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01 CSP News
Co-op H1 claim deadline: 15 August 2026
The Co-op H1 claim window for FY26 earnings closes on 15 August 2026. If you have unused FY26 H1 Co-op funds, this is the deadline to claim them. Microsoft does not grant extensions, and POE rework requests in August leave very little room to recover before the cutoff.
Build and submit your claims now, before mid-July, so there's time to handle any POE follow-up Microsoft asks for. We've put together a Co-op Claiming Guide that walks through eligible spend, POE requirements, and the Partner Center workflow.
If you'd rather talk it through, your AppXite contact is the fastest route. We'd rather help you claim everything you're owed now than have you discover unused funds after 15 August.
Microsoft 365 E7 and Agent 365 are now generally available on CSP
Microsoft announced on 1 May 2026 that Microsoft 365 E7 and Agent 365 are now available on the CSP price list. M365 E7 is positioned as the Frontier Suite, bundling M365 E5, Copilot, and Agent 365 into a single SKU, with Microsoft Entra Suite and advanced Defender, Intune, and Purview capabilities included.
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What's in M365 E7: M365 E5 base, Copilot, Agent 365, Entra Suite, plus extended Defender, Intune, and Purview
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Agent 365 specifically: Microsoft's control plane to observe, govern, and secure both Microsoft and third-party AI agents in a customer tenant
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Positioning: Microsoft's premium upgrade path for customers ready to scale AI with governance, not just experimentation
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Where to find it: CSP price list, with seller readiness and partner enablement materials live on the Microsoft partner site
If you have customers on M365 E5 who are running Copilot pilots and asking about governance for AI agents, M365 E7 is now the right conversation. Pull the SKU into your next renewal review and the seller readiness materials from Microsoft Partner Center.
May 2026 license-based price lists republished, no actual price changes
On 2 May 2026, Microsoft republished the new commerce license-based May price lists with two corrections. The original 1 May files had incorrect effective end date values (showing 5/4/2026), and the EST (Extended Service Term) price lists were missing some SKU line items. The republished files (last updated date 5/2/2026) correct both issues. No actual prices changed.
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Files corrected: main license-based price lists, end of sale price lists, and EST price list
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Markets affected: all markets
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Audience: all CSP partners, distributors, indirect resellers, direct bill
If you downloaded the 1 May price lists for use in quoting tools or internal systems, pull the 2 May versions and replace them. Look for the 5/2/2026 last updated date in the Pricing workspace to confirm you have the latest.
Managing EST at scale: AppXite platform support
Extended Service Term (EST) gives customers a grace period to renew expiring subscriptions at their existing price, but managing EST cleanly across a reseller's customer base creates real operational work. Tracking which subscriptions sit in EST, when each grace period ends, what the renewal options look like, and how billing flows through, all add up.
AppXite's platform is designed for resellers managing EST at scale. Our platform enablement for EST is built to take this complexity off your plate, with visibility, control, and tooling that goes beyond what's available in Partner Center alone. If you have customers in or approaching EST, talk to your AppXite contact about how to use the platform to manage them.
EST management is one of the operational areas where AppXite platform enablement is genuinely stronger than what other distributors offer. If you haven't explored what's available, this is worth 30 minutes with your account team.
02 What's Coming
From Microsoft
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30 June 2026 FY26 H2 incentive earning period closes. FY26 partner eligibility (SPD or 25 capability points + 25,000 USD TTM at PLA ID level) remains the standard until Microsoft publishes FY27 framework
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1 July 2026 FY27 incentive term opens. FY27 partner incentives guide expected late June
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1 July 2026 Co-op H1 FY27 usage period opens (1 July to 31 December 2026), running against FY26 H2 earnings
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15 August 2026 Co-op claim deadline for FY26 H1 earnings (used during the FY26 H2 January to June window)
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30 September 2026 Co-op POE approval deadline for FY26 H1 claims
From AppXite
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July 2026 Edition 02 of The AppXite Pulse, covering the published FY27 incentive changes in detail
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July 2026 M365 E7 and Agent 365 customer conversation kit, talking points, objection handling, deal-sizing template
Two things on the June agenda. First, review your capability scores in Partner Center, if you're sitting at 22 to 24 points in any solution area, push for the final points before 30 June so you carry FY27 eligibility cleanly into Q1. Second, if you have unused FY26 H1 Co-op funds, build your claims now and submit before mid-July. August leaves no room for POE rework.
