Monthly Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program update

On this page10 sections

1. The Adoption and Change Management specialization is retired June 25, 2026
2. Microsoft 365 Copilot Specialization Has Been Updated
3. FY27 H1 Audit Checklists Available Now
4. Skilling Updates Due to Retiring Certifications
5. Upcoming Skilling Updates Due to Retiring Certifications
6. Update to the Advanced skilling metric for the Solutions Partner for Modern Work designation
7. Upcoming Specialization Mergers
8. Audit Checklists for All Four Security Specializations
9. Updates to Sales, Service, Finance, and Supply Chain Specializations
10. Agentic Security Specialization Coming in FY27!

What’s new for Solutions Partner designations, specializations, and other Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program offerings and benefits.

Impacted audience

Partners enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program

The Adoption and Change Management specialization is retired June 25, 2026

The Adoption Change Management specialization is retired. Rather than have a standalone specialization, adoption and change management capabilities are embedded within product-aligned specializations, ensuring change management is evaluated in the context of specific solutions while retiring this more general-purpose specialization. New enrollments and renewals of the Adoption Change Management specialization are no longer accepted. If you're currently enrolled, your specialization remains active until your anniversary date.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Specialization Has Been Updated

Microsoft updated the Microsoft Copilot specialization to align with evolving customer demand and the latest Microsoft 365 Copilot and agent capabilities. The specialization is renamed to the Microsoft 365 Copilot specialization. Here’s what changed:

• Performance measurement updates: Performance requirements measure paid Microsoft 365 Copilot monthly active usage (MAU) only.
• Updated certification requirements: The Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert (MS-102) certification requirement is removed, along with Applied Skills: Prepare security and compliance to support Copilot (APL-4002) and Create custom agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio (APL-7008), which are retired. New certification requirements, including Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect (AB-100) and AI Agent Builder Associate (AB-620), address the retirement of APL-7008.
• Customer references replaced with a capabilities audit: Customer references are replaced with a third-party capabilities audit. The audit requires real customer examples and remains valid for two years. Audit checklist

FY27 H1 Audit Checklists Available Now

The Azure Specialization checklists are updated to contain the FY27 H1 changes and updates as of July 1.

Skilling Updates Due to Retiring Certifications

The following skilling options are added to the below specializations in June 2026:

The following skilling options are added to the below Solutions Partner designations in June 2026. All changes apply to both Enterprise and SMB tracks:

Upcoming Skilling Updates Due to Retiring Certifications

The following skilling changes are coming to the below specializations at the end of July 2026:

The following skilling changes are coming to the below Solutions Partner designations at the end of July 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 prior to its retirement remains valid for one year
• New skilling is added, if the replacement skilling is applicable to those specializations and designations
• The new requirements are detailed 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 certification is being removed from the Advanced skilling metric for the Solutions Partner for Modern Work designation in the coming months. This certification currently counts in both intermediate and advanced metrics, and should only count in the intermediate section.

Upcoming Specialization Mergers

Coming at the beginning of August 2026, three new specializations are created by merging existing specializations:

• The Analytics on Microsoft Azure, Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure, and Business Intelligence specializations merge into a new Analytics on Microsoft Azure specialization.
• Partners who are currently enrolled in Analytics or Data Warehouse Migration are automatically enrolled into the new merged Analytics specialization with the same anniversary date.
• New criteria include:
• Solutions Partner Designation: no change
• Performance: Your company must achieve a total of $15,000 of Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) in the last 3 months across 3 customers from Eligible Strategic Pillars: Azure Databricks, Fabric F SKU, and/or Rest of Analytics
• Skilling: Your organization must have at least five (5) individuals who pass the following certifications (2 of the 4 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 is posted for the merged specialization
• The Low Code Application Development and Intelligent Automation specializations merge into a new Agentic Business Solutions specialization.
• Partners who are currently enrolled in Low Code or Intelligent Automation are automatically enrolled into the new merged Agentic Business Solutions specialization with the same anniversary date.
• New criteria include:
• Solutions Partner Designation: no change
• Performance: Your organization can achieve the performance requirements via one of two pathways:
• Pathway One: 2 unique customers as new deployments, including at least 1 customer using Power Automate with a flow in production and 1 customer using a Power Apps application with a minimum of 5 users in production. Association Type: PAL
• OR Pathway Two: 2 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 (5) individuals who pass 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 (2) individuals who pass 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 (2) individuals who pass 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 merge into a new App Modernization on Microsoft Azure specialization.
• Partners who are currently enrolled in Kubernetes or Migrate Enterprise Applications are automatically enrolled into the new merged App Modernization specialization with the same anniversary date.
• New criteria include:
• Solutions Partner Designation: no change
• Performance: Your company must achieve a total of $15,000 of Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) in the last 3 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 (3) individuals who pass 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 is posted for the merged specialization

Audit Checklists for All Four Security Specializations

Coming at the end of July 2026, Microsoft is moving 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 depends on scheduling between the auditor and the partner.

The partner funds the audit and it's conducted every two years. When the change goes live, partners are given a 6-month extension to their anniversary date to allow time to prepare for the audit. Partners 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
• More details on what the audit includes will be released in the coming months. In the meantime, identify SMEs within your partners’ organizations who can support sourcing the required artifacts.

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

In the coming months, Microsoft will update four AI Business Solutions specializations. The Sales, Service, Finance, and Supply Chain specializations all receive the following changes:

• The eligible deployments are now defined by MAU instead of MCV.
• The gross growth performance requirement is removed.
• Microsoft Marketplace tags are 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—helping 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 - recognizing those leading the shift to AI-powered defense and setting a new standard for security excellence.