Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)

CSP Steps

CSP is a seamless process that does not affect or interrupt your Microsoft Online Services. You are notified and invoiced by Matrixforce for the next 30-day billing cycle. Microsoft billing is terminated with any credit submitted to customers directly by Microsoft. Subsequent Matrixforce invoices are issued at the first of each month.

Occasionally, some customers receive an erroneous bill from Microsoft the month following CSP conversion. Simply contact us to submit a case to Microsoft on your behalf for a refund. You may also dispute the charge on your credit card.

Direct CSP

Protect your business and ask your provider if they meet these requirements:

• C Corporation
  • Ownership verified by Secretary of State.
  • LLC and S corporation ownership cannot be publicly verified.
  • Unlisted ownership may be felons, foreign entities, or competitors.
• Microsoft Gold Cloud Competency
  • Annually audited competency for cloud computing and deployment experience.
  • Microsoft Partners without a cloud competency are not qualified.
  • Microsoft Silver Cloud Partners have little or no competency requirements.
• Intellectual Property (IP)
  • Trademark and/or patented process.
  • No registered IP means no value proposition for customers.
  • Traditional reseller relationship is no longer relevant.
• Security Compliance
  • Third-party audited regulation compliance.
  • Mandatory to protect against customer data breach.
  • Untrained and non-compliant partners expose customers to high risk.
• Legal Agreement
  • Outlines billing and support terms with confidentiality.
  • Performance commitments are not defined without a contract.
  • Customers yield full control of data without an agreement.

Cloud Solution Provider Highlights

According to the IDC Cloud 2.0 Report, demand for cloud services shows no signs of slowing down with the IT cloud services industry expected to reach over $107 billion by 2017. The goal of the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program is to deepen customer relationships, exclusively with local cloud champions for the best experience when moving to the cloud.

1. Program Overview. Microsoft CSP allows commercial customers to leverage world-class Microsoft Cloud infrastructure and security combined with local expertise for your geography or industry, including support and billing. Partners utilize dedicated in-product tools to directly provision, manage, and support consolidated customer services and Microsoft subscriptions in one monthly or annual bill. Qualified Microsoft Partners must sign a contract to maintain business and technical requirements for proven onboarding and customer data protection.
   
2. Customer Experience. Customers contact their CSP as the first point of contact for all needs including integrated CSP services, as well as Microsoft Online Services support and billing. Your CSP provides relevant status and educational information, while Microsoft continues to update the Office 365 Message Center and send operational service notifications directly to customers. Delegated admin privileges enable partners to effectively provide technical support and customers have the same privacy protection regardless of how they purchase Microsoft Online Services. Selected CSP partner cannot be changed by the customer. Customers can log into their Microsoft Office 365 admin portal and perform all standard service configuration and admin tasks. Customers must purchase additional subscriptions or cancel a subscription through their cloud solution partner.



3. Offers and Pricing. All major Microsoft commercial suites and standalone products are available for Office 365, Intune, Enterprise Mobility Suite, Azure, and Dynamics CRM Online. Government, non-profit, and academic customers cannot purchase via the CSP program at this time. Microsoft subscription pricing and 12 month terms remain the same with a public price list published each month. Customers may choose to purchase Guardian Managed Services for no additional support costs or purchase usage and troubleshooting support (excluding setup or migration projects) for $24 per user per month.

Alternatively, customers may purchase additional support directly from Microsoft with Professional Support of $1,999 for every 5 incidents or Premier Support starting at approximately $4,000 per month.

4. Partner Channel Model. Customers with existing subscriptions purchased through other licensing models (such as EA, Open, or direct from Microsoft) will be able to transition subscriptions or have other license types coexist on the same tenant through the multi-channel capability. Customers make a 12 month commitment that must be fulfilled. Early termination may incur a fee. At the end of the subscription term, customers can purchase services under Open, Advisor (until depreciated), or EA agreement. The Office 365 Service Level Agreement remains in effect and any approved credits for outage events are passed through to customers. CSP partners must have Delegated Admin Privileges to managed customer subscriptions and protect data.

Office 365 Service Level Agreement | Office 365 Privacy Policy

5. Contracts and Billing. Microsoft requires a legally enforceable contract between the CSP and the customer detailing billing and payment terms with any additional conditions or complementary products or services around Microsoft Online Services. Microsoft Online Services through the CSP program are a 12 month term and automatically renewed at prevailing Microsoft pricing, unless cancelled with 30 days written notice to CSP. Initial invoices are issued at time of conversion and then billed at the first of each month via ACH transaction. Customer subscriptions may be disabled or outright cancelled for lack of funds or non-payment.

