'Microsoft's worst move in 30 years' - MPN changes spark uproar

Decision to remove internal use rights and technical support for partners described by one partner as "crazy"

Microsoft partners have been left "flabbergasted" at the vendor's decision to withdraw what are seen in some quarters as two key benefits to Gold and Silver reseller partners.

The vendor revealed in an online document that it intends to withdraw the internal use rights it grants to those who are part of its Microsoft Partner Network (MPN).

"Currently, the licenses allow partners to access and use the products for internal business purposes. We will retire product licenses for internal use purposes on 1 July 2020," one document reads.

"After that date, product licenses offered through the MPN may only be used for business development scenarios, including demonstration purposes, solution/services development purposes, and internal training purposes."

It also plans to remove on-premise technical support for partners, starting on August 2019, although partners whose renewal date falls before then "will retain the current on-premise product support incidents". Those whose renewal date comes after August will no longer be able to avail of those services.

The news was flagged in a blog post by Wayne Small on SBSFaq.com, a website dedicated to small solving small business problems.

In a statement to CRN, Microsoft said that it is "refocusing" its partner business investments and programmes in order to help them capitalise on cloud opportunities.

Initial partner reaction to the news has been frosty.

Kelvin Kirby, CEO of Microsoft Gold partner Technology Associates, interpreted the decision as a "crazy" move from the vendor.

"I'm flabbergasted," he told CRN.

"How can they provide that benefit for so many years and then expect partners not to have that benefit?," he added, referring to the internal useage rights change.

"The membership fees have increased dramatically over the years; they've progressively reduced the level of support and gone to a paid support model. It seems to me another way of screwing money out of the partners and that to me is a death-knell for their partner programme."

Kirby interpreted the announcement as something that would "decimate" the MPN.

"I don't know whether these decisions are being made in isolation in Redmond and senior people at MPN are not talking to each other," he stated.

"This is not the first time they've made these crazy decisions and then have had to backtrack on them because of a backlash so it wouldn't surprise me if this decision is yet reversed.

"The benefits Microsoft is giving to partners is slowly diminishing and being pulled back and that can't be good for sales of product or for partners to have the ability to demonstrate their products and services."

Andy Trish, MD of NCI Technologies, shared Kirby's sentiments and pondered what the advantages of being a Gold or Silver partner now are.

"I think that they are going to lose a lot of partners who use them for their internal use rights," he explained.

"What they haven't announced are the advantages you now have to be a Microsoft partner because internal use was a large part of the cost."

He also called the move to end on-premise technical support "disappointing" saying that any alternative is a poor substitute for what is currently in place.

"As an MSP and SMB, we use Microsoft technical support for emergency help and if we have to pay an additional charge for that, or it's taken away completely, then we have no one to go to for immediate help; a web contact is just not fast or reliable enough."

Trish speculated that this move is another in a series that will ultimately see Microsoft cutting off its channel completely and NCI itself has limited its investment in the vendor due to what it sees as a lack of interest in its partner programme.

"My immediate thought is that [they are trying to move away from the channel]," he said.

"For a long time, Microsoft has been heading towards going it alone. By taking these benefits away from partners it looks like they are choosing that option now.

"If that happens I think they will be in for quite a shock because the partner community will move on and they won't have partners.

"We used to have multiple Microsoft competencies but don't invest in that sort of thing anymore because it isn't investing in the partner programme, or so it appears to us.

"The advantages of being a Gold partner now don't exist. We qualify for Gold but only pay for Silver because paying that additional sum isn't worth it for us and now that they are taking away more benefit I don't even think we will retain Silver partner."

A number of Microsoft partners have taken to LinkedIn to share their dismay at the news, with Kirby branding it "the worst move by Microsoft in 30 years" on the social media platform.

"I actually think the support incidents are the best benefit for us. Provides us peace of mind...knowing there's someone we can get hold of if [we] need it," said Paul Dadge, managing director of Microsoft Silver partner PC Paramedics in reply to a LinkedIn post by industry watcher Richard Tubb.

Microsoft's full statement on the changes:

"The transformation enabled by cloud computing has wide-ranging impacts, including how we work with partners.

"To help partners capitalise on the opportunities possible with cloud, we are refocusing our partner business investments and programmes.

"We outlined our approach to these investments in our recent blog post, Investing in partner success and growth. A snapshot of these changes includes:

• In August 2019, we are retiring the on-premises product support incidents currently included with Silver and Gold competencies and in the Microsoft Action Pack, effective when partners renew their existing competency or subscription beginning August 2019.
• Partners with competencies will continue to have access to cloud support services to support their customers.
• Partners that attain a competency will receive product licenses that are aligned to the products and technologies specific to that competency.
• The Microsoft Action Pack remains available for purchase for partners that want access to the latest Microsoft products and technologies for business development scenarios such as developing innovative applications and services, demonstration purposes, and internal training.
• Beginning July 1, 2020, we will be updating the terms of use for product licenses to remove the internal use association.

"Partners can review the changes for the competency or competencies they have on the Competency review page of the Microsoft partner website."

Updated:

A Microsoft spokesperson has been in touch to further explain the reasoning behind the vendor's decision-making on this matter.

"We are continually looking at where and how to make investments in our partner business to create the most value for our partners," the spokesperson said.

"We outlined our approach to these investments in a recent blog post, ‘Investing in partner success and growth.

"Like any business, we need to prioritise where we are going to commit funds. In this case, we made the decision to invest more heavily in programs and resources that support business growth, helping partners connect with more customers, other partners, and Microsoft sales teams.

"One of the trade-offs is changing our approach to providing product licenses for internal use. We will continue to offer product licenses for dev/test scenarios and to win business, and the internal use rights won't change until 1 July 2020, to allow time for partners to plan.

"While we understand this may be an adjustment for our partners, we believe the evolution of our partner business investments will allow partners to better capitalise on the cloud opportunity."