Microsoft offers a range of financial incentives to reward Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners for driving small and medium business (SMB) customer success. These incentives are designed to encourage CSP partners to increase cloud consumption, add new customers, and sell strategic Microsoft products in the SMB segment. Below is a comprehensive list of the financial incentives currently available to CSP partners (particularly relevant to SMB), along with a brief description of each:
Core Rebate Incentives (Baseline Earnings)
These are base incentive rates applied to the revenue billed through the CSP program in different solution areas. They serve as the foundational rebate that partners earn on all qualifying sales:
Core Incentive – Modern Work & Security: CSP partners earn a base rebate of ~4% on billed revenue for Modern Work and Security subscriptions (e.g. Microsoft 365, Office 365, EMS, and related SMB Microsoft online services)[1]. This is the standard incentive for selling Microsoft cloud productivity and security solutions. (For example, selling Microsoft 365 Business Premium or Office 365 subscriptions to SMB customers yields roughly a 4% incentive on the partner’s billed revenue.)
Core Incentive – Business Applications: Partners earn a base rebate of ~4.75% on billed revenue for Business Applications subscriptions (such as Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and other Microsoft business app offerings)[2][1]. This slightly higher base rate reflects Microsoft’s push for partners to drive adoption of Dynamics 365 and related apps in the SMB market.
Core Incentive – Azure (Consumption): CSP direct-bill partners can earn a base rebate of ~4% on Azure billed revenue/consumption under the CSP program[1]. This core incentive rewards partners for Azure usage by their customers. (Note: In the indirect CSP model, Azure incentives are typically received by the Indirect Provider, but often a similar incentive or margin is passed along to the reseller.)
Eligibility: To receive core rebates, partners must be enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (formerly Microsoft Partner Network) with an active CSP agreement and meet any program requirements such as minimum revenue threshold (e.g. $25K trailing twelve months) and proper MPN IDs configured in Partner Center[2]. Once enrolled and selling qualifying products, these rebates accrue automatically.
Customer Add Accelerators (New Customer Bonus)
Microsoft provides accelerator incentives for partners who bring in new customers on Microsoft cloud services. These are one-time (or time-limited) boosts in incentive rate for acquiring a new SMB customer in a solution area:
New Customer “Customer Add” Accelerator – Modern Work & Security: An additional ~10% incentive is earned on the first-year billed revenue for Modern Work & Security subscriptions when you onboard a new customer (one who has not previously purchased those services)[1]. This sizable bonus rewards partners for finding and registering new SMB clients for Microsoft 365 or security workloads.
New Customer “Customer Add” Accelerator – Business Applications: An additional ~20% incentive on first-year billed revenue for Business Applications when adding a new Dynamics 365/Power Platform customer[1]. Microsoft offers a higher accelerator in this category to encourage partners to recruit new SMB customers for Dynamics 365 solutions. (This can significantly increase the partner’s earnings for the first year of a new customer’s Dynamics subscription.)
Note: Customer Add incentives typically apply only for the initial period (for example, the first 12 months of the subscription for a new customer tenant). Partners must register the new customer enrollment properly to qualify[1]. These accelerators may be tied into the Microsoft Commerce Incentives (MCI) program, which consolidates various earning opportunities for customer additions.
Strategic Product Accelerators
To drive sales of specific strategic solutions in the SMB market, Microsoft offers extra incentives on top of the core rebates when partners sell certain products deemed high priority:
Global Strategic Product Accelerator – Tier 1 Products: An additional ~5% incentive for selling designated Tier 1 strategic products[1]. Tier 1 typically includes solutions like Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Dynamics 365 Business Central[1]. These are key offerings for SMB customers (e.g., Business Premium is a flagship SMB bundle), so Microsoft rewards partners with a 5% bonus on those sales.
Global Strategic Product Accelerator – Tier 2 Products: An additional ~10% incentive for selling Tier 2 strategic products[1]. Tier 2 products often include certain Dynamics 365 and Power Platform SKUs that Microsoft is keen to grow in SMB, such as Dynamics 365 Sales Professional and Power Apps licenses[1]. These products come with a higher 10% accelerator, reflecting their strategic importance and perhaps lower current market penetration (hence a bigger incentive to encourage partner focus).
Global PSTN Calling & Conferencing Accelerator: An additional ~20% incentive for selling Microsoft’s voice and conferencing add-ons, such as Teams PSTN Calling Plans and Audio Conferencing licenses[1]. This is a substantial accelerator (20%) to motivate partners to drive adoption of Microsoft’s telephony features in Teams for SMBs. It significantly boosts partner earnings on any phone system or calling plan SKU sales through CSP.
Nonprofit/TSI Product Accelerator: An additional ~12% incentive for selling to eligible Nonprofit organizations through CSP[1]. Microsoft’s Technology for Social Impact (TSI) offers discounted nonprofit pricing, and this 12% accelerator further incentivizes partners to support nonprofit customers by increasing the partner’s reward when transacting nonprofit-designated offers.
How Accelerators Work: These product accelerators stack on top of the core incentives. For example, if a CSP partner sells Microsoft 365 Business Premium to a new SMB customer, the partner earns the 4% core Modern Work rebate plus the 5% Tier 1 product accelerator plus (if a new customer) the 10% customer-add accelerator – totaling up to ~19% of that customer’s billed revenue in incentives for the first year[1][1]. These rates are subject to program terms and may be split between direct rebate and co-op marketing funds as specified by Microsoft’s incentive program[2].
Azure Reserved Instances Incentive
Azure Reservations (Consumption) Incentive: Partners earn an additional ~10% rebate on Azure reserved instance purchases or Azure prepaid one-year/three-year offers sold through CSP[1]. This incentive is designed to encourage partners to get customers to commit to longer-term Azure reservations (which provide cost savings to the customer and cloud consumption stability to Microsoft). The 10% incentive for Azure reservations is typically paid entirely as a rebate (not split with co-op)[1], directly boosting the partner’s margin on those sales.
Subscription Software Incentives
Subscription Software – Core and Strategic: Microsoft also provides incentives for traditional software sold as subscriptions via CSP (for example, certain on-premises software licenses now available under CSP billing). The incentive rates are roughly 1.25% for core software subscriptions and up to 6% for strategic software offerings[1]. “Strategic” software might include specific products Microsoft wants to promote even in CSP software form, hence a higher 6% incentive, whereas most other software subscriptions yield about 1.25%. (Examples could include Windows Server or SQL Server subscriptions under CSP, with certain products flagged for higher incentive.)
Program Notes and Partner Eligibility
Enrollment & Requirements: To receive these incentives, a partner must be enrolled in the incentive program via Partner Center. This involves having an active MPN/AI Cloud Partner Program membership, signing the Microsoft Partner Agreement, attaining any required competencies or Solutions Partner designations, and meeting minimum revenue thresholds (e.g., $25K in CSP revenue over the trailing 12 months)[2]. Partners should ensure their tax and banking information is up to date in Partner Center for payouts[2].
Rebate vs. Co-op Split: Many incentives are paid partly as rebates (cash paid directly to the partner) and partly as co-op marketing funds (which must be reinvested in eligible marketing activities). For example, a 4% incentive may be split into 60% rebate and 40% co-op by default[2]. Partners need to utilize co-op funds per Microsoft’s guidelines (for marketing, training, etc.) and claim them in Partner Center. Smaller partners not meeting a usage threshold for co-op may receive the entire incentive as rebate[2].
Timeframe and Changes: Incentive percentages and programs are updated on a fiscal year basis (Microsoft’s fiscal year runs July through June). The above figures are reflective of recent program guidance; however, Microsoft may adjust rates or categories each year[2]. Always refer to the latest Microsoft Incentives Guide and Product Addendum for the most current details on incentive rates and eligible SKUs[2]. (For instance, FY24/25 incentives continue the general structure listed above, with Modern Work, Business Apps, and Azure incentive opportunities, although specific rates or product inclusions can shift slightly.)
Benefits to Partners: These financial incentives significantly improve partner profitability. By combining base rebates with accelerators, CSP partners can earn double-digit percentage returns on certain sales[1][1]. This extra margin enables partners to invest in customer acquisition, provide discounts or value-added services to clients, and grow their SMB business with Microsoft. Essentially, the more value a partner delivers to Microsoft (new customers, strategic workloads, larger deployments), the more Microsoft returns value to the partner through these incentive payments.
Sources: The incentive categories and rates were obtained from Microsoft’s official CSP incentive program documentation[1][1] and partner guides. Always consult the latest Microsoft partner incentive resources for up-to-date information, as programs are subject to change. All incentives are subject to the terms of the Microsoft Commerce Incentive program and the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program guidelines[2].
1. Introduction: The Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program serves as a framework to empower organizations through various benefits and incentives.1 Within this program, security stands as a fundamental pillar, critical for safeguarding the integrity of both the partner’s operational environment and the environments of their customers.1 This report aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the specific security requirements that Microsoft partners must adhere to, drawing upon recent updates and guidelines. Furthermore, it will address the user’s inquiry regarding the necessity of achieving a Secure Score of 70 for both the partner and their customers.