Microsoft Cloud Agreement | Cloud Solution Provider Agreement

6. Communications. Microsoft is continuously improving CSP service focused on providing customers new features that delight users and improve the productivity experience, building a trusted service with high resiliency, hardened against attacks, broader certifications and compliance breadth, and responding to customer feedback. Product roadmaps are regularly published and partners under NDA receive additional information.

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7. Data Privacy. Microsoft describes its commitments in the Online Services Terms of the Customer Agreement. The Online Service Terms describes privacy, security and data processing commitments. Refer to the subsection titled “Location of Customer Data at Rest” and the Microsoft Office 365 Trust Center. Customers should thoroughly review CSP Requirements to vet partners that act as a data processor and agent of the customer.
   
8. SLA Credit. If, during the course of a support incident, a partner cannot service the customer or believes an SLA has not been met, the partner must submit a standard support request (SR) to Microsoft. Microsoft support will evaluate the issue as a normal support incident. In the event Microsoft determines the SR is based on an SLA not being met, Microsoft will communicate the status to the partner, and issue a subsequent credit to the partner that is passed through to the customer.
9. Multi-partner. One CSP partner may be an expert in Office 365, while another Partner may specialize in Microsoft Azure. The multi-partner capability makes it possible for Partners to establish a CSP relationship with a customer that already has an existing CSP transacting partner. While this enables multiple CSP transacting partners to work with the same customer tenant, this capability is not designed to migrate or transition any subscriptions or customer ownership from one CSP transacting partner to another CSP transacting partner.
10. Support Overview. Your support entitlement includes access to Break-fix Technical Support, Billing/Subscription Management issues, and help/how to for program benefit questions. Break-fix issues are technical problems you experience while using Microsoft cloud services. “Break-fix” is an industry term that refers to work involved in supporting a technology when it fails in the normal course of its function, requiring intervention by a support organization to be restored to working order.

CSP Frequent Questions

What exactly is CSP?

The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program or CSP is the new business model for customers to purchase Microsoft Online Services and receive support through approved Microsoft Partners. Going forward Microsoft will only bill and support enterprise customers of 500 users or more directly.

How is a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider different from other Microsoft Partners?

Unlike simply reselling Microsoft software, Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers provide direct support and billing for Microsoft Online Services. To maintain privacy and security of Microsoft customers, only qualified Microsoft Gold Cloud Partners are approved into the CSP program.

Why is Microsoft no longer supporting and directly billing SMB customers?

Due to the $107 Billion demand for cloud services, Microsoft is unable to maintain cost-effective online services while scaling global sales and support, without the help of CSP partners to provide the best experience for customers.

How will this change impact my business?

There is no disruption in your online services. Subscription pricing remains the same. All the infrastructure and customer data remains at Microsoft datacenters. You are simply billed from Matrixforce instead of Microsoft via ACH, invoice, or credit card. Likewise, support is provided domestically by Matrixforce for faster response and resolution.

What do I need to do for this change?

Most customers will not need to take any action, unless Matrixforce is not delegated as your Partner of Record and we will then contact you for authorization. At conversion, you are invoiced by Matrixforce for the next 30-day billing cycle. Microsoft billing is terminated with any credit submitted to customers directly by Microsoft. Subsequent Matrixforce invoices are issued at the first of each month.

What is delegated administration?

Previously as a Partner of Record (POR) and by default as a CSP, authorized Microsoft Partners have full administrative access to your Office 365 tenant and data to provide support. Delegated administration may be removed by the customer, but then alternative arrangements must be made for support and the CSP still has access to add or remove licenses and suspend or cancel the entire subscription.

What is subscription suspension?

Partners can suspend or cancel a subscription if requested by the customer or in cases of nonpayment over 30 days past due or fraud. When a subscription is suspended, users are not able to sign in or access services. However, customer Administrator accounts can still sign in and access the data. All data will be deleted from the suspended subscription unless reactivated within 90 days, or 90 days plus the number of days between the time the account was opened and the first billing period (maximum 120 days).

Can we still buy Microsoft software and Online Services from other vendors?

Yes. You can have multiple CSP partners for different needs and continue to purchase traditional licensing through a vendor of your choice. To provide a higher level of service and expertise for customers, Microsoft is transitioning products like Windows 10 and Surface to pay-as-you-go through CSP partners.

What is the rollout schedule for CSP?

Customers will transition to Microsoft CSP beginning July 14, 2015 through September 30, 2017 with the termination of the former Advisor Program. Following this period, CSP will be the default model for purchasing Microsoft Online Services and eventually all Microsoft software and hardware.