Monthly Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program update

On this page14 sections

1. MAICPP Agreement update coming September 1, 2026
2. Changes to Specializations and Solutions Partner Designations
3. Updated Solutions Partner designation badges
4. How the badges map
5. What stays the same
6. Frontier Partner badge retirement and Frontier Partner specialization transition
7. Skilling updates due to retiring certifications
8. Update to the Advanced skilling metric for the Solutions Partner for Modern Work designation
9. Upcoming specialization mergers
10. Audit checklists for all four security specializations
11. Coming soon
12. Updates to Sales, Service, Finance, and Supply Chain Specializations
13. Agentic Security Specialization coming in FY27
14. Improvements to specialization audit reporting

This month’s updates continue to enhance partner differentiation and readiness across high-demand solution areas. Key changes include specialization updates that integrate AI capabilities, revised skilling and performance requirements, and streamlined qualification frameworks to support partner growth and agility.

Impacted audience

Partners enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program

MAICPP Agreement update coming September 1, 2026

As part of its standard business operations, Microsoft periodically reviews and updates the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Agreement to ensure alignment with current practices and regulatory requirements. The agreement was updated and made available for your review on July 1, 2026. Beginning September 1, 2026, the updated terms take effect automatically. Your organization doesn't need to take action, provide a signature, or acknowledge the update.

To review the updates, access the updated Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Agreement preview.

Changes to Specializations and Solutions Partner Designations

Updated Solutions Partner designation badges

The names of the customer-facing Solutions Partner badges are now updated to align to the three commercial solution areas: AI Business Solutions, Cloud & AI Platforms, and Security. The six solution paths (Business Applications, Data & AI (Azure), Digital & App Innovation (Azure), Infrastructure (Azure), Modern Work, and Security) remain the foundation for requirements, scoring, and specializations. By using badges aligned to the three commercial solution areas, you can more easily position your capabilities, support seller conversations, and show credibility where it matters most: in front of customers.

How the badges map

• Business Applications and Modern Work: now Solutions Partner for AI Business Solutions
• Data & AI (Azure), Digital & App Innovation (Azure), and Infrastructure (Azure): now Solutions Partner for Cloud & AI Platforms
• Security: remains Solutions Partner for Security

What stays the same

Your path to attainment doesn't change. You still attain designations through the same six solution paths, with the same partner capability score metrics and technical requirements. No new paths are being introduced, and no existing ones are being removed. Your eligibility for benefits and incentives remains the same, continuing to align to the solution path you enroll in. Specializations still map to the same solution paths, with the same criteria, differentiation, and benefits.

No action is required—your designations, requirements, benefits, and specializations remain unchanged. MAICPP admins can sign in to Logo Builder to see the updated badge names and certified letter, and refresh your customer-facing materials to reflect the new names where applicable.

Frontier Partner badge retirement and Frontier Partner specialization transition

As announced at MCAPS Start for Partners in July 2026, the Frontier Partner badge retires at the end of June 2027. Partners who hold the badge can continue to use it in fiscal year 2027 (FY27) as long as they continue to meet the requirements. Partners who meet the requirements find the badge in Logo Builder (accessible by MAICPP Admins). Partners can continue to achieve the Frontier Partner badge in FY27. After June 2027, no partner can use the badge regardless of when they attained it.

Partners should explore and pursue the Frontier Partner specialization, which expands on the capabilities represented by the Frontier Partner badge. The specialization will be available in Partner Center soon in FY27.

Skilling updates due to retiring certifications

The following skilling changes went live July 30, 2026:

The following skilling changes occurred to the following Solutions Partner designations on July 30, 2026. All changes apply to both Enterprise and SMB tracks:

Certifications and Applied Skills are regularly updated throughout their lifecycle, which can impact specializations and Solutions Partner designations. In the case of a retiring certification or applied skill impacting a specialization or Solutions Partner designation, the following are true:

• Skilling achieved before retirement remains valid for one year.
• Add new skilling if the replacement skilling applies to those specializations and designations.
• We detail the new requirements in Partner Center as they go into effect.

Update to the Advanced skilling metric for the Solutions Partner for Modern Work designation

The Microsoft 365 Certified: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate has been removed from the Advanced skilling metric for the Solutions Partner for Modern Work designation in the coming months. This certification was counted in both intermediate and advanced metrics, and is now only be counted in the intermediate section.