The increasing sophistication of cyber threats necessitates a strong emphasis on security within the partner ecosystem. Microsoft’s partner network plays a vital role in delivering cloud services, making the security posture of each partner a crucial factor in maintaining the trust and security of the broader ecosystem. A vulnerability in a partner’s infrastructure could potentially expose numerous customers to risks. Therefore, Microsoft is proactively establishing security standards to mitigate these potential threats and ensure a secure environment for all stakeholders. The introduction of new benefits packages alongside these security requirements indicates a strategic alignment by Microsoft, where partners who demonstrate robust security practices are more likely to access enhanced resources and opportunities within the program. This interconnected approach incentivizes partners to prioritize security as a core aspect of their participation in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.
2. Mandatory Security Requirements for Microsoft Partners: Microsoft mandates several fundamental security obligations for partners participating in its programs. These requirements are designed to protect both the partners themselves and their customers from a range of cyber threats.
A primary mandatory security requirement is the enforcement of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all user accounts associated with a partner’s tenant.3 This obligation extends to partners involved in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program, as well as Advisors and Control Panel Vendors.3 Partners must ensure that MFA is active whenever users sign in to Microsoft commercial cloud services, conduct transactions within the CSP program through Partner Center, or interact with relevant APIs.4 Microsoft provides its own MFA solution through Microsoft Entra security defaults, which is available at no additional cost.3 It is important to note that non-Microsoft MFA solutions are not taken into account when calculating the Partner Center security score.5 Failure to comply with these MFA requirements can result in the partner losing access to their customer tenants.4 The strong emphasis on MFA as a non-negotiable requirement underscores its critical role in preventing unauthorized access to sensitive environments. Passwords alone are often insufficient in today’s threat landscape, and MFA adds a crucial layer of defense by requiring users to provide multiple forms of verification, thereby significantly reducing the likelihood of account compromise. Microsoft’s firm stance on MFA reflects the widespread prevalence of credential theft in cyberattacks.
Another key mandatory requirement is the adoption of the Secure Application Model for partners who integrate with Partner Center APIs.3 This framework is essential for all app and user authentication models used in such integrations.3 By mandating this model, Microsoft aims to enhance the security of partner infrastructure and safeguard customer data from potential security risks.4 This shift towards the Secure Application Model for API integrations signifies a move towards more secure and less privileged access methods, ultimately reducing the potential attack surface. Traditional API access methods might involve storing credentials, which can introduce vulnerabilities. The Secure Application Model likely leverages modern authentication protocols like OAuth 2.0 and the principle of least privilege, ensuring that applications only possess the necessary permissions to perform their intended functions.
Beyond these core requirements, Microsoft also advises partners to embrace the principles of Zero Trust security.4 Furthermore, the removal of inactive Delegated Admin Privileges (DAP) is strongly recommended, as DAP is in the process of being deprecated and replaced by the more secure Granular Delegated Admin Privileges (GDAP).4 The recommendation to transition to GDAP and eliminate inactive DAP highlights Microsoft’s commitment to bolstering security through finer-grained access controls. DAP provides broad administrative rights to partner tenants over customer tenants, meaning that if a partner account with DAP is compromised, an attacker could potentially gain extensive control over the customer’s Microsoft 365 environment. GDAP, on the other hand, allows for the assignment of more specific roles with limited permissions, thereby mitigating this significant risk.
3. Understanding the Partner Center Security Score: To help partners assess and improve their security posture, Microsoft provides the Partner Center security score.5 This metric is designed to give partners a clear understanding of their tenant’s security level.5 It is accessible to direct-bill partners and indirect providers participating in the CSP, Value Added Reseller, or Advisor programs.5 The Partner Center security score ranges from 0 to 100 and reflects the tenant’s security based on adherence to specific security requirements established by Microsoft.5
The calculation of the Partner Center security score is based on the security scores assigned to individual security requirements.5 Each security requirement has a maximum possible score, ranging from 0 to 20 points, determined by its relative importance.5 Currently, a security requirement is considered either fully met, in which case it earns the maximum possible score, or not met, resulting in a score of 0 for that specific requirement.5 The overall Partner Center security score is calculated using the following formula: (Sum of individual security requirement scores) / (sum of individual security requirement max scores) * 100.5 This formula provides a weighted average of the partner’s compliance with the mandatory security measures.
There are several specific security requirements that contribute to the Partner Center security score, each with a defined maximum score 5:
Enable MFA: This requirement focuses on ensuring that multifactor authentication is enabled for all administrative roles within the partner’s tenant. Achieving this earns a maximum of 20 points. To be considered complete, every administrative user must be covered by MFA through security defaults, Conditional Access, or per-user MFA, and each admin user needs to have set up additional verification factors.5
Response to alerts is 24 hours or less on average: This requirement encourages partners to promptly address security alerts. Partners must triage and respond to alerts within 24 hours of their appearance in Partner Center, with an ideal goal of responding within one hour. Meeting this requirement contributes 10 points to the overall score. The average response time is calculated based on the activity of the last 30 days.5
Provide a security contact: This requirement emphasizes the importance of having a designated point of contact for security-related issues. Partners need to provide an email address, phone number, and the name of an individual or group responsible for responding to security incidents. Compliance with this requirement results in 20 points.5
All Azure subscriptions have a spending budget: This requirement applies specifically to partners operating under the new commerce experience. By setting up a spending budget for all their customers’ Azure subscriptions, partners can earn 10 points. Partners who are still on the traditional experience do not receive any points for this particular requirement.5
Users with administrative roles in the customer tenants must use MFA: This requirement extends the MFA mandate to the administrative roles within the partner’s customer tenants. Ensuring that MFA is enabled for these roles earns 20 points.5
It is important to reiterate that non-Microsoft MFA solutions are not supported for the “Enable MFA” requirement within the Partner Center security score framework and are therefore not factored into the score calculation.5 Partners can monitor and manage their security settings and view their current Partner Center security score through the Security requirements dashboard available in Partner Center.5 Furthermore, the partner security score API can be utilized to programmatically retrieve the score and gain insights into the security posture of their customers.6 The Partner Center security score is specifically tailored to the Microsoft ecosystem and the partner’s role within it. The requirements are designed to address common vulnerabilities and ensure partners are adhering to Microsoft’s security best practices for managing their own and their customers’ cloud environments. The weighting of different security requirements, such as the high scores assigned to MFA for both partner and customer administrators, clearly indicates Microsoft’s priorities in securing the partner channel by preventing unauthorized access with elevated privileges. The inclusion of the Azure spending budget requirement for new commerce partners suggests a connection between security and financial management, potentially aimed at preventing resource abuse or unauthorized consumption through proactive oversight.
To provide a clear overview of the Partner Center security score components, the following table summarizes the specific requirements and their corresponding maximum scores:
Security Requirement
Maximum Score
Description
Enable MFA
20 points
Requires multifactor authentication (MFA) to be enabled for administrative roles within the partner’s tenant.
Response to alerts is 24 hours or less on average
10 points
Requires partners to triage and respond to security alerts appearing in Partner Center within 24 hours, with a goal of responding within one hour.
Provide a security contact
20 points
Requires partners to provide an email address, phone number, and name of an individual or group responsible for responding to security incidents.
All Azure subscriptions have a spending budget
10 points
Applies to partners on the new commerce experience and requires them to set up a spending budget for all their customers’ Azure subscriptions. Partners on the traditional experience do not receive points for this requirement.
Users with administrative roles in the customer tenants must use MFA
20 points
Requires MFA to be enabled for all users holding administrative roles within the partner’s customer tenants.
4. The Solutions Partner for Security Designation and Partner Capability Score: The Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program offers various designations to recognize partners with specific expertise. One such designation is the Solutions Partner for Security, which distinguishes partners who possess the necessary skills to protect customers from increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks across diverse environments, including remote, hybrid, and cloud infrastructures.2 To achieve this designation, partners are required to meet certain qualification criteria based on their partner capability score for security.8
The partner capability score is a composite score derived from a partner’s performance, skilling, and customer success, using data already recorded within Partner Center.8 To attain the Solutions Partner for Security designation, a partner must achieve a minimum score of 70 points, with at least one point in each of the following four key metrics 8:
Performance – Net customer adds
Skilling – Intermediate certifications
Customer success – Usage growth
Customer success – Deployments
Microsoft offers two distinct pathways for partners to pursue this designation: the Enterprise path and the Small and Medium Business (SMB) path, each with its own specific criteria.8 Microsoft evaluates partners on both paths and ultimately selects the highest score achieved from either path at the solution area level to determine qualification.8 This flexibility allows partners to leverage their strengths and focus on the path that best aligns with their business strategy and customer base.
