Solutions Partner for
Security Designation

MODULE 5
Appendix

LESSON 5.3
Designation Specialisations
How Will Designation Specialisations Drive Greater Success
After completing the Microsoft Solution For Security designation, it is crucial to follow up with designation specialisations to ensure that you stay at the forefront of emerging threats and advanced defence tactics.
Specialisations provide a deeper dive into specific areas, allowing you to tailor your expertise to the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity. This not only enhances your skill set but also significantly boosts your employability and credibility in the industry.
By attaining specialised designations, you distinguish yourself from your peers, showcasing a commitment to continuous learning and professional growth.
This can open doors to more advanced roles and responsibilities, and potentially lead to leadership positions within your organisation.
Furthermore, specialised knowledge equips you with the tools to design and implement more effective security solutions, directly contributing to the overall success and security of your projects and initiatives.
DID YOU KNOW?
Industry reports indicate that employees with specialised designations in Microsoft Solutions For Security can drive up to 20% more revenue for their organisations! (Source: Microsoft Copilot)
START HERE
After earning a Solutions Partner designation, these specialisations further differentiate an organisation and help customers identify the specific capabilities needed to meet their needs.
Specialisations in areas such as Cloud Security, Identity and Access Management, Information Protection and Governance, and Threat Protection allow for deeper expertise, enhancing skill sets, employability, and credibility, following the achievement of the Security Designation.
Microsoft Solutions for Security Specialisations at a glance
Prerequisite: Microsoft Solutions for Security designation
Are further exams required? No
Do I need to enrol my business? Yes
How many specialisations are available? 4
How many specialisation benefits can be stacked? 3 (max)
Do specialisations need to be renewed? Yes – Yearly basis
Do I need to engage in an audit process? No
Do I need customer references? Yes – 3 in total
The remainder of this document explains the process to achieving a specialisation under the Microsoft Solutions for Security designation.
The latest version of this information can always be found here.
Appropriate Roles In Partner Center:
Global admin | Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partner admin
Aligned to the Microsoft Cloud, specialisations display your deep technical expertise and experience in areas with high customer demand. After attaining a Solutions Partner designation, earning a specialisation further differentiates your organisation from your competitors and helps customers identify your capabilities to meet their specific needs.
Security Based Specialisations
The Security Specialisations include:
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Cloud Security
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Identity and Access Management
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Information Protection and Governance
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Threat Protection
HOW TO ENROL IN A SPECIALISATION
To Enrol in a Modern Work and Security specialisation
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Meet the qualification requirements, which include the Solutions Partner for Security designation, Performance and Skilling requirements.
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Submit customer reference and get approval of the customer references (Customer references can be submitted only after the qualification requirements are met).
Additional Product Benefits For The Security Specialisation
Microsoft have introduced product benefits aligned to specialisations and expert offerings. These benefits increase value for partners who invest in demonstrating deep technical expertise and experience in specific technical scenarios aligned to solution areas.
If you already have the relevant Solutions Partner designation and have opted to select the Solutions Partner benefits (and pay the fee), incremental specialisation benefits are received when the specialisation is earned and will be available through your next Solutions Partner designation anniversary date.
The total number of specialisations or expert offerings associated benefits must be within the respective maximum benefit cap amounts for each category of specialisations and expert offerings.
Security Specialisation Product Benefits
Maximum Cap To Earn: 3 x Specialisations
To see an example of the timeline and maximum benefit cap amounts for receiving the benefits associated with specialisations and expert offerings, visit the section titled "Illustrative example" in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Benefits Guide on page 32. Pages 28-32 outline the specialisation program specifics.
LOOKING TO RENEW?
Specialisation Renewals
The renewal process is triggered based on the anniversary date of your current specialisation. The Specialisation renewal process started in 2023. Check your specialisation anniversary date in Partner Center.
- Year 1 (First anniversary of specialisation)
To renew the specialisation, you need to meet qualification requirements (such as eligibility, performance, certifications, offer publishing). The qualification requirements are valid for one year and revalidated annually.
Qualification requirements will be reviewed for all anniversary dates beginning February 2023. Renewing your specialisation during the first renewal cycle doesn't require any action outside of monitoring that your organisation meets the qualification requirements. If your organisation meets the qualification requirements, you'll be enrolled upon your renewal window opening.
The audits and customer reference requirements are valid for two years and revalidated every other year. So, for the first anniversary, you don't need to pass the audit or submit the customer references again.
Qualification requirements include Solutions Partner, Performance, Knowledge, and (if applicable) Offer publishing in AppSource
- Year 2 (Second anniversary of specialisation)
To renew the specialisation, you must meet the qualification requirements and complete the manually validated requirements (such as audits or providing customer references depending on the specialisation).
