In this article: General | FastTrack Partner Experience FPX | Partner Success Manager | Quick to Market (QTM) | Referral
General
Q: Will M365 Copilot become an attachable workload?
A: Information on workloads can be found in the Microsoft Commerce Incentive Resources
Q: Are there plans to better educate the Microsoft sellers on the FastTrack benefit? We encounter sellers proposing FastTrack to customers and overselling what is actually in scope for the Benefit.
A: FastTrack is in the process of redefining what “done” means for the Benefit. When this is complete we will be able to clearly articulate, to the field, customers, and partners what are the boundaries of the Benefit.
Q: My experience with a FastTrack Architect (FTA) involved Azure. Will this be introduced for Modern Work as well?
A: Yes. We have had FTAs on M365 internally for the last 4+ years. Traditionally M365 FTAs engaged opportunistically with partners, but going forward they will engage more proactively.
Q: Has the program team begun measuring how many dynamic/prioritized customers have a FastTrack Ready Partner attached vs. how many do not? Might that become a measured outcome of success in the future?
A: Your PSM can look at dynamic/pinned customers to create an engagement plan.
Q: How do we select the right deployment offer for a customer?
A: The deployment offer type should be informed in the email you received from your customer with the voucher number and value.
FastTrack Partner Experience
Q: Do FastTrack Partner Community (FPC) partners get access to the Fasttrack dashboard in Partner Center?
A: Yes, all FPC members can benefit from the customer insights, propensity data, and referrals offered in the Partner Center FastTrack workspace (FPX). If you have access issues, please contact Partner Support.
Q: Will public sector client data be added to the Insights dashboard (e.g., Edu and/or GCC)?
A: Propensity data on the Opportunities tab is only available for ENT and SMC customers. Currently there are no plans to extend to EDU or GOV customers. For the Tenants tab we offer usage and incentive data for EDU; GOV customers are currently in the backlog for a future release.
Q: With the FPX evolution/roadmap will the challenges with multiple partners having CPOR claims on the same customers be considered? How will that be factored into the data that is surfaced?
A: Currently, we show customer insight data if a partner has at least one claim on one workload, no matter which one. We are working to expand to other association types beyond CPOR to serve customer insight data.
Q: Are there any news or changes in the workloads and incentive amounts for the Modern work and Security Usage program?
A: New workloads and changes to existing workloads can be found in the Microsoft Commerce Incentive Resources.
Partner Success Manager (PSM)
Q: How does the Partner Success Plan that partners work with their PSM differ and/or align to the Win Formula partners are working with their Partner Development Manager (PDMs) on?
A: They should be quite complementary. The PDM is focused on revenue through software sales. We are focused on success through customer adoption and usage.
Quick to Market (QTM)
Q: What is the best way for a customer to request a voucher?
A: Customers should work with their account teams to see if they are eligible to be nominated for a Modern Work Security & Deployment Voucher.
Q: Are there guidelines for granting a voucher to a customer?
A: Customer eligibility requirements are outlined in the FY25 FastTrack Partner Community Program Terms and Conditions.
Q: Do we ask the customer / account team directly? If a customer, is there Microsoft approved messaging for this conversation?
A: Partners can ask the customer and/or account team. We do not have any standard language to suggest for this conversation.
Q: What is the best way for us to discern if the customer has a voucher?
A: There is no way for partners to determine if the customer has had a voucher issued. We are looking at solutions to share this information in FPX for customers that partners are already associated with, but that is an item on the roadmap with no date set.
Q: Are vouchers only provided to customers with early adoptions?
A: The program team has a variety of criteria for customer eligibility that is not limited to early adoption.
Q: Will the FTAs be granted the capability to nominate customers for vouchers?
A: We would not look to the FTA to do this. We are equipping the FTAs with more information on the vouchers and other Microsoft customer subsidies. It is probable that the FTAs will work with the Microsoft seller and include this in their planning.
Q: With upcoming changes to EA incentives for all customer tiers, will you reconsider CSP eligibility for the vouchers?
A: Due to the margin we share for CSP deals, there is no plan to include CSP in voucher eligibility.
Q: Is it OK if the SOW and POE are 1:1 identical in terms of content or must there be a slight deviation?
A: They should be different. The SOW is worded for “will do.” The POE is worded as “have completed.”
Q: It is hard to promote FastTrack’s exclusive Copilot offers because most buyers are still testing the product and are unlikely to commit to purchasing 1000+ licenses. Can the requirement of 1000 Copilot-eligible licenses be reviewed and adjusted?
A: We will certainly share this feedback with the business sponsor for their consideration.
Referral
Q: Will FastTrack prioritize major partners or give opportunities to smaller partner organizations to evolve in more markets?
A: Our referral engine uses the Round Robin system to fairly distribute opportunities across all eligible partners. Eligible = endorsed, location/language, Benefit/non-Benefit. While there was a lower volume than intended in FY24, we have addressed that in the last few months and are expecting a significantly higher volume in FY25.
Q: Microsoft previously announced a new type of referral for partners, where the added value would already be communicated to the customer. Have these referrals been distributed to partners across EMEA, and in what volume?
A: There has been a very limited volume of these referrals to this point. That is primarily due to the definition of the FastTrack Benefit not having a clearly defined "complete" definition. FastTrack is in the process of revising the benefit to make the definition very clear and then it will be published to the customer and field. Once that work is complete and the changes have been published then we will be in a much better position to identify Standard (non-Benefit) referrals being distributed.
Q: When will Copilot for M365 referrals become available?
A: We are routing all Copilot requests for assistance to the FastTrack Direct team while we develop the best practices for supporting enablement of this service. We will make an announcement when this service is available.
Q: How does Bulk referrals that partners may not want to participate in factor into the "80% eligibility acceptance" for the program?
A: Currently, partners are currently not able to choose which type of referral. Partners in our program are expected to participate in all referral programs for which they are endorsed. We are looking into changing this so that partners have the flexibility to sign up for specific referrals. We will make this information available when the opportunity is possible.
Q: Is it possible to opt-out of the Bulk/Standard referrals if this is not a type of engagement a partner wants to take on? Or will not accepting these referrals impact on the minimum acceptance of 80% that Partners are held to? Or is this metric changing under the program changes?
A: It is not possible to opt-out of Standard referrals and declining them will impact acceptance rate. Standard referrals are straight business development opportunities.
Q: Would it be possible for CSI-designated partners to get priority for Security referrals?
A: Referrals are distributed to endorsed partners. Please review Workload endorsements for customer referrals to learn more.