi Bhavanishankar, partner experience lead and simplification expert on the Microsoft U.S. Partner Team, in a blog post this month.

The lower prices had applied to the five cloud competencies -- Cloud Customer Relationship Management, Cloud Productivity, Cloud Platform, Enterprise Mobility Management and Small Midmarket Cloud Solutions.

Bhavanishankar said the price change will apply to partners at the time of their membership renewal. A different introductory benefit that will continue is the Cloud Enablement Desk, which is a free program for new cloud competency partners to get guidance from a Cloud Program Specialist for up to six months.

The price change on cloud competencies arrives just as some other major changes to the MPN competency structure fully take effect. In April 2016, Microsoft announced an 18-month plan for retiring 12 of the 29 competencies in the MPN. Those competencies will be completely retired on Jan. 31, 2018.

Posted by Scott Bekker on September 19, 2017


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