MODULE 4

Customer Success

LESSON 4.1

Meeting the 30 Point
'Customer Success' Criteria

How to Achieve Points Success

The Customer Success criteria play a pivotal role in Microsoft Solution for Security designations due to its direct impact on end-user satisfaction and the overall success of security implementations.  

High-quality customer service ensures that clients receive timely and effective support, which is crucial for maintaining and enhancing the security posture of their organisations. When customers feel supported and valued, they are more likely to engage deeply with the security solutions provided, leading to better adoption and long-term retention.  

Furthermore, exceptional customer service helps in swiftly resolving issues, thereby minimising potential security vulnerabilities and operational disruptions. This, in turn, contributes significantly to the overall performance metrics and strengthens the credibility of the service provider. 

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The customer success category measures your ability to enable growth in the use of Microsoft products or in the expansion of Microsoft's services and workloads utilized by the customers. 

There are two metrics in the customer success  category: 

• Deployments

• Usage growth 

Deployments 

For this metric, your organisation earns points based on growth in the number of customer deployments as specified by the following qualifying criteria and definitions. 

Both Enterprise and SMB tracks calculation 

Each net new customer contributes 3.3 points for up to a maximum of 20 points, obtained from six deployments. 

Net new deployments = Eligible deployments last month − Eligible deployments same month last year

Eligible deployments 

Note: Same tenant can participate in both SMB and Enterprise track. 

Eligible Azure services 

Advanced Data Security, Advanced Threat Protection, Application Gateway, Microsoft Entra ID B2C, Microsoft Entra Domain Services, Microsoft Entra ID for External Identities, Azure Bastion, Azure DDOS Protection, Azure Defender, Azure Firewall, Azure Firewall Manager, Azure Front Door Service, Azure IoT Security, Key Vault, Network Watcher, Security Centre, and Microsoft Sentinel. 

Eligible Azure offers 

All offers except "Support," "Internal," "Benefit Program," and "Trial" are applicable. 

Eligible Microsoft 365 workloads 

Microsoft Entra ID P1, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Endpoints, Microsoft Defender for Identity, information protection, and Intune. 

Eligible association types 

The association types that earn you points in this metric are: 

• Azure: Partner Admin Link (PAL), CSP Tier1, CSP Tier2 
• Microsoft 365: Claiming Partner of Record (CPOR), CSP Tier1, CSP Tier2 
  
  

Thresholds for earning maximum points 

Net new deployments from both Azure security and Microsoft 365 are counted and given points. A total of six new deployments from Azure security services and Microsoft 365, that fulfill the previous criteria, are required to earn the maximum of 20 points for this metric. You can achieve points from either Azure or Microsoft 365 or both. 

Usage Growth

For this metric, your organization earns points based on growth in the usage of security workloads across your associated customer deployments, as specified by the following qualifying criteria and definitions.

Calculation 

Azure: 

• Enterprise track: Every Security Azure consumed revenue (ACR) growth of USD 1,250 gets you one point (maximum of 20 points). 
• SMB track: Every Security Azure consumed revenue (ACR) growth of USD 750 gets you one point (maximum of 20 points). 
  
  

Security ACR growth = Eligible Security ACR last month − Eligible Security ACR same month last year

Microsoft 365: 

• Enterprise track: Every Microsoft 365 protected users’ growth of 125 gets you one point (maximum of 20 points).
• SMB Track: Every Microsoft 365 protected users’ growth of 50 gets you one point (maximum of 20 points). 

Microsoft 365 Protected users’ growth = Eligible Microsoft 365 protected users last month − Eligible Microsoft 365 protected users same month last year

Security ACR

The Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) total over the trailing 12 months from eligible customer tenants from eligible Azure services associated with eligible Offers for specific Partner association types. 

• Enterprise: Each customer tenant having ACR greater than $12,000 in the trailing 12 months is counted as an eligible customer tenant. 
• SMB: Each customer tenant having ACR more than zero and less than or equal to $12,000 in the trailing 12 months as an Eligible customer Tenant. 

The ACR total over trailing 12 months from Eligible Customer Tenants across entire customer base from eligible Azure services associated with eligible Offers for specific Partner association types. 

Microsoft 365 protected users 

The number of active paid licenses across all eligible customer tenants from eligible Microsoft 365 workloads for specific partner association types. 

• Enterprise: Each customer tenant having at least 1 workload with paid licenses greater than 300 is counted to be an eligible Tenant for Enterprise track. 
• SMB: Each customer tenant having at least 1 workload with paid licenses between 5 to 300 is counted to be an eligible Tenant for SMB track. 
  
  

Eligible Azure services 

• Advanced Data Security 
• Advanced Threat Protection 
• Application Gateway 
• Azure Active Directory B2C 
• Microsoft Entra Domain Services 
• Microsoft Entra ID for External Identities 
• Azure Bastion 
• Azure DDOS Protection 
• Azure Defender 
• Azure Firewall 
• Azure Firewall Manager 
• Azure Front Door Service 
• Azure IoT Security 
• Key Vault 
• Network Watcher 
• Security Centre 
• Microsoft Sentinel
• Eligible Azure offers 

All offers except "Support," "Internal," "Benefit Program," and "Trial" are applicable. 

Eligible Microsoft 365 workloads 

Microsoft Entra ID P1, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Endpoints, Microsoft Defender for Identity, information protection, and Intune. 

Eligible Association Types 

The association types that earn you points in this metric are: 

• Azure: Partner Admin Link (PAL), CSP Tier1, CSP Tier2 
• Microsoft 365: Claiming Partner of Record (CPOR), CSP Tier1, CSP Tier2 

Thresholds for earning maximum points 

Usage growth from both Azure security and Microsoft 365 are counted and given points. You can achieve points from either Azure or Microsoft 365 or both, up to a maximum of 20 points. 

Data Freshness 

Performance and Customer Success subcategories are typically refreshed by the 20th of every month. However, there can be other minor data refreshes throughout the month. Skilling subcategories are typically refreshed within 10 days after certification is completed. 

Next Lesson: 

We will examine the marketing material developed from our GTM messaging in Lesson 5 of the ‘Performance’ module, and how to implement it.