As of August 31, 2026, Microsoft will retire Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500) and Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate (PL-200). These certifications have been replaced by Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate (SC-500) and Intelligent Applications Builder Associate (AB-410) respectively. view the full announcement here.

Microsoft Partner Compliance Readiness training is now available on Partner Skilling Hub. Visit the Partner Skilling Hub to view the full range of available trainings.

Effective October 1, 2026, Microsoft will apply a 5% cost of capital uplift to Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) software subscriptions, including SQL Server, Windows Server, Client Access Licenses, and System Center, with annual-term commitments billed monthly.

For existing annual-term CSP software subscriptions billed monthly, the 5% uplift takes effect at renewal on or after October 1, 2026.

As of August 18, 2026, Microsoft has introduced updates to the Microsoft Copilot web, desktop, and mobile app experiences. The update includes clearer account indicators, a simplified app name, an icon, and a transition of the web app URL from m365.cloud.microsoft to copilot.cloud.microsoft. Please ensure that copilot.cloud.microsoft isn’t blocked by existing network, proxy, firewall, or access policies for any of your customers.

Multi-tenant agent management is now in public preview in the Microsoft 365 admin center. This capability allows administrators to view and manage agents across the tenants they govern from a single experience. View the full announcement here.

Retirement of Partner University: As of June 15, 2026, Partner University will be retired impacting partners looking to enroll in the Modern Work Solutions Partner designation and two Modern Work specialisations. View the full announcement here.

Changes to Specialisations and Solutions Partner Designations: As of June 5, 2026, the AI Platform on Microsoft Azure specialisation has added the Microsoft Certified: Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate certification as a skilling option to address the retiring of the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate. View all the upcoming skilling changes here.

As of June 1, 2026, Microsoft has introduced a new offer of 15% off the net new price of Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Customer Eligibility: Available to new and existing customers committing to a three-year term and purchasing 300-plus licenses

Promotion Period:  June 1 – September 30, 2026

Billing: Triennial commitment with annual billing

As of June 1, 2026, Microsoft has introduced Microsoft 365 E5 as a new license prerequisite for new Microsoft Agent 365 purchases.

For new Agent 365 purchases as of June 1:

• Enterprise customers must have Microsoft 365 E5.
• Frontline worker (FLW) users must have Microsoft Defender and Purview (F5 level).
• Small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers must have Microsoft 365 Business Premium.

Customers without these prerequisites will have restricted access to certain Agent 365 capabilities. This update will have no impact on Microsoft 365 E7 customer engagements, as Microsoft 365 E7 includes Microsoft 365 E5, Agent 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Microsoft Entra Suite.