We talked to Peter Wolf of Azamba and AJ Ansari of DSWi in May just after Microsoft announced the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program (MCPP) and they had a range concerns about how the early details appeared to impact SMB Business Applications partners. In short, the scoring at the time seemed geared toward enterprise-level partners and ran the risk of shutting a whole segment of partners out of the benefits they enjoy today by achieving Gold and Silver status.

Today, the story is quite a bit different. MCPP has officially launched, but it has evolved for the better, according to AJ and Peter. They've come back to the MSDW Podcast to discuss the SMB-friendly updates, to compare notes on their company's scores in the new model, and to do their best to break down some of the scoring criteria as Microsoft has explained it.

While Peter and AJ both say the program is still far from perfect, they give Microsoft credit for the improvements thus far.

Show Notes:

• Microsoft's documentation on eligible customers and workloads
• Microsoft's announcement of updated solution designations for Enterprise and SMB Business Applications partners
• Monthly consumption value: Microsoft Learn

AJ's Links:

• Twitter: @AJAnsariNAV
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajansari
• Business Journals Leadership Trust

Peter's Links:

• Twitter: @CRMWolf
• Linkedin: Peter Wolf | LinkedIn
• Website: www.azamba.com
• YouTube: Azamba - YouTube