03 Designation & Specialisation Updates
Audit-based model coming for all four Security specialisations
Microsoft is moving to an audit-based model in the coming months for all four Security specialisations: Cloud Security, Data Security, Identity & Access Management, and Threat Protection. The audit validates whether partners can deliver Microsoft Security solutions in real customer environments, not just on paper.
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Who runs the audit: an independent, third-party auditor
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Cadence: every two years
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Cost: funded by the partner. Duration depends on scheduling between the auditor and the partner
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Outcome: Pass or No Pass, including if the partner withdraws from the audit
If you hold or are working toward any of the four Security specialisations, start mapping your real customer deployments now. The audit checks delivery in live customer environments, so case studies, deployment evidence, and customer references will all matter when the model goes live.
Adoption and Change Management specialisation is being retired
The Adoption and Change Management specialisation is being retired in the coming months. Microsoft is embedding adoption and change management capabilities into the product-aligned specialisations directly, so change management gets evaluated in the context of specific solutions rather than as a standalone general-purpose specialisation.
Three new specialisations are being created by merging existing ones
Microsoft is consolidating six current specialisations into three new ones in the coming months. The new structure groups capabilities that customers buy together:
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Analytics on Microsoft Azure (new): merges Analytics on Microsoft Azure + Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure + Business Intelligence
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Agentic Business Solutions (new): merges Low Code Application Development + Intelligent Automation
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App Modernization on Microsoft Azure (new): merges Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure + Migrate Enterprise Applications to Microsoft Azure
If you hold any of the six specialisations being merged, your status carries forward into the new structure once Microsoft confirms the transition rules. We'll cover the specifics (effective dates, anniversary handling, evidence requirements) in a future edition once Microsoft publishes more detail.
04 Marketplace Update
App Advisor is changing how ISVs build and list Marketplace offers
Microsoft launched App Advisor, an AI-powered tool inside Partner Center, to help ISVs build, publish, and optimise their Marketplace listings. It walks publishers through the offer-creation steps, recommends offer types based on the solution, and gives AI-driven suggestions on listing copy, imagery, and discoverability.
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What it does: recommends offer type (SaaS, Azure App, AI Apps and Agents, etc.), optimises listing content, surfaces growth tactics post-publish
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Who uses it: ISVs and software publishers, not resellers
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Why it matters for you: the ISV partners you co-sell with are now producing higher-quality, more discoverable listings on Microsoft Marketplace, which makes them easier to find, pitch, and bundle with your CSP wrap
If you partner with ISVs whose solutions you bundle into customer deals (security tools, vertical SaaS, AI agents), check whether their Marketplace listings have been refreshed recently. Better listings mean stronger customer-facing material you can pull into your own conversations.
The wider Marketplace shift, why it shows up in this newsletter
Microsoft unified Azure Marketplace and AppSource into a single Microsoft Marketplace in late 2025, with a dedicated AI Apps and Agents category (3,000+ solutions). Two things to track as the channel evolves:
Resale-enabled offers (private preview), which let distributors and resellers transact ISV solutions with their own margin and consolidated billing
Deeper distributor integration: Arrow, Crayon, Ingram Micro, Pax8, and TD SYNNEX have already signed on to integrate Microsoft Marketplace into their own platforms. This signals where the channel is heading
Resale-enabled offers, once they move out of private preview, become a meaningful new revenue line for resellers who already work with ISVs. We'll cover the GA timeline and how it affects AppXite's offering in a future edition.
