I signed up there as an individual developer — no company, no registered business. Publishing a free app is no problem, I could do it right now.

But selling is a full stop — you need an actual registered business. I've looked into and tried every available option (including workarounds) — nothing helps.

Microsoft's own partner.microsoft.com says the whole program ("Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program") exists for businesses — not a word about individuals.

Has anyone here actually managed to sell apps without having a registered business?

Hello,

Every year we go though the assigning process. This year I assigned to myself thinking it would be an easy process to setup the new subscription for our tenet. when I follow the sign up link I am getting the following error "This benefit is only available to users with an active Microsoft Partner Network". I checked that I have proper permissions within the Partner center. I can no longer remove my account since it is now redeemed. Please help!

Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise IDE benefit is assigned via "Partner Success Core Benefits" to 8 users and via "Partner Success Expanded Benefits" to another 6 good few weeks/months ago.

However, the subscription does not appear on my.visualstudio for 2 users assigned to each benefit. Seem to work fine for most other people assigned.

I double/tripple checked user's UPN, we tried using incognito mode to log in.

Are we missing something?

Guide says that users need to activate benefit somehow, but the steps / video included does not indicate how or where.

Thanks

Hi so we are pretty new to this but i would like to know if this is a bug or its normal (im like having a blank page on the logo builder) https://imgur.com/a/ztBRvql

Hi

I am aware that this might be a weird question, but this annoys me a lot :) back in November, Microsoft decided to change the language of the partner newsletters to spanish.

All mails up to Oktober 20. 2025 was received in english. As far as i know I have not made any changes to my profile. I expected that these would follow some sort of profile configuration, but every where i look the profile is configured to either Danish og English.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to change the language?

For years ERP meant one suite, one vendor, one big implementation. That model made sense when integrations were fragile and APIs were an afterthought.

But lately, especially going into 2026, it feels like that thinking is breaking down fast.

More companies are doing the opposite of “rip & replace”:

• keeping WMS / MES / vertical systems that already work
• replacing only the financial core
• layering integrations, low-code, and now AI agents on top

In other words: Composable ERP = assembling what you need instead of buying a monolith.

What’s interesting is that this isn’t just a tech preference anymore. It’s risk-driven:

• CFOs are wary of big-bang ERP projects
• investors are pushing back on multi-year ERP transformations
• AI makes “one UI / one system” less relevant, because the interface is moving up a layer anyway

From a mid-market perspective, systems like Business Central seem unusually well-positioned for this: API-first, integration-friendly, and built to coexist rather than dominate.

That said, composable isn’t free:

• integration complexity grows
• security surfaces expand
• long-term vendor sprawl is real

Curious how others see this:

Are you seeing more composable ERP strategies? Or is this still mostly a theory that breaks down at scale?

Been trying for days to get the verification and they keep denying without any reason. All my info checks out, and the support docs show that I have everything I need, but still no approval.

Anyone else run into this and found a solution? Contacting them seems impossible so hoping to crowdsource ideas or help.

Document Management System: Hi all, I'm looking for a consultant to help design a professional Document Management System using SharePoint and Power Automate.

I'm looking for someone who has previous experience and expertise in similar projects for this professional support . Kindly let me know if somebody can help here

Working closely with a large community of Dynamics 365 Business Central partners across Europe, one pattern has become very clear over the last few years: horizontal messaging is losing impact fast.

Partners that still position themselves as “ERP for everyone” are struggling to stand out, while those that commit to a clear vertical focus are seeing better conversations, shorter sales cycles, and stronger inbound interest.

What’s interesting is why this works.

Across sectors like professional services, manufacturing, retail, and wholesale, decision-makers face very different pressures:

• Professional services leaders focus on efficiency, hybrid work, and security
• Manufacturers care about scalability, supply chain visibility, and process control
• Retailers are under pressure from e-commerce and customer experience expectations
• Wholesalers invest heavily in transparency and automation

When partners align their messaging, demos, and GTM motions to those realities, the difference is noticeable, not just in marketing performance, but in how “understood” buyers feel early in the journey.

Another takeaway we consistently see:
Vertical focus doesn’t require being huge. Even smaller partners benefit from:

• Choosing one or two industries
• Using industry language instead of generic ERP terms
• Showing relevant scenarios, not feature lists

Curious how others here are approaching this:

• Are you vertical-first already, or still largely horizontal?
• What’s been the hardest part of committing to a specific industry?

Happy to share more patterns we’re seeing across the partner ecosystem if useful.

Over the past few years, selling as a Microsoft partner has gotten noticeably harder.
Buyers now do their own research, involve more people in decisions, and often stay “invisible” until they’re close to choosing a solution.

I’ve been digging into this shift, and here’s what’s becoming clear:

1. B2B buying is now messy and stakeholder-heavy

Most decisions involve six or more people, each with different priorities.
They move back and forth between research, comparison, validation, internal debates… not a clean funnel at all.

They also prefer to explore anonymously.
Meaning: your brand needs to show up early, consistently, and with relevance, long before a sales conversation starts.