The partner capability score for security is comprised of four metrics organized into three categories 8:
Performance (Maximum 20 points): This category assesses a partner’s ability to expand their customer base by leveraging Microsoft Security products and services. The primary metric is Net customer adds for both Microsoft 365 and Azure Security workloads. The calculation methods and eligibility criteria for net customer adds differ between the Enterprise and SMB tracks, taking into account factors like Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) and the number of paid licenses for specific Microsoft 365 workloads.8
Skilling (Maximum points vary based on track): This category measures the security-related skills acquired by a partner organization through the number of certified individuals. The key metric is Intermediate certifications. Both the Enterprise and SMB tracks have mandatory prerequisites, requiring individuals to complete the Azure Security Engineer Associate and Microsoft Security Operations Analyst certifications. Additional points are awarded for completing advanced certifications such as Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect expert, Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator, or Microsoft Information Protection Administrator. The specific requirements and point allocations for these certifications vary between the Enterprise and SMB tracks.8
Customer Success: This category evaluates a partner’s effectiveness in driving the adoption and growth of Microsoft security solutions among their customers. It consists of two metrics:
Deployments (Maximum 20 points): This metric awards points based on the growth in the number of customer deployments of eligible Azure and Microsoft 365 security workloads. Similar to the Performance category, the calculation methods and eligible workloads differ between the Enterprise and SMB tracks.8
Usage growth (Maximum 20 points): This metric focuses on the growth in the usage of security workloads by a partner’s customers, measured by Security Azure consumed revenue (ACR) and the growth in the number of Microsoft 365 protected users. Again, the thresholds and calculation methods vary between the Enterprise and SMB tracks.8
The partner capability score for security is one of six solution areas within the broader Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.9 Achieving the Solutions Partner for Security designation comes with various benefits, including access to go-to-market services, technical advisory hours, technical support incidents, and exclusive product benefits tailored for security.2 The requirement of a minimum partner capability score of 70 points is specifically for attaining the Solutions Partner for Security designation and is not a general mandatory security requirement for all partners. The multi-faceted nature of the partner capability score, encompassing performance, skilling, and customer success, underscores Microsoft’s emphasis on a holistic approach to security expertise. To achieve this designation, partners must demonstrate not only that their staff possess the necessary security skills but also that they are actively acquiring new security customers and driving the adoption and usage of Microsoft security solutions among their existing customers. The existence of separate Enterprise and SMB tracks acknowledges the diverse business models within the partner ecosystem and provides achievable paths for different types of partners to demonstrate their security capabilities.
To further clarify the metrics for achieving the Solutions Partner for Security designation, the following table provides a summary of the requirements for both the Enterprise and SMB tracks:
Category
Metric
Enterprise Track Details
SMB Track Details
Performance
Net customer adds
Each net new customer contributes two points, up to a maximum of 20 points from ten customers.
Each net new customer contributes four points, up to a maximum of 20 points from five customers.
Skilling
Intermediate certifications
Step 1 (Required): At least two people must complete the Azure Security Engineer Associate certification (0 points).
Step 2 (Required): At least two people must complete the Microsoft Security Operations Analyst certification (0 points).
Step 3: Each certified individual completing one of the advanced certifications adds 6.67 points.
Step 1 (Required): At least one person must complete the Azure Security Engineer Associate certification (4 points).
Step 2 (Required): At least one person must complete the Microsoft Security Operations Analyst certification (4 points).
Step 3: Each certified individual completing one of the advanced certifications adds 8 points.
Customer Success
Deployments
Each net new customer contributes 3.3 points, up to a maximum of 20 points from six deployments.
Each net new customer contributes 3.3 points, up to a maximum of 20 points from six deployments.
Customer Success
Usage growth
Every Security Azure consumed revenue (ACR) growth of USD 1,250 earns one point (maximum 20 points). Every Microsoft 365 protected users growth of 125 earns one point (maximum 20 points).
Every Security Azure consumed revenue (ACR) growth of USD 750 earns one point (maximum 20 points). Every Microsoft 365 protected users growth of 50 earns one point (maximum 20 points).
5. Security Considerations for Customer Tenants: Ensuring the security of customer tenants is a critical aspect of the Microsoft partner program. While partners are primarily responsible for their own security, they also play a crucial role in safeguarding the environments of their customers.
One specific requirement that directly links partner security to customer security is the mandate for MFA for administrative roles within customer tenants.5 This requirement carries a significant weight of 20 points in the Partner Center security score calculation for the partner.5 This high weighting underscores the importance Microsoft places on securing privileged access within customer environments. Furthermore, the Partner Center provides partners with insights into customer MFA adoption statistics, allowing them to monitor and encourage the enablement of MFA across their customer base.5 This visibility empowers partners to identify potential security gaps and proactively engage with their customers to promote this essential security measure.
Microsoft emphasizes that partners have a vital role in protecting customer trust by implementing all necessary security measures.4 The partner security score API also enables partners to gain insights into their customers’ overall security posture.7 While the provided information highlights the importance of customer MFA and offers tools for partners to monitor it, there is no explicit mention of a specific security score requirement for customer tenants that partners must meet.6 However, the strong emphasis on MFA for customer administrators and the availability of customer security insights within the Partner Center framework indicate that Microsoft expects partners to have a clear understanding of their customers’ security practices and to take proactive steps to improve them. Although partners are not directly penalized based on a customer’s overall Microsoft Secure Score, their own Partner Center security score is directly affected by the enablement of MFA for administrative roles within their customer tenants. This creates a strong incentive for partners to actively promote and facilitate the adoption of MFA among their customers’ administrators, reflecting a shared responsibility for security within the Microsoft ecosystem.
6. Microsoft Secure Score vs. Partner Center Security Score: It is important to distinguish between the Microsoft Secure Score, which is a broad measure of an organization’s overall security posture, and the Partner Center security score, which is specifically designed for Microsoft partners.
The Microsoft Secure Score is a measurement of an organization’s security health across Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra ID, and other Microsoft services.11 A higher score indicates that more of the recommended security actions have been implemented.11 This score helps organizations to understand their current security state, identify areas for improvement, and compare their posture against industry benchmarks.11 Points are awarded for configuring recommended security features, performing security-related tasks, or mitigating risks through non-Microsoft solutions.11 Security defaults within Microsoft Entra ID contribute to the Microsoft Secure Score.11 While a target of 80% or higher is generally considered a good Microsoft Secure Score, this can vary depending on the organization’s size and industry.12 The Microsoft Secure Score can be accessed through the Microsoft Defender portal.11
Conversely, the Partner Center security score is specific to Microsoft partners participating in the CSP, Value Added Reseller, or Advisor programs.5 Its primary focus is on the security posture of the partner’s tenant and, to a certain extent, their customers’ tenants, particularly concerning MFA for administrative roles, within the context of the partner program.5 This score is calculated based on specific mandatory security requirements established by Microsoft for its partners.5 The Partner Center security score ranges from 0 to 100 5 and can be monitored and managed through the Security requirements dashboard in Partner Center.5 The partner security score API provides a quantifiable measure of a partner’s security performance and also offers insights into the security posture of their customers.6 The Microsoft Secure Score serves as a comprehensive security assessment tool for any organization using Microsoft products, whereas the Partner Center security score is a specific set of requirements and a scoring mechanism tailored by Microsoft for its partners within the partner program framework. While achieving a high Microsoft Secure Score is generally indicative of strong security practices, maintaining a high Partner Center security score is crucial for partners to ensure compliance with program requirements and potentially access certain benefits or maintain their partner status.
7. Addressing the Secure Score of 70 Requirement: The user specifically asked whether a Secure Score of 70 would be required for both the partner and their customers based on the provided blog post. The analysis of the research snippets reveals important distinctions regarding the use of the number 70 in relation to security within the Microsoft partner program.
The research indicates that a score of 70 is relevant in the context of the Solutions Partner for Security designation. To attain this specific designation, a partner needs to achieve a minimum partner capability score of 70 for the security solution area.8 It is crucial to understand that this partner capability score is based on a combination of performance metrics (net customer adds), skilling (intermediate certifications), and customer success metrics (usage growth and deployments), and it is distinct from the Partner Center security score.8
The provided snippets do not explicitly state a requirement for partners to maintain a Partner Center security score of exactly 70. The Partner Center security score is designed to measure a partner’s adherence to specific mandatory security requirements set by Microsoft. The general principle is to aim for the highest possible score by ensuring that all these mandatory requirements are fully met.5 There is no indication that a score of 70 is a specific threshold that partners must reach for this particular metric.
Similarly, the research snippets do not specify a mandatory Microsoft Secure Score of 70 for customer tenants that partners are obligated to ensure. While Microsoft encourages partners to promote security best practices among their customers, such as the implementation of MFA for administrative roles, there is no mention of a specific Microsoft Secure Score target for customers within the defined partner program requirements.6 The user’s query might stem from a general understanding that a security score around 70-80 is often considered a reasonable benchmark for overall security posture. However, it is essential to differentiate between the various scoring mechanisms within the Microsoft ecosystem and the specific context in which they are used. The Partner Center security score is about meeting specific mandated requirements for partners, while the partner capability score of 70 is related to achieving a particular Solutions Partner designation. Therefore, partners should primarily focus on meeting all the mandatory security requirements that contribute to the Partner Center security score to ensure compliance with the partner program, rather than focusing on an arbitrary score of 70 for this metric or for their customers’ overall Microsoft Secure Score.
