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Program updates
FY24 Cloud Service Provider (CSP) benefits
Microsoft has released the new CSP Indirect Reseller Incentives and Rebates Guide for FY24 (October 1, 2023–September 30, 2024). For partners to be eligible, they must meet the following criteria:
- Enrolled in Microsoft Commerce Incentive Program (MCI)
- Meet $25,000 trailing 12 months (TTM) in revenue threshold for transacting partner of record
- Either earn one of six Solution Partner designations or earn one of nine legacy competencies (each workload has its own requirements)
- Earned and purchased a Solution Partner designation or Legacy Silver/Gold Competency
CSP legacy seat-based migration
Public sector subscriptions are now eligible for migration to the new commerce experience (NCE) by partners, with Microsoft-led migrations starting July 1, 2024. In January, Microsoft will begin auto-migrating legacy CSP subscriptions to NCE at your renewal date.
Granular Delegated Admin Privileges (GDAP)
For new customer tenants, Microsoft will now only allow GDAP to be created. At the same time, it’s transitioning delegated admin privileges (DAP) to GDAP for existing customer tenants. For new end customers, Pax8 will prompt partners in the checkout flow to establish GDAP between Pax8 and the end customer. A partner can bypass this but should then establish GDAP.
Pax8 Platform Inbox
Pax8 introduced a new partner communication system native to the Pax8 Marketplace called Platform Inbox. With Inbox, partners have the option to update their default communication preferences to receive communications through the Marketplace. To enable it, click the mailbox icon on the top right-hand corner of the Marketplace homepage and follow the instructions to opt in.
Pax8 and Microsoft enablement
Microsoft Cloud Week
Partners can accelerate their path to certifications with Microsoft Cloud Week. These week-long virtual events support partners in meeting the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program skilling requirements.
- Modern Work: November 6-10
- Business Applications: December 4-8
Unlocking the Dynamics opportunity
Pax8 is here to simplify the way you learn and transact Dynamics. Learn how and why you should be transacting Dynamics and find all Dynamics resources available through Pax8, from Academy courses and events to implementation offers.
In addition, you can read our blog from Dynamics expert Mat Batterbee. Learn how to differentiate your practice, how you can utilize the new Microsoft Customer Engagement methodology, the power of A.I. and Dynamics, and how you can begin transacting and implementing Dynamics with Pax8 today.
Blackpoint offers enhanced cyber protection with Microsoft integration
Pax8 has announced a partnership with cybersecurity provider Blackpoint Cyber to offer a cutting-edge managed detection and response (MDR) platform to MSPs transacting on the Marketplace. MacKenzie Brown, VP of Security at Blackpoint, discussed how Blackpoint integrates with Microsoft solutions to offer a robust ecosystem that detects, isolates, and eradicates threats.
Exclusive to Microsoft Defender for Business and Microsoft 365 Business Premium, the integration offers:
- 24/7 active cloud protection
- Simplified client management by applying Defender policies to multiple customers at once
- Visibility into vulnerabilities, with improved security hygiene for Microsoft 365 and Azure AD as well as mapping to CIS Microsoft 365 Foundation Benchmarks
- 24/7 security operations center (SOC) monitoring, helping you save on enhanced antivirus protection and endpoint detection and response (EDR)
This integration is especially important given worrying trends in cloud security. As organizations move to the cloud, threat actors follow, targeting organizations with threats such as business email compromise, phishing, and multi-tenant trust exploitation. The average weekly defense activities for cloud response cases have increased by about 18 per week in April 2023 to an average of about 70 per week today, according to Blackpoint. In Q3 alone, Blackpoint reported protecting 911 accounts from potential email compromises and account takeovers.
The risks from a cloud breach are numerous, from financial losses, regulatory fines, and legal consequences to data leaks, reputational damage, and a loss of competitive advantage. This underscores the critical importance of investing in robust cloud security measures to mitigate these risks and safeguard your clients’ digital assets.
Defender for Business
How do we keep up with the changing needs of an evolving digital landscape? The safest way to maintain cybersecurity is to develop a “Zero Trust” strategy.
About Zero Trust
Zero Trust is a proactive, integrated approach to security that requires every transaction to be verified, grants least-privilege access, and relies on intelligence, advanced detection, and real-time response to threats. This approach helps you support remote and hybrid work, prevent or reduce business damage from a breach, meet regulatory requirements, and generally provide a stronger security posture.
