Microsoft changed the incentive rates on 1 October. Three months into the financial year. If that caught you mid-deal, you weren't alone, which is why October's Oaka Partner Insights went back over MCI funding when we'd normally have moved on to something new. Lindsay Climson walked through the changes by solution area, with Kate Balgowan, Head of Cloud Alliances at Arrow, covering the CSP rebate side. The short version is in the title. Microsoft insists there's no less money on the table this year. It has just been moved into different pockets, and more of it now pays out for what happens after the deal rather than for the deal itself. These are the parts worth acting on.
Most Microsoft partners can explain their value to a customer in their sleep. Plenty can explain it to Microsoft too, given a decent slide and a strong coffee. Explaining it to a buyer is a different conversation, and it's one a lot of owners don't know how to start.  That was the starting point for September's Oaka Partner Insights. Consolidation across the channel isn't slowing down, and the partners we speak to keep asking the same things. What does a succession plan look like? How do I position my business? Which metrics actually matter to the people writing the cheques? Our consultant Nigel Ridpath put those questions to three people who have seen deals from different sides of the table. Adam Kerr is Managing Partner and Founder of Primas Law, specialising in corporate transactions. Jack Henry is a barrister and owner of Henry Chambers, who has been through acquisitions as a business owner. Neil Lomax spent 17 years at SoftwareOne, latterly responsible for around $22 billion in Microsoft revenue, before co-founding Onyx. Here's what we took away.
We've had roughly the same AI conversation with Microsoft partners for a couple of years now. It usually opens with some version of "we know we need to do something with AI". Fair enough. The next part is where it gets less useful. Teams start debating which Microsoft technology to invest in, whether they need more Copilot Studio skills, how much Azure AI capability to build and whether they should start calling themselves an AI partner. Meanwhile the customer has a much simpler concern. They've got a problem and they'd quite like someone to solve it. That matters because the AI market moves fast. Six months ago customers were asking different questions, and six months from now they probably will be again. Building a practice around whichever technology is getting the most attention this quarter is an expensive way to keep reorganising your business. The better starting point is what customers are actually prepared to spend money on now