8. Recommendations for Microsoft Partners: To effectively navigate the security requirements of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and enhance the security posture of both their own organizations and their customers, partners should consider the following recommendations:
Prioritize Enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Ensure that MFA is enforced for all user accounts, both administrative and standard, within the partner tenant. This can be achieved using Microsoft Entra security defaults or other compatible MFA methods. Additionally, actively encourage and assist customers in enabling MFA for all their users, with a particular focus on administrative roles. Leverage the customer MFA statistics available in Partner Center to identify any gaps in adoption.3
Adopt the Secure Application Model: If your organization integrates with Partner Center APIs, it is crucial to ensure that all applications adhere to the Secure Application Model framework for authentication and authorization. This will help protect both your infrastructure and your customers’ data.3
Maintain Responsiveness to Security Alerts: Establish clear and efficient processes for monitoring and responding to security alerts that appear within Partner Center. Aim for a response time within 24 hours, with an ideal target of one hour, to maximize your Partner Center security score and mitigate potential risks.5
Provide and Maintain a Security Contact: Ensure that the designated security contact information (including name, email address, and phone number) within Partner Center is accurate and kept up-to-date. This ensures that Microsoft can effectively communicate with your organization in the event of any security-related issues.5
Set Azure Spending Budgets for Customers (New Commerce): For partners who are operating under the new commerce experience, it is important to configure spending budgets for all customer Azure subscriptions. This action contributes to your Partner Center security score and can also help in managing and monitoring resource consumption.5
Aim for the Solutions Partner for Security Designation: If your organization has security as a core area of expertise, consider working towards achieving the Solutions Partner for Security designation. This involves focusing on improving your performance metrics (net customer adds), skilling levels (relevant certifications), and customer success in deploying and driving the usage of security-related workloads.8
Regularly Review the Security Requirements Dashboard: Make it a practice to regularly utilize the Security requirements dashboard within Partner Center to monitor your current security score and identify any areas where improvements can be made to meet the mandatory requirements.5
Leverage the Partner Security Score API: Explore the potential of using the partner security score API to gain deeper insights into both your organization’s and your customers’ security posture. This proactive approach can help in identifying and addressing potential risks before they escalate.6
Transition to Granular Delegated Admin Privileges (GDAP): If your organization is still using Delegated Admin Privileges (DAP), plan and execute a migration to Granular Delegated Admin Privileges (GDAP). GDAP offers enhanced security by providing more granular and least-privileged access to customer tenants, reducing the potential impact of compromised partner accounts.4
These recommendations highlight the importance of a multi-layered approach to security, encompassing technical implementations like MFA and secure application models, operational procedures for alert management, and strategic goals such as achieving the Solutions Partner designation. Microsoft provides partners with both the requirements and the necessary tools, such as the Partner Center dashboard and API, to effectively manage and continuously improve their security posture, demonstrating a strong commitment to security within the partner program.
9. Conclusion: In summary, Microsoft partners are required to adhere to several mandatory security measures to ensure the safety and integrity of their own operations and the environments of their customers. These include the critical step of enforcing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on their partner tenants and adopting the Secure Application Model when integrating with Partner Center APIs. The Partner Center security score serves as a key indicator of a partner’s compliance with these specific security requirements.
Achieving a partner capability score of at least 70 is a specific requirement for attaining the Solutions Partner for Security designation, which recognizes expertise in this critical area. This score is based on a holistic evaluation of a partner’s performance, skilling, and success in delivering security solutions. While promoting the adoption of MFA for administrative roles within customer tenants is a crucial responsibility for partners and directly impacts their Partner Center security score, the research does not indicate an explicit requirement for a specific Microsoft Secure Score target for customers.
Therefore, based on the analysis of the provided research snippets, a Partner Center security score of 70 is not explicitly mandated as a general requirement. Furthermore, a Microsoft Secure Score of 70 is not a defined requirement for customers within the context of the partner program requirements discussed. Instead, partners should prioritize meeting all the mandatory security requirements outlined by Microsoft to achieve the highest possible Partner Center security score. Simultaneously, they should actively work to improve the security posture of their customer tenants by promoting and facilitating the adoption of security best practices, particularly the implementation of Multi-Factor Authentication.
In this episode I’m back with Brenton to bring you up to date with news from the cloud as well as hopefully give you some resources to help during these challenging times. Also with that in mind I speak with Tim O’Neill from Dicker Data all about what’s happening out there with IT partners and the challenges as well as opportunities.
This episode was recorded using Microsoft Teams and produced with Camtasia 2019
Robert Crane 0:43
Welcome along to a Need to Know podcast we’ve got the hand sanitizer out and we’ve made sure that we’re all clean and tidy. And we’ve also brought in a fully sanitised Brenton Johnson welcome along Brenton. Good to be back Robert. It is said that we are in some unprecedent Time’s at the moment we take this opportunity to hope everybody is safe staying safe doing the right thing. And this incident or incidents or situation won’t last too much longer. Unfortunately, it would seem it’s going to be at least six months, but fingers crossed that it won’t be hopefully it’s not affecting people to bail out and get on with remote stuff. I know I can. How are you and your customers funny, Brendan?
Brenton Johnson 1:24
I bronzes sort of fell into the swing of things. People are panicked and having all these problems and whatever. But all my customers just went back to their normal way of working of using teams. And you know, they’re asking a few questions around video conferencing. They may not do a lot of that beforehand, but now they’re doing a lot more of that. And yeah, it’s just all been business as usual for most people. I think the challenge for most people is trying to figure out how to be productive at home for my customers. They’re sort of a month ahead of the pack. Everyone’s trying to bpn back into head office and they don’t have bandwidth and it doesn’t know what to do. And they’re often sleekness sleepless nights. And I’ve basically gone beyond Corp with all my customers. Sure I say zero trust with all my customers years ago. So it’s not really a problem that I have to deal with thankfully.
Robert Crane 2:21
Well, again, I think it’s obviously going to a major shift, it’s going to change the way a lot of people who have worked this way before, I think it’s going to accelerate this move to the cloud, it’s going to expose those who were hesitant and perhaps aren’t skilled enough in the cloud. So there are some big changes even at the end of all this, I think it is going to be one of these seismic changes in humanity, probably, again, it is something that really seems to be affecting the whole planet. We’re not through it yet. And I think once we finish that we do have an economic situation to deal with as well. That’s going to be a consequence of the shutdown. But since Brent and I are skilled operators and Brent is still making noise in the background. You Even though he’s in a podcast, do you think you’d know by now that we will bring you the best news, we’ll keep it light, we’ll keep it focused on some information for you. And we’ll bring you an interview as well, which I think is relevant for the time. So I’m going to kick it off and let people know that the large Microsoft inspire conference, which is their worldwide partner conference has been cancelled. We just see whether they go virtual. The MVP summit that I was scheduled to attend in probably would have been to a couple of weeks ago, again was cancelled and they ran it virtually there and it very successfully served together very quickly. My interest will be to see whether we get ignite which is the big technical conference cancelled my bet would be on Yes, because they’re already streaming. They’re already doing a lot of that remotely. We will see but basically all the meetings all anything to do with the community is going online and that is forcing a lot of people to get up to speed with it quickly, but I think Microsoft has the skills already in the product. So, see how we go with that. But what else have you seen out there that’s cancelled or shifting to virtual meetings online there. Brenton?
Brenton Johnson 4:13
Oh, you know, like, I’ve got a client that does all the videos for events and all the AV for events and stuff and you know, everything’s cancelled for them for the foreseeable future. So I think everything’s going to be shifted online. I think one of the big challenges is it takes 12 to 18 months to organise big conference. Most people are planning a conference, the second that the conference ends, is planning the one for two or three years down the track. So I don’t think it’s going to be as simple as Alright, everything’s back on again. But you know, the way that we’re talking about this is pandemic if we can get on top of it. We can have it all over and done within six weeks if they will, can stick to the rules. But it’ll just be a case of how compliant people are. I did find a good, I thought I’d share this one just for Euro, but it’s a Power BI from the Victorian Government. And he talks, it shares a little bit about how the cases are progressing and what where they’re from, and what government area and all of that sort of stuff all down in Power BI.
Robert Crane 5:22
That’s a good little thing, I did come across that as well. So we’ll share that make sure that’s in the show notes to people, I’ve got one that I found across on GitHub that I recommend. That’s really good as well for regular updates. And hopefully, again, it all starts dropping off but shows you what’s achievable with the tools. And this is obviously something that’s been made public as well. So you can do that with Power BI. So if you remember the Power BI has a free T and he’s able to push out information like this freely as well. That’s pretty darn impressive. So another reason I think to look at the Microsoft Cloud for a lot of your solutions. Now, the other thing that we should mention here too, is that Microsoft is giving people the option For some free or trial licences to start using things like teams and SharePoint and OneDrive work in the cloud, and we’ll make sure that the links for those are in the show notes. There isn’t a one trial licence. I think it’s six months, that people can spin up any one enterprise, he wanted to start using that. And there’s also what’s called a team’s exploratory licence, which again, gives you roughly about six months I believe, to spin up and get experienced with that. So if you have customers that are looking at and and maybe it hasn’t, maybe their cash flow is the impacted. These are two options that they can take out from Microsoft, I know a lot of other providers are doing something similar around the services that they offer. So again, keep an eye out for what’s available. We’ll make sure these ones from Microsoft are in the show notes for you to take advantage of. Now, one of the other things that I saw that was interesting is Microsoft has announced some new first line worker licences. So we used to have just about Basically f1, which was the standard licence, but now, we basically have a f3 and f1. And also we have an office 365 f3. So we have Microsoft 365 f1, Microsoft 365 f3 and office 365 f3. So I don’t know if more skews are a good idea here there are a number of different options available to release with the F three being the more powerful and the office 365 being the cheap and cheerful option, I suppose. But obviously there must be demand for it and people are requiring this for their frontline workers to obviously give them the tools they need to get the job done with the minimal costs. We’ll make sure a link is in the show notes so you can review that see if any of that may be of relevance. See to you what your thoughts you sell any frontline licences out there, Brendan?
Brenton Johnson 7:54
Yeah, actually the frontline losses, so it was really good because it gives you an option. Mobile Device Management the frontline workers, so you might want to use Intune to manage a device rather than the office 365 run of the mill MDM, the field worker may not need office, which means they don’t really need a Microsoft 365 business. So Microsoft 365 f one. I don’t know what the price of it is, it’s certainly a lot less than a full business premium or business. Microsoft 365 business gives you that mobile device management on the device, it gives them access to teams, it gives them a bit of SharePoint and a mailbox and everything that they need. They get directory, Azure Active Directory p one, which is pretty cool.
