Heat Up Your Capabilities and Know-How with These Cool Summer Updates From Stratos Cloud Alliance (SCA)

Inspire — Microsoft’s July world partner conference in Las Vegas — energized us, and we want to do the same for you.

Let’s get started.

Didn’t make the conference? No problem. SCA was there. We want to share our insights and help you get there too. Whether you’re a new SCA partner or more advanced and wish to increase your capabilities, we can help you directly impact your organization with the cloud.

“The cloud has fueled a new level of opportunity in the partner ecosystem, leading to deeper and stronger levels of partnership. And the Microsoft Partner Network is evolving to allow partners capitalize on this opportunity,” Gavriella Schuster, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for One Commercial Partner, recently said.

Take advantage of this quarter’s training opportunities, check out the full schedule of offerings.

MORE KEY UPDATES FROM MICROSOFT— There’s lots to digest, so we’ve given you the headline news and linked support documentation for you to learn more.

Momentum Around Microsoft Teams is Growing

Microsoft Teams is rocking. Experiencing exponential growth, Teams recently overtook Slack with 13+ million daily users, after just two years on the market.

Azure Migrate Gets You There

A new tool for your migration needs, Azure Migrate makes it easier, safer and faster for you to move your data to the cloud and enables Microsoft partners to assist.

Microsoft recently announced in July — based on partner feedback — they rolled back planned changes. Partners will experience no material changes this fiscal year and will not face reduced internal use rights (IUR) licenses or increased licensing costs as previously projected. As a result, partner requirements will not increase. This means the Once Core Exam and One Functional exam requirements will remain — two practitioners must pass, vs five as previously announced.

New Demo Tenant Site Announced— Check Out It’s New Home

Note this new address for tenant demos — instead of demos.microsoft.com, you will go to https://cdx.transform.microsoft.com/. For help on how to set up your premium trial, click here.

Devices. Users. Users and Devices — Understanding Microsoft 365 Business Central’s Licensing

If you’re having trouble understanding user licensing for Business Central, it comes down to this — if you have a single user using more than one device (think at work, at home or on the road), then you need to get the User SL. Though functionality is reduced, this allows you to access Business Central from anywhere you are.

If you have multiple users using one device, like point of sale in a shop, store inventory management, shop floor production or warehouse shipping and receiving, then you need the Device SL.

And, finally, if you have multiple users on multiple devices, both the User and the Device SL are required.

Dynamics 365 Price Point Licensing Changes Effective October 2019

If your customer’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 plan is slated to renew on or after October 1 this year, there are key price and package updates for you to note. In an effort to better suit user needs and customize options, Microsoft has broken out its applications. Finance and Operations are two individual applications — Supply Chain Management is one. Then standalone applications include Finance, Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service, Marketing, Retail and Talent.

There’s a base license fee per user per month (PUPM), and then there’s an Attach license fee PUPM (except for marketing, which is per tenant per month). Base is for the first user in your organization, and then each additional user is considered an Attach user.

Finally, click here to learn about new licensing options for PowerApps and Microsoft Flow.

Bringing it Home

At SCA, we know that there are ever-evolving changes and information coming from Microsoft. It is not easy to keep up! Whether it is bringing home news from Inspire or letting you know about the latest CSP announcements that effect you and your customers, we are here to keep you educated and informed so that you can concentrate on building your cloud practice.

(Got a minute? Watch and share a cool demonstration from Inspire with your colleagues, featuring Azure CVP Julia White’s life-sized hologram; allowing her to go anywhere and speak any language.)