Microsoft has announced several updates for August 2026, covering products, solutions, services, partner programmes, and other key information. Here is a summary of the latest updates.
Copilot in 30 now generally available
- Copilot in 30, a partner-led Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trial, is now available to Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners
- It provides a 30-day Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trial for up to 25 users
- Download the Copilot in 30 launch kit to access partner-ready assets, customer guidance, and campaign materials
- Review the Microsoft 365 Copilot Partner FAQ
- Use the Copilot Success Planner to provide your customers a personalised learning plan for each trial user and to provide guidance on how to run a successful trial
Microsoft 365 promotion updates
- EXTENDED: Microsoft 365 E3 promotions have been extended until 31 December 2026
- Microsoft 365 E3 10% off, three-year term, New to offer
- Microsoft 365 E3 20% off, one-year term, Targeted offer
- RETIRING: Microsoft E7 promotions to retire on 1 October 2026
- Microsoft 365 E7 10% off, one-year term
- Microsoft 365 E7 15% off, one-year term
- Microsoft 365 E7 15% off, three-year term
- For an easy-to-read overview of available Microsoft promotions, please see our Infinigate Cloud Promotions document
Security and compliance offers
- Microsoft Purview Suite for Business 50% off has been extended until 31 December 2026
- Microsoft 365 E5 10% off on 3-year term has been extended until 30 September 2026
- Microsoft Defender Suite and the Purview Suite 10% off on 3-year term has been extended until 30 September 2026
- New security add-ons are now available through CSP, with consistent pricing across Enterprise Agreements (EA) and CSP. These include Microsoft Entra ID P2, Defender for Endpoint P2 add-on for Microsoft 365 E3, and Defender for Office 365 P2 add-on
CSP software pricing update effective 1 October , 2026
- From 1 October 2026, Microsoft will apply a 5% cost of capital uplift to CSP software subscriptions with annual commitments billed monthly, including SQL Server, Windows Server, Client Access Licences, and System Centre.
- For existing annual-term CSP software subscriptions billed monthly, the 5% uplift will apply at renewal on or after 1 October 2026
August monthly Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program update
- This month’s Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program updates focus on aligning partner positioning with Microsoft’s AI-led commercial solution areas, while keeping existing attainment paths, benefits, and incentives unchanged
- Key updates include the September 2026 MAICPP Agreement refresh, revised Solutions Partner badge naming, retirement planning for the Frontier Partner badge, updated skilling requirements due to certification changes, and several specialization mergers designed to simplify partner qualification
- Partners should also note the move to audit-based validation for Microsoft Security Specializations, upcoming changes to AI Business Solutions specialisations, and new FY27 developments such as the Agentic Security Specialisation and improved audit reporting in Partner Centre
- Review Microsoft’s Monthly update for more information
Windows 365 Frontline renamed to Windows 365 Flex
- From 3 September 2026, Windows 365 Frontline service plans will be renamed Windows 365 Flex
- This is a branding-only change, with no impact on functionality, licensing, user entitlements, provisioning, or billing
Updated benefits redemption process
- Microsoft has enhanced the partner experience for accessing and redeeming seat-based cloud and Azure benefits
- Benefits are now redeemed through a guided Partner Centre experience and completed via a 0 USD purchase flow, allowing them to be deposited into the billing account used for offering purchases and managed more easily
- Azure credits, including those for GitHub Enterprise and GitHub Copilot Enterprise, are now redeemed through the updated Partner Centre experience
- From 1 November 2026, Microsoft will align each benefit’s expiration date with the offer purchase date, rather than the date the benefit was first redeemed
- Read the Microsoft Blog for more information
Prepare customers for a simpler, unified Microsoft Copilot app experience
- From 18 August 2026, Microsoft will update the Copilot web, desktop, and mobile app experiences to help users more easily distinguish between work and personal accounts
- The updated Microsoft Copilot app experience uses new visual cues to help users distinguish work and personal accounts, including account labels, a green shield for Microsoft Entra work accounts, and different backgrounds
Manage agents across multiple tenants
- Now in public preview, multi-tenant agent management in the Microsoft 365 admin centre enables administrators to view and manage agents across the tenants they govern from a single experience
- To learn more review Microsoft, learn article about multi-tenant agent management in Microsoft 365 admin centre
Prepare customers for the Dynamics NAV-to-Business Central transition
- Microsoft is announcing several licensing changes that will affect Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises partners and customers
- Effective 30 April 2031, Microsoft will end annual Service Plan (for example, EP, AP) renewals, subscription license renewals, the purchase additional perpetual licenses for all Dynamics NAV on-premises versions, and the subscription use of Dynamics NAV through the Service Provider Licensee Agreement (SPLA). Partners should start planning now to help customers create a migration path to Business Central
- Effective 1 December 2026, DPL/SPA partner margins will be reduced to align on-premises and cloud licensing
- Effective 1 February 2027, all new Business Central on-premises subscription purchases must be transacted through the CSP program
- Review the Microsoft announcement in full to learn more details
Updates to Copilot Cost Management in Microsoft 365 Admin Centre
- From 22 July 2026, Microsoft updated Cost Management in the Copilot section of the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre to give customers more reliable, predictable controls for usage-based services such as Cowork and Work IQ APIs. The update improves spending alert reliability, standardises policy selection for users assigned to multiple policies, refines how per-user overages affect shared capacity, and clarifies Copilot Credits from capacity packs across the Microsoft 365 and Power Platform Admin Centers
- Review these resources to learn more:
Partner FY27 GTM resources: What’s new on Partner Hub?