Robert Crane 8:49
And yeah, they basically give you the prices the Microsoft 365 is in US dollars Microsoft f1 will be $4 per user per month. The F three will be $10 Which has obviously more functions and features and the office 365, again, will be $4 per user per month. So that’s the office 365 f3. So the prices are there. And I think like I said, the $4 one is a, probably a great start out for, you know, a lot of people who really don’t need that, you know, their desktop beyond licence. So yeah, sorry about that. What else were you?
Brenton Johnson 9:23
Scott says, Yeah, just looking at the differences, you know, between their front line one front line three, the f1 and the f3. f3 comes with Windows 1083. And virtual desktop rights, which I think that’s probably a bit of a nod to Windows virtual desktop, perhaps being more of a thing. With some of these portable devices. A lot of frontline workers are on terminals or on tablets. You know, they’re replacing organisations or replacing their written log books with digital ones are using iPad apps, but I think Microsoft seeing a larger vision here, that the frontline workers not going to just be using some simple app that they’ll actually need more powerful tools. And this really enables all of that and gives organisations a surety around a direction if they want to go down that path of building out a dynamics environment. They can use Windows virtual desktop in the cloud, they can connect their tablets to it, you know, five g around the corner, get some pretty good connectivity. There’s really no reason why as frontline workers should be second class citizens anymore.
Robert Crane 10:33
It’s very interesting. And I think Microsoft obviously has done this research and it’s targeting these markets. I especially like, again, the really, really cheap option the complete mobile worker, I suppose without some of the other heavy native services but the f3 with more functionality and those other additional licences, I think is a good move. So we’ll basically show the details are in the show notes tab. Look at also on the grapevine I hear from people at Microsoft that the windows virtual desktop is in great demand more and more especially larger companies are using the VDI environment to spin up as a replacement as they’ve made users going work remotely. So the windows virtual desktop is, again a really, really big thick, especially in the enterprise. So if you haven’t looked at that, go in again and spend a little time learning about what that is. Now, one of the other things I think that was really interesting was that Microsoft Teams has reached its third anniversary, I read an article that says I think they’re up to over 44 million active users per day. I’m sure that’s much much more as each day progresses and the blog post here that will link will have a number of new features that are coming to it. We have the background blur on iOS so young Brenton can join us on these podcasts with a black background blur from wherever it is. Interesting that’s coming iOS, I’m sure will be not far off from My Android as well. I also like the, there’s a there’s an interesting demo about basically a team’s connected camera that bill had matter on on a helmet. And I think the other one, which I don’t know if it’s gonna work or if it’s cool or whatever, but I like the push to talk, walkie talkie. So basically, you’ll have a phone where you can basically push that and use it like a walkie talkie on a common channel. The advantage of that is if you’re in, for example, a datacenter or somewhere and you need to, you know, communicate with somebody can do some do so with teams, but you no longer have the limit of the radio frequency distance. So again, some really cool stuff coming out and teams is more and more coming every day. Three years is not much for a product that’s beginning to really dominate its market is that red?
Brenton Johnson 12:44
Well, it’s unbelievable. Like, you know, slack invented the category. You know, to Microsoft went to slack and said, We’d locked by you. They said some stupid amount of money. Microsoft said now we can build it cheaper than that and the amount of integration is going to be too odd for you on it months later they come out with teams and people will like oh wow, this is so close to everything we need already. And over the last three years, it’s it’s certainly got better and better and you know, just these sort of specific use case stuff that they’re building into it are really locked that sort of central place for work where everyone can go to the same place and office 365 and do work together bringing people out of Outlook and bringing them into teams from a you know, an outlook which is a primarily an individual based thing to attain, which is a collaborative. I just really like how how hard this has been pushed by Microsoft. And now that all this stuff is happening around the background. I think there’s a lot of businesses that are a lot better off because of that push and because of the push to the the partners out there going out talking about or getting people comfortable with Getting people familiar with new ways of working? And yeah, you know, like that walkie talkie is a great, great use case, again, in the sense that, you know, radio frequencies aren’t encrypted. And yeah, if you have a police scanner, you can listen to all of that. So having something that Yeah, is is reliant on on something other than distance. And here are the wives is much better. So they really lock it Oh, I want to keep saying the development of the product. And I think the biggest challenge for it’s going to be keeping that simplicity and that ease of use while they continue to add all these features in.
Robert Crane 14:40
I’m going to show you there’s lots and lots of really cool features coming in the short term and think about think about how many team servers they must be running now in Microsoft data centres and how much they’ve had to spin up to reach demand with children, working from home using teams for teaching and education and now all these employees working with teams as well. It’s pretty good. pressive when you think about it for this, you know, this load that’s come on in such a short period of time to basically be able to accommodate that and more so going forward. So again, have a look at this blog post really interesting stuff, which is coming with teams and lots of features in there, I think that you’d be really excited about. Now one of the other things that I will mention in here is the Microsoft 365 business voice will be available in the US from the first of April. So the voice is basically a package of the Cloud PBX, the PSTN calling licence plus a calling plan from Microsoft. So this is bundled together and will be available in the US it’s already available in the UK and Canada. We are seeing some licencing availability now in Australia. We won’t have this voice playing for a little while, but there are some licencing that will allow you to incorporate third party providers in Microsoft 365 business so we can see the march towards a fully integrated teams with Microsoft 365 business was really exciting. I think this is going to be a huge thing. In the SMB, it’s another great opportunity for partners to jump on and use to be able to spin up a complete phone system from Microsoft without the need to basically provision anything special just add a licence, and everybody uses teams as their front end. So this is gonna be pretty darn impressive, I think when it’s coming out. Now the other one to keep us moving along key is that Windows 10 has finally reached 1 billion devices, 1 billion monthly active users take them a little while longer than they expected. But 1 billion still a pretty impressive number. Isn’t it, Brendan? Hi. Yeah, yet?
Brenton Johnson 16:38
Yeah, it doesn’t. It blows your mind. Like he can’t understand the scale of a billion. Until you think about it in terms of I probably need to Google this, but it’s something like a million is if you count one second at a time. You know, when you count a million, it’s like seven, eight minutes old. Something or whatever, so nine days, and then if you count to a billion is 34 years. So it’s it’s a huge amount of of people, you just you cannot humanly get your brain around it very easily.
Robert Crane 17:18
I’ve noticed also too that in the current situation Microsoft has also said that it’s going to delay pushing out feature updates. And I’m going to push security updates, obviously to limit bandwidth for people in the background as well. So you’ll be getting still be getting a security update feature updates, obviously, hopefully, when things calmed down a bit, we’ll be able to get those are flowing through as well. It’s still a billion is a very, very impressive number. All right, what other things have you got your sleeve that we can talk about before we get diving deeper into?
Brenton Johnson 17:49
Ah, yeah, so I’ve been undergoing some Intune training via YouTube with the Australian guy An American guy and it’s really really good really valuable information in there you know little tips and tricks and war stories in there
Robert Crane 18:15
about a time you invest I mean, you know, is it you know, ah
Brenton Johnson 18:18
the videos the videos are around 40 minutes average Joe suppose no one’s an hour and a half you know those sorts of things is two hour one, but those go through each of the areas. So, you know, like I was doing iOS with the apple configurator the other day and we’ll have some problems with it. So went back and watch that video and realise you applied the serial numbers into Intune before you can enrol it with Apple configurator. So I have that I’ve already done this before, but for whatever reason, I didn’t I forgot that step. So you know, just best practices. They got one on nine file move there and So I’ll probably sunk on an iPhone seven look on YouTube now, I’ve sunk of quite a few hours into getting through immersive videos now. And it’s Yes, it’s all that other stuff that’s not necessarily in the docs, like, Oh, this is how we do this. And we still have to run PowerShell for that. And you’ll have to apply this to users not devices, or vice versa. It does work and, you know, you gotta have the right a three licence windows a three licence for this and all those sorts of things. So I might actually try and reach out to these guys and try and get one of them on the podcast probably save our second Steve Hosking. Do you know
Robert Crane 19:40
me on honestly asking? Yeah, I know. Well, we still have it. Yep. Knowing well.
Brenton Johnson 19:45
Yeah. So he’s got I don’t at all and Adam grace from Texas, I believe.
Robert Crane 19:52
Yeah, well, if you can know that you want to do that. Otherwise, I can certainly reach out to him behalf of the podcast and get him to come on and talk about it. So That’s good. Good to know. Yes, I do. I’ll have a look at that stuff that Steve’s done. But yeah, if he’s done it, I highly recommend that you invest the time and have a look at it. Now what about this last link that we’ve got here that you put up about the Microsoft VPN? What can you tell us about that?