Zero Trust starts with secure identities and endpoints
To create a holistic Zero Trust architecture, you need secure access between identities and endpoints. Achieving a Zero Trust framework involves:
- Extending to the entire digital estate — including identities, endpoints, data, apps, infrastructure, and network.
- Integration via critical cross-workload capabilities — a dynamic Zero Trust policy should include pervasive threat protection that relies on telemetry, threat intelligence, and analytics across each workload.
Though you can start from any Zero Trust pillar, the most common approach we see in designing a Zero Trust journey is securing identities and endpoints. This approach offers a new business perimeter to consider as well as your clients’ first line of defense against rising identity attacks, as more than 80% of breaches start with stolen credentials, as well as the proliferation of “bring your own device” policies that have created new cybersecurity challenges.
Microsoft Defender for Business
Microsoft Defender for Business has five major pillars of value it provides to partners and their clients. These comprise:
- Threat and vulnerability management, which helps you to prioritize and focus on the software vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk to the environment.
- Attack surface reduction, which helps you reduce your attack surface (places that the organization is vulnerable to a cyberattack) across devices and applications using capabilities such as ransomware mitigation, application control, web protection, network protection, network firewall, and attack surface reduction rules.
- Next-generation protection, which includes antimalware and antivirus protection.
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR), which offers behavioral-based detection and response alerts that allow you to identify persistent threats and remove them from the environment.
- Automated investigation and remediation, which helps to scale your security operations by examining alerts and taking immediate action to resolve some attacks for you.
Defender for Business is included in Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes Defender for Business at no additional cost, offering enterprise-level security value for the small- to medium-sized business (SMB). It adds to Microsoft 365 Business Premium’s comprehensive suite that also includes Teams, Office 365, Defender for Office 365, Intune, Entra ID P1, and more. Licensing can be done as standalone SKUs for up to 300 users, with entitlement for use on up to five devices; included as part of Microsoft 365 Business Premium for up to 300 users; or as an add-on server offering.
How to strengthen security with Pax8
There are lots of ways to improve your security posture with Pax8, starting with Pax8 Events and Pax8 Academy. Pax8 hosts events live and virtually throughout the year to help you grow your skills, while Pax8 Academy offers fresh and informative cybersecurity courses, both live and on demand.
In addition, Pax8 offers a Data Estate Assessment to provide a comprehensive view of client environments with advanced security insights and recommendations. And Pax8 Professional Services helps you save time and effort by letting Pax8 handle solutions such as migration support and framework benchmarks for Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium and CIS
Choose Pax8 Professional Services to unlock the Zero Trust potential of Microsoft 365 Business Premium, E3, or E5 configured to CIS Controls. This configuration offer can help you secure your customers at scale through ProServices mapping to CIS Controls, helping you go to market with a strategy that is explicit, trusted, and repeatable, with no additional lift on your internal teams.
Pax8 Professional Services helps you secure user identities with modern, phishing-resistant authentication; secure devices and prevent BYOD threats with baseline Windows hardening and configuration profiles; and offer secure collaboration by protecting users who are leveraging Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive from common threats like malicious attachments, links, and user impersonation. Reach out to your Pax8 representative to apply.
Do more with Microsoft Business Premium and SMB workshops
Do you have a partner that would be interested in hosting SMB workshops for their customers? Nominate a partner to the Microsoft SMB Workshop Program, where they’ll be provided with:
- An email template for inviting attendees
- A presentation deck and script for Modern Work Business Premium content
- Access to the Microsoft Dashboard Portal for event management
For more information or to make a nomination, reach out to your Pax8 representative or productivity solutions consultant.
Resources
Register for Beyond 2024
Registration for Beyond 2024 is now open. Taking place June 9-11, 2024, in Denver, CO, Beyond 2024 is the premier industry event for innovation, education, and community. Sign up now while early-bird pricing of only $299 is still available.
Sign up for hands-on labs
Pax8 has a number of hands-on labs available for partners throughout the end of 2023. Sign up now to attend the following sessions:
- Modern Work partner enablement sessions – November 9, Microsoft Intune; November 30, Microsoft 365; December 7, Microsoft 365 Copilot; December 13, Microsoft Entra.
- Azure hands-on labs – November 8, Azure Migrate; November 15, Azure OpenAI, December 6, Defender for Cloud; December 21, Azure Virtual Desktop.
Sign up for the Microsoft monthly update to stay in the know
That’s all for November — to keep up with the latest Microsoft news, program updates, incentives, and more, be sure to sign up for our monthly webcast so you don’t miss a thing.