Upcoming specialization mergers

As of July 31, 2026, three new specializations were created by merging existing specializations:

• The Analytics on Microsoft Azure, Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure, and Business Intelligence specializations merged into a new Analytics on Microsoft Azure specialization. Partners who were enrolled in Analytics or Data Warehouse Migration were enrolled into the new merged Analytics specialization with the same anniversary date. New criteria are:
• Solutions Partner Designation: no change
• Performance: Your company must achieve a total of $15,000 of Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) in the last three months across three customers from Eligible Strategic Pillars: Azure Databricks, Fabric F SKU, and/or Rest of Analytics.
• Skilling: Your organization must have at least five individuals who passed the following certifications (two of the four certifications listed below must be held by at least two individuals).
• Fabric Data Engineer Associate
• Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate
• Power BI Data Analyst Associate
• Azure Databricks Data Engineer Associate
• Audit: A new audit checklist will be posted for the merged specialization.
• The Low Code Application Development and Intelligent Automation specializations merged into a new Agentic Business Solutions specialization. Partners who were enrolled in Low Code or Intelligent Automation were enrolled into the new merged Agentic Business Solutions specialization with the same anniversary date. New criteria are:
• Solutions Partner Designation: no change
• Performance: Your organization can achieve the performance requirements through one of two pathways:
• Pathway One: two unique customers as new deployments, including at least one customer using Power Automate with a flow in production and one customer using a Power Apps application with a minimum of five users in production. Association Type: PAL.
• OR Pathway Two: two new customer deployments of Copilot Studio with minimum $10,000 TTM each (non-recurring). Association Type: CPOR, CSP T1, CSP T2, CSPCPOR.
• Skilling:
• Your company must have at least five individuals who passed at least one of the following certifications: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate, Intelligent App Builder, or AI Agent Builder Associate.
• AND your company must have at least two individuals who passed the following certifications: Power Platform Developer Associate (minimum one individual) or Power Automate RPA Developer Associate (no minimum number of individuals).
• AND your company must have at least two individuals who passed the following certification: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect.
• Microsoft Marketplace: Your organization must have at least one consulting service offer for Power Apps, Power Automate, Copilot Studio, or Power Virtual Agents published on Microsoft Marketplace, with the corresponding products tagged in the offer.
• The Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure and Migrate Enterprise Applications to Microsoft Azure specializations merged into a new App Modernization on Microsoft Azure specialization. Partners who were enrolled in Kubernetes or Migrate Enterprise Applications were enrolled into the new merged App Modernization specialization with the same anniversary date. New criteria are:
• Solutions Partner Designation: no change
• Performance: Your company must achieve a total of $15,000 of Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) in the last three months from Eligible Strategic Pillars: App Platform Services, Container Services, Developer Services and Platform, GitHub Copilot, Integration Services, Serverless, and/or Supporting Services.
• Skilling: Your organization must have at least three individuals who passed the following certifications (one certification from each of the three certification groups listed below must be held by at least one individual):
• DevOps Engineer Expert
• Azure Developer Associate OR Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate
• Azure Administrator Associate
• Audit: A new audit checklist will be posted for the merged specialization.

Audit checklists for all four security specializations

As of July 30, Microsoft moved to an audit-based model for all four Microsoft Security Specializations: Cloud Security, Data Security, Identity & Access Management, and Threat Protection. The new audit validates whether partners can deliver Microsoft Security solutions in real customer environments.

This audit is conducted by an independent, third-party auditor. The duration of the audit will depend on scheduling between the auditor and the partner. The audit is funded by the partner and conducted every two years.

Partners get a six-month extension to their anniversary date to allow time to prepare for the audit.

Partners will receive a Pass or No Pass result upon completion of the audit process, including if they withdraw from the audit.

How you can prepare your partners today:

• Get familiar with the four Security Specializations
• Identify SMEs within your partners' organizations who can support sourcing the required artifacts
• Review the audit checklists:
• Cloud Security specialization
• Data Security Specialization
• Identity and Access Management specialization
• Threat Protection specialization

Coming soon

Updates to Sales, Service, Finance, and Supply Chain Specializations

In August, four AI Business Solutions specializations will be updated. The Sales, Service, Finance, & Supply Chain specializations will all receive the following changes:

• The eligible deployments will now be defined by MAU instead of MCV
• The gross growth performance requirement is being removed
• Microsoft Marketplace tags are being updated to match current products

Agentic Security Specialization coming in FY27

The Agentic Security Specialization, currently in design, recognizes partners who use AI to detect, investigate, and respond to threats at machine speed. These partners help customers stay protected in the era of intelligent agents. Built on proven expertise in Data Security, Identity and Access Management, and Threat Protection, the specialization combines advanced security skilling with a rigorous audit that validates real-world agentic AI capabilities.

The Agentic Security Specialization gives customers confidence in partners who can meet that challenge. It recognizes those leading the shift to AI-powered defense and sets a new standard for security excellence.

Improvements to specialization audit reporting

In late August 2026, partners can withdraw their audit directly in Partner Center. Doing so changes their status to Audit Withdrawn and notifies the audit team. Partners can reapply for the audit as soon as they're ready, with no cooldown period.

In September 2026, partners can view their Security or Azure Module A status in Partner Center. For specializations that require a Module A component, Partner Center displays their most recent Module A date for that solution area and when it will be required to take again.