Brenton Johnson 20:15
It’s quite interesting, actually. So this, this came across my LinkedIn feed, I follow all the Microsoft people on LinkedIn and talking about trying to run Microsoft on VPN, because even though Microsoft’s very cloud transformed company, like Marsanne across if not all enterprise companies, they have a lot of on premises resources that they can’t, that they need access for our VPN. Now, when you have 150,000 employees or whatever, you know, trying to manage 150,000 people connecting to a VPN can be really tricky. They talk about how they did it, they said at this time, there’s probably 50 to 60,000 People on their VPN at any one time they’re saying one of the key case of their success was they worked with Windows team and fixed up the internal VPN client in Windows ran better. And they also do split tunnelling. So anything that’s office 365, or cloud or whatever, that all gets sent off through the internet, and then they only send that absolute critical, the VPN only stuff over the VPN. They say if they didn’t have that implemented three years ago, when this whole thing hit, they would just not have been ready for. And it would have been a different story, but because they’ve invested in their infrastructure, you know, that they talk about how they use, I think open VPN protocols and that to keep it all happening. It’s just really fascinating, right? So definitely check it out if you’re particularly interested in how to do VPN at 60,000 user
Robert Crane 22:00
Well, again, there’s a lot to be learned from these, these sort of things. So again, we’ll put the link in the show notes so that you can review that a lot of information there. We don’t want to overload people, we know that they’ve got a lot on their plate generally, and they’re making adjustments and working from home and that can take a bit of time. So we want to get that information to you. We wish everybody the best. We hope that again, you’re safe, you stay safe and that we aren’t subject to these conditions for too much longer. We will continue to give our best effort to get more information to you and interviews. Hopefully people are available now rather than travelling all over the place. You can stay in contact with us he had at into k podcast on Twitter and Facebook. Feedback at need to know cloud on the emails. And I am at contact is anomaly I’m at director CIA. What about yourself, Brendan, what are you
Brenton Johnson 22:52
at contact Brenton on the twittersphere if you need if you come into my office, I’m not there. So yeah It’s best to get me via digital means.
Robert Crane 23:03
Excellent. All right, well, like I said, I will take this opportunity to thank you again for listening to the podcast. We hope you all safe. Remember that if you do have any questions, feel free to reach out to us, I’m sure that we can answer. Also, we understand in this environment, people do suffer from being separated from their normal work environment. So again, if you do feel that you want to just reach out to us for a chat, by all means, feel free to do that. I’m certainly open to do that. So any of those contact details, and we’ll reach out and we can run something to have a bit of a chat. And again, hopefully, give everybody the solace that I need at this point in time. So I think that’s all for me. Before we get into our interview, what about yourself, Brent, anything else?
Brenton Johnson 23:42
No, I just echo your thoughts. Completely.
Robert Crane 23:47
All right. Well, thank you very much, everybody, and let’s get into our interview for this episode. Welcome along to this interview, and I’m joined by Tim O’Neill from Dicker Data, welcome along to
Tim O’Neill 24:01
Robert, thanks very much.
Robert Crane 24:03
Well, for those listening, we do have a bit of a unique situation. Tim is probably a little bit different from most people we’ve interviewed, he’s not into the, the technical deep dive side of it. He’s not actually selling a product. He’s a distributor. So a bit of a unique view on the market out there. So before we launch into that, Tim, why don’t you just give people a bit of an intro, who you are and what role you feel?
Unknown Speaker 24:29
Yeah, sure. So I work for a distributor in Australia called tick data. We proudly are the largest Australian owned distributor in Australia and and my role is, I lead the CSP programme, but also, more specifically lead lead the modern workplace programme here in Australia for ticket data.
Robert Crane 24:48
So why don’t we start there with the concept of the modern workplace so what do you see is the Transformation or the need for the modern workplace in the workplace out there today, what’s the messaging? What’s the reason that, you know, this is something that Microsoft’s taken to market?
Tim O’Neill 25:10
I think that the first thing we need to do is really kill that myth that modern workplace is just m 365. Because it’s it’s, it’s really not modern workplaces is exactly as it sounds. It’s, it’s the solution that that the Microsoft is bringing to market around the new way that we’re working. And I suppose, yeah, while we’re talking about covert 19, and everything that everyone is facing around the world, we’re starting to work remotely. And so what is that solution? What is the way that we need to support our end users around that modern workplace? So obviously, it’s, it’s we need to look at their security, we need to look at make sure they’ve got, you know, email and, and, and teams and all those things that they need, but what else do they need? What are they do they need things around dynamics and things around Azure? it’s it’s it’s really looking At the fact that under this whole digital transformation concept, we’re working differently. And if we’re working differently, we need to be able to support our end users differently.
Robert Crane 26:12
I think part of it is that we need an modern platform, as you mentioned, to take full advantage of a lot of these cloud bi services, the ability to work anywhere, as you’ve mentioned, because we’ve come from an environment where people have been on prem for so long, they’ve got servers, they’ve extended and extended and extended. And again, given the current situation where people you know, have to work from home almost all of a sudden, this modern workplace this concept makes sense. But as you say, it’s a much broader spectrum than again, just a new PC or just you know, Microsoft 365. Now, obviously, you spent a lot of time with resellers out there, they are the ones that are interfacing with the clients directly so you’re not selling to clients directly or going through typically an MSP client, how are you finding, you know, their approach to going out and talking to their customers about the modern desktop? Are they armed? And are they educated? And are they up to speed enough to sell this confidently? Do you think in the market,
Tim O’Neill 27:14
I think we have three buckets, which is frustrating, it’s best, we have that bucket of people that that have sold on prem most of their life, and are trying to move into this, this new way, by still selling the way they sold on prem. Then we have that that group of guys that are very transactional. And really just saying, I’m going to sell you an office 365 licence or an M 365 licence, and I’m going to look at something else. And then you get that smaller group that I think is starting to really get the right skills and the right weapons in their target bag and they’re going out to market and doing and actually doing this well. But I would say, Rob that probably out of the the partners that I deal with, in Australia, a very small percentage would be in that, in that, that they will well prepared and ready to take on the discussion and talk about it. It’s, it’s really as a small group,
Robert Crane 28:19
I think one of the interesting things we’re going to see, amongst many interesting things in the near future is there, especially in Australia, who we are going to, we’ve already experienced $1 shock for dollars fallen quite dramatically against the US dollar. I think we’re going to see a lot of those transactional prices increase because of the weakness of our dollar that’s going to be very hard for those transactional people to get back to customers. And basically, so we have to increase the prices because of these things, especially given the the environment that those customers are also in as well. I think now, those people that do have the skills Is there a common? Is there a common thing in there? Is there a common trait? Are they a certain size? Or do they sell to a certain demographic? Is it? Is it random? Or is there sort of key attributes you could pull out and share with us that you find with these people who are, you know, basically getting around the modern desktop experience?
Unknown Speaker 29:23
I think you get that you get that group of people that fall into that, you know, if you do what you’ve always done, you get what you always got. And, you know, I’m comfortable in my business, and I’m comfortable with where this is travelling, and I’m just going to go down this road. I don’t think there’s there’s a a type of partner that actually gets it, I think, or size for that matter. I think what it is, is that there are a group of partners that are looking at what is happening in the marketplace, and they are saying what we’ve done doesn’t isn’t going to work in the future and we need to treat Transition quickly. And it’s those very small group of partners that actually decide to put their hand up and invest in their time and invest in what is happening in the market and are willing to look at taking that to market. And it really is. There’s not even an age group. Yeah. Because I’ve got I’ve got, I’ve got partners who are in their 20s and mid 30s, who are doing it and then I’ve got partners in their 60s who saying I need to change and I need to move and adapt to the to where we’re heading. But I don’t think there is that I think, the partners that I that, that take the time to listen, the take the time to take on board or what what they’re learning about. I think they’re the ones that are really starting to adapt.
Robert Crane 30:47
It is interesting, I think that you’re right, I don’t see a particularly common trait that you can tie it down to, I think it’s a an awakening moment of transformation moment where it just clicks in They get it and like they see the the change that needs to make or the direction they need to take. And, again, I think the other thing is they appreciate they can’t do this immediately, overnight, they need to prioritise it, they need to make that investment. So where do you see that these customers the good cast, the good retells, where are they making these investments? Where do you think are the key things? I mean, obviously, is it things like education, they’re doing more courses? Or are they creating marketing material? You know, where are they making those investments that differ from the way they would have been doing it on prem? In your experience?
Unknown Speaker 31:37
I think education is a is a massive part. There needs to be that commitment to actually invest in some into some education, take some time out of the office, or working with with their clients to actually invest in themselves, to learn about those products to actually learn what they need to do and how they do it. But I think it’s a combination and you’ve talked about marketing and You know, and I, and I think one of the things that, that we do with with some of our partners is we actually take them on a journey of how do we productize this solution? How do we put a solution to market that is actually going to meet the requirements of this modern day management. And I, and there’s probably only 10% of my partners that are willing to take that time out and do it. invest the time and and for some of them may be an investment for six months. I’ve actually workshopping this actually coming up with the ideas coming up with the margins, looking at what segments they want to be in, what new segments do they want to be in? How can I take this product to market? How can they make sure that it’s hitting the right the right balance of where they need to be? And that process is quite phenomenal. Now, just for an example, Robert, we are I’ve got one partner, and we started we work with him over a six month period. When we first started working with them. They’d sold three tents, I think they had about 30 sits under management. We went through this process, we came with not just one product isolation, but actually had three levels of support that what they are able to offer, into their into their existing customer base. And over the following three months, they went from transacting about $150 a month to $19,000 a month Australia, just by actually coming to that point where they go, we’re going to invest, this is what we’re going to do. And this is what we’re going to move forward. And we’re going to start offering something modern to our existing bags.
