Microsoft talks up CSP renewal and Copilot opportunity in first half of 2024

Microsoft has talked up the opportunity for partners to sell Copilot during a wave of Microsoft cloud solution renewals it predicts in the first half of 2024.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced the removal of the 300-seat purchase minimum for Copilot for Microsoft 365 among other changes that expanded availability to small and medium-sized businesses.

In a global webinar for Microsoft cloud solutions providers (CSP) on 19 January, Microsoft VP of worldwide channel sales David Smith said that “…a huge percentage of the CSP install base is up for renewal in this first and second quarter of calendar year 2024, which needs to be addressed to maintain revenue, seats and minimise churn,” he said.

He talked up the opportunity this presents to upsell Copilot.

“…during this renewal discussion, it's a great time to have a great discussion to drive Copilot attach and drive upsell.”

“First, you're going to want to look at existing customers that are already on the prerequisites queues…these are the low hanging fruit to attach Copilot to accelerate productivity.”

“Second, you're going to want to look at existing customers to upsell them to Business Premium or [Microsoft] 365 SKUs to optimise their security, data governance and management posture for all [of] their AI rollout.”

“Third, we're not only seeing unprecedented customer demand from existing Microsoft cloud customer[s] for Copilot, but we're seeing multiple instances where customer interest in Copilot is providing the tipping point for on-premise customers or customers on competitive solutions to move to the Microsoft 365 cloud.”

“This creates a great opportunity for you to acquire new cloud customers.”

Smith said Copilot creates a “massive” partner services opportunity around five pillars: advisory, readiness, deployment, adoption and change management, and extensibility.

“To start, you can lead change by offering advisory services providing guidance on responsible use of AI to help customers identify personas and scenarios that would deliver the most value if reimagined with AI,” he said.

“As part of a pre-sales activity, you can establish Copilot readiness for customers by driving technical and security assessments and showcasing the value of Copilot deployment.”

“As part of the deployment, you can help customers close the readiness gap and ensure you are adding security and compliance to all your engagements.”

“It's not good enough to just deploy Copilot. Similar to when we first launched Microsoft Teams, Copilot requires a step change in how people do their work.”

“So it's important to drive [an] adoption and change management motion to help customer employees use Copilot successfully.”

“This can be accomplished with training webcasts, establishing Copilot champs within customers and leveraging employee communication channels.”

“Finally, you can help customers maximise the value of Copilot by leveraging the extensibility capabilities in integrating other line of business apps to connect data to Microsoft Graph and Dataverse.”

Microsoft president of worldwide SMC and digital sales Kevin Peesker described Copilot for Microsoft 365 as “the comprehensive Copilot solution for all productivity workers across an organisation, including the C-suite.”

“Microsoft 365 is the linchpin for penetrating accounts, for engaging in new and innovative ways with your customers.”

“Landing Copilot for Microsoft 365, it is where together we can exert influence across an entire organisation, reaching top decision makers while also capitalising on the grassroots demand from employees.”

New Microsoft 365 Lighthouse features

Microsoft has also announced two new Microsoft 365 Lighthouse features. A Sales Advisor promises to “quickly identify the best customers to engage, helping you identify eligible Copilot customers and, more importantly, customers with a high likelihood of benefiting from enhanced productivity.”

Lighthouse will recommend steps to follow with tailored Copilot marketing and content to share.

New renewals experiences promise “access to insights and recommendations to help you prepare and conduct effective renewal discussions with your customers” and visibility of licenses up for renewal in the next 90 days.

It provides guidance about offers to present and opportunities to provide value added services.