Partner Pulse Newsletter

February 2026: Partner Pulse Newsletter

Microsoft Ending Free Post-Expiry Grace Period

On May 4, Microsoft will replace the free grace period for CSP subscriptions with a paid Extended Service Term. If customer's have auto-renew disabled, subscriptions will automatically continue at a premium instead of entering a free 30-day grace period as they did previously.

This is an excellent opportunity for you to act as a trusted advisor and anticipate the needs of your customers. We highly encourage you to be proactive in reviewing every customer's subscriptions and ensure that each subscription is set to either auto-renew or to cancel in order to avoid unexpected charges from Microsoft and credit requests from customers.

As always, we appreciate your business and the opportunity to help you safeguard your practice by avoiding unexpected charges!

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Partner Licensing Updates

For ongoing licensing updates, enforcement timelines, promotional offers, and pricing changes, visit our dedicated Licensing Updates page. It’s your central source for timely announcements and actions that may impact your agreements.

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Events

Microsoft Masterclass Series Part 1: Building your M365 Copilot Practice

Get ready to jumpstart your Microsoft 365 Copilot practice with a fast-paced, high value workshop designed to accelerate your impact. This session turns the massive AI opportunity into clear, packaged service offers, a repeatable GTM engine, and an adoption-first motion rooted in Microsoft guidance, including the Copilot Control System and usage and impact analytics.

Join us on March 9, 2026, from 12:00–1:30 PM ET to build a simple, powerful blueprint to acquire, upsell, and renew customers while confidently attaching services that drive real results.

Microsoft Masterclass Series Part 2: Secure productivity programs & incentives

Join us on March 23, 2026, from 12:00 to 1:30 PM ET for part two of our Microsoft Masterclass series. This practical session shows you how to use Secure Productivity incentives to win more deals and increase margins, covering Microsoft 365 value positioning, new SMB offers and promotions, GTM investments, and the CSP Hub, with clear guidance on matching customers to incentives, calculating margin impact, and building compliant offers.

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What’s Happening in the (Multi) Cloud

Google: From Conversation to Action: The Rise of Agentic AI
In early 2026, cloud computing reached a turning point. With Gemini 3 and Gemini Enterprise, Google Cloud is moving beyond chatbots to AI agents that can plan, reason, and execute complex workflows autonomously. From managing supply chain disruptions to resolving fulfillment errors in real time, the cloud is becoming an active driver of business execution.
Powered by advances like Ironwood TPUs and a 10-million-token context window, these agents can process vast multimodal data and act on real business context. The focus is shifting from how to build solutions to the outcomes organizations want to achieve, as Google Cloud’s Intent-as-a-Service model begins automating the path from goal to execution.

Important Business Impacts

Microsoft MACC Agreements: Transitioning to MCA-E
Microsoft has announced that, effective March 2, 2026, all new and renewing MACC agreements must transition to the Microsoft Customer Agreement for Enterprise (MCA-E), moving away from the traditional Enterprise Agreement model.
This shift introduces new considerations around commercial structure, flexibility, governance, and cloud optimization. As a trusted Microsoft advisor, SoftwareOne supports customers through this transition by clarifying options, assessing impacts, and helping ensure Azure investments remain transparent, optimized, and aligned to business goals.

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Pulse Check: Meet the Team

Meet James O’Neill

Role & Impact

As VP of Corporate Sales, I focus on setting my teams up to drive real impact for clients. If they are not successful, I have not done my job.

Recent Highlight

I lead a segment that brings together sellers, leaders, and clients from both SoftwareOne and Crayon. Blending our strengths into one go-to-market approach has been both exciting and a rewarding challenge.

Common Client Challenge

Many organizations lack visibility and control over IT spend. Shadow IT, compliance risks, and unmanaged costs drain budgets. We help centralize control, reduce waste, and redirect spend to higher-value initiatives.

Client Approach

Ask and listen. We focus on understanding both organizational goals and individual stakeholder needs so we can align solutions that drive real outcomes.

Fun Fact

I once had a beer with Bill Murray (the actor); that was pretty fun!

Welcome to the new Partner Pulse newsletter