Robert Crane 33:37
So that would seem to indicate that obviously the customer base the end users are obviously ripe, they’re keen, they’re obviously looking for these sorts of solutions. They’re at least open to these. And I think that’s one of the fallacies many resellers fall into I think Well, my customer never asked for this. They make assumptions that the customers are going to need this or the customers are going to want these And then again, the customer doesn’t know what they don’t know. And I think part of it is presenting this wider range of services and wider things that you can do with tools like agile CRM, all the stuff you’ve mentioned. So, I mean is that again a key thing is is embracing that change embracing these options and then taking that messaging out to customers who are probably I would suggest going to be much more receptive than the many resellers think.
Unknown Speaker 34:27
I think that I think sometimes resellers don’t take the time to actually show the true value of a product. They get excited about getting that sale and I can see the the buying signs and I can see that the customer wants to go ahead and they drop short on on where they’re heading. I had a my first sales manager that I ever had used to always say over and over again to me. Doesn’t matter whether you’re buying or selling someone someone’s buying and someone Selling. And and I think sometimes we just don’t take the time to actually give the customer all the information about this product. What can it actually do? How can it actually help protect them? How can it actually help improve the productivity? It’s, it’s over the last over the last week. We’ve been working remotely now for the last week with kovat 19 in Australia, and the amount of calls that I’ve got from partners who wrote me up and said,
Tim O’Neill 35:36
You know what, we’ve talked about 365. We’ve talked about teams or we’ve talked about this. I’ve got customers I need to do now and I don’t know what to do. It’s becoming a very topical topical situation and, and, and it really is that time to, to,invest in this products.
Robert Crane 36:01
I think also to part of the failure I see. And we’ve seen this in a lot of workshops we’ve run together, is the technical people are very good at technical things, they can, you know, generally set bits and bobs and tick things and understand what these things are. But what I found a significant skill deficit has been around converting the technical to something that a customer can understand. So a good example is things like what’s the benefit of office 365 ATP to an end user, not in technical terms, but in terms that they can understand and make sense for their business. I think that’s where a lot of people again, they’ll look at all the speeds and the feeds and they’ll take it on and maybe they go deep enough, but they don’t invest in that analysis, and look at it and then translate that into something of customer needs. And something like DLP. Data Loss Prevention is another really good example where it would speak to I would think the majority of customers in this day and age. With all the legislation we have about protect data and converting that into customer speak. I mean, would you say that, again, that is a key success feature are these these retailers who are successful are able to take what is a largely very technical product, which has a lot of features and translate that into real value meaning for our customer legacy inside the business,
Unknown Speaker 37:21
you know, no one wants to feel stupid, and no one wants to ask, what might be considered silly questions and, and I think you hit the nail on the head, you know, if you can take a product like m 365. And excuse the expression but damage down to everyday language. I think that’s a real key and, and you and I, we are we’ve done a lot of workshops together and, and we talked about Delve, you know, and we talked about Azure. And we’ve given that, you know, Azure has been my on demand Data Centre. That makes sense to me that that’s a simple concept for me to understand. So I absolutely think that if You can do that you really going to not only just get that concept across quickly, but then people are going to start to realise how awesome they can use this. And I think that’s a that’s a real key part. And it doesn’t really matter, you know? It you and I’ve talked about, you know, my wife and, and, you know, her understanding of lots of concepts and she has a PhD in molecular biology but but sometimes I need to put things about when we talk about teams or, or M 365, or office 365 into concepts that you can understand in everyday life. And it makes so much makes it so much easier.
Robert Crane 38:44
I think you’re right, I think that a lot of resellers get lost in you know, their own technology in their own products in their own day to day and I think it takes the skilled person to step back and again, simplify it. for people to understand and that is a real skill that is again not something to be minimised. Now, I think given the current global situation with the Cova 19 situation that that has never been more than four you’ve now got, you know, customers who know they have to work from home. But what does that mean? What do I have to get what, what’s involved and how quickly can I get it and those skill sets and I think we can do this, if you had the education at the school ready to roll out ready to go. But I think this again, he’s gonna be one of these seminal moments where I like to call 2020 which I did at the beginning of the year, the Pocky for so many reasons, and I’m proving to be unfortunately very correct, but it’s really at this point in time we are now he’s gonna create this complete delineation and move so much stuff to working remotely and using these sort of products like teams like stream Microsoft 365 working remotely as well. And I think that unfortunately, a large percentage of the the base, the partner base, has probably been tinkering around at the edges, they really haven’t, you know, got the the gloves on and gone in deep to really understand it and bring it into their business. They’ve just seen it, as you’ve mentioned, as a transactional way to generate a few additional revenue items here and there. So, again, I think this is such a key item. And I suppose that you can look at every threat as an opportunity and say, Well, this is a huge opportunity to go to market and offer this service and potentially get some others who aren’t moving fast enough a lot moving quick enough for customers. So you know, what’s the the demand that’s coming in for you that you’re hearing from partners? Are you getting a lot more calls now with partner saying, you know what, we really need to do this stuff and we need to make it happen tomorrow. Can you help us? Is that the sort of thing that we’re hearing?
Unknown Speaker 40:54
Absolutely. We’re hearing two things. One thing is I’m hearing from partners are calling me and saying You know, I’ve got I’ve got businesses laying people off, I’ve got businesses who are just folding up and closing because they can’t operate. And then we’ve got those businesses who are partners are coming to me and saying, I need to do this now. I’ve got businesses I need to set up a from home, and I don’t know what to do, what do I do? And I I honestly believe that we’ve got two things happening. The first thing we’ve got happening is we’ve got that that response that we need to act on urgently, and and help partners get their customers up and running. But I think the second thing is, I think the modern workspace in Australia is changing and I think it’s changing dare I say for good. I think we’re gonna see in the future, a lot more remote working. And and this is this is that pivotal moment in time that we’re the we’re seeing that change happen before our eyes.
Robert Crane 41:55
I think you would agree that what we see is generally been a hesitancy A lot of people are very conservative with their approach to technology, I want to keep my file explorer, I want my files on my local drive, I want everything the way it was I want, you know, word 2003 instead of, you know, 2016 or whatever. But when you get in a situation that we’re currently in, where you have to change, you have not got an option here we have to change, then I think it does force people to make that change opens their eyes. And like I said, I think that this is going to cause a massive shift and people are really going to realise that hang on, you know, this wouldn’t be possible before or we couldn’t have done this or we hadn’t been forced to change this would have and now I’ve got more flexibility and look what we can do. And other than that, so I think you’re 100% right. In the way the approach people are going to look at these when they step back and review it. And we are very lucky that a lot of businesses are able to do that. And to obviously keep going. But I think again, this is where this the it provides There is that key cog. I mean, they talk about essential services medical people, yes, absolutely fireese ambulance drivers fantastic. But again, the it is become such an important layer in the infrastructure, every business in every country these days that there’s that opportunity, but you have to make sure that you are current with the technologies and you’re able to provide that and, and this certainly is going to drive that demand. And we’re seeing that worldwide, not just in Australia. So, again, it’s really gonna make the difference as you say, Now, because this is happening and let’s say that we take it to be your partner, who has been a little bit tinkering around the edges and may not be sure what sort of advice or what sort of support can your organisation yourself provide for these sort of people? Are you giving them any guidance? Are they you know, how can they when they come to you for help? What can what can you do for them?
Unknown Speaker 43:56
It’s It’s interesting, I actually spent the weekend Putting together a resource library around office 365 m 365. Team security, a whole range of things to make it available for my team to start sharing with partners. Each partner is different each partner has customers that are different, but each partner is looking at how they how do they really allow their their customers to be able to work remotely and to work in a different environment. So it’s it’s really important that, you know, a partner is able to go to the distributor, and actually say, I need help and, and this is what I need to do I need to understand how to do and I’ve been on I’ve been on conference calls today with partners and their own customers taking them through that process. So what we’ve really tried to do at Dickie data, is we really focus in on how can we as a distributor, provide the support structure around the the partner And around their, their end user. So, you know, we’ve done things like taking her after our support to a 24, seven support to be able to support the partner. So it’s really about I suppose a bit of a knowledge transfer, helping you with the customer and at the same time transferring that knowledge to you as to what you can do in the future.
Robert Crane 45:21
So I think the one of the things I would suggest to you and I think it’s great that you’re providing that I think this is what again, one of these sort of characteristic traits we see of many it providers, they they tend to look at the environment is alone gun, yes, they have peers, yes, they have distributors, but they very much take it all upon themselves. They’re not really into asking for help or, or reaching out until it’s desperate until it’s too late until it’s, you know, again, the fact that we’re all basically beyond the point where it really makes a difference. I think, the secret would be is that you need to reach out early. You need to be Doing this as soon as possible and coming up with a plan and moving forward for today, tomorrow, six months, a year because that timeframe is going to be different. But again, would you be encouraging people to say look, yes, okay, we need to make a plan, we need to reach out early if we need help. Let’s put up our hands and ask for it rather than trying to batten down the hatches and hopefully ride it out until you know, we get to the other side where everything will be the same. Is that a fair statement? That you know from your point of view?
Unknown Speaker 46:28
Absolutely. And and look, my philosophy around this actually comes from my grandfather and my, my grandfather used to tell a story about a boy that would walk down to the wharf and he saw four silver pieces on the ground. He picked them up. And as he’s walking down down the jetty, he saw six gold coins at the bottom of the water. And there was an old man there and he said, I’ll hold your silver coins for you while you dive down and, and get the gold. And he said, No, no, no, that’s fine. I can do it. And he put his hand in his pocket where he had the silver coins, dived into the water that couldn’t pick up The gold coins, because he had to move something at the bottom of the ocean and end up losing both lots of coins. So I think, you know, the thing is, is that data we see ourselves as an extension of your business. And we want to support you on that I work with you and be part of be part of your team rolling that out. And I think, you know, that’s, that’s a really key part of, of what we’re seeing today in our ecosystem around the market supply.
