There’s a clear theme running through this month’s updates for our Dynamics partners. Microsoft has set an end of sale date for Dynamics NAV, announced a margin reduction on the on-premises licensing channel and confirmed that new Business Central on-premises subscriptions will move to CSP.<\/p>\n
Taken separately, each is a licensing detail. Taken together, they’re a fairly direct signal about where Microsoft wants Dynamics business to sit, and cloud economics are the side that stays stable. Here’s what to have on your radar and what each change means for you and your customers.<\/p>\n
Short on time? Here’s what’s time-sensitive this month.<\/p>\n
Microsoft has announced an end of sale date for Dynamics NAV. As of April 30, 2031<\/strong>, customers will no longer be able to renew their service plans (such as EP and AP), renew subscriptions, purchase additional perpetual licenses or use Dynamics NAV subscriptions through a Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA).<\/p>\n What this means for you:<\/strong> The date is far enough out that this is a planning item rather than an urgent one, but it does give you a definite end point to build customer conversations around.<\/p>\n Start with customers on active Dynamics NAV service plans or subscription licenses, then build a roadmap for moving them to Dynamics 365 Business Central well ahead of the deadline. It’s also worth walking those customers through the Microsoft programs available to bring down migration and licensing costs.<\/p>\n Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beginning February 1, 2027<\/strong>, all new Business Central on-premises subscription licenses must be transacted through the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program. As part of this change, Microsoft is retiring the Dynamics Price List (DPL) and PartnerSource Business Center (PSBC) purchasing routes for new Business Central on-premises subscriptions at the same time.<\/p>\n What this means for you:<\/strong> If you currently sell Business Central on-premises subscriptions through DPL or PSBC, you need to be enrolled in CSP before February 1, 2027<\/strong>. Contact the Sherweb team<\/a> or go to the Microsoft Partner Center to start the enrollment process before the deadline.<\/p>\n Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Effective December 1, 2026<\/strong>, partner margins under the Dynamics Price List (DPL) and Solution Provider Agreement (SPA) program will be reduced across perpetual license, subscription and enhancement plan offerings. This applies to the on-premises licensing channel only. CSP partner margins are not changing.<\/p>\n What this means for you:<\/strong> Alongside the Dynamics NAV end of sale and the Business Central on-premises move to CSP, this is a consistent message: on-premises economics are being brought closer in line with Microsoft’s cloud strategy, and the cloud side is where partner margins remain stable. If you carry meaningful on-premises volume, the months leading up to December are when you should determine which customers are candidates for a move to Business Central Cloud.<\/p>\n Additional detail is available through PartnerSource Business Center (PSBC) and Microsoft\u2019s margin update documentation<\/a>, which requires a PSBC login. See also Dynamics NAV: Migration path to Business Central<\/a>.<\/p>\n As of September 1, 2026<\/strong>, Microsoft has aligned pricing for new and renewing Commerce Scale Unit (CSU) device bundle subscriptions with the Dynamics 365 Operations – Device license. Storage entitlements included with CSU device bundles have been updated to match what the Operations – Device SKU provides. These changes are intended to simplify and bring more consistency across Dynamics 365 licenses.<\/p>\n What this means for you:<\/strong> Existing customers keep their current pricing until their next renewal. Any new subscriptions or renewals completed before September 1<\/strong> also continue under the previous pricing until the renewal after that. Going forward, review upcoming customer renewals and work the updated pricing and entitlement model into your licensing and account conversations.<\/p>\n Microsoft has extended the capabilities of agentic Dynamics 365 Sales by enabling Microsoft-built sales agents, including the Sales Qualification Agent and the Sales Opportunity Agent, to securely pull trusted third-party sales intelligence in real time. It runs on Model Context Protocol (MCP), which means no custom CRM integrations and no duplicate data storage. Agents work with external insights directly inside sales workflows.<\/p>\n What this means for you:<\/strong> The practical effect is that Dynamics 365 Sales agents get more useful without the integration work that used to be necessary. If you have expertise in Dynamics 365 Sales, Copilot Studio, Power Platform or AI integration services, you’re well placed to help customers deploy sales agents that connect securely to a growing set of business applications and data sources.<\/p>\n Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n In August, Microsoft updated the AI Business Solutions specializations for Sales, Service, Finance and Supply Chain. The same three changes apply across all four:<\/p>\n What this means for you:<\/strong> The shift from consumption to active usage ties specialization attainment and renewal more closely to whether customers are actually using what you deployed. If you hold or are working toward one of these four specializations, review the updated performance criteria, check your customer adoption metrics against them and confirm your Marketplace offers are tagged correctly so they support future qualification and renewal.<\/p>\n Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n As of July 31, 2026, the Low Code Application Development and Intelligent Automation specializations have been consolidated into a new Agentic Business Solutions specialization. Partners enrolled in either one were moved across automatically and kept their existing anniversary dates. There’s no change to Solutions Partner designation.<\/p>\n What this means for you:<\/strong> The merge happened automatically, so there’s nothing to action on enrollment. What does need attention is skilling. Review your team’s current certification status against the new requirements and identify the gaps, because the criteria for the merged specialization aren’t simply the sum of the two it replaced. The upside is a single, clearer way to show expertise across Power Apps, Power Automate, Copilot Studio and agentic AI, which is useful positioning with customers who are actively looking for it.<\/p>\n Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you have questions about how any of these updates affect your Sherweb account or your customers, reach out to your account manager<\/a>. We’re here to help you turn Microsoft’s changes into opportunities for your business.<\/p>\n Catch up on past updates: August 2026<\/a> | July 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There’s a clear theme running through this month’s updates for our Dynamics partners.","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":26068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[652],"tags":[598,1209],"class_list":["post-26067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dynamics-365","tag-dynamics-365","tag-dynamics-monthly-update"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Business Central on-premises subscriptions move to CSP in February<\/h3>\n
Pricing updates<\/h2>\n
What’s changing with DPL partner margins on December 1?<\/h3>\n
CSU pricing and entitlement alignment is now in effect<\/h3>\n
Product and feature updates<\/h2>\n
Dynamics 365 Sales agents can now reach third-party data through MCP<\/h3>\n
Microsoft partner program updates<\/h2>\n
Updates to the Sales, Service, Finance and Supply Chain specializations<\/h3>\n
\n
Low Code and Intelligent Automation have merged into Agentic Business Solutions<\/h3>\n
Staying ahead of Dynamics change<\/h2>\n