When you bring in a technology partner, you’re trusting them with decisions that shape how your business runs. Microsoft’s partner status is one of the few independent signals you can use to judge whether that trust is warranted. It isn’t a logo a company buys. It’s a standard they have to meet, and keep meeting.
Here’s how the programme works today, and what Bespoke holds within it.
What the programme recognises
Microsoft runs its partner ecosystem through the AI Cloud Partner Program. The headline status is a Solutions Partner designation, awarded to companies that can prove real capability in a given area of Microsoft’s technology.
The programme is now built around three solution areas:
- AI Business Solutions. The tools people use to work and run operations day to day: Microsoft 365, Copilot, Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform.
- Cloud & AI Platforms. The Azure foundation underneath: data, analytics, applications and infrastructure.
- Security. Identity, compliance and protection across the estate, kept as its own area.
Microsoft consolidated these from six narrower areas in 2025, pulling related capabilities together so the designations map more closely to the outcomes customers actually ask for.
How Partners Can Earn Microsoft Designations
To earn one of these designations, partners must score at least 70 points out of 100 based on metrics across three categories (with at least one point in each category):
First up, there’s performance. This one takes into account net customer adds, as well as customer churn over a 12-month period. Basically, partners need to show they’re bringing in new customers and keeping ’em happy.
Next, there’s skilling. This is all about demonstrating the partner’s expertise with certifications – both intermediate and advanced. The more skills and knowledge they can show off, the better.
Last but not least, there’s customer success. This one’s measured by usage growth and the number of solutions deployed. Partners need to show they’re making a real impact and delivering results for their customers.
The bar has to be cleared every year, not once. A partner who lets their capability slip loses the designation. That annual renewal is what stops the status outliving the substance behind it.
Specialisations go a step further. Where a designation shows broad capability in an area, a specialisation marks deep, proven expertise in a specific scenario. To award one, Microsoft reviews a partner’s delivery track record, customer evidence and technical capability in that exact field.
Where Bespoke XYZ stands
Bespoke XYZ holds Solutions Partner designations in AI Business Solutions and Cloud & AI Platforms, alongside the overarching Microsoft Cloud designation.
Within those, we hold specialisations in Microsoft 365 Copilot, Analytics on Microsoft Azure and Agentic Business Solutions. Each was earned against evidence of work we’ve actually delivered for clients, not on paper.
Together they map directly to what we do: helping organisations get real value from AI, automation and analytics on the Microsoft stack, from a Copilot rollout to an Azure data platform to a custom agent.
What does this mean for you?
Independent proof is the point. Any agency can say it knows Microsoft technology. A Solutions Partner designation, renewed every year and backed by specialisations, is Microsoft confirming it, on the basis of outcomes rather than claims.
For you, that lowers the risk in a decision that’s usually hard to judge from the outside. When you hand us an AI, automation or analytics project, you’re working with a team whose capability has been measured, verified and kept current by the vendor whose technology you’re relying on.
Looking for a Microsoft Partner?
If you’re planning work across AI, automation or analytics and you want a partner whose credentials stand up to scrutiny, get in touch. We’ll help you find the right approach for your business.