The audits and customer references requirements are valid for two years and revalidated every other year. This will start with anniversary dates beginning February 2024.
- Years 3 and beyond
Subsequent years follow the same process with qualification requirements annually and telemetry + manually validated requirements every other year.
Reminder notifications: You'll receive a minimum of three emails to remind you about the renewal of the specialisation. Emails are sent at multiple points in time, such as 120 days, 90 days, 60 days, 30 days before the anniversary date, on the anniversary date and 30 days after the anniversary date. These notifications are received by the individual(s) from your organisation who has either the "Global admin" or "Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partner admin" role. Also, you can see these notifications within Partner Center.
The renewal window opens 60 days before your anniversary date and close on your anniversary date (with a 30-calendar day grace period). Partners must meet the published qualification requirements within the 90-day period to renew their specialisation.
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For the first, third, fifth anniversaries of your specialisation (and subsequent odd years), once the qualification requirements are met, the specialisation is automatically re-enrolled.
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For the second, fourth, sixth anniversaries of your specialisation (and subsequent even years), once the qualification requirements are met, manually validated requirements such as audit or customer references must be met for the successful re-enrolment.
Mapping specialisations to Solutions Partner designations
LEVERAGE PARTNER CENTER
Use Partner Center to Apply for Specialisations and Track Your Progress
Much of the process for applying for a specialisation is available at Membership > Specialisations in Partner Center.
Access the Specialisations Area and Track Your Status
To access specialisations and track your status, use the following steps:
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Sign in to Partner Center as an Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partner admin or Global admin and select Membership.
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Select Specialisations and then select the area you're interested in:
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Azure
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Modern work
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Security
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Business applications
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Select the name of a specialisation to see requirements and steps, your status, and links to further steps and resources.
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You can return to the Membership > Specialisations area of Partner Center to check your progress toward attaining an advanced specialisation.
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After you've completed all the requirements for a specialisation, you can check to see if your status has changed to Active for the specialisation you chose. Active status automatically enables an advanced specialisation tag on your business profile. This profile is visible to all customers trying to find a solution provider.
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Complete an Audit or Include Customer References
To earn a specialisation, you must earn an aligned Solutions Partner designation and fulfill other prerequisites unique to that specialisation.
To earn some specialisations, you must also:
Both tasks can be performed in Partner Center.
The Security Specialisations Require Customer References
In addition to fulfilling prerequisites, you must also provide customer references to earn some specialisations.
Security specialisations that require customer references include:
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Identity and Access Management
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Threat Protection
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Information Protection and Governance
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Cloud Security
Provide Customer References
To provide customer references in Partner Center, follow these steps:
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Sign in to Partner Center as a Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partner admin or Global admin and select Membership.
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Select Specialisations, and then select an area you're interested in:
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Security
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- Select the name of the specialisation.
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- The prerequisites for the specialisation appear. As an example, for the Meetings and Meeting Rooms for Microsoft Teams specialisation, in addition to a Solutions Partner designation, certifications and a performance requirement, you must also provide three customer references that demonstrate your ability to deploy and manage.
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- Until you meet all the prerequisites and provide customer references, your status is Not Started.
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- After you meet all the prerequisites and provide the required references, your status changes to Active.
How Azure Consumption Revenue is Calculated for the Security Specialisation
Partner-to-customer associations include:
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Digital Partner of Record association with a customer
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CSP direct-bill partner or CSP indirect reseller for a customer
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Partner Admin Link (PAL) association with a customer
Not counted toward the specialisation is Azure consumption revenue (ACR) from subscriptions to the following types of offers:
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Trial
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Benefits programs
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Support
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Internal
Azure Consumption Revenue Filters for the Security Specialisation:
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Threat Protection
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Microsoft Sentinel ACR: Service Level 4 = Sentinel
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Cloud Security
- Hybrid Environment XDR and Network Security ACR: Service Level 4 = Microsoft Defender for SQL, Microsoft Defender for container registries, Microsoft Defender for Kubernetes, Microsoft Defender for Storage, Application Gateway WAF v2, WAF Application Gateway, Azure Active Directory B2C, Microsoft Entra Domain Services, Microsoft Entra ID for External Identities, Azure Bastion, Azure DDOS Protection, Azure Firewall, Azure Firewall Manager, Azure Front Door Service, Microsoft Defender for IoT, Azure Dedicated HSM, Key Vault, Network Watcher, Microsoft Defender for App Service, Microsoft Defender for servers, Sentinel
Data Freshness
Performance is typically refreshed by the 20th of every month. However, there might be more minor data refreshes throughout the month.
Skilling subcategories are typically refreshed within 10 days after certification is complete.