- Microsoft’s FY27 Partner GTM Kickoff Event highlighted a move away from the traditional CSA-led solution play model towards cross-CSA customer conversations and the Frontier Accelerate framework. To support this shift, Microsoft has refreshed Partner Hub with resources to help partners align their FY27 go-to-market (GTM) approach
New pages worth exploring include:
- Frontier Transformation home page explains Microsoft’s shift to customer-centric GTM conversations, with links to key resources and quick navigation to Enterprise & Corporate and SMB customer conversation content
- AI in the Flow of Human Ambition and AI-Ready Productivity and Security for Every Employee provide Modern Work partners with curated resources to build their practice and support GTM execution, including practice development guides, opportunity decks, skilling guidance, discussion guides, demos, pitch decks, offers, and more, organised by Microsoft Customer Engagement Methodology (MCEM) stage
- Frontier Accelerate for Copilot and AI-Ready Productivity outline Microsoft’s unified framework for accelerating deals and customer success across all solution areas They also link directly to relevant Microsoft Commerce Incentive (MCI) engagements and Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) promotions for Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft Agent 365, Microsoft 365, and Windows 365
- Partner Buzz provides partners with one convenient timeline-based hub for the latest product and programme news relevant to them
Azure FY27 demos on Microsoft Demo Experiences (MDX)
- Microsoft Demo Experiences (MDX) is a central hub for finding and launching live, simulated, and add-on Azure demos, including FY27 conversation-specific modules
- Explore Azure demos on MDX
Navigating the next era of hosting playbook
- Microsoft published Navigating the Next Era of Hosting, a practical guide for hosting and hybrid cloud partners working through major infrastructure transitions. The guide focuses on protecting margins, retaining customer trust, and defining a clear modernization path. Hosting partners facing infrastructure change get a structured way to defend margins and frame a modernization story customers can follow
- Download the hosting playbook HERE
Conversation GTM resources for SMBs
- Access the latest resources across the three SMB conversation pages on Partner Hub:
Power Your Business with Secure AI Integrated into Your Flow of Work
Scale Business Processes with Agent-Powered Finance
FY27 August skilling updates
- Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500) retired on 31 August 2026. It was replaced by Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate (SC-500), available as of 21 July 2026
- Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate (PL-200) retired on 31 August 2026. It was replaced by Intelligent Applications Builder Associate (AB-410), available as of 30 July 2026
- Review the updated skilling requirements on the affected specialisation pages: Agentic Business Solutions, Azure Virtual Desktop, Cloud Security, and Infra and Database Migration to Microsoft Azure
Scheduled and Recent Events:
3rd September – Better Sell Copilot: Converting Free to Paid Customers
8th – 11th September – Accelerate Agentic AI
9th September – Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Defender, and Purview: Deployment Best Practices
16th – 17th September – Microsoft Fabric Workshops
16th – 17th September – Supercharge SMB business operations in Dynamics 365 Business Central
16th – 18th September – Implement Identity and access management with Microsoft Entra
17th – 18th September – Differentiate and grow your AI practice in FY27 – Sales best practices from Microsoft
22nd September – Microsoft Intune Best Practises & Increased automation with custom tools for MSPs
23rd – 24th September – Modernize apps and databases
23rd – 24th September – Unified Threat Protection and Incident response with Microsoft Sentinel in Defender portal
24th September – Accelerate CSP – Security Sales Bootcamp
24th September – Build What’s Next with Partner Skilling
30th September – 1st October – Microsoft Fabric: Databases
30th September – 2nd October – AI-powered Threat Protection with Microsoft Security Copilot across Security Workloads
12th – 16th October – Certification Week – Cloud, Security and AI Business Solutions
17th – 20th November – Microsoft Ignite 2026
On-demand – Microsoft Partner FY27 Partner GTM Kickoff Event Recordings
On-demand – MCAPS Start for Partners Event Recordings
On-demand – Microsoft 365 Copilot + BSKUs (SMB) – Sales Ready & Tech Deal Ready
On-demand – Microsoft 365 Copilot + BSKUs (SMB) – Project Ready
On-demand – Microsoft Agent 365 & ME7 Partner Skilling – Sales Ready
On-demand – Microsoft Agent 365 & ME7 Partner Skilling – Project Ready
On-demand – Frontier Transformation Engineer Summit
On-demand – Cloud & AI Endpoints Partner Technical Bootcamp
On-demand – Certification weeks for Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program
On-demand – Building a Scalable Copilot + Agents Practice: Practice Development Guide Walkthrough
On-demand – Transform your business with AI Agents in Microsoft 365
On-demand – Next-Gen Productivity: Copilot + Agents for the Modern Enterprise
On-demand – Sales Accelerator: Driving Adoption of AI Apps and Agents
On-demand – Converged Communications Partner Sales Bootcamp
On-demand – Secure, Govern, and Manage Agents in Copilot Studio
On-demand – Scale with Cloud and AI Endpoints Partner Sales Bootcamp
On-demand – Agentic AI + Copilot, Partner Skills Accelerator
On-demand – Becoming Frontier: Framing the AI Opportunity Through Strategic Conversation
On-demand – Level UP Sales & Technical CSP bootcamps
On demand – CSP Practice build on Threat Protection & Data Security with ME5
On demand – Secure and Govern Microsoft 365 Copilot with Microsoft Purview
For more information
If you would like to discuss any of the above, please speak to your Business Development Manager, call us on 0345 249 3303 or email us at partners@infinigate.cloud and we will be happy to chat through any of your questions.