Robert Crane 47:33
But also, would it be fair to say that, you know, somebody can’t come to you and in absolute desperation, and wanted all their own way, obviously, there has to be some alignment between you know, what is the direction what can we provide and in this new modern environment, not, you know, selling more servers not doing that sort of thing. So there does have to be a transformation by the partner if they are looking to get this, this sort of support.
Unknown Speaker 47:59
Absolutely. And that’s I suppose that’s the key part of transformation isn’t that, that you transform first so that you can help others to transform?
Robert Crane 48:09
I think that’s exactly right. I think that is really part of it is the world has changed and is changing more so every day, but is very different from even the last round of workshops that we did a couple of weeks ago. And we sort of brought this up. And we tried to make people aware that we could end up in the situation that we are in at the moment, but again, it has changed so dramatically, even a couple of weeks, and it’s going to change dramatically, even more so going forward. So let’s let’s just again, pause on the situation now. And when it all comes down, when we get back to inverted commas, you know, normal and you can have a drink and you go to the beach and all this stuff. We can’t do it the moment. You know, what do you see is going to come out the other side of this. I would suspect that there’s going to be a lot of partners who probably aren’t going to make the cut. Why can I survive necessarily because I they’re not getting revenue from customers who may have again, I may have filed as well but they haven’t transformed that ready to move in this environment. And what do you see is the the result once the bushfire as cleaned up all the dead wood there what what do you see on the other side of all this team?
Unknown Speaker 49:21
A very different ecosystem to what we see today. I think we’re going to see partners that are that have been forced to transform themselves and are transforming their customers. I see a very different working environments what we see today. And I think it’s the, the scary part a little bit is, is that little bit of unknown of what’s not out there at the moment.
Robert Crane 49:50
I think probably the biggest unknown for most people is simply duration are we looking at, you know, a month, two months, six months, 12 months, you know, again, based on history, it could Roll out to be quite an extensive period of time. So I think that’s the biggest uncertainty and that’s what everybody’s trying to deal with. But, again, I would suggest on the other side, there are things that can be done, there are positives to focus on. We have to let obviously the government do what it needs to do and follow in their requirements of us. But there’s certainly things that we could do proactively to make sure that we can take advantage of getting through this but also getting advantage on the other side of this. So what would you suggest are the top couple of things that, you know, partners should be doing on their own to really put themselves in the best position to benefit from this and to, you know, survive the current situation we’re experiencing?
Unknown Speaker 50:46
I think they need to reach out to the to the distributor to see what support is available, or auto Microsoft. I know that Microsoft’s looking at the different ways that they can help support partners. At the moment, I think the second thing is that they need to be looking at some some, some guides, some, some sort of information that that helps them about what they can provide into their customer base and actually looking at things like m 365 as a whole. But I think I need to focus on the customer. And they really need to focus in on their customers need.
Robert Crane 51:24
Yeah, and I think you’re right. I think obviously the need at the moment is we need to get people working remotely, but that will then evolve into into to collaborate together and to share files. We need to have meetings together. We need to do presentations, we need to work with third parties. We need to get them on our meetings as well. How do we optimise that? How do we get the most from that? So there is a big opportunity there for an ongoing, you know, relationship with the customer. I also think too, that this is a point in time to obviously stand up show leadership and let people know that yes. You know, you have a strategy, you have a product you can deliver it you can give people surely in these times, I think that’s going to go a long way to I think a lot of people are looking to providers who, who have a definite strategy who can provide in these times, given the limitations given the challenges that are around there. I think they’re the things that a lot of people are looking for that that certainty when everything else is becoming largely uncertain, and that, again, requires a bit of discipline internally a bit of work. From my point of view, the other thing I would suggest on top of everything is obviously reaching out for help but look at this as an opportunity also for education. Again, there’s lots and lots of YouTube videos from Microsoft Ignite from the teams around Azure from the teams around Microsoft Defender ATP, there is so much learning in there that can be done that again, you hear the cry, I don’t have enough time I don’t have enough time will probably now you do have enough time to look at these so that on the other side, you are expected With these products, especially if you haven’t dedicated that time at sites, I think that part of that is allocating time for everybody in the business to make sure that they are across these information. I think Tim would agree with me that probably one of the best videos you can go and look at is the team’s video with Dr. Coleman from the University of New South Wales was in last year’s inspire on how he integrates his learning using teams and all the services into an environment 500 plus students. I think that’s a magnificent video and very inspirational. But I’ll make sure the link is in there in the show notes and I believe that you’ll have him on a webinar shortly.
Unknown Speaker 53:40
Yes, in a couple of weeks. We’ll have you on a webinar, which is going to be fantastic. I’ve actually got also john seek from his Microsoft Teams laid out here in Australia with Microsoft will be on that same way. We’ll be on a on a webinar as well. So we’re we’re changing the webinars up a little bit. Just to, I suppose respond to the climate that we’re seeing today to try and get some really good information out to our partners.
Robert Crane 54:08
Excellent. All right, well, I’ll make sure that I do get those links from Tim. And we could put those up for people who are interested in those. And I would highly recommend those as a source of education as well. I think deca provides a fantastic support for their partners, and we encourage you to get in contact with Tim. And with that said, How can people get in contact with you and also with digger data?
Tim O’Neill 54:34
Sure. So fire email is a very easy way. So I’m sure Rob that you could
Robert Crane 54:41
get put on my property near because you have a funny surname with an O apostrophe sometimes and not apostrophe sometimes. So all my
email address
is in there, and that people can refer to that any other resources you’d like to point them towards.
Tim O’Neill 54:59
Look, I’m going to send you a link Rob for you to share. This link. It’s six videos around teams was released by Microsoft on Friday in response to what we’re what we’re seeing here in Australia right now. So this is this will give, give your listeners something concrete, I can actually go and have a listen to and and hopefully hold on the lock. And obviously you know if they want to get in touch, I’m more than happy to help them out as well.
Robert Crane 55:28
So I’ll make sure all those details and links are in the show notes for this episode of work to get this out as quickly as possible to get the benefits out there for people take the opportunity to thank Tim for his time his insight. And remember, don’t be afraid to contact him directly to ask for any support. Again, it is challenging times we certainly in at the moment and encourage that you can also contact me as well for any other specific questions. I’m happy to to help people there as well. So once again, I will thank you him for his time on the Need to Know podcast and I will wrap up this episode. Until next time, thanks everybody for listening.
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In this episode I speak with Leigh Wood from Node IT in the UK about what attending the Microsoft worldwide partner conference known as Inspire. Leigh gives us some great insights, experiences and the benefits of attending. A great episode for Microsoft partners to listen in to and learn from Leigh. We have our usual Microsoft Cloud updates from Brenton and myself. Stay tuned, stay up to date and listen along. Let us know what you think of this episode.
This episode was recorded using Microsoft Teams and produced with Camtasia 2019
Microsoft has rolled back it’s recent planned partner changes. we have some new Intune security baseline policies to try (and troubleshoot) and Teams leads Slack in user numbers. I speak with Marc Kean to get the low down on what Azure storage is all about. All this and a lot more on this episode.
This episode was recorded using Microsoft Teams and produced with Camtasia 2019
I’m not a Managed Service Provider (MSP) but there are lot of them inside the CIAOPS Patron community so I understand the challenges they have. Their role is typically to provide managed of customers technology, including things like Microsoft 365 and Azure. To perform that role they will typically need global administrator access to the clients tenant. They may need this access across multiple tenants.
Best practices is always to ensure you secure global administrator access via Multi Factor Authentication (MFA). This means, when you log into an account you’ll be prompted to verify your identity using a second factor like a code from an app on a mobile device. As I have detailed previously:
That arrangement is generally fine if only one person is logging into an account but is a problems if you an MSP.
Why? Because you’ll typically have multiple technicians all needing to potentially manage a customers account. You want them to do this from a single global administrator account, however you want each technician to use a different token when they login. That way, if a technicians device gets lost or a technician leaves you merely revoke that one unique token. So, in the case where an MSP needs more than 5 tokens (say 1 for MSP and 4 for technicians) there is going to be an issue. For example what happens when you have 7 technicians say? Yes, there are ways around this but they are messy, cumbersome and inefficient as well as being more insecure I would suggest.
The ask here then is for the ability to increase the amount of tokens beyond 5 for a single account. I would suggest that perhaps the best way to accomplish this is only via a unique PowerShell command and not via the GUI. I also however suggest that a better idea would be to have a new unique global admin role in a tenant, say called “Partner Global Administrator”, that would allow more than 5 tokens. No other administrator could have this enabled, only this unique account. I would also suggest that this unique “Partner Global Administrator” also only be available in tenants that use CSP program from Microsoft. Thus, if the MSP is a CSP partner they will see this special role in the tenant. They then run a PowerShell script if needed and the number of tokens available on that account is increased up to say 20.
I also think that there is number of other benefits that a special “Partner Global Administrator” role could provide but for this request I want to stick to allowing the number security tokens be increased beyond 5.
I believe this request will help the many MSPs globally who manage a significant number of tenants for customers. Making it easier for MSPs to be secure and manage multiple customers more efficiently is a win for everyone.
CIAOPS 