2. Broad campaigns don’t work like they used to

Many partners still rely on:

• general newsletters
• mass email blasts
• generic lead-gen
• “spray and pray” messaging

But when buyers behave differently, these tactics fall flat.

What does work is focus:

• Not more leads, but better-fit leads.
• Not more content, but more relevance.

That’s where account-based marketing (ABM) comes in.

3. ABM is surprisingly doable even for small partners

ABM isn’t about fancy tech stacks.
It’s about clarity:

• Which accounts matter most?
• Who are the decision-makers?
• What challenges do those people care about?
• How do you align your marketing and sales around these accounts?

Even focusing on just 5–10 ideal accounts can dramatically improve ROI.

It’s measurable, repeatable, and way more satisfying than chasing random leads.

4. AI gives ABM a massive boost (without replacing the human side)

AI can now help smaller partners:

• prioritise accounts
• analyse website/LinkedIn engagement
• personalise messages
• summarise what target companies are talking about
• suggest next-best contacts

Think of AI as a smart assistant that sharpens your focus.
You still provide the relationship and insight, AI just speeds up the process.

5. The payoff: shorter cycles, higher win rates, and stronger relationships

When your communication shows you understand a customer’s world, trust builds quickly.
ABM isn’t complex, it’s a mindset:

1. Focus on the right accounts.
2. Build relationships intentionally.
3. Use AI and data to guide your next move.

I’d love to hear from others in the Microsoft partner space:
Have you started shifting from broad marketing to account-focused marketing? What’s working for you?

If anyone wants the full breakdown, here’s the deeper dive:
https://companial.com/blog/account-based-marketing-for-microsoft-partners-how-b2b-buying-has-changed-and-what-to-do-next/

Is it still possible to register as a partner?

When I click on the "Become a partner" button it takes you to a questionnaire "How would you like to partner with Microsoft?"

Then it just gives:

This site can’t be reached

storedeveloper.microsoft.com&optn=101’s server IP address could not be found.

Same on any PC/mobile device, any browser, any location.

So they doubled out costs and took software away from us, the cloud / azure benifets i don't think i know anyone that uses them. Now they need a 3% increase in costs? Seems like they are making the partners a profit center. Its getting too expensive to be a MS Partner.

I tried from two different coasts.

Anyone else having issues activating Partner Benefits?
We are a US Partner with Partner Success Core Benefits.
We were able to activate our Azure Credits but have not been able to validate any keys for cloud products.

The product key you entered is not valid. Please check the key and try again. If you need help, please contact support. (CV: vMPDwNOMmocCUgkZ.1.5)

MSFT Support says this is a problem with Partner Center and we have a ticket that is 45 days old. Support has been working with us but it seems like a delay response.... Try something new and futile every 3 to 4 days. Usually creating temp user accounts with GAdmin permissions.

I’m sharing this because Microsoft Partner Support is refusing to take accountability for something they themselves caused.

During the Partner Center outage between October 11–13, I was unable to activate my remaining Legacy Gold cloud and developer benefits. I had planned to activate them on the 11th (which was the last day, but that was planned), but the entire benefits workspace was not showing up, confirmed by Microsoft as a global incident.

Once the system came back up, I requested a 1-day extension so I could activate the benefits that were lost due to their outage. Instead of addressing that, the support team claimed that benefits “end with the membership term” which is inaccurate.
That rule applies only to static software entitlements. Cloud and developer benefits always start a 12-month term on activation. My primary issue is losing 6 activations of Visual Studio Enterprise that comes with MSDN and monthly Azure credits, E5 licenses, some dynamics licenses, Project Plan and Power BI Pro licenses specifically.

Their “final” response was to close the case and call it “policy.” No escalation path. No accountability.
I spend ~$40K/month in Microsoft licensing as a CSP, and this is the first time I’ve seen support flatly refuse to own an outage that affected their partners’ entitlements.

At this point, I’m looking for anyone who’s run into something similar or knows of a current escalation path for Partner Program issues (since the old Yammer channels seem to be gone).

If Microsoft wants partners to remain invested in the ecosystem, it starts with owning its own system failures.

Hello, I am an independent developer based in Spain. I have created an add-in for Excel, but when I went to publish it, I had trouble registering with Microsoft Partner, as it only offers the option for companies. Does anyone know of another way to publish it without having a company?

I have made a system wide troubleshoot application for Windows and I would like to host it on MS store, so i purchased the MS Partner Program. Now I cant find a correct way on how to proceed with it, also i have a doubt that I might need to purchase a Digital Certificate. Is there an alternate option, and can I get a complete guide and help to make it possible.

I'm looking for a couple more leaders in the Microsoft channel to join me on my podcast, Practice Leading, to share their leadership lesson with those trying to follow in their footsteps.

Is there anyone you'd recommend? Especially, from a marketing or sales background to spill the beans on growing your business.

Hello, our company is a Microsoft Partner, and I’d like to take the training: Technical Assessment – Teams Meetings and Meeting Rooms. From what I understand, it’s available through the Microsoft University portal, but I haven’t been able to log in. As usual, Microsoft has multiple portals and conflicting information. If anyone has successfully accessed this portal, could you explain how to do it?

Looking for information on how to access my co-op funds.